A Birth Story: Nathan

If you would have told me I would carry this baby to term I wouldn't have believed you! With Carson my water broke right before 39 weeks so I thought for sure It would have broken then or earlier this time since I was more actively chasing a 1 year old around. I was checked 2 days before my induction date and was at 3cm but still he decided to hold on!

Friday November 19th we went to the hospital at 6am to be induced. Huge thank you to my parents who watched Brooks and Carson for us while we were away. Check in was super fast at the ER and we were up to our room quick! By 7am they had the IV in, penicillin going (I was Group B+ again), pitocin going and I was at 4cm. I was glad my body was making progress on it's own and was hoping to have a baby by the after noon.

Around 8am my OB came by to check on me and go over our plan. Since this is my third baby we both assumed once they broke my water things would go quickly- so we were going to get the epidural first and then break my water around lunch time and hope to have a baby by 3pm. Dan and I slept on and off, talked, listened to music and did things to pass the time. At 11am the anesthesiologist came in to do my epidural. I told him how with Carson everything went wonderful but with Brooks it was very painful. They asked who did it and I told them, both he and the nurse laughed. I'm not sure what that meant, they said he was good and experienced, maybe he just had a bad day. This epidural insertion went great, no problems at all!

Dan grabbed some lunch and around noon my OB came by to break my water and checked my cervix, I was at 5cm. Dan and I continued to pass the time, we bounced names off each other. We were down to three names- Landon, Nathan and Crew. We knew we wanted his middle name to be Kimball. I had been leaning towards Landon a majority of the pregnancy.

Around 2:30 there was no change so they put an internal monitor into get a better look at my contractions and brought in the peanut ball. The peanut ball always does the trick for me and I was hoping it would work again. Spoiler alert, it WORKED. I started feeling the contractions through the epidural, which has happened every labor for me so I knew it was a good sign we were progressing and hopefully getting close. 

At 3:30 we flipped sides and I was REALLY feeling it. I was in more pain than I had ever experienced in my previous labors. My right leg was completely dead, but my left leg wasn't numb at all. I was very worried what I would be able to feel what was coming up. When we flipped I hoped that would help but it didn't. I was feeling the full pain of the contractions on my left side. I was trying to breath through them, visualize, trust my body but it was getting very, very painful. I called the nurse in and I think she could tell and she pushed my epidural button for me. I was praying that when I got on my back the medicine would work on both sides (spoiler alert, it didn't).

While she was in the room about 3:45 I felt the pressure, the familiar pressure in a specific spot and I KNEW he was coming. I was in a lot of pain. I got a small glimpse of what an unmedicated birth would be like and hats off to all you mom's who've done that. There are no words for the pain. I was worried I wouldn't be able to handle it but guess what, you don't have a choice haha!

The nurse checked me and sure enough it was time. 4pm my OB was called along with all the nurses for me and baby. We got the room situated and I wasn't pushing but I could tell the baby was coming. I was worried that they wouldn't be ready in time or that my OB wouldn't get here in time. The nurse put my legs up in the stirrups when my OB walked in and they both were like... um put her legs back down for 2 minutes- haha! I told you he was coming!

I remember my OB laughing and saying, "Forget the booties! This baby's coming" We were all so excited and I was so happy my OB was there and could deliver him. Thankfully my epidural magically worked a bit better on my back but I could still feel some pain I wouldn't have normally felt. Oh boy, again, no words! After 4 pushes he came fast and quick and at 4:14 (yes only 14 minutes later!) Nathan Kimball Robison was born. 8lbs 1oz and 20.5 in long. He was so calm and quiet when he was born I was worried he wasn't breathing. The Dr suctioned him and he was fine. He cried the tiniest bit and when they laid him right on me he was so content. Dan and I were both surprised because when Carson was born he SCREAMED for about 30 minutes straight haha.

The rest is all standard things- we got to hold him and love of him for a while. They took his measurements, gave him the vaccines we wanted, got me all cleaned up, waited for feeling to come back in my legs, Dan got to hold him while I ate something. Hospital pot roast is sooo good when you haven't eaten in 12 hours, who would have thought! I've had 2 babies before and with both I didn't mind the nurses pushing on the uterus after birth. It was uncomfortable but it wasn't bad. My nurses this time (I loved them, they were wonderful) but they pushed SO HARD! Like they were trying to touch my spine through my belly button, so that was new!

It was some time in the evening when we got to the recovery room and I got settled. I felt good, could get up on my own, use the bathroom and grab the baby just fine so I sent Dan home to sleep and be with the kids. Usually my babies and I sleep pretty well the first time, we're both so tired but because I had gestational diabetes, Nathan had to have his blood sugars checked 4 times and had to pass every time being 50 or more. If you fail one you have to start over. So I woke him up every 3 hours to feed him and did as much skin to skin as possible in order to get those glucose levels up. He passed at 8pm, 11pm, 2am and 5am yay! We were done, I got minimal sleep and was tired, but it was worth it!

Nathan and I slept from 5-9 am and it was glorious! I told the nurses if it's possible get us out of here in 24 hours and they said they would try. My OB stopped by in the morning, sent in my prescriptions and discharge papers, Nathan got a bath, was seen by the pediatrician, passed his hearing test, we filled out all the paperwork (this is when we actually decided on the name Nathan haha it took us a minute!) then we waited until 4pm in order to get all the 24 hour tests passed. I ate all my meals, Dan came around lunch to be with us. 

All through the day Nathan was eating well and was just the sweetest calmest baby. All the nurses that took him or worked with him were just over the moon at how calm and sweet he was, he hardly cried! Then right around 5:30 (it would have been earlier if Nathan hadn't decided he was hungry haha!) we busted out of there and went home!

I was so excited to have the boys meet Nathan. I was a little worried because we hadn't told Brooks we named him Nathan, he was hoping for Landon (because one of his friends at school is named Landon). When we got home it was magical. Brooks and Carson were both so excited and fighting to hold him, see him and be with him. Brooks was so sweet and held him so softly. He did say, "I thought it might be Landon" but was ok with it and has been good with Nathan or Baby Nate since. I knew Brooks was going to love him and be excited.

I expected Carson to either want to maul the baby (with love of course) or be uninterested and bothered that I was holding another child. To my surprise Carson was also enthralled with Nathan excitedly yelling, "Baby!" wanting to hold him (quite forcefully, again- with love), pointing out all him features "eye! nose!" Carson has been so positively interested in baby Nathan and I couldn't be happier. I know that can change for both as we adjust to a new family of 5 but it was wonderful to have a happy experience to first meet their new brother.

We are so excited to welcome this new sweet baby into our home, they bring such a special spirit. We are officially a family of 5 and I'm so lucky to have three of the sweetest boys! Thank you all for your prayers and love. We are so happy to be home, recovering and together.