Ryder Jadwin Smith's birth story

 

Monday May 25^th at 3pm I woke up from my afternoon nap and started having consistent contractions about 10-13 minutes apart. They were on the level of Braxton hicks but a smidge stronger with an obvious beginning and end to the contraction. We went on an afternoon walk with the family to help keep the contractions coming. I couldn’t time them or anything but I knew I was still having them while on our walk. I only timed here and there to get an idea of how far apart they were. My plan was only to really focus on timing them once they got stronger.

These mild contractions continued on until about after 7pm when I could tell a couple of them here and there were much stronger then the typical ones I had been having. I started timing those but they kept staying between 10-13 minutes apart. As soon as I started thinking that they were going away I’d look at the clock and saw that it had been another 10 minutes and another contraction would start coming on. They all lasted an average of 75 seconds.

While Scott bathed the kids at about 6:45pm I went ahead and also took a shower. I went downstairs and helped with bedtime and then finished getting ready. I basically did my hair, did some make up and got dressed in clothes I could leave in (or sleep in). Again, my contractions stayed about 10-13 minutes apart so it was pretty easy for me to do things in between.

I went for another short walk with Lily at about 10:30pm. It was short because 1) it was dark and things live in the wood around us that creep me out and 2) the insides of my thighs/groin were feeling pretty stiff. That’s probably because the night before I was doing lunges and squats…

We finally got to bed about 11:30 so that we could try and get some sleep. I was able to sleep for about an hour or so because my contractions were still far apart. After that though they started getting a lot stronger so that sitting on the bed or laying down was not going to cut it. I went downstairs and watched some Netflix. By this point my contractions were really varied. The really strong ones were about every 10 or so minutes still but I was having a few mild ones between. During this time I was also eating- English muffins, yogurt, and a homemade popsicle. I woke Scott up officially at about 4:30am (even though he’d already come downstairs once to check on me). By this point my strong contractions were about 6 minutes apart.

Scott got the kids up about 5:15- we got them dressed and they had some toast. We dropped them off at our friend’s house around 5:40 and got to the hospital about 6am.

I did not use a wheel chair to get in because my contractions were far enough apart I could walk, and I wanted them to keep coming! Also standing leaning on something wasn’t too bad of a position for me to be in during the contractions. We checked into triage and they were awesome! I mean awesome as in we hardly waited at all for anyone. (with Levi there was a lady who was getting an emergency c-section and other more high risk girls so it took them like an hour to get to me) This time however I was the only one in there. I was admitted and I was dilated at a 6 with his head at a -1 station! They took me right in to my room.

Once in my room they had to monitor me through a few contractions. Mostly to make sure baby was handling the contractions well. Everything was perfect so I was allowed to go into the shower. I sat in the shower for about 40 minutes with the hot water on my lower back. The water was wonderful, however when I was going through a contraction it was hard to be in any relieving position. (again contractions were still about 6 minutes apart) I was getting really sleepy between contractions so I chose to get out at that time. When I came out they went ahead and had the anesthesiologist run through standard questions in case I wanted an epidural. At this point I had told them I wanted to labor a bit before going that route if I wanted to. I said I wanted to see how far I was too. At 7am I was at 7cm. I had experienced a few more contractions and wasn’t getting the relief I needed from both position and Scott helping with pushing on my knees. My labor was all in my back at this point, which is the worst. And not to mention I was really tired so I chose to go with the epidural to get some relief.

I got the epidural and it was wonderful for about an hour. At 8am I was at an 8 and was feeling my contractions all in my back- exactly where I didn’t want them to be! So the gal who did my epidural came back in and adjusted it. My contractions by this point had been remaining about 6 minutes apart but were quickly getting closer together. Both my nurse and anesthesiologist were suspicious that this is why my epidural wasn’t helping fast enough. They kept dropping to being 4 to 3 to 2 minutes apart. After my epidural was numbing my back enough the nurse called the Dr. to see if she could break my water. In the past with both Addilyn and Levi my water has had to be broken at nearly a 10 and it still took me hours before I had them.

Dr. Hatch came in and she went to break my water but couldn’t get to it because his head was in the way. Also, I was fully dilated to a 10. She said we could go ahead and start pushing if we wanted to! I was totally shocked! Dr. Hatch was going to let me do a push but then realized she should probably get her gown on in case my water were to burst on her. As we were talking and prepping me into a position the nurse had to lift the blanket to make sure he didn’t just come out on his own. Dr. Hatch said with each contraction I was having he was just lowering down on his own. It was quite humorous but she was very serious about making sure he didn’t come out! Since I was so numb I could feel the pressure of him coming down and that got her wondering.

I watched in the mirror when during one contraction and 2 pushes he came out at 10:16am! Dr. Hatch flopped him right on me like I had asked and he was perfect! I kept him on me while the Dr delivered the placenta and stitched me up (she did a quick episiotomy). It was amazing because after 10 or so minutes Ryder started trying to open his eyes and actually did it! I also got him to latch on for a few minutes and then he was ready to go to dad. Scott held him and while he did Ryder opened his eyes wide and was just looking around. It was so cool.

As a side note- we don’t know when my water broke. When he came out there was hardly any liquid at all so we assume it may have happened in the shower. However I had not been leaking anything at since that time and when I was in the bed. It is a mystery still.

At this point we went ahead and got him weighed. I didn’t realize his size being large because of having Levi and Addilyn at home. But the nurse was guessing he was in the 9-pound range. Scott and her watched the numbers come up and I kept leaning as much as I could to find out. They FINALLY told me….9lbs 13oz. WHAT?! We measured again and sure enough that was his weight. I have no idea where this size came from. We hung out in the L&D room until I was ready to transfer to our second room.

As far as his name goes- if you’ve followed me on Facebook at all you know that we have struggled this entire time with a name. At one point we thought we had it (which is actually what it ended up being) but then we had two more names pop up and we were stumped. It wasn’t until later that day when Addilyn and Levi came in that we decided it. Scott and I were so indecisive that Addilyn made the final choice. We told her our 3 names and she chose Ryder. So here you have- Ryder Jadwin Smith.

Due to his size, they had to during the first 12 hours check his blood sugar levels before each feeding. Poor guy had to have his foot pricked all the time! Addilyn didn’t have to have that done (she was my largest before at 8lbs 15oz). It sort of bugs me that just because he’s a large baby doesn’t mean he isn’t healthy! I know in many cases large babies are a result of a mother’s obesity or having gestational diabetes or other health concerns. However in my case I’m to the book normal with my pregnancies. I guess that’s where my frustration comes from. I’m normal and HE is normal for ME. Anywho- he’s perfect and didn’t haven any problems with his blood sugar.

In short, after being admitted to the hospital at about 6 am- I progressed a cm an hour and delivered him just after 10 am. My contractions never got closer than 6 minutes until just before I went to push. That being said, my epidural was there during my fast transition stage, which could have been extremely painful, had I not had it.