Taylor's Birth Story

Taylor, baby, baby Tay, nugget has been with us for an entire month! Naturally, I am reminiscing about his very first days and had to hop back into the blogosphere (feel free to hate me for that word) to share what will be remembered as quite the entrance! 

Taylor's Birth Story

We had big plans. Oh such big plans. 

I expected to go into labor early. This pregnancy was more uncomfortable, with long strong contractions weeks before our due date. I let out a sigh of relief when we made it to full term without rushing off to the hospital. As we hit 40 weeks, my beliefs changed drastically to an overwhelming feeling that Taylor wasn’t ever going to budge without strong convincing... this time I was right! We decided to induce at 41 weeks, as we had done with Charlie. 

Will and I have never been the couple to write out a detailed birth plan, always laughing at the idea that labor could follow anyone’s specific instructions. However when we arrived to the hospital, expecting our induced labor to flow the same as Charlie’s, we didn’t realize that we were falling victim to the same delusion. Our plan, while not written down, was clearly a product of believing in a sense of control that didn’t exist. 

See having been parents already, we thought we knew the gist. Get induced one night, deliver the next day. Further, my pregnancies had been relatively free of medical issues and our previous delivery was smooth… so why would this labor be complicated? Why wouldn’t we be able to get home the day after delivery? Oh the boldness of those questions! 

Here was our bold, naive plan: get induced Thursday, deliver Friday, get home before a giant approaching snow storm on Sunday. Seemed reasonable. 

Regardless of our blind confidence in the timing of our plan, arriving confident for labor is a different story. I was naturally weary of the predictable pain and unpredictable everything else. Women who enter labor with theme park level enthusiasm baffle me. It was with unease that we settled down in our giant labor and delivery suite and got started on medications. 

Our lovely delivery team started us out on induction meds. Over the next 24 hours, the contractions would ramp up and then fizzle out with each new round of medication. I would move and bounce and do whatever I could to convince them to keep going. Much like starting an old motor, I was beginning to believe it just wasn’t going to turn over… if only I could think of a better metaphor. 

It was in this first stage that I was diagnosed with preeclampsia. My blood pressure, which had cooperatively stayed textbook throughout my pregnancy, was suddenly elevated. Luckily, it remained in the “observe and induce” and not the “severe and treat immediately” category. 

Over 24 hours in, with very little sleep and very little progress, we were ready for the next flavor of induction meds. We threw some pitocin at this old motor and finally it seemed to find its get up and go. The contractions built and lasted. I found myself anxious to move and move. I hit the "let's do this already" phase.  

Epidurals are unnerving - pun intended, but the giant needle was a welcome friend after more than 24 hours of off and on labor. The very welcome relief washed over me so fast that I almost fell into a deep sleep right then and there. However, a moment of relaxation was just not in the plan for us. 

Taylor wanted a good story and he was going to get one! 

Apparently my urge to move and move prior to the epidural might not have been simply for pain management. Taylor’s heart rate was dipping with contractions and we had to keep switching up positions every 5-20 minutes until delivery. Each time we thought he was safe, a few moments later, we would need to change up the game again. An exhausting 12 more hours were spent contorting my half-limp body to keep his heart rate and oxygen flowing.  

Let me just say that my nurse and midwife/NP were superheroes throughout this entire ordeal. They were by my side and watching the monitor like hawks for 12 hours straight. The only reason we successfully avoided the OR is entirely because of their expertise and hard work. They helped reposition me every 5-20 minutes for hours on hours, including helping this epiduraled mama onto all fours several times. At one point after my water broke, they actually filled me back up with saline for heart rate support… an intervention that I had never even heard of before! 

As all of this was going on, Will and I were both expecting to ultimately end up in the OR. Each time we shifted positions I was waiting for the news that we would be carted off emergently. We were mentally prepared with what felt like a guaranteed c-section, but through the confidence of our team, I kept rolling, flipping, turning anyways. 

Then it was time. Pushing. Dreaded pushing. The moment of truth. Would we be an emergent c-section? I wanted to get started right away… in my silly mind I felt like I could get him out before they got us to the OR doors… such clear thinking - eye roll. 

Zero trips to the OR and barely 20 minutes later, Taylor was thrown into my arms after having a cord removed from his neck. Tears, laughs, smiles. So much joy filled that room. The fear that Taylor was in danger left in a flash, the fear of a 3 hour pushing session gone, the fear of a c-section recovery flown off into the distance. 

Taylor's spirited entrance was replaced with simple snuggles and all the things about newborns we had forgotten: that new baby smell, the tiny little diapers, the odd snorts. The raging snow storm outside became a stark contrast to the sleeping creature that we held in our arms. We watched the snow fall from a smaller side room since the suite was swiftly taken over by one of nine births that happened immediately after us! Apparently snow storms will cause a person's water to break due to the pressure differential! 

We wanted to get back home quickly but with my blood pressure elevated, we needed 48 hours worth of monitoring. Will made trips back and forth to check on Charlie and my mom, who were happily enjoying the foot of snow. Will got stuck on 81 for five hours on one journey! Luckily, Taylor decided to give us an easy go of it after his marathon start. 

Charlie was unimpressed by his little brother for the first two weeks, with regular side eyed glances and grumpy brows. He seemed to be curious when the new, needy arrival would be going back to the hospital. Since then, he has fully embraced his new brother role. Charlie is regularly checking if he can "hold?" or give baby a "paci?" or if Taylor would like a "boob?"... the last I'm hoping to turn into "nurse?" but we will see how it goes. 

All in all, we didn't have a smooth, complication free delivery. We didn't beat the snow storm. We didn't get home the day after delivery. BUT we met our healthy baby boy and what could be better than that?!