Christopher Thomas Clayton

Christopher Thomas Clayton

March 27th 6:25 pm

6 lbs 12 oz

The one thing I wished about all the other births is that I had more pictures. So I asked my sister in-law, Becca, if she could use her awesome photography skills to capture the birth for me.  She did a wonderful job. Plus, I wanted her there :).

The last month of my pregnancy was tough.  I had some preterm labor at 34 1/2 weeks, which led to being sent to the hospital.  While there it was discovered I had high blood pressure and I was put on medication and monitored for preeclampsia twice a week.  I ended up being sent to the hospital 2 more times.  I was exhausted, sick and worried about the health my baby and myself.  My blood pressure kept going up and i kept feeling worse as the weeks progressed.  I had been scheduled for an induction @ 39 weeks when things first started. At 38 weeks and 2 days (which was a Friday) it was decided I needed to be induced first thing Monday morning (38 weeks and 5 days).  The doctor I saw was surprised I had not already been induced. We were super excited and had two days to prepare for baby boy!

 My mom was suppose to be there for the Wednesday induction but with the change in dates she wasn't able to arrive in time for the birth but arrived the day after.  My mother in-law, sister in-law Becca and of course Dan, were in attendance.

Monday morning at about 5:45 am we got a call from the hospital saying that the induction was postponed because they didn't have the room for me. They would call when they were ready for me.  I was disappointed to say the least. At about this time Dan got a text from one of his co-workers saying she had a stomach bug and would not be in.  Dan decided to do some work from home and I tried to fall back asleep, I thought it would be a while. Imagine my surprise when I got a phone call @ 7 am saying they were ready for me.  So excited. We started to hurry and get ready.

My in-laws arrived as we were getting ready.  My father in-law was going to get the older kids on the bus and watch Faith for us.  My mother in-law was going to meet us there. We left around 7:30 am. We grabbed some breakfast along the way.  It was raining and it was during rush hour so we didn't  arrive at the hospital until close to 8:15 am. We checked in and Becca arrived. We were then brought to our hospital room.  I was super excited to see that my favorite nurse, Jenny, was one of my nurses!  If you don't remember I had her for Faith's birth, here's that post if you're interested here's that story. The other nurse was her trainee, named Hannah who I absolutely loved as well!  We also had my favorite and same midwife from Faith's birth Heather.  It was like a happy little reunion.  She checked me as saw that I was 3-4 cm and 75% effaced. She debated putting me on pitocin or just breaking my bag of waters.  In the past with all my other pregnancies all it took was for my water to break, so that was what we decided to do.

We walked, talked and I rolled on the birthing ball. After several hours of no real contractions at about 1:30 pm, it was decided it was time to start the pitocin.  I was nervouse about starting the pitocin because I had never had been given it during a labor. I was started on a very lose dose of 2 units because Heather knew I wanted a natural birth.  She didn't think it would take that much.  They kept upping the dose every 30 mins.  As we walked the contractions started coming more regularly and slowly became more intense.  After about 3 hours on the piotcin, so around 4:30, I felt the urge to push with each contraction and had Dan call the nurse in.  I knew he hadn't dropped yet and knew something was off. The nurses checked me and found that I was only 5 cm, 80% effaced and my cervix was still very far back.  It was a little disheartening after 3 hours of contractions. The midwife can in about half an hour later when the nurses told her that I felt the urge to push.  She asked if I felt the contractions in my back, to which I replied that with each contraction  felt a lot of pressure on my tailbone.  That's when it was discovered that he was posterior, which means that he was facing outwards and was not in the ideal position.  When a baby is posterior things progress slowly because the correct part of the baby's head is not pushing on the cervix.  A lot posterior babies will result in a c-section.  She checked me and found I was at 6 cm and pulled my cervix down to try and make it easier for baby to get into the correct position.  It was definitely not a pleasant time.  She then had me lay on my side and put a peanut shaped ball between my legs to help him to turn.  She said the contractions would become very uncomfortable and I would probably hate her :). She came back in after awhile and recheck me.  I was at 8 cm with a lip of cervix but he still had not turned.  So Heather had me get on my hands and knees and that would hopefully get him to turn.  They brought the front of the bed all the way up so that I could kneel and rest my arms over the front of the bed.  She said to relax and let him descend into the birth canal.  They knew I was entering transition so they began to prepare the room.  At this point things became extremely intense as I tried to relax with the contractions right on top of each other.  I began to feel nauseous and finally he descended.  Heather reached in and turned him which was very painful.  After she turned him she said I could roll over and deliver him on my back but there was no way I could move at this point. After two extremely painful pushes, Christopher Thomas was born at 6:25 pm.

We were so happy he was finally here!  I couldn't help but get choked up realizing he was finally here and healthy.  There's nothing like a rainbow baby.  The after pains were very painful. Due to the fact that I had had so many babies and that he was posterior they were concerned about hemorrhaging. They pumped pitocin into me extremely quickly so I felt like I was still in labor.  Once I was able to get some pain medication, I was a happy camper.

The midwife, Heather, breaking my water

Showing Nurse Jenny (the one with curly hair) and Nurse Hannah a picture of the kids

My IV

One of the blood pressure readings.  It was high pretty much throughout all of labor and for 24 hours after birth but was great by the time we left the hospital

My awesome team!

Walking by the nursery

Detaching the IV fluids so I could walk unencumbered

On the birthing ball

Laughing with Nurse Jenny

Staring Piciton

Starting off on 2 units of pitocin

More time on the birthing ball

The contractions started becoming intense enough that I had to stop and concentrate

Happy to be there together

Concentrating through a contraction

My swollen feet with sandal indention's. My right ankle also would get pretty swollen.

Dan helping me to relax in between contractions

In the zone

Dan calling his dad to let him know pizza was on the way for dinner

The monitor had a hard time picking up all my contractions.

Heather checking me at 6 cm and pulling my cervix down

Me chilling with the peanut ball

Breathing through a contraction

The midwife explaining what we were trying to do.  Plus don't you love her shirt, it says "I just want to drink coffee, deliver babies and take naps"

On my hands and knees

The contractions were right on top of each other at this point

Feeling nauseous during transition

He had a short cord so I couldn't lift him and further up until after they cut the cord.  It was pretty cool to get to catch him and pull him up.

Relieved he was finally here

This is how he spent the first half hour :).  He was not ready to meet the world yet.

Trying to get a look at him

Wrapped in warm towels for the shaking

First time getting to see his face!

Talking about how he looks like Charlie

His hair looked red at first but after a bath we realized it was blond

Daddy holding his boy for the first time

Checking out that little face.

Finally opening his eyes

Getting hungry

I just love her so much!  She is such an amazing nurse and person.

Happy mama

With Grandma Clayton

With Aunt Becca

We have a tradition of ordering steaks.  I always look forward to it!

Sucking on his bottom lip!