I told you I would write out Colby’s birth story, so here it is. If you aren’t interested in me getting this personal, you can of course skip this post and come back on Thursday for another delicious new recipe. If you are interested, then here you go.
Our sweet little one’s due date was May 16th. I had been told he was measuring big, so I fully expected that he would be born early. My last day of work was May 9th and I was ready for him to come any time. With no work the week of his due date I spent time getting a few more things ready around the house and going on long walks to try and get contractions going. I even tried walking along the curb.. I got a few going while I was walking but as soon as I stopped walking the contractions stopped too.
May 16th came and went with absolutely no sign that baby boy was coming, but at my doctor appointment a couple days before we talked about me coming in the next week to be induced, so I was just relieved to know that baby boy would be coming within the week.
I went in on Monday May 19th for a non stress test and to check fluid levels. Baby boy was responsive in his test and my fluid levels were great so we wouldn’t be induced any earlier. I was dilated to a 2, and I was glad to hear that since I’d been at a 1 for the past 3 weeks or so.
Wednesday evening, May 21st we went into the hospital at 6:30PM. We got a meal of Chinese food and an Orange Julius smoothie from the mall before since I didn’t know if I would be able to eat once I got into the hospital. We checked into the hospital and were put in room 123. One really nice thing about the hospital we delivered at is you stay in the same room for the whole thing, labor/delivery and recovery.
The nurses asked me a bunch of questions about my health history, and put a fetal heart beat monitor and contraction monitor on my stomach. They also gave me an IV. The nurses asked if I could feel the contractions I was having, and I hadn’t really been focused on them at all because they weren’t too painful. I had been having some cramping all day, but it felt like it was just going constantly. Once I zoned in on the timing of the contractions on the monitor I was able to see that the cramping did accompany the contractions on the screen.
Finally around 7:30PM they started the cervidil, which was going to soften my cervix and get it ready to have a baby. It was possible this would start labor for me, but not likely and the plan was to do this and then start pitocin the next morning. It was this little white ribbon that they put inside up by my cervix.
I was told I could still eat, so Nate and I both ate a personal frozen pizza that they had available for the husbands. I’m not sure exactly at what time, but I started having some pretty painful contractions. I asked the nurses to get me on some pain meds, so they gave me some fentanyl and some ambien, so I would be able to sleep through the night. I puked pretty shortly after getting the medicine.
The contractions were so painful that I was standing up and trying to walk in place (while attached to monitors and an IV) to help with them, but it didn’t really help me at all. I got back in bed and when the nurses came to check on me next I told them that I had either peed my pants a little or maybe my water had broken because I felt a little wet. They checked and my water had broken, so they said I could stop the cervidil and get started on pitocin.
My doctor decided I didn’t need to start pitocin right away, and instead we would see how I progressed on my own. They said I could get an epidural now too. So as we waited for the anesthesiologist one of the nurses helped me get through the contractions a little pressing on my back. I don’t feel like the fentanyl did anything for me, but maybe the contractions were just getting worse.
The anesthesiologist finally came and I curled over the side of my bed while he got me ready for the shot. I had taken the ambien already, so I really don’t remember being scared for the shot or what was going on very much. Once the epidural was in my pain quickly went away and it was getting late so I was able to fall asleep.
The nurses came in to check my dilation every hour or so, what felt like every half hour, but because of the ambien I was able to fall back asleep as soon as they stepped away from me, but poor Nate didn’t sleep the whole night. Around 2:00am I was dilated to a 6, so I was progressing enough on my own that we didn’t need to have me take pitocin.
I’m not sure at what time, but a couple hours later I was dilated to a 9 or a 9+. But I was able to sleep for a little longer. At 6 we got a new nurse, and around 7:00am she said I was ready to start pushing. Through each contraction she grabbed one of my legs and had Nate grab the other and had me push 3 times through each one. After some point she had Nate look down and said they could see baby’s hair!
The pushing got pretty painful for me, with all the pressure down there so I tried pushing the epidural button to give me more drugs, but I don’t know if it did or not. Then the nurse made me stop pushing because I was close and we needed to wait for my doctor to come. They said he was 5 minutes away, but it felt like an eternity – and was probably about 15 minutes. When the doctor got in he put my legs in the stirrups and had me push again. It was just 2 or 3 more pushes, when I looked down and our baby’s head was out and they had me stop pushing and the doctor just twisted the rest of his body out. At 8:08am on May 22nd our baby was born! He weighed 8lbs and 2 oz and was 20.5 inches long.
We knew we wanted to name him Colby and after seeing him we decided it fit, so he was named Colby Nathan Berrett. I was able to do some skin to skin shortly after they cleaned him all up and I was able to breast feed him too.
We are just so happy to have our healthy and beautiful baby finally here!
Amber @ Dessert Now, Dinner Later! says
I don’t know why I am just barely seeing this, but it was fun to read! I already love Colby and still need to meet him!
Judy B says
Thanks for sharing! Colby is beautiful! The three of you are beautiful together! Congrats!
Blessings!
Judy B
Ellen Garrett says
Although I knew most of this already, it just made me teary eyed because it is so beautiful. I loved reading this post and yours and Colby’s story. The wide eyed pictures are awesome. Love you!
Renee@Two in the kitchen says
Congratulations Amy. He is just beautiful!!!!
Kristin says
Congrats! I agree with you about the fental not doing anything. I was to far along to get an epidural so they gave me fental and Ryan said oh that will help but it was still just as painfull.
Sue Summers says
Congratulations, he is beautiful!!!
Sandi Berrett says
Loved reading Colby’s story. What an awesome mommy he has. Dad is pretty great too!
hicksfan7 says
Awesome, happy for all of you!
bblad says
I loved reading this! Although it’s painful and not pleasant labor is such a special memory for me remembering when my sweet little boys were born.
Congrats to you both. He is beautiful!
Taralyn - Keep Moving Forward With Me says
I love hearing birth stories! Colby is adorable!
Nancy says
BEAUTIFUL (((HUGS)))
becky says
Beautiful. Congratulations.