Sawyer's Birth Story

It's taken me a little while but I did finally get Sawyer's birth story finished.  I love remembering and documenting the kids' births because it is so fun to share them, and I love reading the stories again and again to bring back all those feelings and emotions.

Sawyer’s Birth Story

Our due date came and went as it has with our other two babies.  We went to the birth center for our 40 week appointment on May 2^nd, and ended the appointment with making our next scheduled appearance at the birth center for May 9^th, which would have put me at 41 weeks.  I was pretty sure we would not need that appointment, but no one else agreed with me. 

I was having contractions that day as usual and even the midwife could feel them as she was listening to the baby and measuring me, but they were pretty much the same as they had been for the last few weeks.  Tyler went back to work and I took the kids home for a nap.  I also took a good nap that day and then later that evening we all went for a little walk around the neighborhood. 

My contractions did start to get stronger as the evening went on and were located more in my back than they had in the past.  We went to bed around 10 and at that point the contractions were coming only about one every half hour but they were strong and uncomfortable.  I told Tyler I would wake him up when I was ready to have a baby and he laughed at me and said he would see me in the morning.  To be honest I’m pretty sure I said that to him every night for the last 3 weeks. 

The contractions continued until about 12:30 when I remember waking up and thinking they had stopped and I was definitely not having a baby that night.  At 2:30 AM, to my huge surprise, my water broke.  In both of the previous pregnancies my water broke at the very end of labor so I was quite shocked.  Of course Tyler had to ask me if I was sure it was my water breaking and not me peeing the bed.  Seriously, not the same thing! 

I was a little scared at first, I don’t know why but every time my water breaks I freak out a little.  We called the midwife on call to let her know and we found out our favorite midwife (and only one left at the birthcenter from Rilyn’s birth) was on call.  She hadn’t been our midwife for either of the other two and we were ecstatic that she was the one on call that night.  She told us to get ready to leave because she thought things would progress fairly quickly and to call her when my contractions were 8 minutes apart for 1 minute for an hour.  She wanted us to give it a little time since we live quite a distance from the birth center.  We called Yvonne and she headed up to sit with the kids.

We started timing my contractions and they were very similar to the other two kiddos births.  I would have a contraction but be able to go about my business.  I showered, fixed my hair, ate some food, threw in a load of laundry, and chatted it up with Tyler and Yvonne.  Within a couple hours my contractions were only a few minutes apart but only lasting for 30 – 45 seconds.  Tyler being the super smart husband that he is and remembering my previous births decided to give our midwife another call.  I thought for sure she would say for us to stay home but she told us to get in the car and head up.

As we were about to get on the interstate we saw a car pulled over on the on ramp with a guy hanging out the back seat of his car.  His doors were open and he was literally half way in and half way out.  Tyler pulled over and I dialed 911.  I never thought I would dial 911 for someone else while I was in labor.  At this point, I was in quite a bit a pain and I was not happy to be stopping since we still had a good 40 minutes in the car.  Fairly soon after we pulled over someone else pulled over and got out so we told the dispatcher we were leaving the scene and heading out to have a baby.  I still wonder if the dispatcher believed us!

When we arrived at the birth center the door was locked.  We both went into panic mode.  I thought our midwife had not arrived yet and Tyler thought he heard her wrong and we weren’t supposed to head up.  I immediately went to my knees due to a contraction and at that second our midwife opened up the door.  I started crying telling her I didn’t think she was there.  She laughed at us and ushered us in. 

I immediately needed to use the restroom but told Aubre (the midwife) that I wasn’t sure if I actually needed to go or if I was going to start pushing.  We were all thinking at this point that I would have this baby very quickly so she told me I was probably going to have a baby and I should get in the tub.  They did a quick check (I have no idea how many centimeters dilated I was I don’t think she even told us) and then I started working on pushing during my contractions. 

Looking back this labor felt different from the start.  When I would have a contraction it was very short and I never felt like I got a good push in.  I was having tons of back labor and the water didn’t seem to be helping much.  Also, pushing actually felt good and that has never been the case before.  I wanted to push more and longer than my contractions were letting me.  Aubre, Tyler, and the team were very supportive and I remember lots of reassurance and people trying to make me comfortable. 

I started to get fairly frustrated about 30 minutes in because I could tell I was not making much progress.  It became even more frustrating when I would crown and think this has to be about it and the baby would sneak the little head back in.  Finally, I did crown and that’s when it got exciting.  We got about half of the head out and then I couldn’t push anymore.  My contractions weren’t coming but due to me being in the water he had to come the rest of the way out.  They got me out of the tub and on all fours but I was still not having any contractions and to be honest I think I just became too tired.  So, they had to manually pull him out the rest of the way.  He wasn’t breathing and so they gave him a couple puffs to get him going and that was all he needed to start crying (and not stop for quite awhile). All of this happened while he was on my stomach. 

Afterwards, we learned that he was posterior (sunny-side up), which means he was flipped around!  Hence, all the pain and trouble with getting him out.  It also explains a lot of pain and discomfort I was having while pregnant.  As if natural labor isn’t painful enough…it’s 100 times worse when the baby isn’t positioned correctly for labor! 

At that point, we still didn’t know what the gender was so Tyler got the privilege again of announcing the gender.  After Sawyer and I got checked out  it was time to chill and get to know this new little person.  He latched on after about 20 minutes and that seemed to calm him down quite a bit.  I unfortunately had issues with bleeding too much again and needed to be given Pitocin to stop the bleeding.  I hate that shot and apparently have no pain tolerance when it comes to needles.  I actually tried to hit the nurse when she gave it to me.  Ha, not in a mean way like I didn’t try sucker punching her, just a little tap to let her know I really didn’t like it. I’m still pretty embarrassed about that. 

Tyler, Sawyer, and I spent the next 3 hours recovering so I could go home as soon as possible.  I ate and drank a lot and took an herbal bath.  Within 3 hours of giving birth we were definitely ready to head out, but it’s a requirement we stay 4 hours.  At that 4 hour mark we were heading out the door.  I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be home so much.  It was so amazing to take our little guy home and all 3 of us get into our bed and crash.  It was also nice to be able to go home without the other two, just to spend a couple more hours with just Sawyer.

After Rilyn and Ryder woke up from their naps, Yvonne brought them up to meet their new brother.  I LOVED introducing the kids to Sawyer and will be a memory I cherish forever. 

Sawyer has started smiling a lot and so here is a little video to share some of that sunshine with y'all!