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My Prenatal Massage Sent Me into Labor — Our Birth Story

April 14th, 2018 was the day our lives changed forever.

At 11:31 AM Rhett William finally made his magical entrance into the world, at a whopping 6 lbs and 1 oz.

WARNING MAMA:  You’re in for a long post here.  So grab some chocolate and your favorite tea and let’s get down to business.

But first… I need to tell you… I’m writing my birth story at the very end of 2018 for a few reasons.

  1. Originally, I was scared to write this post.  It’s super personal and raw, which completely scares me.
  2. I was still trying to process being a new mom for the past 8 months.
  3. I figured since it was the last day of 2018, I needed to write about the absolute best day of 2018. (Actually, my life.)

Alright, so let’s back it up a bit here.  My due date was supposed to be April 29th.  But, as the days drew closer and closer to April, I started getting what I call a “mom feeling”.  I ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT IN MY MIND KNEW that Rhett was going to be born on April 14th.   I can’t really put into words how I knew,  I just did.  I even marked it in my calendar as the day Rhett would be born.

The days leading up to the birth, we had quite a few appointments.  The doctors thought that Rhett was a very large baby because well…I was huge.  So, we had a few extra appointments here and there.  A few days before Rhett was born, I was dilated at about 2 cm.  Then, I went in again on April 12 and I have to be honest, I don’t remember how dilated or effaced I was at the time.  However, I do remember  everyone telling me he was coming…except my doctor.  She told me that he may come early, but that she wasn’t betting on it.

Here’s where the real story begins…

It was a Friday and I had just gotten off work.   Mama booked a pre natal massage because I wanted to relax a bit.   I went in for the massage and AS SOON as I put my belly on that pregnancy pillow they have on the bed, I felt the WEIRDEST feeling in my tummy.  I totally thought that Rhett was moving around oddly because I hadn’t been on my belly in months.  (When you have a prenatal massage, they have this pillow that you lay on and it has a belly cutout so you’re not putting pressure on your stomach) .

I still don’t know if  laying down this way caused my water to break or if it was just a huge coincidence.

As I laid down to relax I had an URGENCY to pee, but I was trying to ignore it.  I finally told the gal I had to use the restroom and when I came back I was ready to relax again.  HOWEVER…homegirl was talking up a storm. “Boy or girl?  What does the nursery look like?  What’s his name?  How far are you?  What’s it like?”  Usually, I’m a pretty social person, but this lead me to just wanting to cry and call it quits because it wasn’t relaxing….at all.  And, not only was that happening, but…..I HAD TO PEE AGAIN.

And so… I did.  And I did.  And I did.   I’m not exaggerating when I say that I probably used the restroom a total of 7 times while in my 50 minute massage.  She even asked me if I wanted to extend it (FOR FREE) since I spent most of my time in the restroom.  I declined and decided I just needed to go home, cuddle with Ross, and go for some chips and queso.

BUT EEEEEK OH NO MAMA…..The second I sat down in my car, I felt a big SWOOOOSHHHHH.  “I JUST PEED MY PANTS.” …   I immediately called Ross and told him that not only did I pee my pants, but that it just kept coming.  He was like, “Ummm, did your water break?”  The conversation continued like this…

Me:  “No, I don’t think so.  I think I just am peeing.  Ha…ha…Wait, why aren’t you laughing?”

Ross: “Katelyn, just come home and we can figure it out.  Everything’s okay, but I think your water just broke.”

Me: “Wait…WHAT…NO…Should I go to the hospital on my own?  It’s on the way home.  I’m going to the hospital.

Ross: “Babe…just come home.  Everything’s okay, I’m going to call the doctor when you get here and we can figure it all out.”

Me: “UMMMM I’M PEEING AGAIN.  I’M GOING TO PULL OVER. WHAT IS HAPPENING!?!?!?!??! HELPPPPPPP.

Ross: “It’s okay baby….Just keep coming home, I’m here.”

The conversation continued this way all the way home.  The moment I pulled up, Ross immediately came rushing out.  He looked at my seat and my pants and said, “Babe, your water broke!”  I was still in complete denial.  I told him that I still wanted to go to dinner and see what happened.  So, I came upstairs, laid down and Ross started dialing our doctor (unbeknownst to me).

The doctor told Ross that I needed to come in and that she too, thought that my water broke.  I still was like mmmm, nah.  I need to put my makeup on and go to dinner.  (Mama was a little hangry at this time.)  So, Ross promised me that if I got in the car to “just check” he’d get me some food.  LOLZ.  So, I announced that we would be getting Fazolis, hunnyyy.  We went through the drive through and the entire time my heart had butterflies.  I was so nervous, but was completely acting like nothing was happening.

Terrible quality, but this was one of the last pictures I took of the bump. We were sitting in the Fazolis line on the way to the hospital, tehehe!

As we arrived at the hospital, I distinctly remember yelling at Ross to not forget my drink and bread sticks. Ba hahaha!  We called ahead, so when we walked in, we immediately had a room.

This is the picture I sent my family and close friends, letting them know I was in the hospital!

As a kind, sweet, gentle nurse checked to see if my water did indeed break,  I held my breath.  “This could NOT be happening.  It’s too early….”  The nurse came back with the news that my sack did break….but, I still had another sack that had not broken yet.  Yep…I had two sacks.  I still to this day don’t know why.  Apparently it could be one of two reasons… I either at some point had two babies OR my original sack separated into two different layers.  I prefer to think it was the latter.

As the team took my blood pressure and and starting preparing to move us into the permanent room for birth, the nurse let me know that my blood pressure was super high.  This wasn’t a surprise, my blood pressure had been high throughout my pregnancy, but it was higher than normal.  I wasn’t too scared and Ross kept reassuring me that it was fine.  UNTIL…..

This older doctor came in and basically told us that I may or may not have a heart attack.  YEP.  This doctor told me that if my blood pressure continued to skyrocket, I was going to have a heart attack.  You can imagine that I went into FULL PANIC MODE.  I’m sure my blood pressure did not enjoy that in the least.  I started crying and basically told Ross to never marry anyone else because I was his only soulmate and that I loved him.  Haha —-Just kidding, but my thoughts went there for a second.  I was afraid something terrible was going to happen to the baby and myself.

As I sat there crying, trying to figure out what to do to make my blood pressure come down, that sweet nurse walked back into the room.  I told her the entire story and she proceeded to roll her eyes and let me know that the doctor was crazy and never has any sympathy.  She told me to let that worry go and that I was completely fine.  Thinking back about this nurse makes me want to go  give her the biggest hug ever, because although Ross was comforting me, she was able to let me breathe again.  I’d never been more scared in my entire life.

Okay, now let’s fast forward a little bit.  I went to my permanent room and the nurses told me to rest for the night.  They told me that in the early morning my doctor would be in to pop my other sack.  I was fine with it, so Ross and I got comfy and went to bed for the evening.  (I did text my family and friends throughout the night and had to ensure my mom a thousand times that I wasn’t having the baby yet 🙂 tehehe.)

Around 4AM I woke up to a few voices and huge medical instruments up in maahhh face.  I was super confused as to what was happening and honestly remember feeling so dazed.  I woke Ross up in a panic mode as the doctor went in to pop my other water sack.  Let me just tell you.  IT HURT. I was in SO much pain that I cried for what seemed like an hour.  (Side note:  Many people say they don’t feel a thing.  I think it all depends on you, the doctor, and the circumstances.  Don’t be scared about the water breaking…it’s really nothing compared to the joy of having a baby.)

They also started a round of Pitocin, which started up the contractions.  At first, the contractions were super easy.  They hurt, but I was also able to function and get through them one by one.  Eventually, I went to use the restroom and as I came back I almost fell over because 1.  I’m dramatic. And 2.  It hurt SO badly.

As they continued, Ross called the doctors in and asked if it was time for my epidural.  I was SO nervous for this.  I had heard so many horror stories and was going a little crazy as the anesthesiologist and his assistant came in.  I quickly received the epidural and felt good for an hour or so.   Unfortunately, the dosage was not enough.  The contractions continued to get worse, so Ross called the doctor back in and asked for another dosage.  Luckily, that part was an easy process and mama finally felt numb.

When I started feeling better, our families were able to come in and visit for a bit.  They were SO excited.  But, as they were in the room, a worried nurse came in and I’m not kidding here…yelled, “WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE BABY?!”  You can imagine the fear that took place in those seconds.  Everyone fell silent and let her do her work to see what was happening.  Apparently Rhett had started moving, which in turn affected the heart monitor for him.  She went to check how dilated I was and to everyone’s surprise I was ready to push hours before they thought that I was going to give birth,

As our parents left, the nurses came in and told me that I was going to do a few practice pushes before the doctor arrived.  They asked if I wanted a mirror (DUH!) and to Ross’ surprise asked him to hold my leg.  He always tells everyone that he was just soooo surprised that it was only a couple nurses, a doctor, and us in the room.  He imagined that we would have a huge team during the birth and that he definitely would not be the one holding my leg.  In fact, Ross said that he wasn’t going to watch the birth and that he’d rather just hold my hand and help me through the process, letting the doctor’s do the work of getting Rhett out.

Well….that did not happen. Ross was SO into it.  From the moment the nurse asked Ross to hold my leg, he was INVESTED in watching this birth happen, haha!  After two practice pushes the nurses started yelling for the doctor and asked me to stop pushing.  The doctor quickly scrubbed in and within 4 or 5 pushes, little man WAS OUT!

As I was pushing, I looked at Ross and saw him crying as he screamed, “HE’S COMING, HE’S COMING!”  I was stunned, because I thought it would take us awhile to push before he came out.  When I looked in the mirror and saw that little head with all that hair, the most magical feeling come over me.   I was giving BIRTH.  I was becoming a mama in that exact moment!

All this time I had been so scared, nervous, and excited for this moment.  I’d thought about this for what seemed like years…and it was happening right in front of my eyes.

As Rhett came out the doctor yelled that he had the cord around his neck.  Once again, I was super scared.  However, seconds later the doctor got it off and Ross was able to cut the cord.  Little baby boy came into my arms for a quick second and soon they washed him off and took his weight while I finished pushing out the sac.  TMI?!  Most people say they don’t even remember that.  I distinctly do.

I remember Rhett, Ross and the nurses all by the warmer as the doctor asked me to continue to push.  It was odd, in a way I felt lonely for those few seconds.  Why was my baby not with me?

I’m not sure why I felt that way in those moments, but it was a feeling that I had to write about.  Looking back, I wish they would have let me keep him in my arms for a longer period of time.  I had just delivered a baby minutes earlier and my husband and baby were apart from me.

However, within a few minutes, baby boy was back into my arms and we were able to do some skin to skin.  I had an immediate connection with him.  I felt like I had known him forever and was so joyous that I was finally able to hold him, kiss him, and love on him.

Soon after Ross was able to do some skin to skin as well, our parents came in and got to love on the little man.  I remember my mom always telling me that when she gave birth, a huge moment stuck out to her.  As the whole family came to oodle over me, her father walked up to her and asked her how she was.  It always brings tears to my mom’s eyes.

As you can imagine, when everyone walked in the room, they flew straight to Rhett (and rightfully so).  However, my momma was the only one who came straight to me, touched my forehead, gave me a kiss, and told me she was proud of me.  Then of course, she flew straight to little Rhetty Roo as well.

I can’t tell you how much the moment meant to me.  It felt good to be acknowledged and cared about too.  Often times,  people forget that mamas go through a TON of pain and are still processing the birth physically and emotionally.  They deserve to be cared about and asked about as well.

Becoming a mama in those moments was the best gift I could have ever received.  It was hard.   But…..it was magical.

4/14/18 will always be the most beautiful day of my life.  That was the day we delivered a miraculous baby boy.

PS- Rhett, if you ever read this…. I want you to know that being your mom is by far, the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I love you forever, my sweet baby boy.  Love, Mom

 

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