Birth Story

Wow, I'm getting around to this much sooner than I expected. My baby boy is sleeping in his bouncer right in front of me. I can't believe he's already a week old. Here is his birth story.

I was induced on July 20th. We got to the hospital around 6:15am and the doctor broke my water and started the pitocin drip around 8:15. The contractions started shortly thereafter. I managed them for a couple of hours so I could experience the labor process. They weren't too bad, but it was a full house that day in labor and delivery and I didn't want to get stuck waiting for the epidural for longer than expected. I'm glad I asked for it when I did because it still took about 45 min to get situated. I got the epidural around 11am. My mom thought my contraction faces were funny because I didn't make a big deal about them. I'd be mid sentence and say, "Hold on", make a face for about a minute, and continue my conversation.



Holt's heart rate was dropping on an off throughout the day depending on the contraction. Around lunch time they put me on oxygen until he made his debut!



I was progressing exactly how I should for a first timer, 1 cm an hour, and the doctor was ecstatic with our progress. This went on until about 6:30 when they determined I was fully effaced and 10cm. Ready to start pushing! The doctor had her doubts all along that Holt would arrive vaginally, but honored my wishes and let me try as long as we were both doing well. Unfortunately, it was not progressing as well as she hoped. His heart rate would drop drastically when I pushed and come back up again with my intense breathing methods once it was over. It was a well coached "Deep breath in, slow breath out" between each contraction. This was proving to be exhausting for both of us. They could see his head, but it was not crowning like they hoped it would have after an hour. Dr. Westerholm made the final call and rushed us to an emergency C Section about 7:30. I was prepared for this all along so I was able to remain calm. Kyle did too. Within minutes they had thrown him some scrubs and started me on the right meds. Although I could not feel anything, the pressure of what they were doing was INTENSE. I couldn't believe it. Kyle said the table was shaking violently as they tried to get Holt out. I kept hearing the doctor say, "This is a big baby, this is a big baby." At one point Kyle said she was on the table pushing down and pulling with her other hand while another doctor also pushed down. All I could think was, "This is going to suck tomorrow!" Haha. He was out at 7:55pm and it took them another 20 minutes or so to put me back together again. The medicine made me so sleepy after his birth that I barely got to experience his first moments. I heard him cry and tears just started flowing. It was one of the most emotional experiences I have ever felt. To see and hear your baby cry is indescribable. The doctor was right about his size, he weighed in at 8lbs and 20.5inches long. That is a big baby, but an especially big baby for me. Kyle got to cut the cord and hold him right away. I was a little out of it, but so happy to have him here.




The first time he recognized my voice, I'm a Mommy!

So he was finally here! I didn't know but after the C Section they take out the epidural. A little too soon if you ask me! They gave me some morphine but I could feel the pain immediately. This forced us to wait on inviting in the anxious visitors in the waiting room! They were going crazy. I kept telling Kyle, "It's ok, I can do it. They can come in." He was adament and said, "No, this is about you, not them. They will get to see him, you need to feel good first." About 30 minutes later I started feeling better. This was about 9:30 and they were going nuts! I was shivering from the medication which was not helping my soreness. Who knew how swollen I would be!

Mommy to the rescue

Grampy and G

Grandma and Grampa

Uncle Trent

First Family Photo

We were discharged on Friday. All of his initial visits with the pediatrician went perfect! We have our 2 week appt next Tuesday.


We're adjusting to our new life. He's waking up once in the middle of the night, and having a hard time going to sleep again. We'll get through it. My mom left today and I am still not sure how we'll get by! She was such a big help. It was harder saying goodbye to her this time than it was when I left for college. I'm nursing him and that is going well too. I turned into Heidi Montag overnight! That is our story and we are so very happy to be home with him. The entire experience has been so surreal. I'm looking forward to seeing my expecting friends and family members go through the same thing over the coming weeks!