Cedric’s Birth Story

The days were growing warmer and the contractions that came every day were growing stronger. Not to my preference my body makes a slow long process of birth. I wish I could stay that I embrace this with patience, but in the end, I was employing every natural induction method to get the baby into my arms. The romance of pregnancy was over. Every day for two weeks my contractions would grow stronger. I would think, “Perhaps tonight is the night that will end the waiting. Perhaps tonight I will know how your birth story ends.”

Labor Begins

Around midnight on the 7th, the contractions came stronger and closer together. Because I had tested positive for group B we would have to get to the hospital with enough time to administer two rounds of antibiotics. They were hard enough and close enough together that I was sure this was the time we should go in. Everyone had said that the second one goes faster, and I didn’t want to arrive too late.

Birth Story False alarm

Joseph grabbed the bags and my father-in-law arrived to watch Keaton while we were gone. I should have known that since I was worried about my hair we weren’t ready yet. Sure enough, all the fuss of leaving the house had caused my contractions to all but stop on the way to the hospital.

I was so upset that we had caused my father-in-law to get up and come over that we decided to go ahead and see how labor was progressing… it wasn’t, and they sent us home.

With the upset of the night, Joseph was able to take the day off work. We took it all slow and I had more contractions all day. We had promised Keaton we would take him to the zoo before we had known that I would go into labor that night. I decided the walking wouldn’t hurt, so we packed up and went anyway. Looking back it may have not been my best idea, we were stopping every so often for contractions and Keaton was the only one enjoying it.

Twelve am of the 8^th it started. The moment I had been waiting for. There was no wondering if today would be the day. The contractions were strong three to five minutes apart, and I knew there was no more waiting. I curled in a ball and let my body do what it was made for.  We also didn’t want to go to the soon hospital, only to be sent home like the night before, so we waited. I listened to my relaxing music. Thanks to the Nyquil I had taken the night before for my allergies, I was falling asleep between every contraction for most of the labor.

Headed to the Hospital

At 4 am we made our way to the hospital. When they checked me, I hoped for at least a little progress. The nurse gasped, “She’s already a 6, hurry to get her IV. Maybe the baby can have one round of antibiotics”. She told me she thought I would meet my baby in a couple of hours. I cried, so happy that we were almost done. I had done an unmedicated birth with my first, so she asked if that was my plan, but I requested an epidural (56 hours of unmedicated labor to get one baby out is plenty for one lifetime and by that point, I had been in serious labor for 8 hours).

After the epidural, I lay there in peace, drifting in and out of sleep. In my wakeful moments, I was griping my love’s hand not with pain, but with excitement to see our baby’s face. Also questioned why I had thought an epidural was a bad idea the first time and wondered if it would be weird to name our baby after someone who invented something so wonderful. (I know all weird thoughts, but don’t judge someone on meds)

The hope was that the baby would wait to be born until 11, so he could get both rounds of antibiotics. The birth was a peaceful experience, no one to hurry my progress we all just wanted him in for a little more time. I guess at that point it was a blessing that I progress so slowly.

Cedric is Born

And then at 12, I could feel so much pressure, and somehow wiggling. I told the nurse and she checked and his head was almost already delivered. The midwife came in and with just a couple of pushes, he was earthside. Just like that at 12:44, as with all much-anticipated events, it was over and we were a family of four. I held in my arms this sweet boy and he melted into my skin like I had held him for months, and in a sense I had.

How did your birth go? Do you have long or short labors?

If you like this you may also like

Treasuring Tiny Gifts

When a Hug is the Greatest Gift