Corbin's birth story

I will preface the story by saying that my plan for labor was to take things as natural as possible, but you definitely learn that sometimes you can't plan everything.

So lets just jump right into it...

At my 38 week appointment on Thursday, July 1, my doctor, Brian and I all noticed that my belly seemed to have doubled in size over the past week. After Dr. Song took my measurements and checked me for dilation and effacement, it turned out that I was about 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Great news that things were moving in the right direction. But she had some reservations about me waiting for labor to start on it's own if I wanted the chance at a vaginal delivery (she was estimating Corbin to be nearing 9 pounds at this point). So in order to try and get things going, she stripped my membranes and scheduled an induction for the following Thursday, July 8.

As you can imagine, I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of being induced. Brian and I went back and forth on if it was the right decision. On one hand, I definitely wanted to be able to have a vaginal delivery, and on the other, who was to say if we waited for labor to start on it's own that it wouldn't be possible? But we scheduled the induction anyways and figured my doctor knew best.

So the week went on and I was doing a bunch of "natural labor inducing techniques" trying to get things going on there own. Nothing seemed to be working and I was getting a little discouraged. On Wednesday, July 7, my sister and her girls came over to play in mom's giant inflatable pool and slide since it was a perfect summer day. We grilled hot dogs and hung out in the sun ... both of us baring our pregnant bellies in our bikinis (It's a good thing mom doesn't have neighbors!). The day was going great and I was enjoying my last day of pregnancy, knowing induction was the next morning.

Everyone was going down the 8-foot slide, except me, until my mom and sister convinced me that it was a good idea. Let's just say we would have won America's Funniest Home Videos if it had been taped. But either way, if that slide didn't induce labor, I don't know what would ... because about 2 hours later I started having contractions.

I didn't tell anyone about the contractions for a couple hours because they were still pretty far apart and not painful. I didn't want to jinx myself and could hardly believe that I was actually going into labor on my own! I think Corbin is just a procrastinator like his mom!

So finally Brian got home from work and I told him he should probably put his handy phone application to use that times contractions. We timed contractions for about an hour and a half, them being about 45 seconds long and about 4 to 5 minutes apart ... exactly what the doctor said they should be before we called the hospital. I called in to labor and delivery and they said to keep timing them and drink lots of water. If they get stronger, then to call back in an hour. And stronger they got so we called in and were headed to the hospital around 10 p.m.

Once we got there and got all checked in, we called to let our families know that I was there for the real thing. My family headed to the hospital and Brian's family started the drive from Walla Walla. My mom and sister showed up about an hour later and it was great to have them around to take my mind off the contractions and have their support.

At this point I was 5 c.m. and 100% effaced, with contractions getting stronger by the minute. I was hooked up to the monitors to check on my and baby's heart rates. Everything looked good with me, but Corbin's heart rate was a little lower than they were comfortable with. So they kept me on the monitors for a while and then I was allowed to get up and move around for about 30 minutes before they wanted to monitor him again. Well everything changed when they hooked me up to the monitors the second time. Corbin's heart rate was even lower so they got me into a position that kept it the highest, put me on oxygen and informed me that I would need permanent monitoring to keep an eye on him. At this point, the most important thing to me was that he was okay so I didn't mind. But as contractions got stronger, I was having a really hard time managing them being stuck in one position in the bed. Brian was such a great help rubbing my back, holding my hand and just giving me the support I needed to get through each contraction.

With my natural plans, I figured I would take to the jetted tub, birthing ball and whatever else helped me battle the contractions, but those options weren't options anymore.

I was having a really tough time keeping still and fighting through the contractions and kept going back and forth about getting an epidural to help with the pain since I couldn't move to fight it myself. I cried because of the pain and cried at the thought of giving in to an epidural. But the pain was getting to be more than I could bear. The nurse checked me again and I was about 8 c.m. so it was kind of my last chance for the epidural if I wanted one, so I said yes (which I think gave Brian more relief than me, as he was having a really hard time watching me be in such pain.)

I got the epidural at about 3 a.m. and was definitely more comfortable. The doctor came in and broke my water around 4 a.m. since things were moving along and it hadn't broken on it's own yet. Things continued to progress from this point, and I was fully dilated and didn't know it for probably an hour or so. I felt "pressure" but didn't know if it was the pressure I should be feeling. So when the nurse checked me again at 4:30 a.m., she said I was 10 c.m. and ready to push. This kind of scared me as I didn't feel like I was ready but knew it was time.

So right about 5 a.m. we started pushing....and pushing...and pushing. I pushed in all kinds of positions for 2 1/2 hours. I am so glad I had Brian by my side as I hit a point where I really thought he was never coming out and that things were going to end in a c-section. But just when I thought I couldn't do it any longer, out came the most adorable baby boy.

Corbin was born at 7:20 a.m. on Thursday July 8 and was 8 pounds 3 ounces and 20.5 inches long.

The doctor informed me that the reason it was so hard for me to get him out was that he was face up so I had to deliver the largest circumference of his head, rather than the smallest like most deliveries. In hindsight, I am so glad I got the epidural as I know I would have never been able to push for that long and deliver him all while battling the pains...and believe me, even with the epidural, things were still very painful.

And all that really matters is we have a happy and healthy baby boy!