Wells' Birth Story

Hello! A lot has happened since my last post, and I'm about to tell you probably more than you want to know about it. Wells is here and we are so, so happy. Here's the story!

I didn't have the "classic" labor experience you see in the movies where your water breaks in the cereal aisle and you call your husband to grab the bags because the baby is coming... mine was a little more relaxed (pictured below).

That's me doing yoga on my due date, wondering if maybe some sun salutations or warrior threes would give me any sort of sign that the baby was coming! Nothing. Somehow I made it through my entire pregnancy without a single contraction, but luckily I scheduled an induction for a couple days past my due date just in case!

Not so luckily, lots of other girls decided to have their babies the night before my 5 AM induction on Wednesday, July 29th, so the hospital called me during what we thought was our "last supper" at the Cheesecake Factory saying all the beds were taken and they would call me when one became available.

To be honest, I was totally fine with it because the thought of labor still terrified me more than excited me. So all day Wednesday we waited for the phone call, and decided to pass the time by seeing Cinderella (again) at the dollar movie. We figured if they called during the movie, it would be okay because we only spent a dollar. Also, if my water broke during the movie, it would be okay because lots of stuff has probably spilled on those seats.

Wednesday morning, afternoon and evening came and went and finally I decided to call the hospital before going to bed to see if there was any update. They said they were still totally full, so I went to bed praying they wouldn't call me in the middle of the night so I could get a full night's rest!

At 8:15 Thursday morning, I woke up and was lying in bed wondering if today would be baby day when my phone started ringing and my stomach lurched and butterflied at the same time because I knew who had to be calling -- and I was right! I picked it up and the nurse told me they were ready for me and to come in as soon as I could. That moment was as surreal as I would imagine your water breaking would be. I walked out of our room to tell Jason and we excitedly gathered our already packed bags and headed to the hospital!

I was admitted to my delivery room around 10:00 AM, by 10:30 my doctor had broken my water, and around 11:30 they started pitocin to get things moving. When I got to the hospital I was dilated to a 3 and 90% effaced, and they expected things would move quickly.

I started getting tons of contractions, but the only way I knew I was having them was from looking at the monitor! After an hour or so I started to feel them, and when I was dilated to a five I decided to get the epidural -- something I was delaying as long as I could because the thought of being numb from the chest down and being awake totally creeped me out -- but it was totally not bad! I could still move my legs on my own but the pain of the contractions was gone. Miraculous!

After that my quick progress started slowing, and before we knew it the evening was coming to an end and I realized I was not going to be having a July 30th baby! At this point I was starting to get tired and so incredibly hungry, so when my nurse Rachel (who I knew from high school!) told me I could start pushing a little after midnight I was so excited!

That was another surreal moment... when they pulled out the stirrups and turned on these two spotlights that made me feel like I was on stage (ew) and started counting as I pushed. Super weird. That part of labor was something I could never envision myself actually doing, and even now after doing it I have a hard time believing it really happened! It's hard to explain, but maybe some of you can relate.

I pushed for a good two hours and was getting pretty discouraged because it didn't seem like I was making much progress. My doctor arrived and was able to see that my baby was facing up instead of down, which apparently makes it pretty tough to progress past a certain point. He told me he was going to have to turn him, which worried me slightly because I felt like there was something going on with my epidural because I could completely feel my legs at this point, which is not normal! As he was turning him I had a physical and mental breakdown because it I was tired and hungry and hurting! My doctor saw my reaction and called in the anesthesiologist to top off my epidural (bless his heart) then he turned him again and then I was able to push him easily. After that he basically flew out (okay maybe not but compared to the previous two hours it sure seemed like it) and before I knew it the doctor was holding up our screaming, squirming little boy and I had never seen something so miraculous and beautiful and I sobbed like a big, big baby.

They placed him on my chest and I vividly remember feeling his skin for the first time. It is difficult to describe, but feeling the weight of him and touching his soft, smooth skin and watching him squirm and feeling him hold my fingers so tight was such a surreal, divine experience. I watched him in awe, and tried to immerse myself in that moment so that I would never forget how he felt, and the new feeling and responsibility I had that he needed me.

 

Another sweet moment was watching Jason hold Wells for the first time. He has been so excited for fatherhood and Wells is a lucky boy to get to have him for a dad!

We spent the next two and a half days in the hospital and it was heavenly. Before labor I didn't think much about the time in the hospital after the baby is born, but it was wonderful! I felt like we were in our own little world, and I didn't ever want to come out of it.

A few hours after he was born, we got around to naming the little guy! When I was about six months pregnant I realized I loved the name Grant, even though it wasn't ever on "the baby name list" I had kept in the back of my journal ever since I can remember. I asked Jason what he thought of the name and he loved it as well, so that was pretty much the end of it, but we kept it to ourselves because we're mysterious like that.

His middle name -- Wellington -- is a family name from Jason's side. Both of us love the name, so that was an easy choice too! The only difficult decision we had was what to call him, Grant or Wells (short for Wellington). Right before naming him in the hospital we decided on Wells. I think it's so charming and it suits him!

The funning thing is I swore I would never name a child something that ends in "s" because I have had to deal with awkward possessives my entire life (Alexis's). Not only does our poor child have a first name that ends in "s" but a last name as well! Or should I say wells (elbow jab).

So there's the story! Happy birth day to little Wells.

Thanks for joining our clan.