Aaron Michael's Birth Story

Chris and I welcomed our son, Aaron Michael, into the world yesterday on 2-19-13 at 6:30pm. Our little man weighed just 4lbs3oz and measured 16.5in long.  Though he was born sleeping, he was such a handsome little guy with blue eyes and a whole lot of brown hair just like his daddy.

This is his story...and it's gonna be a long one!  (And no...I didn't mistype...we had an Aaron instead of an Aurora...more on that below.)

We had our regular weekly checkup Tuesday afternoon and since I'd been having some sporadic contractions here and there, I went ahead and had the doctor check me to see if I was dilating.  At that time, the answer was something along the lines of "Meh, just barely."  We made our usual grocery stop on the way out of town and noticed on the way home that those sporadic contractions were a little more intense and a little more frequent.

At this point, I should mention that Chris and I had a date night planned for later Tuesday night...babysitter at the house, hotel room booked, steak dinner calling our names.  By the time we got home to get our bags and drop the girls off with my sister, the contractions were unmistakably closer together and admittedly stronger...but I really really wanted my steak dinner, so we headed out of town to go on with date night.  I could still talk and walk through them...so it couldn't have been much of anything, right?

Fortunately, "out of town for date night" also meant "heading to the same town where my doctor's office is located" because it didn't take me long to realize that those mildly irritating contractions were coming every four minutes and lasting about 30-45 seconds.  Since the doctor's office was closing in about ten minutes, I called to see what my doctor wanted me to do (secretly hoping that she would tell us to time them for a bit...maybe long enough for a steak...then come on in to be checked).  Instead, she wanted us to head to labor and delivery right away.  (At this point, I should also mention that my first labor with Tori was eight hours and second labor with Abby was two hours...so I suppose she had reason not to want me to delay.)

Despite my last shred of denial, Chris and I both knew that we probably weren't going to make it to date night and since it was already dinnertime, we stopped at Arby's so I could use the restroom and Chris could get a sandwich.  We joked a little about me having the baby in the restroom while we waited for the food...little did we know how close we actually came to doing just that!

We got to the hospital and headed upstairs.  I really really expected them to tell us that I was at about 3-4cm and had some time so we didn't even bring up our bags or anything.  The nurses at triage were waiting for us (apparently our doctor had warned them that I was a bit of a speedy deliverer) and had me head to the restroom for a urine sample. As I stood up, I had the suspicion that my water had just broken.  About five minutes later, my doctor sped in to check things out (literally I think she power-walked over from her office across the hospital).  We were talking and joking while she was checking things out...sure enough my water had broken.  Next step was to check how far dilated I was...still I expected maybe a 4-5 at this point.  Her exact words, "Well...you're complete because I'm feeling baby parts here.  Not sure exactly what, but I'd say you'll be pushing in about five minutes."  Into a wheelchair and down the hall we go...Chris admitted later that the nurse was practically running because he was having a hard time keeping up.

We got to the room and our doctor didn't bother breaking anything down for labor; she decided that delivering in the bed would be best (I happen to agree).  We had the two most incredible nurses with us and my doctor just sat on the side of the bed.  It was so incredibly relaxed and perfectly suited to exactly what we needed it to be.  At one point, I distinctly remember the doctor telling me that she could see the baby's face...to which I stupidly replied, "You've got to be kidding me. This just doesn't seem like it's really happening."  Her reply..."Well, Katie, it's not your liver, spleen or kidneys...so I'm thinking it's baby."  Have I mentioned that I absolutely love my OB and could not have had such an amazing experience through all of this without her??

We continued to chat between contractions and push when I needed to.  We even waited a little while to get started so they could send someone down to our car to get our camera (remember when we thought we'd have time to go get them??)  Aaron (who we were still calling Aurora at this point) continued to kick and was doing his very best this whole time.  But he was in an impossibly awkward position of trying to come out face first and after about twenty minutes of pushing, we couldn't hear his little heartbeat on the monitor anymore.  I love that he held on so long and I really love the fact that he kept kicking at the monitor every time the nurse put it on my belly between contractions.

After another ten minutes of pushing, our son was finally born and placed on my chest for us to meet.  He was beautiful and his little face looked so much like his sisters' did when they were born. Since we had decided to participate in the Duke University NTD research study, the doctor started to collect cord blood while we held and talked to our baby.  As she was clamping, she said "Um...is that a...? It looks like we have a little boy here!" Sure enough...I was holding our first son.

(Part two about "Aaron's Day" will be next.)