Birth Story

Before Gus was born I loved to read birth stories. The thought of childbirth scared me to no end and I wanted to be over prepared. I read countless internet articles and a few books, but nothing really prepared me for what I went through. It's a totally different story when it's actually happening to you. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed the experience of childbirth! It was certainly challenging and painful, but it was so rewarding! I wanted to write it all down while it is still fresh on my mind. Oh, and if you get grossed out by things easily I'd recommend that you not read this. Birth is not all that pretty!

So I actually went into labor on April 3rd. I was feeling weird that whole day. I remember walking around Home Depot with Rusty and I felt like Gus was literally going to fall out of me. I could barely walk around. Rusty actually turned around and asked me if I was gonna make it haha. I didn't think much of it because pregnancy made me feel like butt all the time, so we decided to go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  I actually started to feel better at dinner and I was up to watch a movie with Russ when we got home. I have been dying to watch You've Got Mail but Rusty doesn't like watching movies he's already seen so we decided on Sleepless in Seattle (same actors haha). Literally 5 minutes into the movie I got this horrible cramp in my back. About 5 minutes later I had the feeling again. And 5 minutes later I had another one..

I had Rusty google to see if my back cramps were actual contractions. Everything that I read said that contractions would feel like a tightening of the stomach so I was really confused. I remember thinking, "please don't let me be having back labor!" The cramps kept getting worse and worse so I caved and called my doctor. "Sounds like you're in labor. I'll tell them you're on your way!" It was that fast, y'all! One minute you're relaxing watching Sleepless in Seattle and the next minute you're in labor.

We arrived at the hospital at 9:30 and by that time my contractions were getting much worse. I had no intentions of getting an epidural. I wasn't a natural birth enthusiast or anything -- I just didn't want a needle in my spine. Well once my parents arrived and saw how much pain I was in they were basically like, "an epidural will be a good idea." You guys, I AM SO GLAD I GOT THE EPIDURAL. Seriously those things are literal heaven. All my pain was virtually gone. People had to tell me I was having a contraction because I never felt any. Seriously, best decision I ever made.

So because I couldn't feel anything I didn't really know how I was progressing. Around 2am or so they broke my water to get things moving. To be honest, from about 1030pm-7am labor was really boring. I watched HGTV the whole time while everyone else slept. It wasn't until 7am that I was dilated 10cm and I started to feel pressure. Now with the epidural, I thought that I wouldn't be able to feel much pain. That was the case up until around 7. The nurse told me it was time to start pushing and boy was I ever ready to push. At this point, I was feeling every contraction.

I pushed from 7am to 9:01am. Pushing was the worst part BY FAR. From 7-9 there was no relief, just constant pain. I remember a point where I told Rusty I couldn't do it anymore, but the nurse and Rusty were so helpful and encouraging. They kept saying how they could see his head of hair and how I only had a few pushes left (they told me I only had a few pushes left for about the whole two hours ;)

Finally I was at a point where they were ready to bring in the doctor to deliver. Once the doc arrived I had to push for about 10 more minutes before he was out. Those 10 minutes were definitely the hardest. I think I may or may not have belted out a scream here or there..haha.

I wish I could fully describe the feeling of seeing your child for the first time. This little baby was growing inside of me for the past nine months! I created a little human! Seeing him for the first time was something out of a dream. I couldn't believe he was MY baby and I get to take him home with me and I get to be his mother. The happiest moment of my life was when they put him on my chest and I looked up at Rusty and he was crying. This was my family and it felt so perfect.

So baby Gus weighed a whopping 9 pounds and 6.5 inches. He was 21 inches long and was born with a head full of hair. He was so perfect. And he is the perfect little addition to our family.