(FIRST ATTEMPT: FEB 18th - 10:02 AM CRYING BABY)
(SECOND ATTEMPT: FEB 21st - 1:37 PM BABY HAS HICCUPS; MUST BURP)
(THIRD ATTEMPT: FEB 23rd - 3:00 PM BABY DOWN FOR A NAP) I’ve attempted to write this blog post on several occasions now with no success. The moment that I find an ounce of free time, a comfortable seat to sit down in and open my laptop, our little Lawson always gives me a not-so-subtle reminder that he’s boss man around this house nowadays and that mommy’s blog posts can always wait. Touché, kid, touché.
But alas, I finally find a free moment where I think I can finally crank this out. “Free moment” meaning my child is sleeping inches away from me as I feverishly type and keep one eye on the computer screen and the other on the miniature warden that could wake up at any moment now and shut down this whole blogging party. So, I’ll get on with it. For both myself and anyone interested, I have wanted to recount a little of Lawson’s birth story here as well as his first weeks of living on this side of my belly bump and my postpartum recovery process. Because, let’s face it, it’s something he’s going to want to know about when he’s older. A big HA! to that, but I’ll continue.
BIRTH STORY —-
Due date fell on a Saturday and went by like any other day. I slept an impressive and rare 10 hours, got up, had breakfast, spent the day antiquing and running errands with Juston, stopped by the gym for a work out, and swung by our favorite Italian restaurant for take out before coming home for the evening. Around 9 o’ clock, I started to feel some cramping in my stomach that felt very similar to monthly menstrual cramps. They weren’t painful really, just annoying. As the hours went by, the cramps started to increase in intensity and started to come on more swiftly and in closer intervals to one another. Could these be contractions, I thought? Around 11 PM, we started to time the duration of the cramps. By midnight they were coming every 3 minutes and lasting around 30-45 seconds. By 1 AM, we decided that hospital was close enough in proximity that we might as well go and get checked to see if what I’m feeling is anywhere near progressing to the real smackdown of labor. Yikes!
2 AM - Made it to the maternity ward of the hospital and was hooked up to a contraction monitor and had my cervix checked by one of the nurses. I was only dilated to 2 CM (what I had been for the past two weeks). Bummer, dude! But on the upside - it was confirmed that those ‘cramps’ I was feeling were in fact true contractions. Which to me translated to: this show is getting on the road! Which then translated to the reality of: waiting for an undisclosed amount of time until further dilation when the “real” show starts. For anybody out there who knows anything about labor, you know It could be anywhere from a couple of hours, to a couple of days. There’s really no way of knowing until you live it.
3 AM - With that in mind, I got permission from the doc to get unhooked from the contraction monitor and was allowed to walk around in an effort to progress dilation naturally. After a couple hours had passed spent taking long strolls bouncing up and down the hallways of the hospital with no progress of sorts down under, we then decided with the doctor to go ahead and move forward with inducing my labor. I was in pain and already 40 weeks pregnant and DID NOT want to go home and have to start this process all over again on another day. Baby was done baking, it was time for him to come out of this momma.
5 AM - Got checked in to our delivery suite and the cramping had now moved it’s way to my lower back and was beginning to radiate up my spine and down to my legs. It was a sensation I had never felt before. A sensation I had not anticipated contractions could feel like. I consider myself to be a tough cookie with a high pain tolerance, but this was a pain that despite my best effort of positioning, could not be alleviated. The only way to cope was to literally stand straight up and just bear it until it passed. It was a pain that even physically made me sick to my stomach. No joke, I ralphed (old school word for vomit) about 3-4 times in between contractions and my awkward bouncing dance across the room.
(WRITING STOPPED - BABY WOKE UP FROM NAP- PAUSED UNTIL ANOTHER DAY)
(FOURTH ATTEMPT: Feb 24th - 9:12 AM BABY FED & ASLEEP IN MY LAP - COULD WAKE UP AT ANY MOMENT NOW - SHHH!)
Where was I? Oh yeah, in the middle of explaining the beauty of contractions! So, there I was, dancing across the room of our delivery suite and half-pretending to watch an episode of “Friends” on the television to distract me from the pain radiating up and down my body. J was splitting his time between massaging my lower back, cracking a few jokes, and making runs for ice chips since I was unable to eat or drink anything. What a guy, what a guy!
BY 7 AM - I crawled into the hospital bed and was given the Pitocin (to induce labor). At this time, I also made it abundantly clear I wanted the “good stuff” — i.e. an epidural. Prior to this, I never made any promises to myself about having a natural birth, but I wanted to leave opportunity open to experience if I felt like in the moment it was something I could handle and it wouldn’t interfere with my delivery. Hahahahaha is all I have to say to that now. There was no way I was going to be able to continue forward with a natural birth. Not only were my back contractions excruciating, but they were making me physically ill. I couldn’t fathom the thought of bearing down through a contraction, throwing up, and then concentrating on pushing out a little life. Pride aside, I needed some assistance. In the smallest way, I wanted to be able to enjoy my birthing experiencing. ENTER: Epidural to save the day! (Shout out to those natural birthing mommas though! I salute you!))
AT 8 AM - The sweet and precious soul that is the anesthesiologist came in and administered the epidural. Shortly after, my doc came in and broke my water. I was then told I would be able to rest while we waited for my cervix to further dilate.
9 AM - All was calm in the world! The lights were dimmed in our suite, J was snoozing on the couch, and I was feeling completely blissful, pain-free, and was now even able to laugh through an episode of Friends without feeling a contraction. After an hour of resting, the nurse came back in to check my cervix and I had dilated to 4 CM by 10 AM. “I’ll keep coming back every hour or so to check your progress,” I remember her saying. Cool! I was finally going to be able to sleep for a couple of hours while my cervix does it’s thing. “Just wake me up when it’s ‘GO’ time,” I remember muttering to her as she left the room.
11 AM - I felt the blankets move from on top of me and the cold hands of the nurse. “Sorry, Marissa, it’s just me again checking your progress.” After I realized it was just my good ole pal doing the hourly check up down there, I set my head back down on the pillow with the intention to fall asleep for another couple of hours. However, Baby Lawson had other plans. “Oh my God, you’re at a 10!” the nurse squealed. “I am going to get the doctor. Girlfriend you are ready to push!”
Wait, whaaaaaat? Come again? I was just about to go to sleep. I had went from 4 - 10 CM in an hour? That’s crazy talk, I thought. Even crazier was what went down in the next 41 minutes following that breaking news. What can now be referred to as the fastest 41 minutes of my life.
11 AM
- J woke up to the 10 CM dilation news. Hooray!
- Blankets were removed from me and my bed was being rolled forward in the room.
- Nurses started to pile in.
- The overhead lights were turned on.
- Stirrups were being attached to the foot of the bed.
- My legs were situated up in said stirrups.
- J made his way to my bedside and grabbed my hand.
- The doctor (a new one now on shift) came in and introduced herself
- With my legs spread as a wide as Texas, I teased: “Sorry I’m meeting you this way”
- She laughed and then snapped on her latex gloves
- At an estimated 11:20 AM, I heard the words “We already see his hair! On three, you’re going to start pushing momma”
- I took one last look at my hubby, to the episode of Friends I had been watching, and then closed my eyes to get to work
- At exactly 11:41 AM, my pushing came to a close when I heard the sweet shrill of my baby boy and opened my eyes to see his perfect little self being laid on my chest.
That was it. 20 min of pushing and he was HERE! I did it! I gave birth to our son. I just delivered a tiny little human. The world stopped. My breathing even stopped. Hysterical waterworks ensued, along with a ton of celebratory high-fives.
So there ya have it. Started from the womb and now he’s here!
Lawson Thomas Dosser
Born 11:41 AM February 7th 7 lb 8 oz19.5 inches long
Whew, it's a miracle I got that all out. Going to go love on my little dude now and save the ultra fun postpartum blog post for another time ;)
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