Henry's Story

As I sit and look at Henry sleeping in his swing, it feels like we've known each other forever. Something that no one ever told me (maybe I'm different), is that your baby really is a stranger. A sweet little stranger, but you really don't know them. You meet them for the first time and it truly is as though someone hands you a baby out of nowhere and says "here, this is yours". There really is nothing like it. And now, I almost can't remember life before him.

Here is Henry's story to the best of my memory.

On Sunday, June 24th (Henry's due date), I thought my water had broken. I never realized before becoming pregnant that there could be any confusion about such a thing. I was on the phone with my mom, and told her I felt a small gush of water. We both "obviously" thought this was my water breaking. Will and I packed up the car and headed to the hospital. There I was checked by a midwife who, after performing a quick test, told me that no, my water had not broken. We headed home. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed. Days passed, and what I had thought had been my water, continued to drip (NOT normal).

On Wednesday, June 27th, my good friend Esther and her mom stopped by. Esther knew I was less than pleased with my current pregnant state. They lifted my spirits through gifts for Henry and prayer. Against Esther's mom's better judgment, I did not go straight to the hospital (she suspected that my water had in fact broken). I instead waited for my OB appt. the next morning.

On Thursday, June 28th, I went to Mercy Hospital to the Advanced Fetal Care Center. Because I was overdue, they needed to check my fluid levels and count Henry's movements over the course of an hour (everything checked out fine). I received two ultrasound photos, one of which I noted Henry looked a bit alien-like. The nurse said, "well, we don't actually know what aliens look like".....alrighty then.

I then headed over to my OB office next to the hospital. I told her the story from that weekend about my suspected water breaking. She was concerned and decided to do the test again. She looked up at me and said "it did break!..you need to go to the hospital today-we are going to induce you!" I was thrilled and horrified all at once.

I rushed home to shower, eat and pack the car. Will and I arrived at the hospital at around 3:00pm. After being checked into our room, the doctor came in to talk to me. Because my water hadn't fully broken (why it was leaking, not a "gush"), she could either break it all the way, or start me right away on Pitocin. Looking back I wish we had just cut to the chase and started Pitocin. My water being broken did nothing. All it did was start useless contractions that caused pain but no progress. My doctor gave me until 12am. If at that point I hadn't made any progress I would start Pitocin.

Me before things got REAL



walking the halls, trying to get things moving...look at that unsuspecting smile...



At midnight, I hadn't made any progress. This is where it got really fun. The Pitocin did its work of causing a pain I've never felt. What it didn't do, was actually cause progress. After 2am I still was no further dilated. At this point the pit was making me nauseous and I was throwing up. The doctor gave me phenergan for the nausea. I was so out of it that I didn't realize that she had given me demerol. This made me extremely loopy. At around 2:30am I cried uncle and asked for the epidural. Honestly, getting the epidural was not that bad. I have heard horror stories, but nothing compares to being in labor...this was child's play.

After receiving the epidural, I unfortunately wasn't able to relax. I could still feel the contractions, just at nowhere near the same intensity. The epidural caused my blood pressure to drop frighteningly low, and I was given oxygen (Will has recapped most of this to me as I was so out of it). Because of my low blood pressure, it also caused me to continue to throw up. At around 4:30am I was checked again and had only made it to 4cm (insert me miming wrist slitting).

At 6:30am I called the nurse in as I felt like I needed to go number 2. This was actually the urge to push! Wahoo! I was 8 1/2 cm. At around 7am I called the nurse in and said "I need to push NOW". I was fully dilated, praise the Lord! I started pushing at 7:10am and Henry was born at 7:28am on Friday, June 29th.

He entered the world screaming and flailing those precious little arms and legs. I will never forget looking into those deep blue, alert eyes. I was just so surprised at how alert he was; looking right at Will and me. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

When mothers say that you forget the pain when you see your child; they are so right. The moment you have your baby in your arms you realize that it doesn't matter how they got there. The only thing that truly matters is that they are alive and well.

I had some very wonderful images in my mind as to what I wanted my labor to look like. Just about everything I didn't want to happen, (short of a c-section) ended up happening. And yet, it doesn't even matter.

Henry is here, and we are so loving life.

The. End.












Will followed him everywhere. Even to his circumcision.







First diaper change...



And not happy about it.



















"Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be"
Psalm 139:16

Coming soon...

First few weeks with baby and How I got my body back