William’s Birth Story

Dear little buddy,

The guessing games and mind tricks are over, you are here! And you are the perfect little baby; so similar to your sister yet so different. As I mentioned in my 39 Week post, I was thinking you were going to arrive in a similar way to Lexi via induction, but you’ve showed us you’re your own little person.

After going to my 39 week appointment, having my membranes stripped and getting the direction to keep walking; I headed to Target to get a couple of things and then to Costco before heading home to work for the rest of the afternoon. During both trips I was experiencing contractions but nothing painful or different from the last week or so. I came home and started working, yet making an effort to move around the house as much as possible. Contractions continued, but again I didn’t think anything of it. Around 2, I started timing them just to see IF there was any regularity to them. To me they felt very sporadic. Much to my surprise, they were coming every 10-12 min or so. Although surprised, it never crossed my mind that this was the very beginning stages of labor for us. As the day progressed they slowly got stronger. By 6:00, I told Daddy I was about 70% sure we would have a baby by this time tomorrow. I felt like I was in labor but didn’t want to get myself too excited only to be deflated, again. Daddy said OK, what’s the plan, do we need to go now? I hadn’t really thought about it, but knew we didn’t need to leave at this moment.

I texted Grandma B to be on ‘watch’. Daddy and I started picking up the house and cleaning so we would have a clean house to come home to if this was the real deal and to help me keep my mind on something. Daddy helped me time contractions during this process. Whenever I felt one, he had me yell out ‘Tippy-toe’ (A Seinfeld reference; you’ll learn that your Daddy is a BIG fan.) Again, to my surprise, contractions were coming every 5 minutes and the pain level was about a 2/10. If we hadn’t timed them, I would have guessed they were coming every 10 minutes. This is the moment that I really let myself believe that I might actually be in labor and it wasn’t a false alarm.

Around 7:00, I called the Dr to let them know I thought I was in labor. They agreed that it sounded like I was and told me to hang out at home for a bit longer, but don’t wait until I’m in a lot of pain to come in as Baby #2 can come a lot faster. I was excited by this thought, but was still pretty nervous that everything could fall apart and I would be going to work tomorrow. After getting off the phone with the Dr. I called Grandma and told her to head over so she could watch Lexi.

The Wild were playing that night and Daddy really wanted to watch the game. So he watched the first period while I continued to clean to stay on my feet and keep my mind pre-occupied. Contractions had grown stronger but I was still able to concentrate on whatever I was doing and didn’t need to stop to breath through anything. By 8:45 Grandma arrived and contractions were increasing in intensity and thought it was time to head in. Lexi was off-the-walls excited to see/play with Grandma and couldn’t wait to get rid of us. In fact, she told us to leave several times.

On the car ride over, we started timing contractions again and they were coming about every 3 minutes. They were painful (3/10) but I could continue to walk and talk through them. The car ride was a little surreal. There was a level of excitement of this is ‘IT’. This is what it feels like to go into labor naturally. For whatever reason, the car ride to the hospital had some kind of significant meaning to me as it somehow represented the notion of going into labor. Whenever I thought about how you were going to arrive, the ride to the hospital was what I would always visualize. Kind of strange, but true. So to be in the car with Daddy and making our 5-mile trip to the hospital was fairly monumental for me.

Once we were all set up in the triage room for our hour progression wait, we turned on the Wild game to help pass the time. Again, contractions continued to get stronger throughout that hour and by the end, I needed to stop and breath through them. The only tolerable position for me was to stand and while a contraction would come, I would need to bend over and brace myself on the side of the bed. After our hour wait, I was still dilated to a 4, but was much softer. Thankfully, they decided to admit me even though I hadn’t technically made any progress, but could clearly tell I was in labor and things had intensified since we had come in. It was such a relief to know we were going to have you! I told Daddy if they didn’t admit me, we were just going to go downstairs and hang out in the lobby because there was no way I was leaving. Getting admitted also meant I could get that epidural I was thinking about with every contraction.

As soon as we arrived in our room they ordered the epidural. I was relieved I didn’t need to wait another hour to get it as that is what I remember them telling me with Lexi. You need to get a bag of fluid in, which takes about an hour, before they can administer the epidural. The anesthesiologist arrived in our room around 10:30 pm and I sat on the edge of the bed curled over thinking it was going to be a quick and easy process like it was with Lexi. Wrong-OH! First of all, I do not remember any pain when they numbed the area and I definitely had that this time. Second, when she put in the catheter she hit a blood vessel so there was a lot of blood, not that I could see it, but apparently it wasn’t a good thing. So she tried again with no success. She proceeded to try three new locations requiring numbing in 3 different areas, hitting my bone several times and was a very painful experience. It ended up taking an hour for her to actually get the epidural in and working. Throughout this entire process, I was having contractions every 2 minutes, was forced to remain sitting on the edge of the bed with my back curved over and neck down. The contractions were fairly strong at this point and required 100% focus and lots of breathing to get through each one. This process was pretty terrible and I was pretty frustrated. Thankfully, Daddy was there holding my hand to help me get through it and try and keep me as relaxed. There were several times where he thought I was going to break one of his fingers. During the last 15 minutes, I was on edge with the anesthesiologist and was about ready to request someone else to come as she clearly couldn’t do it. Later Daddy made comments about how we clearly got the ‘C’ team on this as she didn’t look like she knew what she was doing. He even asked her if some of the products were child-proof as she seemed like she had never opened them before.

Nonetheless, by 11:30 it finally worked and I had some relief. At this point, I had only progressed to a 5. This amazes me. I for sure felt like she was going to check me and i was going to be like a 7. For as often as the contractions were coming and how strong they felt, it seems crazy to think that my body was only half way to where it needed to be to deliver you. By midnight, the nurse suggested getting a little rest. Daddy was pretty tired so he lied down for a little. I sent my work an email to let them know I was in labor, made some notes about labor thus far and closed my eyes to get what little rest I could.

Around 1:30 I started feeling a lot of pressure that was boarder-line uncomfortable/painful. I was thinking that the medication for the epidural was running out. I paged the nurse to let her know. She checked me quick and said I was a 7 with a bulging bag of waters. Either my water was going to break pretty quickly or the Dr. would break it when she arrived, which should be in about 30 minutes.

The pain and pressure continued to build and it felt like I had to go number 2 really bad. At 2:15, I paged the nurses again and said the pain and pressure was getting pretty bad. The Dr. came in, broke my water and said she would be back in 10-15 minutes to deliver. Having the water break is such an unusual sensation. It is warm and feels like you’re peeing your pants, but an entire bucket in a couple of seconds. For me, it decreased the pain of two contractions but then the pain for the next one was stronger than before my water broke.

At 2:25 the nurses and the doctor came in and set up shop. There was a nurse for me, the doctor and a nurse for you. I was surprised at how few people were in the room; with Lexi it felt like there were about 10 nurses in there. During my first contraction of pushing, they informed me that I had turned you from face up to face down. The second contraction pushed you further down the birth canal and the third contraction, you were out. Despite having the epidural, I felt a lot of pain. I even remember screaming a little during that last push to get your head out and saying it hurts! As soon as your head came out, there was instant relief and the rest of your body squiggled it’s way out without any pushing.

Once you were out, Daddy announced, “It’s a William” and had one of the biggest and proudest smiles on his face I have ever seen. The nurse wiped you off quickly and put you on my chest while Daddy cut your umbilical cord. I looked down at you and put my arms around you and all I could think about were how purple your hands were. I gave you a kiss on the top of your head and immediately started referring to you as ‘buddy’. However, your purple fingers really concerned me, the nurse agreed and quickly took you away to give you a more thorough check.

Birth Stats:

• • Name: William Gregory Sampson (the 6th William Sampson and named after both of your Grandpas)

• Born: February 25, 2015 at 2:37 a.m.

• Weight: 8 lbs 10 oz.

• Height: 19.5 inches (although, I don’t think this is right as 4 days later you were 20.5″ at the doctor)

• Apgar scores: 8 & 9

While the Dr. cleaned me up, I laid there in disbelief that it only took 3 contractions to get you out, that we had a SON and I had been complaining and contemplating an induction day earlier that morning. Very surreal for me. Another side effect of birth for me was having some really intense shakes. My whole body was shaking uncontrollably for nearly two hours after. I got the chills on and off and was a little nervous holding you as my arms were shaking so bad.

After all of the nurses left and we were waiting for my epidural to wear off, it was such a couple of peaceful hours. Because it was so early in the morning we weren’t distracted by calling or texting friends and family to announce your arrival. Daddy and I were just able to cuddle you, nurse you and enjoy the little miracle that you are. I loved watching daddy snuggle you and love you. Throughout the pregnancy he was fairly indifferent to you inside the belly, but the moment he set eyes on you, I could see the bond he felt towards you and the deep love that had grown in a matter of seconds. Words really can’t describe how wonderful it was to watch Daddy fall in love with you.

Finally, around 5:30 a.m. the epidural had worn off and we were brought to the postpartum room. We asked the nurses to leave us alone for several hours so we could get some rest. So there you have it little bud, this is how you arrived into this crazy world we live in. We love you so much and are so excited to watch you grow into a happy baby, curious toddler, inquisitive boy and handsome man.

Let the fun begin!

Love,

Your Mama

Side notes for mommy:

• • I had one small tare and they even questioned if it needed a stitch, but ultimately decided to give me one.

• After talking with the doctor about the epidural and why I felt so much pain this time. They explained that the epidural usually numbs the pain of the contraction but doesn’t diminish the pressure to help with the pushing and that I probably had a really good epidural the first time around and this one was more normal. I would much rather have preferred the no pain route!

• Bill got queasy several times during the pushing process and needed to sit down. He said there was lots of blood and other things coming out of me, which was not the case with Lexi. It was funny to hear him tell me this later because I had no idea he was sitting down. Also, I think this was because with Lexi, my water was broken at 8:00 am so there was several hours for everything to come out, where this time it was only a couple minutes and I wasn’t able to stand up and let gravity due its thing.