Hunter's Birth Story

As always here's Hunter's birth story for record...complete with the details read it if you'd like to. :-D

Hunter Ann’s Birth Story

We knew when we went from having more than two kids that we were going to go for an even number and up the count to four.  So after Jackson was born we started thinking about how long it would take to get pregnant with the fourth.  It seemed surreal at the time to realize that I was pregnant when Jackson was only six months old.  I waited to tell anyone including Joe until after the first trimester was over and then we had one wedding and Carri and Tadd’s baby shower for Summer.  The shower was on a Sunday and I had my first OB/GYN appointment on that Thursday to confirm that I was in fact 18 weeks pregnant with our fourth child and third daughter.  I remember that we named her Hunter within the first week, it just stuck and we didn’t even think about other possibilities.  So just as all of her siblings before her, we made it to the past due date and started looking towards induction.  While Jackson’s went smoothly I was still apprehensive of the “what ifs”.  Carole got in town on Tuesday night, originally to meet the newest member of our family and to help out with the other kiddos but instead she was able to be here for the whole process and watch the kids during labor and delivery.  Wednesday morning Joe accompanied me to my weekly routine health check for the baby and I, and when they checked my cervix I was starting to dilate, now sitting at a 3cm with 50% effacement we were told that the beds in the hospital were filling up fast and since this was my fourth and it would more than likely go extremely quickly so we should head in that afternoon.  We drove home and picked up Austin from school so everyone could just be at home and I knew that everything was taken care of and headed back into the hospital at 2PM.  The nurse checked my cervix again and sure enough I was still at a 3cm but now I was almost all the way effaced.  We talked it over and we decided that we would try one round of cytotec to finish the effacement and start the harder contractions.   My Mom was able to come down and be with us in the hospital so when she arrived at just about 5PM we were told that everything was going as planned and sitting at about 6cm dilation so it should be any time.  I was up walking around and to be honest the contractions weren’t even making me stop in my tracks, perhaps by my fourth I had finally learned the art of working with my body rather than against it.  The next check showed that I was dilated to an 8 and it would be any second now (or so we were told).  Our OB/GYN had a student doctor with him at the time and we had given permission for her to deliver Hunter (with him standing there of course) and when we were all sitting in the room after several hours sitting stagnant at an 8 she spoke up and said perhaps it’s because the baby is double wrapped.  Our ears perked up and asked her what that meant to which she replied that the baby’s umbilical cord was wrapped twice around her neck and perhaps that was causing her to not be able to drop all the way down into the birth canal to finish the dilation.  My mind went into a panic and the contractions that hadn’t bothered me before were now taking concentration to get through.  The doctor suggested at this point as it neared 11PM that we should try to manually dilate the cervix since there really wasn’t much else to try.  We all agreed and with every contraction the nurse and Joe would hold my legs back, I would push and the doctors both of them and their four hands would try and push the cervix back around the baby’s head.  This went on for 20-30 minutes although if you had asked me at the time it was an eternity.  The pain was so much more of a sharp searing pain then normal labor is and I couldn’t even form words (normally I can muster the energy for a cuss word or two).  My body was shaking in between contractions uncontrollably which was making Joe nervous and he was trying his best to hold me still.  Finally one eternity later during one of the contraction – pushing rounds I felt a snap and could feel Hunter pass the cervix.  Everyone rushed to get the table and gowns all setup before she slipped too far back and we got ready for the real pushing.  After everyone was in place they briefed us on the fact that we would push just enough to get her head out and then stop so they could unwrap the cord and then finish the delivery.  The nurse who had delivered Jackson too, who just so happens to be our friends mom had to bow out at this point…she had my Mom take my leg and Joe the other one and she stepped back.  Afterwards she came up and told me that she was too close to us now to watch me in that kind of pain.  Just a couple pushes later Hunter flew out of the birth canal and the poor student doctor tried to just block her in with her hands pushing against me, which didn’t work and her the actual doctor and the nurse all grabbed Hunter and she came racing into the world and essentially tossed her on my stomach, where she sat up like a Budda doll facing away from me with her cord neatly wrapped around her neck twice like a scarf.  They quickly unwrapped the cord and laid her flat against me.  At this point labor had been over for 30 seconds and I had the biggest smile on my face, the rush of endorphins completely melted the pain away as they kneaded on my stomach to get the placenta to break lose.  Fifteen minutes or so later they had me mostly cleaned up and presentable so George could come in and meet his newest grandbaby.  I asked my Mom if it was easier to watch baby number four being delivered compared to my first (since she was able to be there for both) and through choked back tears, she exclaimed that they were both equally hard to watch.  To watch someone that you love that much in that much pain and know that there is nothing that you can do is a terrible feeling.  It was now past midnight and everyone was coming down off the rush, the doctors had left, the nurses covered Hunter and I up with an additional blanket since I had requested that she just lay there with me and they do the bath and measuring when they came back around.  Joe curled up on the bench and fell asleep, when he woke up an hour or so later I urged him to go home get some rest and be there if the other kids needed anything.  Hunter and I were in good hands and by now four babies in – all delivered in the same hospital – we had made friends with most everyone.  In fact the same nurse bathed all four kiddos, she made her way back around almost four hours later to find me enjoying every breath of that sweet baby on my chest her just snoozing away.  She had even passed her first round of meconium right there on my chest…and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.  She was just absolutely content and happy and perfect.  They came in and started the bath process with her and gave me new gowns and changed my sheets and nestled us all back together.  We fell in and out of sleep until everyone came by the next morning to meet their new baby sister…the love in that room was palpable that day.  XOXO