Samuel's Birth Story

This is the story of how our precious baby boy, Samuel Watkins Irby, came into the world!

We had scheduled the induction for Friday morning at 7:00 a.m. because a previous sonogram showed that Samuel appeared to be 9 pounds. I really didn't want to wait to go into labor on my own because I was afraid that he would gain weight and I would be delivering a 10 pound baby.

So, Friday morning rolled around and Matthew and I arrived at Medical City of Dallas at about 6:40. We immediately got into our room and learned that our nurse would be Claudine. She got my IV started (which hurt SO badly. She couldn't get it on my right hand so she had to stick my left as well). Then she got me started on Pitocin. After that we just started waiting. My mom showed up at around 8:00 so we just hung out for a while. Cathy and Dale and my dad also came up so they all just hung out in my room or the waiting room. At this point, the pitocin had kicked in and I was feeling the contractions.We had brought a DVD of The Office so we were watching episodes between visitors. Dr. Bernstein came in to break my water (which he wasn't able to do) and that hurt really bad as well.

I started progressing and got to 4 cm pretty quickly (maybe at around noon). I think it was at this point that I decided to get the epidural. I always knew I would get one, the question was just when. But I was feeling the contractions pretty strongly so I decided to go for it. This was the next painful thing and for some reason I was really scared about it. But I made it through and was feeling better and able to relax. Here I am while relaxing:

Dr. Bernstein came in and checked me again. I was still at a 4. He said that he would check me again soon and if I was still at a 4 we would probably need to do a c-section. Matthew and I talked about this and came to terms with it. No, I really didn't want a c-section but at least the baby would be out soon and I would know what was coming. Plus, I had developed this fear of pushing and of Samuel not being able to get out safely, so I was fine with a c-section.

Dr. Bernstein checked me again and I was at a 6. I think this was at around 9:00. This really was not what I wanted to hear. Since I had progressed, Dr. B said that he could let me keep going, or I could opt to go ahead with a c-section. I really didn't want to "give up" and do the c-section when I could possibly have him without surgery, but I really had come to want the c-section. So Matthew and I decided to keep waiting.

Well, the waiting paid off. The next time Dr. B checked I was at a 10! It was time to start pushing. This was at around 11:00 Friday evening. I started pushing and our nurse (Mary had come on at 7 when Claudine left) said that I was pushing really well. I was thinking that pushing was not that bad! Well, about an hour in to it I was telling a different story. My neck and shoulders were in intense pain, and the epidural kept wearing off. It was a vicious cycle: I would push the button for more epidural because my contractions were killing me, the contractions would feel better but the epidural would make me nauseous so I would throw up, and then my contractions would get bad again.

Dr. B came and checked me and I was progressing, but not very fast. At this point I was thinking that I really couldn't do this. We all decided to take a little break and resume the pushing in about 30 minutes. So at 12:30 we started again and at 1:00 I was done. I could NOT do it anymore!! Mary said that I was progressing, but very slowly. That was discouraging to hear. So we called Dr. B and told him that we were ready for the c-section. I was really sad because I felt like I had worked so hard, but I really didn't think I could do any more.

Matthew told the families the plan and Cathy and mom came to tell me good luck. Dr. B came back in and wanted to check me one more time. Well, when he checked he said that Samuel's head was right there and did I want to try using the forcepts. I was so scared of this because forcepts just sound so harsh. He said that he could try once and if it looked like it wouldn't work then he would quit and we would do the c-section. So Matthew and I said yes to the forcepts and no once again to a c-section. At about 1:00 on Saturday morning Dr. B was getting me ready. I was so scared that I was shaking. I kept praying out loud that this would work and that Samuel would be okay. As I was praying, Dr. B looked up and said, "I can't hear what you're saying." in kind of an annoyed voice. Matthew was like, "she's praying." I thought this was so funny at the time.

I started pushing and Dr. B went to town with the forcepts. This was the weirdest feeling ever. After what seemed like hours but was only just about 15 minutes, I heard a suctioning sound. This meant that Samuel's head was out and the forcepts had worked!!! Matthew cut the cord, they plopped him on my chest and I couldn't believe he was ours. Matthew was bawling and I was just so relieved that the forcepts had worked and that Samuel was fine. After a few minutes on my chest they took him over to the table to get washed off and swaddled. Matthew followed and took some pictures:

Mary told me that Samuel would have some bruises on his face because of the forcepts. I didn't care at all. I was just so happy that he was here safely. Matthew brought him to me and I got to hold him for a few minutes.

I was instantly in love. I had wanted to try breastfeeding right away, but Samuel was born with a temperature of 103. I had had a temp. for the last several hours so I guess that's why he did. So they took him to the nursery for monitoring and a bath. Matthew got to go watch while I had to stay. I ended up having a 4th degree tear. Dr. B spent at least 45 minutes stitching me up while Matthew went to the nursery with Samuel. Matthew also texted a pic to our parents who still thought I was having a c-section. Here's a pic of Samuel's first bath:

So sweet. We went to recovery and got Samuel back at about 5:00 a.m. We all bonded and Matthew and I enjoyed our precious boy.

So that is the story of how our Samuel was born. We love him so much and will never forget that momentous day!