On the eve of Whit’s first birthday, and a year to the day we checked into the hospital, I thought it was high time I put pen to paper to write Whit’s birth story!
I’ve always loved reading other people’s birth stories, and I know this is something I’ll want to look back on for myself in the future. I’ve always looked at my blog as somewhat of a scrapbook of my life – from getting engaged, to my bachelorette weekend, to our wedding, and renovating our house, I love sharing each stage of life with y’all!
I knew from the beginning that I would consider being induced at 39 or 40 weeks to keep from going over my due date, which I wanted to avoid for a number of reasons. (Side bar: I highly recommend Expecting Better by Emily Oster (recommended to me by my doctor) if you’re currently pregnant – it really helped answer a lot of questions I had while pregnant, and helped inform my birth decisions!) We were scheduled to go in for an induction at 10pm on December 18th, 2 days shy of my due date! I was pretty nervous the whole day before going in, and decided I better go get one last manicure that morning 🤣 which ended up being a great distraction! I spent the rest of the day double and triple checking our bags that were already in the car like a crazy person, and wondering what I should eat for dinner, knowing I would likely be going into labor that night. I ended up eating a turkey sandwich, and I remember being concerned because Rudd was too excited to eat anything – lol! He took Fern (our goldendoodle!) to his dad’s house, and then we made the 20 minute drive to the hospital.
Immediately when we arrived, I had a sense we weren’t having our baby that night. The delivery floor was extremely busy, and we were ultimately told that they didn’t have a room for us because there had been so many spontaneous labor arrivals, that of course took precedent over my elective induction. To say we were extremely disappointed that they were sending us back home is an understatement! It was now around 11pm, and we were headed back home to try to get some sleep before reporting back to the hospital at 9am the next day to hopefully get started. It was so hard to get to sleep that night because we had gotten so worked up with excitement! But the next morning on the 19th, we headed back to the hospital and eventually were admitted to a room around 11am. (Other than the high number of babies being born right before Christmas (and thus the lack of rooms), we had a great hospital experience! I never expected that to be an issue that would come up, and who knew there were so many holiday babies?!)
I was 2.5cm upon admission, and my doctor suggested doing the balloon method to get me a little farther along before starting the pitocin. When she went to place to balloon, it caused my water to break! In the moment, I was excited because I assumed that meant my labor would progress at a faster rate (and it did), but they quickly informed me that my contractions would probably be more painful (at least until I got my planned epidural) since my water was already broken. And that proved to be true 😬 those few hours, I think from noon-3ish?, with the balloon, were not so fun. I started having contractions just from the balloon, and felt immediate relief once it was out. I was about 5cm at that point! My doctor recommended that I sit on an exercise ball while they started my pitocin to help things move along, and it also made me feel better to keep moving through the contractions, because I didn’t want to get my epidural *too* soon. Looking back, I probably should’ve gotten it a little bit sooner, because I think I suffered through my contractions a little bit unnecessarily until around 7pm. Next time, I’ll ask for it sooner! I felt so much better and was able to get in the bed and rest a little bit after getting the epidural.
Around maybe 8pm, there started to be some conversation about Whit’s heart rate dropping with each contraction. They said it could be due to the fact that my water had already broken and the baby might need some more cushioning to withstand labor. My doctor did an amniocentesis, which is when they basically put water back around the baby. They also decided to turn my pitocin off for a little while to see if that helped him, and everything regulated and I started having contractions on my own. They never had to turn the pitocin back on, so I was happy that I really didn’t end up needing much of it. (I think it was because I was really close to going into labor on my own, anyways!)
Around 10:30pm, my doctor came in and said I was fully dilated, and that we would start pushing soon! We were so excited! This was my favorite part of labor, by far. By then, my epidural had taken all of the sharp pains away, and I felt like I could think more clearly and enjoy the moment. I pushed for almost 2 hours, which was really tough – about an hour into it, Whit’s heart rate started dropping again because his head was turned to the side and he was getting stuck. I was so concerned that we were going to have to intervene in some way to help him get out – I just remember having my eyes closed most of the time through that last hour just continuously praying! There were so many moments I felt God so close to us in that delivery room that I really can’t describe, but I know other mamas will know exactly what I’m talking about.
Our little Rudd Whitaker Orr, Jr. finally burst into the world at 12:58am on his due date, December 20th! The moment my doctor caught him, I couldn’t believe that it was suddenly all over! They put him on my chest, but he wasn’t really crying, which was scary. After they had Rudd quickly cut the umbilical cord, they whisked Whit to the other side of the room and a team of about 3-4 people came in, who I later learned were the pediatric respiratory team. Rudd was over there with them – they cleared Whit’s airways and he finally let out some big cries, which was such a relief to hear. In the moment, no one made a big deal about it, so I was surprisingly calm. I’m just so thankful for all of the amazing doctors and nurses who took care of us!
Everything is honestly such a blur after that since I was so exhausted and it was the middle of the night! When they were able to bring him back over to me, I feel like I could really take it all in for the first time. We obviously didn’t get any sleep the rest of that night between all the hustle and bustle after he was born. Our families were able to come visit us the next day, which was really special!
We thank God for a safe delivery, and a healthy baby, one year later! It has been such a transformative and special year in so many ways that I will never be able to put into words. I am thinking of those of you who might be about to bring home your own Christmas baby this year! The holiday newborn bubble is simply unmatched.
One of the most amazing things has been connecting with so many fellow mamas in this little online community! I’m so thankful for all of you who have followed along this journey with me! I can’t wait to share Whit’s first birthday party with you next!!
