Sylas’ Birth Story

I always like to read these, so I thought I’d share how my sweet son came into this world!  It really isn’t that crazy, but it was quick and exciting! Now, this is my first real blog post I’ve tried to write with 2 kids, so I apologize if it jumps around and I repeat myself.  It took a lot of time to write this, holy cow!!  If it wasn’t one needing me, it was the other – phew!! I seriously debated giving Harper a Christmas present early so she’d play with something for more than 3 minutes, hehe!  And it didn’t help that WordPress, or probably my internet, has been acting crazy while trying to write this.  Okay…I’m better!

A little back story first: our daughter, Harper was unexpectedly born 6 weeks early, so I always felt like I was on high alert this time.  My doctor thought Harper’s early arrival was just a “fluke” but I couldn’t help but be worried.  So with this pregnancy, I was experiencing LOTS and lots of Braxton Hicks contractions.  They started at about 14/15 weeks and progressively stronger and more frequent.  One hot summer day I counted 30 throughout the day, and they sometimes would come every few minutes so I couldn’t help but be freaked out by them!  But by the time we reached 36 weeks I felt a ton of relief because I knew that if he came now we could avoid a trip to the NICU!

Sylas was born at 36 weeks and 1 day and in the few weeks before he was born I could tell my body was gearing up for his birthday.  Besides my insane need to get his room ready, get the hospital bag packed and get the car seat in the car (I literally put the car seat in the day before he was born!), I was feeling a lot of pressure in my hips, like someone was standing in front of me and pushing on each side, lots of mucus, and the day before he was born I could tell that my Braxton Hicks were ‘different’ than they had been.  I was telling Glenn and my friend Molly how ‘strong’ they felt that day at work – my entire abdomen was tightening and they just felt stronger, but still not painful, just different than usual.

So to birth-day; it was a normal Tuesday – November 15th.  Which was actually Glenn’s great-grandmother’s birthday.  I was up getting ready for work.  My dad had gotten to our house the day before for a visit (luckily!) and Glenn had just left for work at 7 am.  I was in the bathroom doing my makeup and my dad had to use the bathroom so I went into the living room and sat down in a chair.  I was watching the news and felt a slight ‘pop.’  I thought to myself ‘that was weird,’ so I stood up and then there was another ‘pop’ then a gush.  I couldn’t believe that my water had actually ‘broke!’  I didn’t know anyone who has actually had that happen without a single contraction.  I immediately went into my bedroom and called Glenn at work.  I told him my water broke and he needed to come home to take me to the hospital.  He of course asked him if I was kidding and I said nope – this isn’t a drill!  (FYI – as we living in a rural community my hospital is 70 miles away!)

I told my dad what happened and asked if he could keep Harper for us as she was supposed to go to preschool that day.  Glenn got home and we made sure to grab anything else we wanted to add to the hospital bag and I changed my clothes because my jeans were soaked.  I started feeling a few contractions by now, but nothing too serious.  I called Harper’s school and told them what was going on and that she wouldn’t be in, I called the hospital to have them let my doctor know my water broke and we were on our way, then at about 8:00 am that day Glenn and I left for the hospital!  My contractions were progressively getting stronger in the car ride up, and with each one the fluid was gushing!  I couldn’t believe how much fluid was coming out of there…I grabbed a towel to sit on but I soaked it and my passenger car seat.

At about 9:30am we made it to the hospital and the contractions were still bearable but more serious.  We walked in and a big pregnant woman with soaked pajama pants made the receptionists scramble.  They offered me a wheelchair but I wanted to walk…a few nurses from the other wing saw me and asked me if I was coming from Alturas.  We said yes and they brought me down to the labor and delivery wing.  I changed into a gown and they hooked me up to the monitors to check his heart rate, which looked great.  My doctor came in at about 10 and checked me and I was at 3cm, and 100% effaced.  He wanted me to stay hooked up to the monitor to get a good “strip” of at least 30 minutes…and of course as soon as he left the contractions really started to get bad and the last thing I wanted to do was lay flat on my back in the hospital bed.  We tried everything – letting me stand and lean against the bed, sit on the birthing ball or kneel in the bed while keeping the monitor going, but they couldn’t keep the monitor in the right spot because I wanted to move around.  We finally got a good enough strip and I was able to try to find some relief.  By this time my contractions were killing me…they lasted about 4-5 minutes and I’d have 2 back to back then a small break.  Not nice.  They had my doctor check me again and I was still only at a 3.5, which was discouraging.  I did not want to slow things down by getting an epidural so I did the only thing that helped which was kneel in the bed and lean on my folded arms which were against the back of the bed which was propped up at an angle.

I started to get nauseous and threw up twice so I knew it was time for the epidural.  I believe it was about 11:30 and they called the anesthesiologist, which always takes FOREVER once you want them there.  The lady was very nice and kept commenting on my contractions and how I must be progressing quickly.  And of course you have terrible contractions when you’re expected to sit on the bed and slump over, while holding still so she can put the needle in.  But once it’s in it’s amazing.  :)

I was still feeling some major pain in my left side so they turned me onto my side to get the the medicine pooling to where I needed it.  Aaaaahhhh…epidural bliss at about noon.  I decided now was the time to get some rest so we settled in to watch some TV and try to nap.

I was expecting to have things really take a long time as no one had checked my progress since before 11am and I had an epidural, but at about 1pm I felt ‘the feeling’ (if you feel like you have to poop when you have an epidural, that means it’s time to rock and roll) and told the nurse that she might want to check me.  Sure enough, I was fully dilated and ready to push! Now with Harper, pushing really wasn’t that hard.  She was 5lbs.9oz. and only took half an hour, and as this was my second baby I was assuming it would be about the same.  Sylas had a full 2 weeks extra to grow, but I was just hoping he was at least 7 pounds at 4 weeks early.  They got everything ready, the doctor arrived and at about 1:15 I was pushing.

Glenn decided to snap a picture right before we were all ready.  Nice, right?  Quick note: here is why epidurals are good – I’m smiling! I knew when I was having a contraction, but I’m happy, things are calm, and it’s a very peaceful and happy environment.  Of course, give it your best shot without, but there are some upsides in my opinion.

Okay, back to the story!  I pushed for an hour and a half and it was VERY hard work but at 2:43pm we had our baby boy!  Way harder than with Harper.  And by the end the epidural had mostly worn off so I could feel everything, but it wasn’t extremely painful, so it was kind of neat.  Now remember, I was hoping for a baby that was at least 7 pounds…and when he finally came out we all gawked at how huge he was!  Even the cord was HUGE!  His cry was weak and quiet, but he was crying.  They immediately started working on him as he was a preemie, and they wanted to make sure he was breathing fine.  He didn’t do so well on his first Apgars and they got worried because he wasn’t using his left arm at first and they thought maybe his collarbone was broken (which can happen during birth, not a huge deal).  He was just stuck in the birth canal for a loooong time, ha!  He had a little fluid in his lungs, so every time he breathed he was “singing” as they called it, trying to equalize the pressure in his lungs.  He started moving that arm and his color was good.  The doctor delivered the placenta and that was even huge!  No wonder I gained over 40 pounds at 36 weeks…

The nurse picked him up to weigh him and commented on how heavy he was and guessed he was over 7 pounds.  We were all astonished when she said he was 8lbs. 4.5 oz!  The doctor said “geez, what were you feeding him?” my response was “Halloween candy lately!”

Holding my baby boy for the first time.

Happy Mama (looking a little worn out).

Our sweet Sylas Glenn, just a few minutes old.

Proud parents.

Daddy checking on his little guy.

Super proud Papa.

He didn’t nurse at all the first day, but by the next morning he picked it right up!  He had to be on oxygen a little at first, but the respiratory therapist took him off of it after just a day.  He passed his car seat challenge with flying colors and we got to go home on Friday, the 18th.

He has basically slept the whole first month…so much that the poor guy got a terrible diaper rash from sleeping for so long.  Plus he screams bloody murder when getting his diaper changed, so I hated putting him through that!  He’s getting better, though.  His due date was on December 12th, so I weighed myself, then weighed myself while holding him and he was 10 pounds even – so it’s probably a good thing that he was born 4 weeks early!  I promise my dates weren’t off…I knew exactly when he was conceived and how far along I was.  :)

Now that he’s 5 weeks old he weighs 10.8 pounds and getting very chunky, he’s sleeping great at night, only waking me up once really quickly at 2 or 3, but then he’s up at about 5am for the day.  He’s also getting very strong and can hold his head up great – I have a feeling that he’ll be hitting those physically milestones early.

Harper loooooves him…but she isn’t without her moments.  Especially when I’m watching them alone and I can’t do something for her because Sylas is eating or crying.  But otherwise she’s adjusting great.  I just absolutely love my little family and am so happy my sweet little boy is here!  We are so blessed.