Our Birth Story

Everyone please welcome Ryker Joseph.

This 'little' guy weighs in at a hefty 9lbs 6.5oz and is 21.25 in long. 

His birth was truly something to marvel at. For days we had been trying all kinds of natural "inducers". I'm here to tell everyone that they do not work. I had my membranes stripped twice, religiously took Evening Primrose Oil, ate fresh pineapple and had sex. None of this worked. I was exhausted and my body really ached from carring him. 40 weeks came and went extremely fast. I was upset that he was still in me but we made a conscious decision to let him make an entrance. 

Sunday morning (June 22) I woke at 2 AM really needed to pee. I noticed I was contracting again and brushed it off. They were strong but I had been contracting for a month. When I crawled back in bed I just couldn't get comfortable. I decided timing my contractions would help pass the time. They were rather consistent but it really wasn't a surprise to me. They were 3.5 minutes apart and lasted around 45 seconds. They continued like this an hour before I decided to wake Chance up. I let him know I was getting in the shower and he followed me to continue timing. I kept hearing the water would help but it wasn't really doing much for me. Mind you, I also wasn't in a lot of pain. I gave up on the shower fairly quick and was ready to attempt to sleep again. As soon as I rolled into bed my water gushed everywhere. I started bawling for no reason at all. I felt like the water would never stop. Chance quickly got our bags in the car and I accidentally woke up the little. I had to cuddle him... (side note: I miss him SO much right now). The hospital is a relatively short drive for us and Chance was jazzed to go fast. When we arrived at the hospital I was only at a 4. It was a little disheartening but labor picked up extremely fast. I jumped to a 7 in just a few hours. I paced and peed. Pacing was the only thing that was taking the edge off. By 8 cm I gave in and asked for the epidural. I was over it and walking wasn't helping. I sat on the end of the bed and swung my legs through contractions. The movement was really helping but I was at a point where I couldn't breathe well. I was incredibly dizzy and worn out. I crawled up in bed and made Chance massage my back while frantically moved my hands. The epidural came 30 minutes later but it wasn't the end. The anesthesiologist could not get the catheter threaded. I ended up being stuck 4 times and leaning over for 45 minutes screaming through my contractions. The catheter still was incorrectly threaded but she gave up. By this time I was ready to push. The nurse laid me down to measure me and I was at a 9.5. She shrugged her shoulders and told me to push if I wanted that she would catch him. Another doctor came in just incase my midwife didn't arrive. I laid on my side and pushed through the contractions. It made them feel so much more tolerable. My doctor finally arrived and sat on a stool at the foot of my bed just talking to me. It took 30 very short minutes to push Ryker out. It was such an easy process until his head was at the opening. It sat there for a second and then I realized it wouldn't work. I decided to just push and he popped out. His shoulders were a little too wide and he had to be twisted at this point. This ended up breaking his right clavicle. He was a slow crier and they realized he had a tiny bit of fluid in his lungs and his breathing was a little fast. They only looked him over for a few minutes before handing him to me. They left him with us for at least two hours. It was amazing. 

Check out all of this hair!!

I feel amazing compared to my last birth. My body and emotions are so much healthier feeling. I'm so glad the epidural didn't work out. Ryker is such a good baby and B is already in love. I'm so happy to have them both.