Happy Birthday Jordon Tyler Jr!

So after 39 weeks and 1 day, the moment I had been waiting for finally arrived, and I am so pleased to be able to share our wonderful birth story with you all!

On the 21st, I started to have some mild contractions around 10pm, but they were very similar to the false labor I'd had in the past, so I pretty much ignored them. Around 11:30pm, Jordon and I went to bed, but I was having a hard time sleeping, so I decided to time the contractions, which were pretty consistently 5.5-6.5 minutes apart. I couldn't sleep so I went downstairs to watch TV, and the contractions didn't get any closer together or more intense, but actually got more irregular, so at that point I pretty much convinced myself I wasn't going into real labor. I finally fell asleep around 3:30am, but kept waking up every 15 minutes or so, and finally decided to try to go back up to bed around 4:15am. After another hour of not sleeping, I decided to get out of bed. The contractions I had in the past always went away with sleep, but since I couldn't sleep, I was having a hard time figuring out if these were real or false labor (especially because I didn't want to get my hopes up!).

Around 5:30am, I decided to go for a walk and thought if I was in real labor, the walk would progress the labor and make the contractions worse, and if it was false labor, maybe it would just subside. Well they eased up a lot while I was walking, but were still there after the walk, so around 9am I called the OB office and asked what they thought... Since I had an appointment already scheduled for 1:40 that afternoon, they told me I could come in early and get check for any progress, but they thought waiting until 1:40 would be fine; I decided to wait.

On our way to the appointment, Jordon noticed my contractions were coming pretty regularly at 5-6 minutes apart, but I still wasn't in too much pain, so I wasn't convinced I was in labor. We had brought our hospital bag with us just in case, but I thought we were just jinxing ourselves ;-) Well low and behold, at my appointment, the midwife checked me and was shocked because I was just shy of 7cm dialated, 80% effaced, and IN LABOR.

We made our way over to the hospital and checked in at about 3pm. They monitored me and baby for about 15 minutes, everything looked good, so they let me disconnect and do whatever. Jordon and I did laps around the labor and delivery floor because my contractions were barley noticeable if I was moving but were getting a little more painful when I was just sitting in bed. My midwife told us the nurses didn't believe I was already 7cm along because I was too happy haha.

By 6:30pm, my water still hadn't broken on its own and when she checked me I was still only 7cm, but now 90% effaced. She decided to break my water, and monitor me for another 15 minutes. By the time the 15 minutes was up my contractions were already much more painful and intense. I wanted to walk the floor some more to help speed up my progression, but by the time I got disconnected from the monitor and walked out of my room, I was in so much pain. I had to stop walking whenever I had a contraction and Jordon told me (after the fact) that I would dig my forehead into his shoulder haha. So we only ended up walking for about 20 minutes before heading back into the room.

I decided to labor some in the jacuzzi tubs they have in each room, which was a great decision. It definitely didn't take away any of the pain from the contractions, but definitely made it a lot easier to cope with the pain. I stayed in for about an hour and a half then got out. I got hooked back up to monitors to check on baby, and my pain was just awful, but the baby's heart rate was steady and looked great the entire time.

My midwife came in and had me switch to a position laying on my side to labor. My contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart now, and very intense. Jordon was an awesome coach, by my side the whole time, which helped a ton. Our midwife stayed in the room from the point on as well and rubbed my legs and hips. Finally my contractions were absolutely unbearable, to the point that I would just writhe in pain at the peak of them and wanted to push so bad, so the midwife checked me and I was just shy of 10cm. She let me push once, which finished dialating me, so we could start the real pushing.

I had originally planned to push while standing or squatting, so I could use gravity to my advantage, but #1 I was in way to much pain to stand up and #2 my midwife suggested I push while laying on my side and I was in too much pain not to agree with her. I pushed for a little over an hour, and finally his head and shoulders came out. At that point, my midwife had me reach down and pull out my own baby! He came straight up to my chest where he stayed for the next 15 minutes and Jordon cut the cord. Then they weighed him (7lb 5 oz) and checked his vitals, then gave him back to me. Apparently I was saying the craziest things (I guess because of all those hormones/endorphins?) like "Oh my gosh, that hurt so bad!" and "I can't believe he's ours to keep!" I can barely remember those moments after the birth, other than the intense joy of finally having my baby! Jordon and I were able to keep him with us for over an hour before they took him to the nursery to be checked out, and after that we had him stay in our room during our entire stay other than during his circumcision and the pediatrician rounds.

Jordon and I were just so impressed with the entire experience. We were thrilled that I was able to do it without any pain meds as planned, but it would not have been possible had I been confined to one position in bed with constant monitoring like a lot of hospitals still make you do. Also, our midwife (who was the one we had hoped would be on call when we delivered!) was just amazing, giving me a lot of suggestions for dealing with pain. She didn't even mention the word "epidural" my entire labor, and stayed with me for the entire last 3 hours of my labor. I just cannot get over how perfectly things went for us! I guess after going through such a hard pregnancy, Tyler decided I deserved a (relatively) easy labor! Right after the birth I told Jordon I was glad I did a natural birth but was definitely having c-sections with the rest of our kids! haha. It was so incredibly painful, but now, being further out from the experience, I definitely would and definitely WILL do it again. You just have so much more control and awareness over your body and it makes the whole process easier and more rewarding.


We stayed in the hospital for a little under 48 hours, and were so excited to bring Tyler home on Sunday. I definitely have not gotten much sleep, but it is worth it. The night he was born, I just held him and looked at him for 2 hours because I was just so excited to finally have him in my arms! The pediatrician at the hospital said he looked checked out great, and despite all the scares we had with him during my pregnancy, is perfectly healthy. Jordon and I could not be more thankful for that. We're slowly adjusting to life with a little one, and are spending most of our time paying attention to him. It's wild how much you're priorities change when you have a baby! This morning I had been up since 7am, and it wasn't until 10am that I realized I hadn't even eaten breakfast when that is normally the very first thing I do in the morning. But again, he is totally worth it and I wouldn't change a thing!