Birth Story

Aidan Robert was born on Valentine’s Day at 5:30pm after 16 hours of natural labor in the hospital. He weighed 8lbs. 7oz and was 21 inches long. He didn’t have any problems at all through the long labor and nursed right away!

I had contractions that were 5-15 minutes apart for nearly two days and kept expecting them to taper off and go away for a while. They got more intense, but so slowly that I still wasn’t sure if it was “the real thing.” They were real enough to keep me from sleeping for two nights in a row unfortunately and at 1:30am on Thursday I finally decided I needed to go in to at least find out if I was going to have this baby after a few more days or a few more hours. I was surprised by how anxious I was for someone to tell me how things were progressing – I definitely always planned on staying home until the last possible minute.

Thankfully, when I got to the hospital I was already 4cm dilated so I don’t feel like I went in too unjustifiably early. I probably should have stayed home longer unfortunately because while the hospital staff was really really nice, they made me go 30 min on, 30 min off the (external) monitor which meant sitting on my bum half the time not progressing. cest la vie. NKC hospital is well-equipped for any type of mother and I really appreciated the birthing ball, hot tub, and squat bar that I got to utililize. Rob was the most helpful though. At midday when I was about 7cm dilated, he let me stand and lean on him (hang on him really) through the toughest contractions. I’m sure his shoulder muscles are still sore. :)

Our good friends – and Aidan’s Godparents – Layman and Libby as well as Libby’s mom/my friend Robin also kept me company through those hours. They were such troopers! They met us at the hospital at 6am and stayed until long after Aidan had arrived. Layman stepped out for the actual birth though, something about not wanting to see me poop… lol. My younger sisters were also able to attend – arriving from Wichita with Layman’s mom Helen just in time for the real action to begin.

My water broke while the nurse was checking me at 8cm – what a relief! Things went much faster from there though it was still hours before he joined us on the outside.The sleepless nights and long laboring had taken a toll on my body by mid-afternoon and while I was still having contractions, Aidan didn’t seem to want to come any further than he had to. The nurse tried to help him along by moving the last little bit of my cervix away from his head. Not my favorite part of the day, I’ll admit. By the time I was ready to push, my uterus was tuckered out! In the end, the rest of my body had to do the work. I pushed with my legs and pulled on the squat bar and a towel with my arms. Aidan began crowning right around the time that my doctor arrived, but he retreated to safety many many times before staying put. When he finally did crown, he came out in one fell swoop that completely surprised me. :)

We were also a little surprised, in case you were wondering, that Aidan is a HE. :) Our bright-red, big-footed, hairy-headed Aidan slid out to a chorus of “It’s a boy!” and joined it with the most beautiful cry I’ve ever heard. We had no real clue either way as to the gender of our baby, but all of us had kind of settled on the idea of a girl for various reasons. Wouldn’t trade our precious boy for the world of course. :)

Aidan’s cord was too short for him to be handed to me right away and our doctor waited to clamp the cord until it stopped pulsing, as we requested. He was in my arms nursing just seconds after that while daddy and the nurse helped rub him down and get him warm. He scored a 8 on the 1 minute, and a 9 on the 5 minute apgar tests. After a little bit, daddy took him over to the warming table for the nurse to check him out and our guests to see him.

Mommy didn’t fare quite as well as baby in the end. Aidan has a 14inch head and almost no soft spot. That means he came out looking perfect, but did quite a bit of damage in return. The short cord also turned out to be a symptom of a strangely formed placenta. Evidently the cord wove through the amniotic sack in a weird way so when it started to come out, it detached in pieces. I was bleeding a lot and my doctor was concerned so he went in and forcibly removed the rest of the placenta and made sure he didn’t miss anything. Then he went to the 45 minute task of stitching me up. And no, in case you’re wondering, I didn’t feel a thing. Too delirious(ly happy).

I lost quite a bit of blood and my hemoglobin were way below normal so they started a pitocin/water drip and made me drink water unceasingly. They also started talking about a blood transfusion but our doctor agreed to let us wait to see if I could recoup on my own. It was pretty weary going for the first 24 hours. I couldn’t sit up straight (let alone walk to the bathroom) without passing out. Daddy got to change all of the dirty diapers for the first 3 days! Thankfully that was really the only discomfort. Family and friends gathered around constantly so my spirits were high, and Aidan continued to nurse well. My appetite didn’t suffer either, and lemme tell you – room service is something everyone needs to have at some point. :)

By Sunday morning I was feeling almost normal minus a lack of sleep. The staff came in to check our vitals once every other hour, and then there was the cleaning ladies and the baby picture woman and the lactation consultant (though I’m very thankful for her). My blood pressure was back to normal and though my heart rate soared if I stood for more than a few minutes, it was back to its normal resting rate. The blood tests showed dropping levels of hemoglobin even still. For reference – during pregnancy my levels were 11 (low end of normal), after birth they were 6.4. Friday they had dropped to 6.0 and by Sunday they were at 5 something. The doctor still said he would leave it up to us but that the drop did concern him. We finally decided to go ahead with the transfusion just in case I should get too week to feed Aidan. And I ate a lot of almonds, raisins, and drank a lot of orange juice. :)

My energy level before and after was night and day. It took four hours and then 3 more to wait for blood results, but the numbers looked much better – 8.7. :) So early Sunday evening I was discharged and we came home. Life has been for the most part unscheduled since then. When my milk came in, Aidan and I had to re-establish our nursing rhythm which meant 24 very tiring hours and then a sleepless night. We have the hang of it now though and last night Aidan nursed and slept like a champ. :D Good timing too because daddy went to work today and definitely needed rest. Rob is still technically off work for another week, he’s just going in today for a special thing.

We’ve been very very blessed by everyone who has visited, written, and called, thank you! We were especially pleased that Jen & Recil were able to make it from Wichita with their 2 week old boy and that Megan and Jimmy stopped by with pregnant belly. :) My mom and sisters were a huge blessing last weekend. This weekend, Rob’s dad and grandmothers will be visiting, and my dad will be here next week for a few days. :) Ladies from church and the library have brought us food and spent time helping me around the apartment. We are very fortunate to have such community, Praise the Lord.

I’ll leave you with a few more photos, and you can view the larger album here.

You can read an update to this post with more information about my blood transfusion by clicking here.