Personal Birthing Experience

My personal birthing experience – delivering my son Collin!

It was almost one year ago today – last Mother’s day to be exact (May 13). I was in the hustle and bustle of finishing end of the year report cards – determined to get them and much more done before Collin’s due date of May 28.  All day I had been having what I would describe as “cramps” and I didn’t pay much attention as I was focused on finishing my 40 report cards… Finally around 4:00 I finished and got up to stretch. I then went to relax on the couch and watch tv.  It was then I noticed there was regularity to my “cramps” so we timed them. 7-10 minutes apart.  My doctor suggested a nice long walk to see what would happen.  My husband, dog, and I went on an hour long walk in the rain at our local park.  The cramps were now full on contractions every 5 minutes or so.  My doctor decided it was time to make the hour drive north to our hospital just in case… We arrived at the hospital around 10 p.m. My contractions slowed on the drive up so we were sent to walk the halls of the hospital.  We walked and walked until 2:00 a.m. I was finally contracting regularly and dilating so we were admitted.  Once admitted and comfortable, I opted for the epidural – and it was grand! I was getting some sleep and so was my husband.  I easily labored all day Monday will no real pain but not a lot of progression either.  Finally around 12:00 p.m. on May 14^th, my doctor decided to break my water and get things going. I was also given pitocin to speed things up. Around 2:00 is was time to push! The moment I had been waiting for! This was not the easy part.  I was delivering 2 weeks early and thought things would go smooth but they didn’t go as well as expected… A lot was going on and things are fuzzy for me as I was sleeping between pushes from exhaustion.  Collin made it most of the way down by himself but then – GOT STUCK! The doctor had me push and push but nothing was helping. He tried to suction him a bit, that didn’t work, he tried the forceps, that didn’t work, he pushed on my stomach from up top, that didn’t work… He finally did an episiotomy and wiggled my little bundle of joy out around 4:00 p.m. He is perfect in every way! Of course I would rather he didn’t get stuck and things went a little smoother but he is just perfect! I was and still am so in love with this little boy.  (7 pounds, 13 ounces, 21 inches long!)

 1 Day Old and 11 Months old 

I chose this event because I was physically and emotionally present and I am a proud mom! I am also so glad to have delivered in a hospital because of the complications I did experience with the actual birth.  Impacts on my son’s development could have included loss of oxygen due to being stuck and this could cause brain damage - but that is not the case here. Collin should have every advantage that a typically developing child has and then some! Some milestones: rolling over at 5 weeks, First word (da da at 6 mo), crawling at 8 mo, walking at 10 mo. He says about 9 recognizable words and can understand so much more. He loves the outside and anything that moves – trucks, tractors, and 4 wheelers :)