Birth Story

Ok so I know its been a while since Iv'e written- a long while, but I thought I would write about Eli's birth before I forget. Please keep in mind I have an infant and as such have not gotten a full nights sleep in nearly 4 weeks so don't judge my grammar and spelling to harshly.

I guess I should begin with the Friday night before he was born. I was taking a shower and suddenly thought "Oh my gosh! If we have to go to the hospital tomorrow I won't have any clean clothes!" And instead of laughing it off as a completly irrational compulsion since my due date was for the 21st (5 days away) I ran downstairs and washed my clothes. When Jeff came home I told him about it- my only nesting instinct was to do 1 load of laundry.

Brie hoping we could sneak her into the hospital through our computer bag.

Boy was I glad though the next day. I woke up on St Patrick's day at around 6:30 in the morning to go to the bathroom and as I stood up my water broke. I remember saying "Oh my!" and running to the bathroom to try and contain the mess all the while calling to Jeff that I thought my water had broken. While I was in the bathroom "draining" Jeff called the doctor. My regular doctors weren't working that weekend and Jeff had to speak to a doctor who was filling in. Up to the point where my water broke I hadn't had any contractions so the doc said to call again once contractions started to get a bit serious. Once I got cleaned up and calmed down I noticed my first contraction-in my back. It wasn't bad but I wasn't comfortable lying down and therefore couldn't get back to sleep which is a bit of a bummer since we had stayed up till 2 the night before. So then I waited, I ate breakfast, got dressed, packed up the last bits needed for our hospital bag, and waited more. It was unseasonably warm so I decided to go for a walk. Jeff and I walked around our block like 5 times and I made us stop at our house a couple times around because all the pressure made me have to pee. Eventually, by around 11:30 my contractions started to come faster (3-5 min apart) but they were really mild and still mostly in my back so we called the doctor he advised we go ahead and come in. We had a small lunch of eggs (I figured I needed something to help keep up strength) and headed to the Miami Valley Family Beginnings Birthing Center.

Waiting for the parking garage elevator, and no, Brie didn't manage to fit into the bag.

By about 12:30 I was admitted and in our room. After I changed my pants, because yes, as I stood up after signing some papers I lost more amniotic fluid than my pad could handle and my pants got all wet, we called our parents-mine headed to the hospital and Jeff's started to get ready to come down to Dayton. And then the nurse checked to see how dilated I was- only a centimeter. I had a long way to go yet. The nurse advised I get some sleep but my back hurt so bad that I couldn't lay down long enough to get rest. So I just walked around our room and the New Beginnings waiting area trying to get things moving. My parents came and my mom, full of smiles, asked if I was excited. "Um, no I'm a little busy getting a kid out to think about anything else." My dad, who has trouble seeing people he loves in pain, said hi and then went out to the waiting room. I think he watched college basketball through most of my labor. I continued to walk around the room riding out the contractions in my back for hours. My contractions got progressively more intense- imagine your whole body seizing up like it has a charlie horse and the pain and pressure centered in the small of the back. I remember I kept asking when I could get into the water but they wouldn't let me get into the tub until I was like 8 cm. I don't remember all the details from this point except that at one point I violently threw up my lunch and then an hour or who knows how long later I threw up all the water and bite of sandwich I had grabbed between contractions. And through it all Jeff was there to help me through the pain applying pressure on my hips each time a contraction hit and my mom was there coaching me through it. I could not have done this without any drugs if it hadn't been for these two amazing people.

At around 9:00 the doctor had pity on me and even though I was only 7cm he said since I was progressing so steadily I could get into the birthing tub. I just have to go on record and say that the warm water really helped me relax and deal with the pain. I got into the water and it was such a luxury. My entire body breathed a sigh of relief. And then the contractions got stronger and stronger. After an hour or so I was finally ready to start pushing. So at that point the doctor came in and I started to push with each contraction. I'd like to take the time to state that this stage of labor averages 15 min to 2 hrs. After I had been pushing for well over 2 hours I was getting very tired. Eli was so close but I just didn't have the strength to push him out that last bit. Eli was getting tired too, they had to track his heart-rate between each contraction and his rate would go down really low and my mom would calmly remind me to breath slow deep breaths to get his rate up again. I was getting so tired my pushing wasn't as effective as it should be and Eli was undergoing quite a bit of stress, so around 12:45 the doc suggested I move to the bed so he could help get our baby out.

Out of the tub we crawled, and I was led to the bed. One contraction came, I pushed, and then it went. Then came another. The next contraction came, and I pushed, I pushed with everything I had and then I pushed some more while the doctor reached in, did a little twisting and helped pull out my baby boy and Elijah Greyson West was born at 1:03 March 18.  MAN DID IT HURT! The doc pulled out this grey little baby (who pooped on me at that point by the way). And I just thought how could that person have been inside me? Then I just let everything happen around me. They took Eli to the warming table to clean and weigh him and all that jazz. He was 6lbs 15oz and 19.5 in. Jeff was like a puppy who didn't know who to stick with- do I stay with my wife and help her with the next stage or stay with my newborn son who is experiencing this strange new world? I told him to stick with Eli. My mom was also fluttering back and forth between the bed and baby warmer while the doctor stitched me up a bit- I had an average sized tear and got 3 stitches. I had delivered my first child without the help of any drugs. Wow. But I still had a little work to do.

Then came what was supposed to be the easiest part of labor-delivering the placenta.  Let's just say it wasn't that easy. Apparently my placenta wouldn't detach. The doctor kept pushing on my tummy- it hurt REALLY bad. They put Eli on me to let him nurse and in hopes it would help with the placenta. He was such a rock-star and took to it right away, but it didn't help in the placenta department. At that point I just wanted that thing out so I could finally rest so I told them they could give me drugs if it would help. They gave me a shot of something (I can't remember what) and I continued to try to get that thing out of me. In the mean time I told my mom she and dad should go home and get some rest. So Jeff took Eli out to the waiting room to show him to my dad (who apparently had been hearing my screams for the last 3-4 hours, just imagine the scream Wesley makes when his life is sucked away in The Princess Bride but substitute with my voice. Yeah, I did that with each contraction from about 10 pm to 1:03 am. I had a sore throat the next day). Jeff still had his shirt off from the birthing tub and Eli tried to nurse from Jeff... we will work on the whole milk only comes from mommy thing. Jeff came back in the room and I continued to try to get my placenta out. The doctor and nurse kept telling me to push and at one point I yelled at them NOOOOOOOO!!!! But I did push, and  while I did, the doc pushed on my tummy and finally it was finished.

Jeff holding our newborn son just an hour or so after birth

At this point it was close to 2 and I was able to really look at my new baby...he was perfect. He had beautiful eyes, beautiful fingers and toes, a sweet little nose and a nice round head. I got the chance to really nurse him and Jeff got the chance to take a shower. Poor guy, by the end there were all sorts of bodily fluids in that birthing tub, but Jeff was a real trooper. He never complained and was at my side through the whole thing-vomit breath, nasty tub water and all. (And yes, I did poo a little in the tub while I was pushing. The nurse scooped it out with a little fish net). By 3 in the morning our exhausted little family was able to rest after the longest day of our lives.

Our Very tired, but happy, family

The whole family came the next day to visit and everyone was as amazed with our beautiful baby as we were. I'd like to say we were able to go home that next day, but Eli had high levels of bilirubin so he had to spend almost all of Monday with lights on him to make sure he didn't get really jaundiced (I guess this is common for breastfed babies). Three blood tests later and a lot of time under the lights and we were able to go home that Tuesday and start our new adventure as a family together.

Grandma West with little Eli

Eli with the lights on him, he had to lay on this table and have a light wand  placed on his tummy

So that is the story of how Elijah was born. No drugs and he came out healthy and cute as a button. It was the hardest thing I have every done. Jeff says that from now on we will wear black on St Patrick's Day because it was that awful. It felt like I was being ripped in two. But boy am I glad I did it without painkillers! I didn't have to deal with any drug related complications. I had free range of motion because I wasn't hooked up to any monitors or IVs. And my little boy had no unnecessary drugs in his system.

He is now nearly a month old and I can't believe how much he has grown already. We are still getting the hang of living together. We just started cloth diapering this week now that he is big enough for them and his bellybutton is all clear of umbilical stump scab.We haven't had any real trouble with nursing (just a very tired mama) and he loves to nap all snuggled against his daddy while Jeff plays video games. Eli has already met the Stroh side of the family for Easter and he has made a couple trips to my folks house. Hopefully soon we will get to share him with our church family and take him on a trip up to Hicksville.

Napping while Jeff plays Mass Effect 3

Just chillin' after a yummy meal of milk