Cody's Birth Story

I love birth stories, and I love when others share theirs! So, here's my latest!

Disclaimer: no details spared! ;)

As with the other two kids, we desired a natural birth for this baby. Because of various circumstances, we determined that this birth would have to take place under the care of a doctor and in a hospital. Serena's birth was in a hospital but attended by a midwife, and Bret's was a water birth attended by midwives in a free-standing birth center; so I felt some apprehension about this choice.

There has been a lot of uncertainty in our lives throughout this pregnancy, as we've been trying to determine God's next step for our lives. When we found out we were expecting, we were living in Cedar Rapids while searching for housing in southeast Iowa. By the time we found some temporary housing, we were already entering the 2nd trimester. I finally managed to schedule my first prenatal appointment at 17 weeks, with a doctor in the tiny (25 beds in the ENTIRE facility!) local hospital. He was a very nice grandfatherly man who had already delivered over 5,000 babies! (Obviously, the vast majority of those births were not in this southeast Iowa hospital, haha!) I received most of my prenatal care under him; and as the due date drew nearer, I made plans to deliver at that hospital.

It started to become clear to us, though, that God did not want us to stay in southeast Iowa, as some pretty major "doors" were starting to close! So, at the end of July, we came up to Cedar Rapids to start the job hunt up here. With my due date less than 4 weeks away, we decided it would probably be a good idea to choose a hospital and a doctor up here just in case we happened to be here when the baby came. I finally got an appointment with a doctor in Cedar Rapids when I was 37 weeks. He is a 2nd year resident in family medicine. The advantage of that was that he would be on call for my birth, rather than having the uncertainty that comes with a group of doctors who rotate. I was very direct with Dr Miller about our birth philosophy at my first appointment. I asked him if he'd ever attended a natural birth. "Not one that was natural on purpose," he replied. He'd seen a few, but they were only because the patient had arrived too late to receive any interventions. He seemed very supportive, though, and eager to accommodate our vision. In fact, he asked me to write out a birth plan and send it to him. I thought that was weird, because I had always been under the impression that medical people didn't like birth plans! At my next appointment, he hadn't received it yet, and asked for it again. I decided he must have been serious about his request, so I went ahead and made a birth plan.

At about this point, I started having fairly frequent painless Braxton-Hicks contractions, even when just resting. At my 39 week appointment, Dr Miller told me that he'd talked to the faculty doctors about my case and my desire for a natural birth and that some had expressed concern that we might refuse treatment in an emergency. He said he'd told them that I didn't seem like that type, but he asked me about it just in case. ;) I reassured him that we would be fully cooperative if there was a true emergency involving me or the baby.

My 40-week appointment was on the 28th. He didn't even bring up the word "induce," which amazed me, because even the midwives who had attended Serena's birth tried to pressure me into scheduling an induction when I hit 40 weeks! He also told me that he was selling his football tickets for that weekend's game because he wanted to be around in case I went into labor! I was so appreciative, because I knew that there were some doctors in his practice that were not very natural birth-friendly, who may be on call if Dr Miller was not available for some reason. That evening, we moved into our "new new house" (as Serena calls it). I honestly thought that I would go into labor that weekend. It was a full moon. A blue moon. A Friday. I was 2 days past my due date. We had finally found a job and housing up in Cedar Rapids and knew for sure that we would be delivering at Mercy Hospital rather than in Keosauqua. I'd had a few days to unpack and get things settled in the "new new house." I think Jordan and I were both a little surprised when we woke up Saturday, September 1st without a newborn baby in our arms!

After getting over that initial disappointment, I started to really enjoy and feel thankful for each "extra" day that I had to do more unpacking and just helping the kids adjust to their new home. Tuesday, Jordan had the day off, so he took us into town to give me a little retail therapy (heehee!) and some ice cream from Culvers. That night, I made chicken fajitas with lots of jalepenos and pico de gallo. I thought to myself that maybe I could 'smoke' the baby out, heehee! After putting the kids to bed, I took another pregnancy picture of myself since I would technically be 41 weeks the next day. As we were getting ready for bed, I did notice that my constant companions (BH contractions) seemed to be causing a little bit of pain. It did make me wonder if tonight might be the night, but then I tried to convince myself that I might just be extra tired or something so as not to be disappointed if I didn't go into labor that night. ;)

I woke up at 1:16 with a contraction. Tried to put it off and go back to sleep, but I was excited, and another one came about 5 minutes later. I laid there for a couple more, then got up and went to use the bathroom. I like laboring on the toilet; it just works for me. I also like using an exercise ball, so I did that too. At the suggestion of a friend, I tried something different with this labor, and focused a lot on some pre-chosen and memorized Scripture throughout the ordeal. It really helped me keep my mind fixed on God rather than on the turmoil inside my body. My contractions took concentration, but I felt so happy and excited that I had a hard time convincing myself that I should be getting to the hospital soon. The only thing that convinced me was the fact that they were getting to be on the inside of 5 minutes and they were lasting at least a minute each. So, at 2am, I called Jordan's mom to have her come out to stay with the kids; then I went and woke Jordan up. Jordan was very insistent that we needed to get to the hospital ASAP...he really didn't want to take any chances considering how quickly the other births progressed! We got our stuff all ready to go, and then I called my mom around 2:15. :) We were on the road around 2:30, and I called the hospital to have them page Dr. Miller for us. I told them I had a history of fast labors so they would know they should get things prepped for us rather than waiting until we arrived.

There was a storm whipping up; lots of wind and lightning and an ominous skyline! My contractions were hard at 3 minutes apart and over a minute long the entire drive to the hospital. I told Jordan, though, that I was a little afraid we might be going to the hospital too soon because I just felt so happy and calm. I told him I was also fighting some apprehension about the hospital, though. I know this might be somewhat irrational, but they just make me nervous! :/ When we pulled into the parking garage at Mercy Hospital, Jordan slowed WAY down (like more than necessary for a parking garage), and started craning his neck and looking all over. I thought he must be looking for a sign to tell him where to go (weird, since I had already told him we needed to go to the third floor), so I reiterated our need to go to the third floor. "I know," he said, "I thought we could look for some pigeons while we're in here." I was actually happy to have an excuse to delay our arrival at the birth center even for just a few minutes, so I helped him look up in the rafters for pigeons as our vehicle ascended the ramp. We did spot a few, and he decided he'd come back out and catch some later to use for training the dogs (much to the amusement of the nurses!). ;)

When he parked the truck, I suggested we wait until after the next contraction before getting out. "It should be coming in about 30 seconds." So we waited. For almost 3 minutes. FINALLY it came and then we went in. It was a little after 3am. We had another one shortly after entering the hospital, and then they started to spread out. A lot. I wondered if the nurses thought we'd cried wolf. But they did a vaginal exam and found that I was dilated to 7. That was encouraging! I was actually really surprised, because I just didn't feel like I'd been working that hard yet. They hooked me up to a monitor to get a strip of the baby's heartbeat. (I had agreed with Dr Miller ahead of time to let him get a 5 or 10 minute strip at the beginning and then he would monitor it intermittently after that so I would have freedom of movement.) They really wanted to get at least 2 contractions on there, but we waited for almost 15 minutes to get 2 rather weak contractions recorded! By the time they'd finished all their questioning and prepping and whatnot, almost 45 minutes had passed my labor was really putzing. I kept reminding myself not to be worried, but just to be thankful for the break. With Serena and Bret, things had really escalated whenever we arrived at the birthplace, so this was quite a different experience for us! The nurses left us alone then, and we dimmed the lights and my laboring got back down to business.

We got a birthing ball from the nurses, and I just stayed on that until I was ready to push. As with the other kids, all of my labor pains were very low in my abdomen; having Jordan support that area while I relaxed on the ball through the contractions helped me a lot. I was so exhausted. More so than I remember being with the other two kids. I kept wanting to fall asleep between contractions. I lost track of time, but Jordan kept timing the contractions so he could update anyone who came in to check on us. For the most part, the staff left us alone, though. They did try to get permission to draw a lab once, but I was so far into labor that I could not imagine sitting still for a lab draw!! I declined, and they were really nice about it. Towards the end, Dr Miller wanted to do an ultrasound to verify the baby's position. Again, even though I have nothing against ultrasound and I want to make sure the baby is in the best position, too, I just couldn't imagine getting up into the bed and lying still for an ultrasound!! I declined, reassuring him that I was confident of the baby's head-down position and that he had most definitely not moved! Thankfully, Dr Miller was really good about it and didn't push for the ultrasound. It wasn't long after that I started to feel pushy anyways and then things got exciting.

They put a squat bar over the bed for me, and with Jordan's help I started sitting up in a squat position for each contraction. They checked me and I was at least a 9, but the bag of waters had not broken yet, so there was still some cervix left. Finally, a little pocket broke and made a bit of a trickly mess. The nurses were all really happy that the bag had broken, and said I could push if I felt like it. I was surprised that was all the water that was in the bag, though. ;) A contraction or two later, I felt a mild sort of crowning sensation and had a split second where I wondered if it was the baby! Just then, the bulge completely exploded and the bag of waters was broken without a doubt! ;) The baby moved quickly down the birth canal after that, and my pushes were very productive. No one coached, just encouraged; and I just pushed as I felt the contractions. I just remember feeling so tired and trying to doze off between contractions at this point. Finally, the contractions were very concentrated and I knew exactly how and when to push. It always seems like it takes forever, but it really went pretty quickly. I felt the crowning, and then the head was out; I actually started to wonder if the next contraction would come, but it did, and then I pushed the body out. It was 5:34am. I looked down at him and thought, "Awe! He's even smaller than the others were!" I almost forgot that we didnt know the baby's gender until Jordan started to announce that it was a girl. The cord was in the way, though, so he caught himself mid-word and said it was a boy!! He sounded a little excited! ;) Little Cody looked perfect! He started to cry momentarily, but was easily soothed in my arms. We waited several minutes for the cord to stop pulsating before clamping it. Jordan did the honors of cutting it. ;) After that, I got Cody busy nursing (he latched on with no trouble right away!), and the placenta took almost a full 30 minutes to come out. A while later, I relinquished my hold on that precious little boy so he could be weighed and diapered. At 8 lbs, 6 oz, he was well over a pound more than either of his siblings weighed at birth! 3 days later, I'm still in a little shock at that! If it hadn't been for the 45-minute lull when we arrived at the hospital, I think this labor would have been very similar to Bret's.

I have been feeling very overcome with thankfulness for another uncomplicated, natural birth producing another healthy, strong baby! God's miraculous design for creating new life amazes me! Once again, God has blessed us beyond measure!

Oh give thanks to the LORD,

for his steadfast love endures forever!

...Thank the LORD for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man! (Psalm 107:1, 8)