Branden's Birth Story

My husband and I had been married for 14 years and resigned ourselves to the fact we weren’t meant to have children. However, last summer, I found out I was almost four months pregnant and never even knew it! My pregnancy was pretty uneventful, except for some headaches. My mother and stepfather planned to come from California to witness the birth of their first grandson.

At my 38-week appointment, I was two centimeters dilated. My doctor told me if I had people flying in to be with me for the birth of my son, I should call them and tell them to head this way. I called my folks and they surprised me by showing up that evening! This being my first pregnancy, I had no idea how long it would take me to go from two centimeters to labor.

A few days later, nothing was happening, and my folks could only stay a week. My mom and I went to my doctor’s office to ask about elective induction. My doctor agreed to do it once I hit 39 weeks and not one day sooner. At that point, my parents would then have a day or two with their grandson. I was excited to finally meet Branden, but I was also scared to death.

I went into the hospital at 9 PM on Super Bowl Sunday. The nurses put an IV in me and started the cervix softening procedure. The first few hours were uneventful and I actually got a little bored in the birthing suite with my parents and husband. Around midnight though, the contractions finally started and the nurse administered some Stadol for the pain. My doctor arrived at 8 AM, and when she found out I was more than three centimeters, she broke my water. It wasn’t a matter of moments before I knew what REAL contractions felt like and within an hour I had gone from three centimeters to eight! Initially, I was against an epidural, but when the pains started to come so quickly, I almost kissed the anesthesiologist who gave me one! However, within 30 minutes my son’s heart rate had dropped pretty low and he was ready to come out. The doctor put me on oxygen to calm us both down and told me to push. I couldn’t feel anything and didn’t know if I was doing it right since this was my first child. Within 10 minutes and the help of the forceps, Branden James made his appearance. They took him right away to check him out, but he turned out to be just fine and healthy.

I’m not sure if it was the induction that attributed to my labor only being two hours or just pure luck. Maybe it was just time for me to meet the love of my life, Branden.