Parker's Birth Story

In February 2005, my fiancée and I had moved back to my hometown for new jobs and to prepare to get married in May. In March, we decided when my birth control patches were gone, we’d just stop using birth control. We had heard it took some time for the body to recuperate from being on birth control, so we were confident it would take a while for us to get pregnant.

We were married May 22, 2005 and two days later my cycle just didn’t seem normal. I figured it was just from all the stress and excitement from the previous weeks. About the second week of June, I just knew something was up. My husband kind of joked that we might be pregnant, but we didn’t really believe it could happen so soon. On June 21, I left work early, and decided to buy a test. I went home and tried to go about my business but I was so scared. I had taken tests before but this was a different kind of scared. Now we were ready to be pregnant; we planned on it, or were we really ready? Sure enough, 15 minutes later, I was staring at two pink lines for the first time in my life. I was so scared, excited, nervous, upset, happy, and sad all at the same time! I cried, but didn’t really know why I was crying. I called my husband at work and told him he had to hurry home after work, but he already knew. He said he could hear it in my voice! He was so happy, it made me cry even harder! My pregnancy was all but fun. I had morning sickness up until eight months. Work was very hard when you can’t eat. Everything stinks and all you want to do is sleep and be sick. It could have been worse though. The good news was that the baby was great.

We wanted to find out what we were having so I could call my little bulge a “he” or a “she” instead of an “it.” I always knew I wanted a boy, and I knew before the ultrasound that would be what they would tell me I was having. Granted, I would have been happy with either, provided all was OK and healthy! I was right! My little bulge was my precious baby boy! My due date was set at February 20 although I knew being a first-time mom he would either be early or late, so I tried really hard not to be upset when the 20th came and went. I was still wearing my regular jeans up until the middle of January, so it wasn’t that I was that huge and uncomfortable, but I was! My hips hurt, my back hurt, and the little guy sure didn’t stop kicking! I went to the doctor on the 21st and was still only dilated to one centimeter so they scheduled another appointment for the 26th. On that day, I went in hoping they would tell me to get ready to have a baby. But his heart rate was great and he was moving, but he hadn’t moved down far enough into the birth canal so they set up a day to induce me. By that time I was so ready (and not ready at the same time) to have my baby, it seemed like a lifetime! We were told to call in on March 2 at 7:00 AM if nothing happened by then, and to not eat that morning. When I called, they told me they were full. I almost lost it. They told me to eat a light breakfast and call back at 9:00 AM. When I called back, they were still full and they said they’d call me back in a couple hours to see if they could get me in. I lost it then. I just wanted to hold my little stubborn kicking baby on the outside instead of the inside already! They called me at noon and said to come in at 1 PM. Finally I would be holding my little muffin! Boy, was I wrong! They loosened my membranes at 3 PM, broke my water at 6 PM, and still I was only dilated to two centimeters. At 9 PM, they started Pitocin. All of this time, while I was being monitored, they would ask if I could feel “that” and when I said yes, my doctor told me they were contractions and they were the right kind, with the right intensity. I was surprised to hear that because I had been having those contractions for two weeks but they never hurt. They just made me a little winded and tightened up my belly, but I never thought of them as contractions.

I was told that with the Pitocin the contractions would hurt more so I got my epidural just in case it got worse. The only thing that hurt was my butt from the bed. The nurse told me to get some sleep, but my blood pressure cuff was going off every 15 minutes and the nurse kept coming in to adjust monitors so it was tough to sleep. However, my husband had no trouble sleeping and snoring away! Around 4 AM, the nurses noticed that every time I had a contraction, my baby’s heart rate would drop and then come back up. They took me off the Pitocin and put the head monitor on my baby. He was fine; just hadn’t dropped down far enough yet. My doctor came in around 6 AM and I was dilated to eight centimeters but my little stubborn muffin still hadn’t dropped down far enough yet. He did say in a couple more hours I should have my baby though.

I was so happy to hear that. I could do a couple more hours, I thought. They put me back on Pitocin, and the nurse was constantly checking the monitors and I felt a little more at ease. But by 9:30 AM I wasn’t feeling so well. I was hungry and thirsty and feeling like crap. The nurse said, “Oh good! That’s a good sign!” It almost made me feel better even though I was throwing up.

I was finally dilated to 10, and the nurse was getting the tray ready with all of the tools, and getting my husband into the scrub shirt because the doctor told him he could help deliver the baby. He was so excited. I just wanted to be done with all of this mess and hold my baby.

At 11 AM my doctor came back in to check to see where everyone was and the baby still had not moved down. He said after all of this that it was time for a C-section. Waiting too much longer wouldn’t be good for me or the baby. At 12:10 PM on March 3, 2005, (11 days late!), my eight pound, 10-ounce little muffin, Parker Rhys, was born, healthy and beautiful.

I had heard a lot about C-sections and how bad they are. I am the biggest wuss on pain, and let me tell you, it wasn’t any worse than having bad cramps. Yes, getting up the first time hurt, but not as bad as my butt hurt from lying in bed for almost 24 hours. There’s nothing scary or painful to report on C-sections. I was also told that if and when I have more children, they will have to be C-sections also because my pelvis isn’t big enough for childbearing. I love my little bouncy almost-two-year-old more than life, and he was worth the wait!