Charlie’s Birth Story

Before you continue reading this one, if you have a second (or an extra 15 minutes) please read my birth story with Gio. Only after you have read that one will you understand how different my experience with Charlie was. Complete opposite from one another, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, even though they were NOTHING I had planned for nor envisioned.

With Gio I was 5 days early when he was born. Charlie arrived on June 9th at 5.42 AM, 3 days past my due date. I had been 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced for about 2 weeks. Every day I was experiencing contractions but nothing serious. There was one night, about a week before we was born when I was getting contractions every minute and I thought that was going to be the night, but an hour later they went away. So false alarm. We even called my in laws to come over middle of the night. Ayiyi!

It was a night like all other nights: big ol’ belly I was tired of pushing around, more rice krispies wrappers than I could count laying all over the kitchen counter, and a big bottle of water. I had just changed into these all white maternity pajamas I just got in the mail. And as we are getting closer to heading to bed, hubby asks his usual question “sooooo babe, do you think tonight is the night?”. As if I knew exactly when this child was going to come! I did know that it was going to be dark outside whenever I did have him. I don’t know why. But even with Gio, I told my husband from very early on that I just knew it was going to be dark outside, and the next day there would be snow. Of course he looked at me crazy, but he’s always giving me those looks so I’m used to them. This time I was right though! Gio was born at 4.38 am and it was pitch black outside. And the next day it snowed 🙂 With Charlie, similar thing. Except I didn’t feel any snow coming. I just knew it was going to be dark again.

So we headed to bed, played around on our phones like we normally do, then pillow talked for a bit until I got tired and closed my eyes. I kept having dreams that night of being in pain and discomfort. It wasn’t until 4 am that I opened my eyes and realized it wasn’t just a dream…I was actually in pain and discomfort. I was in the middle of a contraction right there and then. It wasn’t a bad one, but it wasn’t one of the usual ones I had been having the past 2 weeks. So I waited it out…I played on my phone. Another contraction came and this one stung a bit too. So I reached over to tap Jeremy on the shoulder. He didn’t feel a thing. He’s also a very heavy sleeper so that doesn’t help. I tapped him a few more times, then started saying “babe…” No response. Then I hit him with the “JEREMY!” He could be dead asleep, he always responds to that! LOL. So he woke up finally and was all freaked out! “Is it time? Is this it? What’s up babe?” I told him to calm down. I didn’t know if this was IT, but my contractions were starting to hurt. And we both knew that this meant it was GO TIME. Last time I went from first painful contraction to birth in a matter of hours so we knew we had to move somewhat faster than usual.

We both got out of bed. I felt the need to shower for some odd reason. Mind you it’s 4.15 am at this point. I was contemplating whether I should wash my hair or not. I wanted to, but I didn’t want to blow dry it after. You know…typical things you worry about when you’re about to give birth *rolls eyes* I know…something’s wrong with me! Anyways, I decided to wash it 🙂 I wanted to feel clean and smell good. I went in the shower while Jeremy decided to shave. Sure….why not! LOL. I blow dried my hair (my way of blowdrying it is literally just hold the blow drier to my hair and that’s it. I don’t do the round brush thing or whatever other tools people use to blow dry their hair all nicely). I just wanted it dry and clean. I put nice lotion all over, deodorant and some sweats and a white t-shirt. Hubby asked me if I could cut his hair. I cut his hair all the time and two days prior I had made a comment about his hair getting long and not looking good in pictures LOL. I was referring to our birth photos we were going to take during labor. Well,l I was truly joking but I guess that comment stayed with him haha. So here we are … 4.45 am and I’m cutting his hair with his clippers. I did a damn good job too, I might add! Once we finished, I went to grab my charger for my phone so I could pack it in my hospital bag before we headed out to the hospital. By this time, I had gotten just one really bad contraction. I had to hold on to my vanity chair and freeze for a minute until it went away. But the other ones after that weren’t as bad. So we were doing ok, time wise. So we thought…..until my water broke!

With Gio I never experienced the water breaking because they broke it for me at the hospital. From what I had seen in movies and such I always pictured it to be this super dramatic “OMG my water broke and it’s all over the floor” scene. But turns out it wasn’t all that dramatic for me. I felt a gush of water down my legs, but it wasn’t as much water as I thought it would be. It definitely wasn’t all over the floor or anything. But I screamed “my water broke, OMG”. At that point Laney (my bonus daughter) had walked in our room. Jeremy woke her up to let her know we were heading to the hospital and our in laws had been notified and they were already on the way, but we needed her to sleep next to Gio until they arrived. She walked in right as my water broke so of course she freaked out. She ran to my closet, got me a new pair of sweats, helped me put them on, and meanwhile I’m thinking where the heck is Jeremy? He’s just literally standing at the bathroom door all lost and shocked. So I changed and brought him back to reality really quickly. Told him we HAD to go! It was 4.55 when we shut the door behind us and headed to our car. I was getting contractions every 2 minutes at this point.

On the way to the hospital, which was 15-20 minutes away, I called and texted Morgan, our birth photographer to let her know. She lives near the hospital so it was a lot quicker for her to get there. My first time around I was worried she was going to miss the whole birth and not be able to capture it. This time however all I could think of was EPIDURAL!!!!! Being in the car while contracting is the WORST! Wait, let me rephrase…it is NOT GOOD, with “the worst” being giving birth naturally! I’ll get to that later…I felt every bump and every lane switch on that road. I kept screaming for Jeremy to go faster. I was worried I had missed the window for the epidural. But my husband kept telling me to think positive. I couldn’t think at all. I just wanted it all to be over.

By the time we pulled up to the hospital i was in tears. I was in so much pain. I couldn’t get out of the car, let alone walk. So they had to take me in a wheel chair. We go inside, and the lady at the front desk is asking me questions so she could enter me in the monitor and let the labor and delivery unit know. She starts asking for my date of birth, SSN, due date, insurance, etc then asks Jeremy some other questions, meanwhile I’m literally crying my eyes out and kept screaming “he’s coming!” My birth photographer, Morgan, who had been through this with me before and knows how fast my deliveries are, told the lady in her lovely soft spoken voice “Ma’am, she tends to go really fast. I’ve seen it happen with her first. We should take her to L&D asap”. But she didn’t pay us no mind. It’s 5.15 at this point. I was finally instructed to go upstairs on the second floor where L&D is (L&D stands for Labor & Delivery).

The entire time I kept crying and making these horrible sounds because I was in so much pain. I felt like no one believed me. 3 nurses greeted me and took me to our room. I was hooked on the monitor at 5.27 am. I kept asking for the epidural but I didn’t see anyone make any moves for it. Of course, when you’re in that pain you want to get it right away and for it to start working right away too. One of the nurses told me that in order for me to get one she had to put an IV in and get fluids inside of me. So she started doing that. Then there was paperwork to be signed. They kept handing me papers to sign. I literally drew a line. I couldn’t even breathe, let alone write. I remember they kept asking me all kinds of questions, meanwhile I kid you not I felt Charlie’s head coming. I was screaming from pain, they were asking Jeremy if I was taking prenatals, when the due date was (which they asked like 6 times already), if I was a smoker etc etc. I get that this is all normal procedure. I went through it the first time around. But this time, I was about to pop, literally. I stopped asking for the epidural at this point. I knew it was too late. They weren’t taking me seriously, and I can understand, because as many women as they see daily, I’m sure there are so many of us who exaggerate and scream when they’re just 2 cm dilated. So i can understand them not taking me seriously, but being in my shoes and experiencing what I was feeling, I wanted to strangle them all! I told myself forget about epidural. Not happening. Ask for the doctor! No signs of a doctor any where near. They checked me and I was 7-8 cm dilated and 3 minutes later, when I suddenly screamed “I NEED TO PUSH” they checked again and I was complete, meaning 10 cm. So it was BABY TIME!

All of a sudden all the nurses kept telling me not to push. I told them it was impossible. I wasn’t even trying to push. I wasn’t even pushing. My body was literally pushing him out. I couldn’t stop it. There was this one nurse, whose face I can’t even remember, but I do remember she had piercing blue eyes and she told me to look at her and do as she said. She told me not to push, to relax, etc etc. I kept nodding. But each time she told me not to push, I felt him come out even more. And sure enough his head crowned. No doctor in the room still. I started freaking out! But I was in too much pain to even talk or ask anyone anything. I finally saw the doctor run inside and rush to put her gloves on. Next thing I knew my body literally pushed Charlie out completely. The doctor was just in time to catch him. It wasn’t my doctor but I had seen her before in the clinic I went to. She’s part of the group along with my doctor and a few other ones. So I felt comfortable. But at that point, even if the mail man caught my baby I would be happy. I had to get him out. The pain was unbearable. I’ve already blogged about it in my previous blog post 🙂 I won’t get into that now. I’d like to forget about it someday haha.

My photographer took a picture of the monitor to show the exact timeline of my birth.

So Charlie was born at 5.42 am. Exactly 20 minutes after they had hooked me up to the monitor. And was so perfect when he came out! All moms say that, I know. He was perfect to me. I was so emotional, as you can imagine, and my face shows it. Let’s just say I’m not one of those girls who look all pretty and lovely when they cry. I look down right UGLY. LOL. My facial expressions are hilarious now that I go back and watch it. Jeremy says he loves it cuz it’s full of emotion. I say he’s full of crap haha. Anyways, if you take my horrific faces out of the video and pictures, it’s actually a lovely video to watch!

I’m not sure if you’re familiar with birth photography but I HIGHLY recommend it. I learned it from my friend Jennifer who had her first boy 6 months before I had Gio. I looked everywhere for one here in Kansas City and came across Morgan, from Morgan Lang Photography. She’s a lovely mother of 5 and is now expecting her 6th child. She is so sweet and so talented that I immediately felt comfortable hiring her the first time around. And when I found out about my pregnancy with Charlie I booked her right after. Giving birth to your child is one of the most, if not the most, amazing experience you will ever go through as a woman. Being able to capture it in pictures and video is just amazing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked back at my video with Gio and all of the pictures from that day. I cry like a baby each time, but the fact that I have them means the world to me. It’s almost like I get to relive that day over and over again. I truly recommend it. You will never regret it!

Okay, enough blabbing. I’ll go ahead and share the video 🙂

And here’s some extra clips from that day:

I’ve always felt like my favorite day was the day I gave birth to Gio, but now I have two of them. I’m thankful for all the blessings I’ve received so far and I’m grateful for all the people in my life that make it all worth it. I love you and thank you for loving me.

I wouldn’t be able to do all that I do without my family and more importantly without my husband, our parents, and our kids. I’m especially thankful for my bonus kids who have been so helpful every single day. Lucas was away with his soccer camp so he couldn’t be at the hospital that day, but he joined us the day after. Him and George have gotten especially close after Charlie’s birth. I can’t wait for the day I see the three of them together, talking, playing, socializing. Ahhhhh…Heaven!

I think that’s it for now. I have had a bad migraine all day. My left eye feels like it’s about to go blind. So weird. But according to my husband I need to put away the laptop, the phone and go in a dark room for 15 minutes and see if that helps. Good thing newborns sleep all day long. I’m bringing Charlie with me hehe.

xo,

Egreis