Luke Benson Green

Here comes the birth story, for those of you that have asked/are interested.  Meaning if you don't care to read that sort of thing, skip the reading and just look at the pictures, or just wait for the next post. 

On Spud's due date June 14th, 2013

Saturday June 15th, 2013
Dallin and I had made plans with our friends the Smathers and Darrell to enjoy the nice weather with a picnic at Sunnyside Park.  Just as Darrell arrived at about 6pm to go meet the Smathers at the park,  I went to the bathroom, as was protocol seeing as I was peeing literally every hour for the last 2 months of my pregnancy, only to feel as though my period had started as I was washing my hands.  I quickly put on a pad and told Dallin I thought my water had just broke to which he jumped into excited daddy mode.  However, since there were no contractions, I told him we could take our time to make sure we got everything and what not.  We gave Darrell the picnic food to take to the Smathers and then headed to the hospital, with a towel wrapped around my bottom half since it was pretty much Niagra Falls down there.

Rockin' the orange towel

We arrived at the hospital around 6:45pm, still no contractions and got all checked in to our room.  The nurse attempted to check my dilation only to fail since my cervix was still so high that she could not even reach it.  Not a good sign when the water has broken already.  So, they called the midwife from my dr's office that was on that night (my dr had gone out of town Thursday) to come in.  She said we would wait until 10pm for contractions to start on their own, but if they didn't, they would start me on pitocin since risk of infection is so much higher once the water has broken.  She sent us out to walk up and down stairs for the next 2 hours...

Sunday June 16, 2013
Ten o' clock rolls around, still not a single contraction that I can actually feel.  They started me on pitocin which got the ball rolling almost immediately.  By 3am, I was dilated to 6cm, and in a lot of pain.  So much so that in between contractions my body was shaking uncontrollably which made it very hard to ever let my body relax.  The contractions with the pitocin were registering an intensity above 12, which come to find out normal contractions rarely go above a 10.  Because of all this, I decided to get an epidural just to take the edge off to make it to the end.  When they put the epidural in, he said it would probably hurt a little when he gave the numbing shots and that most women say the shots hurt quite a bit.  When he said he was finished, I was shocked because nothing he did hurt at all compared to the contractions I was having to which the nurse said, "Well, I guess we know you are in active labor, then!" Along with that they kind of lied when they said pitocin contractions were no different that regular contractions but they wanted to be supportive of my choice to have a natural birth.

Only clear liquids...But my midwife let me have a granola bar as long as I kept it hidden from the nurses...

I had him put me on the lowest dosage of epidural which was just enough to make each contraction barable.  About an hour later, the nurse came in and had me lay in different positions because Spud's heart rate was going down with each contraction.  She also lowered my pitocin dosage from a 6 to a 1, explaining that because a lot of the amniotic fluid had come out, little man did not have a whole lot of coushin with each contraction and was not liking them very much at a such a high intensity.  Changing positions didn't work, so she ended up pumping saline fluid into my uterus to act as a pseudo fluid until he was ready to come out.  The combination of the fluid and the lowered pitocin did the trick and his heart rate stayed normal.

At 7am, I was dilated to 9 3/4, and I could feel little man just wanting to come out!  They called in my midwife again.  When she arrived at 8am, I was a 10 and ready to push.  Dallin was not planning on watching, but when the nurse didn't really give him a choice and told him to grab a leg, he was amazed at how amazing the whole experience was of seeing little Spud's head poking in and out.  He also said that the pushing part was a lot more laid back than he imagined and we agreed that if the movies portrayed how that step really went, it would be a very boring movie. 

At 9:03am, Spud made it into this world at 8lbs 15oz, 20 inches long, to everyone's surprise.  All the nurses were guessing a 7-7.5lb baby.  They all were mesmerized as to how that big baby was inside my little belly.  He was perfect.  That first moment I saw him, all red and squished, then getting to hold him right away is definitely one of my most cherished moments.  Simply amazing.
 

 

Although I was technically in labor for 15 hours, it did not seem that long, at all!  Even the hour of pushing felt like 15 minutes, tops.  The whole experience is an out of body experience to which even now I think back and don't feel like I went through it, but I have little Luke as a reminder that we did one of the hardest, most wonderful things a woman's body can do, together.   I could not have done it without Dallin there by my side giving gently head and back rubs, holding my hand and just knowing that he was there for us every step of the way.  At one point I told him I was impressed with how calm he was to which he replied, "It is taking a lot of effort!" 

Proud daddy

Overall, I am glad with how things worked out, even though pretty much nothing other than not getting a c-section, went how I imagined it going.  We have a happy, hefty, healthy baby boy who brings such an amazing spirit into our home.  Honestly, anyone who has experienced the miracle of bringing a life into this world has to find it difficult to doubt the existence of God. 

Dallin's work brought us some dinners, including some potatoes...

 

First family photo

In love