I know this is a long time coming, but I wanted to share the birth story of my Bear. Please be aware that, since this happened fifteen months ago, I really can only guesstimate at the exact times.
6:30 a.m.
On August 16, 2010, Husband's alarm went off. He had to be at the recruiting station at seven for group PT. Everything felt completely normal as I rolled over and slapped Husband awake. Being Husband, of course, he reached over me and hit the snooze button. So, of course, I lay there in the darkness, feeling Bear squirm around in my uterus, and wait for the alarm to go off again.
After almost ten minutes, I'd nearly drifted back into sleep. Then, my water broke at almost the exact moment the alarm went off again.
I had to slap Husband awake. I told him my water broke, but he brushed it off as a joke. I think when I started yelling, he realized how serious it was. He jumped out of bed, helped me up, and while I changed my pants, he ran downstairs to tell his dad.
7:30 a.m.
We made it to the hospital without much incident (Husband drove basically on the side of the road with his hazards on) and, since it was so early, we had to go in through the emergency room. I had called my mom and Husband's mom (she was in England with Husband's sister at the time) to let them know what was going on.
Since my contractions hadn't really started yet, I had to wait around in a wheelchair for a bit. After about thirty or so minutes, I was taken straight to a delivery room.
10:00 a.m.
Chilling in my bed, hooked up to fetal monitors and i.v.s and getting a pitocin cocktail and the like. It was around this time that I was actually able to feel the contractions that had apparently been happening.
The plan was to do this natural. But then the pain started. And it was only back pain. I gritted my way through it, determined to avoid the GIANT needle. I slept as much as I could while Husband drove back home to pack our hospital bags.
1:00 p.m.
The pain was excruciating. I couldn't handle it anymore. After being torn from an unsteady sleep by another contraction, I sobbed at Husband to get the anesthesiologist. I couldn't take it anymore. I have a low pain tolerance, and could do nothing more than focus on the fire in my lower back. I couldn't even breathe.
The anesthesiologist came in and, after signing the paperwork, he prepped me for The Needles. Had me sit up with my legs over the side of the bed, with Husband holding me up. He numbed me, which I thought was horrible. Then as a ginormous contraction hit, I could feel The Needle entering my skin. I immediately began pulling away. I don't think I've ever cried harder in my life. Then...nothing.
Husband and the nurse helped me back into bed, then the nurse "checked" me. I was only dilated to about a five. Nowhere near close enough.
3:30 p.m.
It is around this time that the nurse came in and told me that I couldn't sleep anymore. I needed to monitor my contractions and breathe,
because the baby's heart rate has started to drop during my contractions. She taught Husband how to read the monitors so that he could help me.
8:00 p.m.
By now, the baby's heart rate had dropped almost dangerously low several times throughout the day.
The nurse checked me again, and determined that, yes, I was ready to push.
With Husband on my left side, holding one leg up, and a nurse on my right holding the other, I began to push.
I really do have to commend Husband on being amazing. He was so calm and supportive throughout the entire process. From encouraging me and telling me to push ("I AM PUSHING!"), to peeking over and seeing...everything (I respectfully declined). He was just great.
Unfortunately, it is around this time that my memory blacked out. Pretty much everything from this point on is based on what Husband told me happened.
8:18 p.m.
Bear's head came out, quickly followed by the rest of him. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck three times. He was sickly grey-white, not crying, not even breathing. Husband quickly cut the cord and Bear was whisked to the warming crib to the side of my bed, with Husband right behind.
I do remember asking why he wasn't crying and why I couldn't see him yet. I don't think I got a direct answer.
Husband says that while I was delivering the placenta (which was also whisked away, but this time to a lab) and getting sewn up, our little boy was being suctioned and getting a tube-thing put down his throat to clear his airway. Husband tells me that he honestly thought that Bear was dead for those first few minutes.
Finally, when Bear was breathing on his own, he opened his eyes for the tiniest moment, just long enough for Husband to snap a couple of photos.
This is how I first saw my son. While he was getting cleaned up, now that they knew he was alive, Husband and I looked at these pictures. Right before the nurses took him up to the Level 2 nursery*, Husband was able to grab one more photo.
11:45 p.m.
By now, the epidural had worn off and I was exhausted. While I rested, Husband went up to the nursery, and even got to hold Little Bear's little hand.
After what seemed like days, the nurse told me that I was able to hold my baby. She wheeled him in and handed him to me, and my heart felt whole. Everything seemed so perfect at that moment, with my baby in my arms and my husband at my side.
And that is the story of how Taylor Matheson Bohman, Jr. (more commonly known as Matheson or Bear) was born at 8:18 p.m. on August 16, 2010. He was born at 36 weeks exactly, just under a month early, and weighed 6 pounds, 1 ounce. He was 19 inches long. Tall and skinny, just like his daddy.
I honestly can't wait to experience this again. Although, hopefully with less scares this time.
July can't get here fast enough.
♥
*I never was able to get that initial bonding moment with my Bear. I didn't get to see him or hold him until he was almost four hours old. There is a lot of guilt and heartache that I still feel over that. I'm not sure if that will ever go away.
