He's here!!

He's Here!

Gage Byron Roper

May 7th, 2013

7lbs 3oz

19 3/4" long

 After months of going back and forth trying to decide between another c-section or trying for a V-BAC, we made the decision to try the VBAC. Three days later we went to the hospital to get induced.

 I was going to try to make a long story short, but I can't. So if you're interested in the Looong story here it is. (If you aren't interested in hearing about birth related stuff you can skip it. I don't think I put anything to gross in there though):

This whole pregnancy I struggled with making a decision on how I wanted to deliver him. Since I had a c-section with Presley, I was given the choice to have a repeat c-section, or try for a V-BAC (vaginal birth after c-section). I really had NO desire to push a baby out the “natural” way. I have always cringed thinking of that option even before I’d ever been pregnant. But then I had to start weighing the pros and cons of each option.  Sometimes having c-sections can limit the number of pregnancies you can have, and I didn’t want that to be in issue for me.  There were risks with a V-Bac, like my uterus rupturing, etc. I eventually decided that I didn’t want to deal with the stress of maybe having an emergency c-section again or going through horribly painful contractions, so I scheduled a repeat c-section with the hospital for May 6^th.

  As we got closer to my due date, my Doctor kept talking to me about trying for a V-BAC and how I was such a good candidate. She planted this seed in my head and the more I thought about it the more I was inclined to try it. At my 36 week appointment she checked me and I was dialated to 1cm. The next week I was still about the same. We talked a lot about my options and I told her that I was seriously considering trying for a VBAC. We decided that if I was dialated to about a 3 at my 38 week appointment that we would induce me around 39 weeks. Well at my next appointment I was STILL the same, so we decided to come back in four days and make a decision at that point. On that next Friday we were all happy to find out that I was dialated to a 3!! My doctor said she would put in the orders and try to get us set up to come in on Sunday to get induced with Pitocin. We had to wait for a call from the Dr’s office to tell us our time. Well the call never came, and since they are closed on the weekend we knew we wouldn’t be induced until Monday or later.

  On Monday around noon Josh and I were on the way to the mall to walk around and try to get labor going, and to pass some time. As we were pulling out of the driveway I got the call telling me to go into the hospital at 3pm. That’s when my nerves started and it was really starting to feel real! We ran some errands and then came home to pack up real quick.

  It seems like we had to hurry hurry hurry, just to get to the hospital to wait around forever! We didn’t actually get things rolling on the induction until around 6pm. They checked me right before they started the IV and found out that I was only 2cm, not 3 like my Dr had said on Friday. My nurse was in training, which I didn’t find out until she had messed up my IV and blew the vein. She didn’t understand why I kept saying “OW OW” until she pulled the thing out and the needle was bent like an L, grrrrr. Things went slow with the Pitocin, the nurse came in every 30 min to turn it up and up. 

  My mom was at our house taking care of Presley, but Josh ended up going home to put her to bed since she has never been away from me before and we wanted it to be as easy as possible for her. He video called me while he was reading her books before bed and she was talking to me on the phone. I broke down and cried like a baby. I have always been the one to put her to bed and have NEVER been away from her longer than an hour or two.

  Once the contractions finally got strong I tried to last as long as I could without the epidural because I didn’t want to stall the labor. But eventually I asked my nurse for it. She checked my dialation at 11pm to see if I was far enough along to get it, but she said I was still 2.5cm that I wasn’t dialated enough for epidural, but that I could have IV pain meds. She went to get those, and while she was gone I tried my best to sit through those horrible contractions. I told Josh I did NOT want to wait any longer for the epidural and made him call the nurse in fast. When she came in I told her I wanted the epidural NOW, and I didn’t care how dialated I was because my Doctor had told me multiple times that I could get it whenever I wanted. She called my Dr and it was confirmed that I could have it if I wanted. *Yay!*

  11:30pm…..Little did I know that the most painful experience of all was coming when with getting my epidural. The anesthesiologist had a hard time getting the needle in right apparently. He stuck me at least 6 times in different spots and it was horrible! I think I screamed with each one and tried not to jerk away. I cried through the whole thing while squeezing the crap out of my nurse. When it was finally done my glasses were filled with pools of tears and the pillow I was holding was soaked. BUT he had finally gotten it in right and the contractions were numbing up, thankfully.

  I was able to relax for a while, completely enjoying the epidural after everything I went through to get it. Lol. My Doctor came in at 12:30am to check me, I was 3cm and we decided to break my water to see if that did anything. That was a WEIRD feeling, and sound! I was surprised at how much fluid there was because with Presley there was hardly anything.

After that we turned down the lights while I dozed off and I think Josh watched some tv. My nurse came in a little before 2am and told me that we probably had hours more before anything happened and that we should try to get some sleep. She said she would leave us alone for a while, but that if I felt the urge to poop or push that I needed to call her in.

She left, and about 5 minutes later I felt like I needed to poop really bad. I blew it off thinking that there was no way I was feeling it, that it was probably just in my head since she had brought it up. Well the feeling didn’t go away so I pushed the call button and felt really stupid when I told her how I felt. She looked at me like I was a faker, but decided to check me anyways. When she did she said “Yep, you’re complete” I was shocked and asked her if she was serious, and she repeated that I was 10cm and ready to go. In an hour and a half I had gone from 3cm to 10cm!

  We started the “practice pushing” while we waited for my Doctor to get done delivering two other people. We could hear the lady in the next room screaming while she was delivering, and it was a little unnerving to hear knowing my turn would be next.

My Doctor got there and we continued with the pushing. I think in all I pushed for about 45-50min, but it didn’t seem like that long at all. My epidural worked great, I wasn’t in any pain, but I could kind of feel what was going on. At one point they said his head was right there and asked me if I wanted to touch it. I was kind of weirded out to think of touching him, but I did it. It was weird feeling his soft squishy head!

When he came out I was a little shocked at how it happened. I said “Woah, that felt weird!” My doctor laughed…..

  It was a totally different experience from when I had Presley because she was a c-section. I saw them pull him out and then he came right onto my chest. With her I barely got a glimpse of her as they walked her past my head to check her out.  It was really neat to have him right there, right away. The whole birth process was so much easier and calm than I was expecting. I know I got really lucky and didn’t have any complications, so that probably helped. But I am so glad I took the opportunity to do a VBAC! All of the things I was worried about happening, didn’t happen. It was nice that I didn’t have to be on any drugs or pain meds after either. The days after my c-section are kind of hazy in my mind because I was on pain meds the whole time.

We are so happy to have Gage here finally! Presley LOVES him and likes to hold him and give him kisses!

 Presley's first time holding him

 My mom, sisters and nephew

 My Birthday was the day after he was born. Josh and my family brought the party to me in the hospital. We had cake, balloons and presents :)

 Josh giving his little boy some kisses

The recovery from the birth has been completely different too! I've been able to move around much better and still pick up and hold Presley too. I was amazed at how good I felt when I got home from the hospital! After months of feeling tired and fat and sore and exhausted from the pregnancy, I had forgotten what it felt like to be normal!

It's so weird to think that we have 2 kids now! But it also seems like Gage has always been a part of our family and he fits right in!