Before I forget all the details, I wanted to document Grant's birth story...
My goal of Grant's birth was to have a safe VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section). The day we found out he was a boy, I immediately started being anxious about having another c-section like I did with Gavin. I assumed I was able to have a successful VBAC with Henley because she was a dainty little girl. So at my last doctor's appointment, we scheduled for Grant to be induced on Wednesday, 4/16--a day before his due date. We waited with Gavin and he was 8 days late, ended up in c-section, so Dr. Roberts wanted to give me as much of a chance of having a VBAC as possible. From things I have heard, being induced isn't the easiest. So I thought....ok, I could force my body with medicine to have this baby, or I can try everything I know to try this weekend. So we did it all, spicy foods, walking, etc. and nothing was working. I taught my dance aerobics class at the gym until 30 weeks, so I knew walking wasn't going to be active enough to get things movin'. So I decided to go to my friend Ildiko's Zumba class on Saturday at noon to hopefully get contractions started.
The women in the class were so shocked I was there at 9 months pregnant and were seriously backing away from me for fear that my water would break. Ha! I did every single dance full out--squats, kicks, all the shakin' I could do! Sadly my water did not break and I didn't feel a single contraction. BUT, I do think this got things started.
Sunday around noon, I started having consistent Braxton Hicks contractions every 10 minutes for the entire day. They got a little bit harder throughout the day but stayed at 10 minutes. I was having to grimace through them at the end of the day--so much so that my friend Elizabeth almost came to get the kiddos to spend the night just in case I started true labor in the middle of the night. I got out and walked laps in our neighborhood around dinnertime to see if they would get harder or closer together with no luck. I was able to sleep on and off in between contractions but they never got closer together. I woke up at 5 am Monday morning with HARD contractions--but still not much closer together and inconsistent. One would be 8 minutes, the next would be 12. But they were definitely hard and I was having to breath through them. I got out and walked the neighborhood again (with neighbors laughing at me for trying to walk that baby out!) still with no luck of them getting closer together. But they were so hard that I knew it was labor, just early on. So we packed our bags, took our 9 month picture, and headed to my doctor to get checked.
(Side note--we had been praying for Baby Grant to come for weeks. When Gavin came downstairs that morning, I said, "Gavin, Baby Grant is going to be born today!" and he screamed at the top of his lungs. He has been so attached to him already and has only known him in my belly. Can't wait to see the best friends they will become!)
So we dropped the kiddos off at my friend Elizabeth's and headed to my doctor. I knew we wouldn't be accepted at the hospital without contractions being 5-7 min apart and they were still inconsistent in time. They checked me and I was 4-5 cm dilated! Further than both labors so far! They said I could go home and labor for a few hours at home or go to the hospital and start epidural and pitocin and me and baby would be monitored. My first thought was of course hospital to monitor baby with me being VBAC and then I would also get MEDICINE. Yes, please! So off to the hospital we went and got checked straight into a room and bypass triage. Thank you, Lord! So at 10:30 am we got checked into our room (Room 216 just for my future reference).
Dr. Roberts was not on call the weekends that Gavin and Henley decided to come. We had joked this whole pregnancy that she would owe me a steak dinner if she were 0 for 3. Guess who happened to already be on the operating floor when we got there!? Just another of the hundreds of prayers that were answered with this delivery. So I made her take a pic with me to document that she actually does deliver babies :) and she broke my water to get things moving along!
I got an epidural soon after (praise the Lord), had a hot spot where it didn't take, so I had to lay back on my left side for a bit for the medicine to do it's job. This picture cracks me up of me on my phone texting friends and family the updates of what was going on! Epidurals are A GIFT FROM THE LORD. Goodness gracious I could not do a natural childbirth.
So things moved so quickly from the time we checked in to the time I pushed that this is basically the only other picture of the whole time! Ha! I wish I had a picture of Aunt Amanda--she asked to be in the delivery room for the whole thing! I would have never said yes with Gavin, but being #3 I was totally ok with her being in there! I'm sure Ryan liked having the company.
Laboring was a cinch with an epidural AND being half way dilated when we checked in. It went SO FAST. My mom has been able to knit a washcloth in the waiting room for both Gavin and Henley and she didn't even have time to get her stuff out! I was at 9 cm around 2:30 and they changed the bed to kind of like a chair to let him drop to +2 station because he was at +1. That made my blood pressure drop a little (and made me feel sick) so they laid me back and let him drop on his own. Basically she said I could have pushed him into position but that could have taken a while and worn me out so she let nature do it's thing. Ummm...how awesome is that?? At 4:00 they came in and said it was time to push because Dr. Roberts had a soccer game to get to. Ha! Brave Aunt Amanda hung around and watched the whole thing (at the head of the bed, not the foot!). I remember looking at the clock at 4:07 and they had me do a practice push. Well two 10-count pushes later this precious boy was here at 4:13!
I asked Dr. Roberts if I needed to push again and she said, "Nope, he's coming on his own!" and he basically fell out after that. Ha! 1 minute away from 4:14 on 4/14/14. I said, "Couldn't you just lie about the time!?" Surely there's a clock somewhere that it was 4:14 so we'll just go with that. :)
So here he is...
Grant Harrison Hughes
Our tiniest baby yet: 7 lb 2 oz, 19.5 in long
My 2 nurses (that were AMAZING) were Amy and Leann--both redheads! We said we were "Team Ginger" and were rooting for a red-headed little boy and he came out with jet black hair. I can't believe how dark it is! This picture is AFTER I pushed Grant out. I cannot believe I am not even the least bit exhausted looking like I was with Gavin and Henley. I'm telling you what, the Lord answered every.single.prayer that I had and then some. I had no idea how easy and wonderful labor and delivery could be! So thankful!!!
Thankful Aunt Amanda was in the room because she grabbed the camera and took pictures while Ryan videod so I could remember all these precious first moments. They weighed him and cleaned him up and then put him on me skin to skin:
When I was anxious at the teeny tiny percentage of VBACs that could go wrong (which, let's face it, any labor/delivery has risks), I asked for lots of prayer from my friends and family. A group of girls at a Bible Study prayed for me for my anxiety and specifically for me to have a successful VBAC. My anxiety subsided so much after that night (2 weeks before he was born) and my prayer since then has been for me to be overwhelmed with how the Lord would work out even the tiniest of details. I can't even list all the things that worked out so perfectly where the Lord just revealed Himself working through this, but to list a few...Gavin and Henley were taken care of so easily by friends that live a mile away from the hospital and did not mess up any school schedules between all 4 kiddos, I went into labor on my own without having to be induced, I was able to get checked out at my doctor's office instead of triage, we both had a full night's sleep before hard labor started, my doctor was already at the hospital and able to deliver (yay!), the biggest one of all that I did not have to have another c-section (thank you Lord!!), mine and Ryan's moms were both on their first day of Spring Break so they did not even have to miss a day of school to come up for his birth (what!?), my Mom was able to care for us through Thursday at home to let Gavin and Henley bond with Grant and then Ryan's mom took Gavin and Henley home for the weekend to give Ryan and I time just with Grant, etc. etc. The list could go on and on with small ways the Lord revealed his care to me that has brought me to tears on multiple occasions throughout this week. As much as I try to be in control, it was evident our Heavenly Father orchestrated every single event of this birth and I am so grateful. Thank you for all of your prayers, friends. They were most definitely answered! I am overwhelmed!
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