The Birth of Wesley James

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When I imagined what my birth story would be with my third child, I can guarantee you it wasn’t how it turned out. My first was born in a very easy and fairly quick birth lasting about 9 hours from start to finish. My second was definitely longer at 18 hours. My third, well, my third was days. Yes, days. I’ve learned that nothing when it comes to giving birth is certain.

Wednesday March 7th

9:30 pm  Contractions start and they feel different than the typical braxton hixs. Stronger and they start to become rhythmic. Decide to get some sleep.

Thursday March 8th

6:15 am Call my parents. I’ve timed the contractions to be 3-5 minutes apart and about 30 seconds long for well over an hour.  Joe stays home from work.

Contractions continue throughout the morning and while they are close together, they don’t increase in intensity. I can easily talk through them and they aren’t more than 45 seconds long. Start to wonder why they aren’t progressing. Hmm….

2:15 pm Call my OB office to find out if I should go in to be checked.

4:00 pm OB office calls back and asks me to go to the hospital to be monitored as their offices are closing.

8:00 pm Been on monitor for a couple of hours at the hospital. I’m 4 cm dilated and still only 30% effaced. Contractions start to increase to 1 1/2 to 3 minutes apart and are 1 minute long. Start to have a hard time talking through them. Start thinking, ” This is it!”

9:30 pm Contractions are still strong and close together. Get checked again and I’m still only 4 1/2 cm (at best) and still thick. I feel disappointment. They decide to have me stay the night and give me morphine and sleeping pills to help me sleep.

Friday, March 9th

Felt contractions throughout the night although not as close together. Wake up to find myself still at 4 1/2 cm. Hospital baffled as they thought I would have progressed into full labor by morning. Ask me to stay for a while. I’m free to walk around and try to kick start labor.

11:00 am I’m still only at 4 1/2 cm with no progression. Contractions are still there but not as regular or as intense. Since I just turned 38 weeks the doctors don’t want to intervene. I leave the hospital, feeling deflated.

I lounge around, waiting, wondering what is going on with my body. Why is this labor so different than my others? Why is my body not progressing like it should? This is my third child and my other two did not feel like this. I am feeling very frustrated.

4:30 pm I decide to time my contractions since I’ve ignored them most of the day. Still at 6-8 minutes apart and 1 minute long for an hour but nothing that tells me it is time.  I give up tracking them.

I go to sleep with my contractions farther and farther apart.

Saturday March 10th

7:45 am I wake up and lay still to see if I’m contracting. After 5 minutes I feel nothing. Discouraged, I get out of bed to find that I’m a little wet. Go to the bathroom and question if perhaps my water has broke? In both my other pregnancies my water was broken for me so I’m not entirely certain.

8:30 am I get up from a sitting position and feel a gush. Now I’m pretty confident my water has broke.

10:00 am We go back to the hospital. On the way up I am leaking like crazy.

After two tests and then another round of testing because one was inconclusive, we learn my water has officially broken but I am still 4 1/2 cm dilated. My contractions are irregular and far apart. We walk around and take several flights up and down stairs in the hopes to start my labor.

3:00 pm I’m checked again and have no progress and still have inconsistent contractions. I’m started on pitocin.

5:00 pm My contractions have intensified and are getting very painful. I am coping with the pain and trying to decide whether I want to go completely natural as I originally wanted or have an epidural.

5:30 pm After another check and no progess in terms of dilation, I realize this might be a while and opt for the epidural.

7:30 pm  My contractions are consistent, strong and close together but I’m resting more comfortably after receiving my epidural. Nurse keeps increasing my pitocin. I’ve finally moved from that blasted 4 1/2 cm and am now 6 cm dilated.

9:15 pm  7 cm dilated. Nurse leaves room to tell nursery to prepare for delivery. Joe leaves to visit the rest room. 🙂

9:16 pm I scream out in pain as something starts changing rapidly in my body with a strange feeling. I cry out to my mom that I feel the urge to push. She runs out to grab a nurse.

9:20 pm I am checked again and discover I’ve gone from 7 cm to 10 cm dilated in a matter of a few minutes. They prepare the room before I start to push.

9:40 pm After pushing through about four contractions, our sweet baby finally enters this world and is immediately placed upon my chest. I am tired but thrilled beyond words to finally meet my sweet baby boy.

It was love at first sight. I’ve felt an instant bond with every one of my boys and the connection is beyond words.

Lucian and Warren were very excited to meet their new little brother and have really connected with him as well. It makes me proud to see them as such loving and thoughtful brothers.

While the birth of Wesley may have started out in a way I never expected, it ended in a way that I really couldn’t have imagined. A feeling of completeness within our family and so much love in my heart.