Walker's Birth Story

Monday May 14th, 2018:

Monday morning I had an appt with my OB to sweep my membranes and talk about an induction. I was nervous about going over my due date again and having a really big baby and needing a c-section. My Dr was willing to induce me before my due date, but after 39 weeks. But she wanted to sweep my membranes to give my body a chance to go into labor on its own. 

Welp, between 37-39.5 weeks, I had my membranes swept a total of 5 times, and still did not go into labor. 

That morning we came in for the 5th sweep. I was dilated to 5 and having some contractions, but they were mild Braxton Hicks, so I didn't think much of them. My Dr told us to not go home just yet and to walk around for about an hour and if I have more contractions, then I needed to go up to labor and delivery triage.

After walking around the hospital, up and down stairs, trying everything to help get me into labor, I did have more contractions and I thought my water broke a little bit, so we headed up to triage. They put monitors on me, gave me some water, and called my Dr in. She said my water wasn't broken, but they noticed Walker's heart rate dropped when I was having contractions. They said that alone was enough to admit me. So the induction began, we were admitted and having a baby!

By this time it was around 9:30 in the morning. They first they started an IV of fluids to help with Walker's heart rate. We waited another 2-3 hours and then they got me started on Pitocin to help regulate my contractions. My Dr wanted to break my water to help things progress quicker and I wanted the epidural before she did that. So we waited for what seemed like forever to get an epidural. Once the epidural was in and working, my Dr came in and broke my water around 2pm. There was so much fluid that came out my Dr said "Well, that's why your belly looked so big. You had all that fluid in there. Yep, you're definitely gonna have about an 8.5 lb baby." 

That's what they told me with Waylon too, and he was 9 lbs 6 oz.

I could tell the hormones were getting to me, and having the epidural and not being able to move around, things get to you. Cameron came back from getting food at the galley and I was crying haha I wanted our other son, Waylon, with us. I missed him. That was the longest I've ever been away from him, and I just wanted our little family together.

Once I gathered myself together again. The nurses brought in the peanut yoga ball to help with dilation. My OB had already ended her shift, so another Dr would be delivering Walker. We were getting close to the end of the day and they had upped my pitocin. My contractions were much stronger and about 2 minutes apart. It didn't take long and I was finally at a 10. 

This time around I was determined to not spend 3 hours pushing, again. My hope and goal was to push for an hour or less. This time Cameron and I had a plan to help me push. I could barely get my shoulders off the bed, so I asked him to put an arm behind me and lift me while I pushed.

At 11:45pm, we started pushes. I asked the nurse to bring in the mirror because it helps me to see my progress and I can push myself more. And just like with Waylon's delivery, I threw up right before we started pushes. While pushing, I noticed some pain near my tailbone. The nurse said that Walker was face up and facing my left hip, so the back of his head was on my tail bone. But once I pushed him down some more, the pain was gone. At midnight, the Dr came in ready to catch Walker. During the next few pushes I threw up some more. I pushed a few more times and I finally had Walker crowning. When I got his head out Amniotic fluid shot across the room haha I actually had no idea this even happened, Cameron told me about it later. 

The nurse told me to take a break and breathe in more oxygen, but I didn't want to, my body just wanted to push. I did stop for a second to get some air to prep for the next push. The Dr started taking off the end of the bed ready to catch Walker. I remember thinking "At this point with Waylon, I had one push left. So that's it Chels, one more push and he's here." So I gave it my all, I pushed and pushed and pushed. During this push, Walker pulled a 360 move and he went from face up to face down. He still wasn't out yet. His shoulders were barely through. His shoulders never got stuck, they were just a little snug. Everyone kept telling me "Almost there, one more push, he's almost there, just give it one more push." I gave one last big push, and he was out! at 12:33am our little Walker was here. A total of 45 minutes of pushing. I remember telling Cameron, "I didn't even break a sweat this time!" haha

They laid Walker on my belly, Cameron cut the cord and Walker's hand clasped around my finger. He was crying, of course, so I started talking to him and he instantly stopped. I felt his legs and they felt smaller than Waylon's, so I thought, "Maybe my Dr was right, maybe he will only be 8 lbs.". They let me hold Walker as long as I wanted before they weighed and measured him. I was very curious about his weight, so I let them take him and weigh him. As I'm laying in the bed, Cameron is standing in front of the scale so I couldn't see the numbers, so I just waited patiently for them to say the weight out loud. Except the only words out of anyone's mouth was "Oh my gosh!" Gasps were everywhere, The nurse looked at me with her hands over her mouth in shock. I looked around and kept saying "What? What is it??" But nobody answered! So I said "Somebody needs to say something now! What? What is it??" And the nurse just said "Look!" Cameron stepped back to reveal the scale. 10lbs, 3 oz. I was FLOORED! I was so shocked! I was so terrified of having a 10 lb baby and not being able to delivery that baby vaginally. I could not believe I had just delivered a baby that big, and how easy it was to get him out! 

I truly underestimated the capability of what our bodies can do. 

We spent the next 38 hours in the hospital before we were finally discharged. Luckily, everyone is healthy and doing well. I can't believe how quickly my body is recovering. I feel like I've bounced back quicker this time.

Waylon is so in love with his baby brother, and he has made this transition much easier on us. we're so excited to be a family of 4 now and I can't wait to see Walker grow and develop his little personality.