The McBride Family: Welcome to the World!

"Don't tell your kids you had an easy birth or they won't respect you. For years I used to wake up my daughter and say, 'Melissa, you ripped me to shreds. Now go back to sleep.' " -Joan Rivers

Today - Sunday the 19th (which, honestly, will be over by the time this gets posted) - is Austin's 3-week birthday! I know all of you are dying to hear his birth story...

Ok, so maybe just one of you. But hey, I'm putting this out there into the cosmos because if I don't do it now, I won't remember how it went 30 years from now, and that will make me sad. Or maybe it won't. Because my memory is that bad.

Can you tell I'm tired? I'm rambling, and nothing's really making sense, but I'm giggling over here anyway...

If you don't want to hear all the details, just skip to the bottom of this entry; all the cute pictures of the little guy are going to be at the end.

Here goes.

Starting around the 18th or 19th of September, I started having Braxton Hicks contractions that were coming around more frequently. They didn't really hurt, but they were annoying, and they'd come irregularly for about 2 hours at a time then stop for a few hours. I didn't really know what was going on, because with my first two boys, I hadn't had any even semi-frequent Braxton Hicks contractions, so this was new. As the days went by, I got them more and more, but the intensity of them never changed.

On Friday, September 26th, I had a doctor's appointment. I was really hoping the doctor would tell me that I had progressed from the last appointment, and that I could just walk over to the labor and delivery wing of the hospital. (My ob/gyn's office is attached to the hospital.) I saw a doctor I'd never seen before, and although I was progressed to 3cm and 75% effaced, he was sort of brusque about how he thought the baby was going to be in there a while longer, and that he wasn't going to do anything to help it along. Not like I was really in a position to need help. I was 38 weeks 5 days, and this office doesn't induce early except for medical reasons. *sigh* I hadn't progressed from the week before, and I was pretty down because I have a tendency to dilate a bit quite a while before my due date, and just sit there until I get induced.

Aaaaaand that brings us to the next morning. Saturday, the 27th of September. Something that doctor did must have been similar to stripping my membranes or something, because that next morning, I started losing my mucus plug - sorry about the TMI - and those Braxton Hicks became just a little bit more than pesky. They weren't that painful, but they weren't just annoying anymore. I went about the day as normal, but as time wore on, I just started getting tired. I knew I had things to do at church the next day, so I emailed people to get everything covered because I didn't feel very good.

I didn't feel like cooking dinner, so I ran out at around 7:30pm to grab something for Jason and me to eat as the boys had something easy earlier. I actually ended up waiting for a while because I guess Penn Station takes a while to make your sandwiches, but while I was waiting, I noticed that I had a contraction that hurt more and it felt like it was making him move further down, which I didn't know was possible. Haha! He was a low-lying baby, for sure. I think it was that moment, that contraction, that made me pay more attention, because I didn't entertain the idea that I could be going into labor that night until then.

I came home, we ate, and I still had those contractions. I took a shower, and decided to hunker down with a movie while I timed contractions. Not too far into the movie, I was walking around, and breathing through the harder contractions, and they were getting a bit closer together, but nothing consistent. Some of them were 7 or 8 minutes apart, but some were 3. When they started hurting even more, I turned off the movie, we called our babysitter to come over, and called the doctor's office to make sure the on-call doctor recommend that I come in, which she did.

So at about 10:50pm, off to the hospital we went. For some reason, I was convinced that they would check me at triage and tell me that I wasn't really in labor and that I should go home. I mean, my mom went to the hospital at least 3 times with my younger sister, thinking she was in labor, and was sent home. Well, when we got there at 11pm the nurse checked me, I was dilated to 5cm, and she said, "Well, you're staying!" I was thrilled and sort of shocked at the same time - first, that I was dilated so much, and second, that I could stay and have the baby.

After that, holy tamales did the contractions get bad! Looking back on it, I'm pretty sure I had back labor, which is no joke! This coming from someone who has had contractions brought on by pitocin before! Wow. I just about immediately asked for an epidural once they gave me my own room, but they had to get a certain amount of iv fluid in first (I don't remember why they had to do that), plus I was group B strep positive, so I had to get all the antibiotic into me before they could give me the epidural. The pain was unbelievable while I had to wait. The thought of having to finish the labor and push and everything without pain medication almost made me want to cry. It was awful. Not to mention that the contractions had become so bad that I was shaking uncontrollably, like the worst case of the shivers I had ever had.

Finally, I got my epidural a bit before 1am, and while I still shook, they definitely calmed down. I had told them to wait to check me until after the epidural was done, because between the pain of the contractions and the shaking, I was sure I was going to throw up if they tried. (I actually DID come close to throwing up a couple times. Great memories!) When they checked me, I was dilated to 9, and they scrambled to call my doctor. When she was busy helping someone else, they got the in-house doctor to come and help deliver. In the few minutes it took him to get there, I was fully dilated and ready to push, and in about 5 pushes and 2 contractions, he was born!

Born at 1:23am, Austin Chase was born on September 28th, weighing 6lbs 15oz, and he was 20 1/2 inches long. When I first saw him, my first thought was, "Oh my goodness, I have a baby on me!" I actually said that out loud, and all the nurses and the doctor started laughing. But seriously, I had only been at the hospital for 2 1/2 hours! And let's compare my babies:

Labor length:
Andrew: 9 hours, induced by breaking water then pitocin
David: 9 1/2 hours, induced by pitocin then breaking water (It would've gone faster if they'd done it the other way around...)
Austin: 2 1/2 hours, natural labor

Gestational age:
Andrew: 40 weeks, 1 day
David: 39 weeks
Austin 38 weeks 6 days

Length:
Andrew: 20 1/2 inches
David: 21 1/2 inches
Austin: 20 1/2 inches

Weight:
Andrew: 8lbs 6oz
David: 9lbs
Austin: 6lbs 15oz

Outside of being about the same length, my experience with Austin was completely different. He's my LITTLE baby! I mean, the last baby I had was 9lbs a week early! Holy mackerel! I mean, I should've known he'd be little; even at my furthest along with him, he never kicked my ribs. He was small and sat so low, one doctor described him as being like a bowling ball inside my stomach.

At three weeks old now, he's doing great! He wakes up a few times at night, sleeps a lot, and loves looking around at everything when he's awake. He doesn't cry unless he's awake and doesn't want to be alone, or he's hungry, so he's definitely a more quiet baby. He's my perfect baby #3!

To see David's birth story, click HERE. To see details about Andrew's birth and his first few weeks, click HERE.

Alright, I've bored you enough with the details. Here are some pictures!