Oliver's Birth Story

 Oliver Thomas Moote

05/21/2013

3:14 pm

6 lbs 5.9 oz

18.75 in

Oliver's story actually begins the day before he was born. Monday morning I woke up with terrible lower back pain. I chalked it up to over-doing it the night before cleaning our house in preparation for my mom's arrival (nesting?) I found out that my mom was able to make the first flight out in the morning by getting the last seat at the very last minute. Brian left for work, after suggesting that maybe I go get a massage with my mom, and I started getting ready to go to the airport.  

By 9:00 am, I started to feel contractions that didn't feel like Braxton-Hicks contractions.  They actually felt uncomfortable in my lower abdomen.  By the time I picked up my mom, they were coming about 10 min apart and were lasting about 30 sec long. I told my mom and texted Brian for a heads up, and then mom and I headed off to run errands and help distract me in order to pass the time.  We walked up and down every single aisle at Costco. We stopped at Target, Deseret Book, Whole Foods, and the bank on the way home as well.  Once home, mom started to work on freezer meals, and I finished packing up the hospital bags.

Contractions were now coming every 6-7 mins and were 45-50 sec apart.  Brian came home from work, we ate dinner, and then watched The DaVinci Code. Around 10:00 pm, I updated my midwife to let her know my status, and she suggested I take a bath and try to get some sleep. I spent 3 hours in the bath listening to my relaxation and birthing meditations, and my contractions actually slowed down. :( Around 1:30, I got out and tried to sleep...key word being 'tried'...it's kind of hard to get some sleep when every 10 min, you have to wake up to breath through a contraction. 

I gave up on sleeping around 5:30 and got up to eat breakfast. Getting up and walking around got my contractions coming quicker (every 5 min,) but now they were only lasting about 30 sec...so frustrating.       My contractions also started to make me feel nauseated, and I started puking after every 2 or 3 contractions.  I couldn't keep anything down.  Brian and I decided to go on a walk around the neighborhood to see if we could get my contractions to last a full minute consistently so that we could finally go to the hospital, and it seemed to work.

We took a quick, last picture of my belly, let my midwife know we were on our way to St. Marks, and headed for the hospital. We got to the hospital around 10:30 am; Brian got us checked in, and I went back to get checked out.  It was such a relief when our nurse, Chandra, said I was dilated 5cm and 99% effaced and wouldn't be getting sent home! We were admitted to our labor and delivery room and after 20 min of monitoring and getting stabbed 3 different times to open a line in case I needed an IV, I was able to get in the tub and try out laboring with the jets on.  Brian was amazing, staying by my side and encouraging me the whole time. After about an hour in the tub, I was ready for something else. Danielle, my midwife, was here now and able to offer suggestions for positions and pressure points, etc.  

It was getting harder to simply breath through contractions, but they were still manageable.  Danielle kept telling me that I could do anything for 60 seconds. Unfortunately, I was still throwing up again, or rather dry heaving because there was nothing left in me.  I only threw up once my whole first trimester, and I didn't realized the contractions could make you nauseous.  I hadn't prepared for that at all. They ended up hooking me up to the IV to give me something for the nausea. Now I was 7cm dilated, and we decided to manually break my water because Oliver's head was still pretty high. This is when things started to go crazy for me.

Danielle suggested I get in the tub again to wait out the last couple cm. What no one was expecting was that I would get there so fast! Contractions were coming fast and strong, and I was tired, so tired. Contracting for over 24 hours was really starting to take it's toll.  This is when I asked for the epidural the first time. I told everyone that I didn't want to move and didn't want to get in the tub, but they convinced me to give it a try before getting the epidural.  I started to bend into the tub, stood right back up, said I wanted the epidural NOW, and got out and literally dropped to my hands and knees because the contractions were SO intense. I really freaked Brian out, and he ran into the hall to tell our nurse she needed to get the anesthesiologist right away.  This was my lowest of low moment.  (All this happened within 10 min of my water breaking.)

I made it back to the bed, and Dr. Singer, my OB, came in to check me. I was dilated to a 10 and probably could have started pushing around the time I got out of bed to get to the tub.  They explained to me that I could get an epidural but 1. I could end up still pushing this baby out before it even kicked in or 2. It would slow everything down and set my progress back. At this point, all I wanted to do was push, so that's what I did. I pushed for 15 minutes, burying my head into Brian with every contraction.  I kept my eyes closed the whole time, but Brian kept me updated telling me how close I was, when he could see hair, the head, etc. 

The cord was wrapped around Oliver's head pretty tight, so they had to cut cord as soon as his head was all the way out. Then after having them tell me to slow down and not push and me replying that I can't, the rest of Oliver's body exploded out in one great burst! (I did have some internal tearing and needed a few stitches) Seriously, they had asked Brian earlier if he was interested in catching the baby and even if he had wanted to, he wouldn't have made it in time! Then the best thing happend.  They placed this beautiful, handsome, miraculous little baby on my stomach.  Everyone was surprised at how small he was, except Brian, who after witnessing everything thought he was huge. :)

The first thing the nurse asked us was what we were going to call him. We never actually got around to picking out a middle name, but Brian looked at Oliver, looked at me and said "I like Thomas." I agreed and Oliver Thomas Moote was born...literally. :) Everyone kept complimenting me on such a calm delivery and saying "calm delivery, calm baby," but I can assure you that while I do internalize pain, I was anything but calm! Still, Oliver came out so alert and calm and perfect!  He stole our hearts with those wide open eyes.

How cute is my baby?!?! He is the most amazing thing I have ever done. 

Meeting Nana Jones and Nana Moote for the first time.  We also had visits from Grandpa Moote, Whitney, Logan, Daniel, Laura, Marc, Papa Jones, Kim and James, and the Burbidge family.

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Oliver's first bath! One of the perks of going natural in the end, is that I was up and walking and able to witness some of the most precious moments.  Brian did the honors, and I took pictures. It was so great to see Brian become a Dad. He is so protective of Oliver.  During our whole hospital stay, Oliver never left us, and Brian went to the nursery with him for every single test and procedure to oversee and comfort Ollie.

Thursday we were discharged and so ready to go home! Oliver loved his new carseat. He was so curious and content and just kept making the cutest faces. :)

Brian and I just can't get over how perfect he is. We are parents! WE LOVE HIM SO MUCH AND HE IS OURS FOREVER!