Saturday, June 14, 2014

Brady's Birth Story

THIS POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF LABOR AND DELIVERY. IT IS NOT JUST FOR THE MANY FAMILY AND FRIENDS WHO HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR IT BUT FOR MY RECORD AS WELL.

Hey, everyone.

I'm sorry I've left you all hanging but I haven't had a moment of free time since I gave birth. In fact, Brad is the one typing for me as I lay in bed with my sleeping angel.

Brady Scott Moyers was born June 5, 2014 at 1:53 am at the midwife birthing center in Knoxville. He was 7 lbs 3.5 oz and 20".

Here is the sequence of events. I tried to keep it as short as possible but it's still pretty long.

Around 2:00 am on the 3rd I woke up to what I thought was a really bad back ache with stomach cramps. I wasn't sure if it was contractions because I'd had lower back pain and some crampiness for a while but this was by far the worst I'd felt with them up to this point. I went to the bathroom and noticed I was starting to pass my mucus plug (which I continued losing in chunks all the way up until delivery).

I was up all that morning and was only able to fall asleep a few times because I was so uncomfortable. I had started timing the pain intervals and they were all different, so I wasn't sure if I was in pre-labor or what exactly was happening.

That day, we went to the park and took Oopsie on a long walk. All throughout the day, I was very uncomfortable but not in what I would consider much pain.

That night is when the ball got rolling faster. I wasn't able to sleep at all. The lower back pain and abdominal cramps were much worse but I still wasn't sure if they were contractions because they were still so irregular.

All day the next day I was pretty much on my hands and knees as the contractions came and grew more intense. That's the only position I found the least uncomfortable. The contractions were becoming more frequent and Brad finally convinced me that I was at the very least in early labor.

During the afternoon and early evening, the contractions continued to increase in intensity and were becoming more regular at about 8-10 minutes apart. By 8:30 pm, they were 3-5 minutes apart, which is considered active labor.

(Something I have yet to mention is that for the last couple weeks I'd been having Brad feel my cervix for dilation. He used to be a registered nurse, although not in obstetrics, but you can learn anything on Google.)

Brad checked my cervix that morning and it was still not dilated and had not dropped. When he checked in the early afternoon, his eyes got really big and his jaw dropped as he told me that my cervix was at the opening of my vagina. He felt it and said it was 1-2 cm dilated.

When active labor started around 8:30, he checked me again and was shocked that my cervix was now 4-5 cm dilated. I just couldn't believe it and thought he must not be checking it right.

The contractions continued and I was miserable. By 9:45, Brad insisted that he call the birthing center because he was concerned that I was going to deliver at home or in the car. The midwife on-call said to head on over. During the 25-minute drive, my contractions were two minutes apart and were keeping me off my seat. We arrived at 10:35 and the midwife immediately checked my cervix and said I was 6 cm dilated. (Brad gave me an I told you so wink and nod.)

While the midwife was preparing our room and filling the birthing tub, I stayed on my hands and knees and had Brad press on my lower back, which he did throughout my labor and delivery. My lower back felt like it was going to explode and him putting pressure on it was the only way I got a little bit of relief from the pain.

I got in the birthing tub for 90 minutes or so. It may have helped a little bit with the pain but it wasn't significant. It was nice that the bottom was padded because I remained on my knees while in it. I went through my transition while in there; that was excruciating. The midwife wanted to check me every few minutes but I kept refusing to get on my butt because it was so painful. Brad said all I kept saying the whole time I was in labor was "I can't!" It didn't matter what anyone said to me. My response was, "I can't!" During my transition, I even was doubting that I could deliver a baby. Fortunately, we knew beforehand that this is typical and Brad kept reminding me and telling me that we were going to get through this.

At some point while in the tub, I felt like I needed to push. The midwife shined a flashlight on me from behind and felt me and said I was 9 cm dilated. I got out of the tub because I was hot and went back to the bed. I pretty much remained on my hands through delivery.

It was around 1:15 am when I went back to the bed and began pushing. (Pushing is a love-hate thing -- at least for me. It felt good to push but it also was painful.) Brad kept reminding me that it was going to be over soon.

At one point, about an inch of Brady's very hairy head began poking out of me. Brad excitedly told me that about an inch of Brady's head was showing. I looked at him in horror and exclaimed, "That's it?!" It felt like a bowling ball was poking out, not a tiny head. Pain aside, it was pretty amazing to feel him coming out little by little. They also allowed Brad and me to feel the hair on the top of his head that was poking out.

Once his head popped out, my water broke it was only five minute or less before I gave the final push and his whole body shot out. As soon as he came out -- perfectly clean, by the way -- he began crying. They didn't have to suction his nose or mouth either. And he didn't have a conehead because he wasn't in the birth canal very long. They placed his naked little body on my bare chest and we stayed skin-on-skin for quite a while. During this time, Brad got to cut the cord.

I had a pretty bad uterine hemorrhage after the placenta was pulled out. There was blood everywhere. The midwives came in periodically to change the pads and sheets and to remove clots that were not coming out. Eventually, they gave me a couple medications to help stop the bleeding. The whole process was very painful and the room looked like a war zone with all the bloody sheets and blankets. I also had a labia tear that made urinating excruciatingly painful.

Later, I developed a fever, uncontrollable chills and vomited once; they were considering sending me to the hospital but we prayed for the fever to go down and it slowly did.

It wasn't until about 10 hours after delivery that I started to feel better. I took a shower because I felt disgusting. Around 2:00 pm we were cleared to go home.

God answered all of our prayers throughout my pregnancy. I didn't want to have to go to the hospital for anything and I also wanted a fast labor and delivery. He gave me all of that. I give Him all the glory. All of the strength I had came from Him. I am a wimp when it comes to pain but He got me through it.

In summation, being a parent is the hardest but most rewarding job in the world. You just can't imagine how much you can love another human until you have a child. I can't say enough how thankful we are for this precious gift God has given us.

Here are some pictures of our precious little angel. I will try to do a monthly update with pictures and such.







Love,