Tate's Birth Story

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 I am happy to be writing this story down. With Tucker I had such a bad experience that it left a bad taste in my mouth. I had no desire to write down all the details and I still don't like thinking about all the things that went wrong that shouldn't have. So here's to a much happier beautiful experience!!

My due date came and went. I was shocked!! I had Tucker the day before he was due so I assumed this baby would at least come a few days early. WRONG. It sucks to get your hopes up and have to wait...and wait... and wait... Friday July 8th at 11:00am I started having uncomfortable contractions. My husband Nick had the day off work and we needed a new rug for our living room so we went rug shopping! I was miserable!! Every 5 minutes I had to sit down (from my contractions) or pee. It was 110 outside and I just wanted this baby OUT.

​Around 1:00 I told Nick that I think we needed to go to the hospital...but I was hungry so I wanted to get food first! We ate lunch at home and I felt like my contractions lightened up a little bit. I was relieved but at the same time not. Prostaglandins in semen always give me horrible contractions so I had my husband help me out and of course 10 minutes later my contractions came back again. It was around 5:00 and I was cooking brazi bites in the oven and there was still 15 minuets left on the timer. My contractions were so bad I had no idea how I could wait another 15 minutes before leaving to go to the hospital. As soon as that timer rang we were out the door. We got to the hospital at 6:00 and they checked me in and I was 3cm dilated. Tucker's grandparents came and picked him up for the night and we got our last picture of just the 3 of us!

At this point my contractions were sooooo painful. I suck at breathing through them but was still trying to focus. Instead I just punched the bed with my fist. I got an epidural around 7:00..and it WORKED. One of the most painful things of my labor an delivery was actually the epidural. I don't respond well to lidocaine and when he put the needle in I had the worst pain shoot up and down my spine. With Tucker my epidural didn't work and I felt EVERYTHING. All you mama's who do it all natural HUGE PROPS to you!!!!! You are so strong!!!

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7cm and smiling with an epidural

I had the most amazing nurse- Jamie!! She was so cool and I totally felt comfortable with her. It felt like she had my best interest at heart and it was reassuring. It was her first night back to work since she had just had her 5th baby 8 weeks earlier. 

By 10:00 I was already 6cm dilated and they still hadn't started me on pitocin. I wanted my birth to be as natural as possible besides the fact I wanted an epidural. At 12:00 I was at 8cm and my doctor said I would probably have the baby around 2:00am. At 12:00 I told my mom to come to the hospital. She used to be a labor and delivery nurse so of course I NEEDED her there. So 2:00am rolls around and I haven't progressed. The left side of my cervix wasn't fully dilated because Tate's head was crooked in my pelvis. Of course I go into a panic and ask a billion questions. I didn't want a c-section :(

They had me tilt up on the bed to try to get gravity to straighten out little man. I started getting intense nausea. 3:00 am...4:00 am... 5:00 am...6:00 am.. The hours keep rolling and Nick and my mom are both asleep in my room. I can't sleep my mind rolls around too much but I was getting soooo sleepy and exhausted. The nurse brought in the peanut ball that I used for about an hour to try to get things to progress. At 7:00 the nurses switch rotations and I get a new nurse- Brie who had SO much positive hyper energy that I desperately needed!! At 7:30 my doctor says he can stretch my cervix around to get the baby out and that we are going to start pushing once he comes back. I immediately started crying. All I could think about was how painful and long it was with Tucker. With him it took 2 hours of pushing to get him out. I blacked out for 40 minutes of it because I was in so much pain. I was expecting a similar experience. I couldn't imagine where I was going to find the energy to push! Nick was asleep so I told my mom to quickly wake him up-I needed him at 100% to help me get through this delivery.  I have never seen him wake up with so much enthusiasm and goofiness. He had me laughing -while I was crying- while we waited for the doc to come back. 

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Dad cutting the cord

 The doctor comes in and they get me all set up to get this baby out. At this point I am still pain free. Shockingly. They tell me when to push and on my first push my doctor tells me he can see the head already coming out. HA WHAT?! I go to my 2nd push and my doctor tells me not to push as hard and the baby is starting to come out. He guided me through 2 more pushes with specific detail how hard to push. Baby Tate came out in a total of 4 pushes!!! ahhh! What?! I am still in shock how easy it was. The cord was wrapped around his neck so they quickly untangled it and we had decided prior to delay cord clamping. After that Nick cut the cord and they placed Tate on my chest for immediate skin to skin. 

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Tate was a messy baby covered in vernix. Doc fixed me up then asked if I wanted to see the placenta. I love medical stuff and was very intrigued. He showed us the whole placenta and described all the parts to it. It was super cool- I wish I filmed it!!! Tate cried for a solid hour. They weighed him about an hours later and he was 8 pounds 6 ounces and 20.5 inches long. He was born at 8:04 am. After that we began our breastfeeding journey. Which is a whole separate story that I will tell later. We also delayed the bath and waited to do that at home 6 days later.

Tucker came in to meet his brother for the first time and he was a little hesitant and uninterested after the first peek. But when we brought him home from the hospital he was ALL about him. Bouncing all around the house and giving Tate lots of hugs and kisses. 
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I honestly cannot believe how fast I recovered. I was 155 pounds when I had Tate and leaving the hospital I was already 135. Its been 2 weeks post baby and I feel completely back to normal physically. However with Tucker that was definitely not the case. It took me a SOLID 10 weeks to feel any bit like myself. This 2nd time around has been such a better faster experience. 

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Hours after delivery