Rhett's Birth Story

Rhett's birth story began on May 18th at my 38 week doctor's appointment. My old doctor, Dr Thomas, retired so this was my first time being in the home stretch with my new doctor, Dr Swanson. I had explained to him my history of quick labors and he did a cervix check and told me I was at a two. He then said, "okay, lets talk" and explained since I was GBS+ this time around, he would be most comfortable scheduling me for an induction for that Sunday, May 23rd since he would be out of town the following week.

I had absolutely no previous plans for induction and was immediately turned off by the idea. I was induced with Drake, and while it was fine, I definitely preferred going into labor myself like I did with Carter. However, I did know it was a risk not choosing induction. For those unfamiliar with GBS, it's a naturally occurring bacteria we all have in our bodies that comes and goes at any given time. At 37ish weeks pregnant every woman gets tested for it and if you're positive at the time, you'll need to be given antibiotics through your IV during labor because it could potentially be harmful to the baby. Usually about 1 in 4 labors require this so it's not a big deal. However, the antibiotics take 4 hours to get one dose in and my labors (start to finish) don't last that long. I left the office kind of grumpy, declined to schedule at that time and decided to think about it. 

I went home and called two of my good friends: one is an anesthesiologist and one is a long time OB nurse who was there when Drake was born. I sort of expected them to laugh and say oh he probably just wants his paycheck since he'll be out of town during your due date, but they actually agreed with him saying I should prioritize guaranteeing a round of antibiotics. After those conversations, a pro/con list, praying about it and sleeping on it... I woke up and reluctantly agreed to schedule the induction. We were set for 6:30am on the 23rd.

Fast forward to Sunday at 5:30am, I get a call from St. Agnes that they don't have any beds available and that they'd call me when one frees up, but for sure not before 8am. So 8am comes and goes... and finally at around 11am, Richard gets antsy and calls the hospital. They said there are still two scheduled inductions ahead of me and that there are still no spare beds. We are obviously pretty disheartened with the news and decide to pick up the kids from my mother-in-laws house at 12pm (they spent the night previously) once church is over and just carry on like any other day.

It feels good to have the kids home, but Richard and I are still kind of wallowing. Around 5pm Richard calls the hospital again and they admit my induction probably won't be happening that day. Maybe first thing Monday. I'm obviously bummed and even more so because Dr Swanson was headed out of town on Monday so I would most likely just be delivering with some doctor I've never met. Richard and I joke and say that they'll probably call us at 2am knowing our luck, and prepare my sweet mother-in-law for that possibility since we were going to just have the kids stay home with us that night. 

Sure enough, at 1:25am I get a call from St. Agnes that there's a bed available and to come on in. I get some last minute stuff done around the house, give the boys a big kiss, Grandma comes over and we head on in. Richard is not allowed in until I'm situated in a room, so he waits in the car. Once I'm registered and in the L&D room at 3am, I tell him he might as well just sleep in the car while I get started on the 4 hour antibiotics because the couch is tiny and looks super uncomfortable.



I'm hooked up to a heartrate and contraction monitor and the nurse asks if I'm feeling any of the sporadic contractions I'm having and as per usual, I'm not. Between the check-in paperwork, IV hookup, and general nervousness, I'm able to drift off for about 45 minutes before they start the pitocin around 6:00am. At the start of pitocin I'm at a 3.
 


There's a nurse shift at 7am and my two new nurses Jovie and Suzie introduce themselves. They are super energetic and fun and inform me that Dr. Swanson is in fact still planning on coming to deliver baby which is all good news! My old nurse had been upping up my pitocin dosage since I still wasn't feeling the contractions. They check me again, and now I'm at a 4-ish which is actually more progress than I had when I was induced with Drake. One nurse asked if I would be okay with upping the dose again and the other jumped in and answered saying, "Crank her up she's here to have a baby!" Haha.

At around 8:15am Dr. Swanson comes in dressed in a super colorful Hawaiian shirt (he was off to visit his son in FL) to break my water and asks if I want an epidural. At that point, I was still undecided because I wasn't in any pain and didn't want to stall things. He thinks I'm crazy, but knows I've gone unmedicated before so doesn't push too hard. He breaks my water, and after about 5 minutes I really start feeling things and figure I better go ahead and just order it. Richard calls the nurses and they say there are two emergency c-sections so the anesthesiologist is going to be busy for a little bit and ask if I can hang with my pain level for about an hour. Richard says the baby will probably come before then and I'm thinking...crap, I blew it again. My nurse leaves at around 8:30am to see if there's anything she can figure out for an epidural. 

Things continue to pick up FAST and at about 10 minutes later I am super struggling. Richard calls the nurse again to see if  she has any news about the epidural. She comes in, checks me and I'm now at an 8. I went from a 4 with no pain...to an 8 and shaking in about 15 minutes. She freaks out an goes out of the room to call Dr. Swanson's phone and he's not answering. I'm now gripping the railings and Richard's hand, shaking pretty hard and realize I'm going to have to do this dang thing au naturale again. My body then starts pushing involuntarily and Richard calls the nurses and just says "umm...baby's coming" in thee most chill, nonchalant voice possible. It was both calming and frustrating lol.

They rush in as he's crowning and beg me not to push. Of course I try, but it's to no avail and baby Rhett is half way out. Richard notices the cord is wrapped around his neck...twice. He gets right in there and unwraps the first loop while the nurses put on gloves and help with the second loop and guide the rest of him out. The nurses are dying over the fact that they just did that and Suzie said it was her first baby delivery which she seemed proud of! Lol. 

Rhett came out kind of purple and looked so, so small to me. In fact, the first words out of my mouth were "oh no he's so small." They put him on my chest, Richard assured me he wasn't small and got him crying and my worries started to go away. I held him while the on-call Dr. came in to give me stitches and finished things off. I was still shaking pretty bad but was so happy that our sweet baby we waited so long for was here and safe. He nursed really well right away and after about an hour and a half of me hogging him they took his stats and he was 8lbs 6oz. Obviously not small, I had just forgotten how tiny newborns were.





Dr. Swanson came in after everything was said and done and just said, "Uh, wow!" and tells Richard he's lucky this didn't happen at home. I'm glad he ended up urging an induction because with me not feeling contractions until it's too late, who knows if we would have made it to the hospital otherwise. His birth story is definitely not one I would have hand picked, but it will undoubtedly be memorable.

So far Rhett has been probably our easiest newborn *knock on wood* and we are so thrilled to have his cute little squishy face around for the rest of forever :)