Troy's Daddy Helped Born Him (our birth story)

I feel as though if I don’t document Troy’s birth, I’ll forget. For those of you who don’t want the details (no, they’re not gory), don’t read on.

First of all, I approached Brian in April or May and discussed the fact that I’ve felt so good the whole pregnancy and wanted to entertain having Troy via a natural birth. After researching, I found that The Bradley Method seemed to be the most attractive one which made the most sense. We signed up for a class, with open minds, prayed about it and decided to tackle this feat head on. It involves relaxation, exercise, eating right and determination. I felt extremely educated about pregnancy, the techniques they suggest, and birthing a baby. Looking back, this was the best decision I made during my pregnancy. The entire concept stems around the father as the “coach”. Brian did a phenomenal job!

I went to the doctor on Wednesday, September 9th. Had an ultrasound to make sure little man was still okay. At that point, we were 40 weeks and 4 days. Everything looked good and I had an appointment to come back the following Monday. Dr. Alverson told me at that time that he didn’t want me to go over 42 weeks and suggested induction at 42 weeks. This was the LAST thing I wanted but completely understood why it would have been needed. The placenta begins to not nourish the child after a certain amount of time.

Here’s the story: Started having mild cramps on Monday and Tuesday. Nothing painful, just very mild. Then, Friday morning at 2 am I noticed a little more discomfort and decided to time them: they were 10 minutes apart. This continued until 11 that morning at which time I told Brian I might be going into labor soon. At noon, they fizzled to around 2-3 per hour. I noticed later they were stronger and closer together. We started timing them at 9 pm and they were 10 minutes apart again and were lasting 30-60 seconds. I didn’t get excited because this had already happened earlier. I was praying that he would arrive within the next week. Contractions continued at the same rate, increasing in intensity every now and then through Saturday. I was, miraculously, able to sleep between the contractions. Yes, you CAN take 9 minute naps! I still felt pretty rested by Saturday mid-morning. I would rotate: walking our neighborhood, getting in the tub, laying on the bed, laying on the ground, resting on my hands and knees. I had back labor at the same time. Troy was laying sunny side up (or his spine against my spine and the back of his head against my spine). The tub gave me the most relief. At 6 pm on Saturday, Brian and I went walking again (2 miles) and I noticed the contractions were getting closer together, about 5 minutes apart and lasting 60 to 90 seconds. I wanted to get the 2 miles in to open the pelvis more for baby Troy. I knew the time was coming soon! We got home, watched the Auburn game and ate. I got in the tub to work through more contractions. Brian was packing the car at the time. I saw that the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and lasting 60-90 seconds (if you didn’t notice, that gave me a resting time of a minute to a minute and a half). I started getting a little nervous because I did NOT want to have this baby at home. We left for the hospital around 10:20 and I was in the labor and delivery room at 11 pm. I definitely began having doubts around 12:30 because the back labor was intense. Brian was working his tail off rubbing my back, helping me get up and down on my hands knees and leaning on him while on the exercise ball. He talked to me about my favorite things (the beach, swimming, running in the sun, wine country) and it helped SO much! He kept telling me how to relax and know that Troy was on his way! At 1:15, my water broke. Labor was intense but by 2:15, our nurse, Tracy, said, “push once”, I did and she stated, “girl, you know how to push, this baby is coming”. She yelled for a nurse to call Dr. Smith. Honestly, I thought she was blowing smoke because it usually takes first time mom’s a while to birth a baby, right? Wrong! I pushed through 4 contractions, or 15 minutes, and he was born! It happened so fast! I was elated and so was Brian. Our son was born pink, calm and ready to nurse! We thanked everyone for helping us through it all. Troy nursed within a few minutes for a whole hour! I felt absolutely wonderful after he was born. Within minutes I said, “Oh my goodness, my back feels so wonderful!” I praised the Lord!

I felt great and was able to walk around. The nurses insisted I hold him and ride in a wheelchair to the room. Recovery has been great and I've been able to go walking the last 2 days without any problems.

I will not judge anyone choosing not to go this route; however, it isn't easy and an epidural sure sounded nice at the end. This is a personal preference and was good for me. I would definitely do it again, and plan to!
That’s our story.

Here's a photo of Troy right after birth. No, he's not crying. Crazy, huh?

A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ~ John 16:21 from NIV