Caiden's birth story

This is going to be pretty cut and dry, not too much fluff as I just don’t have the energy ;) But it is long, sorry about that. More than anything I want to remember this in a few years when we talk about having another one...haha.

Tuesday night, July 24, Marc and I went to our regular yoga class at 7:30. We’ve been going to this class for at least a year now and I was determined to keep going up until I gave birth. I was 40 weeks and 6 days pregnant and still feeling pretty good and was still mobile to do almost the entire class. At about 10pm we had finished up dinner and watching Game of Thrones when I felt a little something in my back, I stood up and sat on the yoga ball we had in the living room. We purchased it a few weeks before in anticipation of me using it during labor. About 20 minutes later I felt the same thing, but I still wasn’t convinced it was anything. Then 15 minutes later, again. I looked at Marc and said, “I think I’m having contractions!” He got all excited but I told him to chill because I still wasn’t convinced it was anything. I was sure I’d be pregnant up until 42 weeks and my doctor would have to induce labor. I jumped in the shower around 11:30 and we went to bed. I didn’t sleep a wink and at about 3am Marc woke up and we started timing my contractions. They were about 30 seconds long and measured anywhere from 7-12 minutes apart. After an hour Marc went back to bed and I tried to take little rests between each contraction. At 6am Marc woke up, made breakfast and decided he'd be staying home from work that day. At this point we were convinced we’d be heading to the hospital early in the afternoon.  

At 8am we went for a walk around the bay, we made it to Fanuel Park and came back. During the walk my contractions were on average 45 seconds long and about 8 minutes apart. At the time it felt like things were happening pretty fast, but as I look back, it really took awhile for me to progress. The rule of thumb we were going by was the 5-1-1 rule; contractions that are 5 minutes apart that last for at least 1 minute in length and continue for 1 hour.

I was pretty exhausted because I hadn’t slept the night before so I laid on the couch and as each contraction came Marc would massage my back and I would try to rest in between them.  Unfortunately they were more intense when I wasn’t walking or bouncing on the yoga ball so getting rest in between them was a challenge. Marc made us lunch then I took a bath. It really wasn’t that comfortable so I only lasted about 10 minutes. Marc took a 30 minute nap. That afternoon we took another walk around the neighborhood and my contractions started following the 5-1-1 rule! We were getting somewhere! But I still wanted to wait as long as possible before going to the hospital for fears that they would turn me away because I was only 1 centimeter. We ate dinner and around 7pm tried to go for another walk but we only made it down the block and turned back. We decided we’d start packing for the hospital as the contractions had been holding up for a couple hours at the 5-1-1 rule.

We got to the hospital and at 10pm the nurse checked me and guess what?!?!?! Fully effaced but only 1-2 centimeters. L I was totally bummed; I thought for sure I was further along. The doctor on call recommended we start pitocin to speed things up since I was already 1 week past my due date but I really wasn’t comfortable with that because my body was obviously going into labor on its own and doing what it was supposed to be doing. We decided to leave and continue to labor at home instead of walking around a hospital in a hospital gown and being under the pressure of the hospital staff. Although we were a bit confused because we followed the 5-1-1 rule before going to the hospital and now we had no rule to go by. The nurse told us, “You will know” when it’s time to come back. Okay, great advice…NOT. We got home and by then it was Wednesday night, I was officially still pregnant at 41 weeks…it was time to take a belly photo. So here it is. Yes, I look a little frazzled, but I had been up for 24 hours at that point, so no judging.

41 weeks

At midnight we went to bed. Well, Marc went to bed. We decided again, that it would be a good idea if he got a few hours of sleep so we both weren't completely delirious. This is when my contractions started getting really intense. I thought they were bad before, well now they were really bad. For the next 4 hours there was no relief, even between contractions. I was slithering around on the floor trying to find comfortable positions. I was bouncing on the yoga ball. I was walking around trying not to make too much noise while Marc was sleeping. When Marc woke up around 4am he could totally tell that something in me had changed. This must be what the nurse was talking about…the whole, “You will know”, comment. Marc made the decision that we should go back to the hospital, I was a little worried because it had only been 5 hours and not enough time for things to progress enough but we went anyway. We left for the hospital at 5:30am on Thursday morning, checked in and at 6am and the same nurse, Brooke, checked me and I was at 6 centimeters! Hallelujah! Time for the epidural please. By 7am the epidural came and I was in no pain…WOW, what a relief.  

My sister showed up around 10am and stayed for the entire thing, she was a great coach and held my left leg and pushed me on during every contraction. Dr. Riley came to the hospital to check me at 10:30am and I was at 9 centimeters…holy crap things were moving fast. I thought for sure I’d be having a baby in the next hour. Well, Dr. Riley had 2 surgeries at a different hospital he had to attend to and said he’d be back around noon. My water hadn’t broken yet so they kept it in tact until Dr. Riley could come back. He came back around 1:30 and I was 9.5 centimeters and then he broke my water. He left again to finish up his appointments for the day at his office which was just down the street and said he’d be back in a few hours. The nurse checked me a bit after he left and said I was a full 10 centimeters! She said I could start pushing but I wanted to wait until I felt the urge to push so that I wasn’t just pushing to push. That happened around 3pm and I started pushing during each contraction, I was a little worried because Dr. Riley wasn't there, but the nurse didn't seem worried about it. I thought after a few pushes he would be out...haha, NOT. Now I understand why they weren't in a hurry for Dr. Riley to get there, it took me 2 hours of pushing before Caiden came out. I had had the epidural now for 8 hours but couldn’t sleep through it because I had this muscle in my back that was hurting and preventing me from getting comfortable. So being up for a few days was already draining and now pushing during each contraction for 2 hours was definitely hardcore physical exhaustion. Dr. Riley showed up at around 4pm, the last hour of pushing. During the last hour I could really feel when each contraction was coming and knew when to push. During the last 15 minutes came so much pain I couldn’t believe it. I could have pushed the epidural button but I think I just totally forgot about it during the moment. Seriously, I thought I was going to give birth to my entire insides, the pressure was so intense I thought I would pass out at some points. Finally at 5:16pm out came Caiden and my doctor had me pull all 8 pounds 15 ounces of him onto my chest.

The amazing Dr. Riley and the nurse who was there "pushing" me on.

8 pounds 15.2 ounces

After a few minutes of skin to skin the nursery nurse took him to the warmer table to check all his vitals, weigh him, etc. I was so delirious at this point it didn’t really all click for a few more hours what was about to happen. He was running a fever when they first checked him, around 100.3 or so, I don't recall exactly. But the nurse did everything else then checked him again and it had increased to 100.5 or so. They told us they had to take him to the NICU to be monitored for 6 hours. They weren't admitting him, but they had to take him and if all was good after 6 hours they would bring him to my room. After a few hours they took me to my recovery room and Marc and I tried to get some sleep. At 1:30am a NICU nurse came to our room and said that they were admitting him to the NICU because he had stopped breathing a couple times. He always came back on his own when they would stimulate him, with no additional oxygen, but it wasn’t normal and he would need to be monitored 24/7 for at least 48 hours before they would release him. I hadn’t seen him since they took him off my chest after he was born so Marc wheeled me down to the NICU. It was so sad to see him in there, hooked up to all the monitors and an IV in his little hand. They suspected he had an infection so they started antibiotics on him. He would continue to get antibiotics every 12 hours until he was released. It just didn’t seem right that such a big boy would be in the NICU.

Over the next 2 days the NICU nurses would call my room every couple of hours or anytime he really wouldn’t stop crying to have me come down and feed him. Trying to breastfeed while he was in the NICU was the hardest thing ever. I’m really glad I stuck with it, but looking back I’m not sure how I did it. If he would have been in our room it would have been a whole different story. But I would have to get dressed, go all the way across the hospital, sit in a big, bright room with everyone and their mom watching and try to nurse while he was hooked up to all these monitors that were beeping every second. It's a good thing they had me on some good pain killers at that point.

Aunt Sara holding Caiden for the first time in the NICU.

On Saturday I was set to be released from the hospital however Caiden wasn’t going to be leaving the NICU for at least another 24 hours. It was such a horrible feeling to think that we would be leaving the hospital without our baby. However the hospital came through in the end, they have a couple of free rooms available for mothers who have been discharged and whose baby’s are in the NICU and they give priority to those who are nursing. Fortunately one of the rooms opened up on Saturday morning so I was able to stay at the hospital until he got released. Marc on the other hand was dying to get home and sleep in our bed. There was only one bed in this room, unlike the postpartum rooms which had two beds, so he went home and slept Saturday night.

On Sunday morning Marc came back up to the hospital early in the morning after getting a good night sleep. I, on the other hand, was going to the NICU every 2 hours and was still so exhausted. I don’t think I had slept for longer than 2 hours since Tuesday night at this point. We weren’t sure yet if Caiden would be coming home that afternoon or if we had to wait until Monday to bring him home. The blood work they did on him the day before showed that his white blood count was high, which meant he was fighting off an infection, so it’s good they had him on antibiotics. But at the same time he hadn't had any other problems and didn't have any other problems breathing after those first few hours of life. The NICU doctor came to do his rounds that morning and cleared him to be discharged that afternoon! It was the best news ever! We came home on Sunday night around 5pm and spent the first night alone with our baby. 

Leaving the NICU on Sunday afternoon

Changing him into his going home outfit.

Getting ready for the car ride home!

The entire experience was crazy, I still can't believe I had almost a nine pound baby inside me and how the heck I pushed him out. We think he's the cutest thing ever and are pretty sure everyone else thinks the same thing...haha, biased much?!?