Grayson's Birth Story

I had the best birth story ever. Usually when you talk to someone they have these birth stories that make you say "There is NO WAY I'm having a baby!"

My best friend had her little girl three weeks before Grayson was born- 22 hours of labor, 4 hours of pushing and an emergency c-section later she told me "It was horrible!! I don't know if I can do that ever again!"

So here I was, terrified of giving birth to the kung-fu panda in my belly.

I was terrified of a few things- needles, blood, pain, my water breaking while I was teaching a room full of 9th graders, not being able to get pain meds, the whole birthing process- I was a nervous wreck.

But ya'll, I had the best labor and delivery anyone could ask for. I felt absolutely no pain at all. The worst part was getting the IV put in my hand- no lie.

At the end of the work day on Thursday, which happened to be school picture day- lucky me, I dropped my keys off and said "See you tomorrow, there is no way I'm having this baby tonight."

Life went on as usual. I came home, made dinner, ate with hubs and we watched some t.v. I graded some papers, and made a key for the test I was giving the next day. Totally normal night. We went to bed around 11 after watching an episode of CSI. Everyone kept asking if the baby was still moving, because when he settled down that meant he was ready to come out. Well, during CSI he gave me my usual beating; kicking, rolling, punching, wiggling. He was quite an active little buggar. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

At 1:03 AM I woke up to pee, a normal thing when you have a wiggling watermelon on your bladder. As I hit the hallway I felt a warm liquid seep out of me and soak my pj pants half way to the knees. My first reaction was that I had peed my pants, but I realized that wasn't me I had no control over that- my water had just broken. Uh-0h. I changed my pants and went to wake up the hubs. I said "Babe, you need to wake up my water broke." His response "Ill fix it in the morning". My husband is not a person who likes to wake up. I shook him again and repeated my statement and this time he heard me loud and clear and proceeded to leap out of bed.

We called the doctor, and got to the hospital a little after 2 AM. I had two complaints about the hospital- the first was when we went to check in they left us sitting there for 30 minutes before the lady came out of the back room. Hello??! I'm in labor here- I'm not checking in for a flight and got there an hour early. The second was the fact that there was zippo water pressure and hot water was hard to come by, which made for some cold post baby showers.

When we got to the labor/delivery room they confirmed that my water had in fact broken (yay for not peeing myself!), and hooked me up to the monitors. The little bean's heart rate went from 80-160 and was bouncing all over the place. I was also not contracting, at all. The doctor arrived, and checked me and couldn't tell much from the vaginal exam, so in came the ultrasound machine. After looking at everything they told me my cervix was behind his head. So that right there put me on bed rest, because they didn't want the cord to prolapse. After wheeling the machine out, they came back and the doctor told me they could try drug A to soften the cervix, then start pitocin..or they could do a C-section.

Now kiddos, when they say the word c-section within 30 minutes of you getting to the hospital- they pretty much know that we're going to end up in the OR at some point. I asked the doctor, who was also pregnant, what she would do. She told me she would take him now if it was her- so I told them to go for it.

Yes, the woman who usually needs bribed with presents to get a flu shot was electing to have major surgery.

My husband nearly fell off the chair. He said later he didn't know what was more shocking, how calm I was or the fact that I opted to be cut open.

Twenty minutes later they were walking me down to the OR and giving me the spinal. Now, I have to be honest- it didn't hurt at all. The local anesthetic felt like a small burn for 5 seconds, then the next thing I knew my foot was twitching because the needle was in my spine and I didn't feel a thing. I then told the anesthesiologist that I loved him, because at that moment he was my favorite person in the room.

They had already started cutting when the let Patrick into the room, and my loving husband took one look at me and said "Ya dead, mon?"

(I guess I did kind of look dead, but come on, I was giving birth to his child- a little sensitivity would have been nice!)

At this point, I felt like a disembodied head, and even when they said Id feel alot of pressure it didn't hurt at all.

Then at 6:11 AM they walked the most beautiful little nugget around the curtain and said, "Meet your little boy!"

And then my sweet little boy proceeded to pee on his Daddy. It was official, I was in love.

They got him all cleaned up and then they brought him over to meet me, and I just remember tears running down my face and kissing his little cheek. I couldn't believe I had done it, I was a Mommy and this was the little guy who made me one.

They took him off to the nursery and my husband went with him while they stitched me up and got me ready to go to recovery. I was in and out in an hour and a half, and only spent two hours in recovery. They did bring the baby in while I was in recovery to let me see him, and to let the hubs name him. Surprisingly, it only took him a few minutes to name him...I was worried it would be a two day process.

I was up and walking the next day, and have felt almost no pain as I healed. The spinal and the morphine did make me sick to my stomach, but I had been getting sick the whole pregnancy so it wasn't too different. It was all worth it, because that little guy made us a family and from the moment he was born neither of us could imagine life without him.

(Please forgive my appearance, no sleep + c-section + morphine= drugged up momma!)

So that was it. Quick and painless. No contractions, no pushing, no Lamaze breathing (I'd like a refund for those classes, please!), no real pain. Sure it was invasive and uncomfortable at times but it could have been worse. My baby was healthy, happy, beautiful and here- what more could I have asked for?