Capturing Life's Little Moments: A birth day I'll never forget

April 17, 2012:

I was at work, running an errand when I received a phone call from my OB/GYN's office, "Hi Penny, this is Women First calling and we were wondering if you wanted to have a baby tomorrow?"

Caught completely off guard, I immediately said, "yes" then thought about everything I needed to do to wrap up loose ends at work and at home.

By this day, my due date had come and gone so I was into overtime with Tyler. I was scheduled to be induced on Friday of this week (because my body had no signs of giving birth on it's own), one week past my original due date of April 13th. I was thrilled to be getting induced two days early, especially because my favorite doctor, Dr. Grider was the one on call and the reason behind the phone call. She knew that I wanted her to deliver my son, so she made it happen. She was out of the office on vacation when I had my last follow-up appointment, the day before my due date when they scheduled my induction so she didn't realize I was scheduled with a different doctor until she returned to the office. I was thrilled that she knew my wishes and wanted to fulfill them. Rich also loved her and he expressed the same wishes when we saw her during my monthly and weekly doctor visits. I have been her patient for years so I had built a relationship with her and I wanted her to be part of the greatest miracle I was about to experience.

I immediately called Rich, my Mom and his Mom to let them know our sweet boy was coming sooner than we had hoped. I was elated...the news began to set in and I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I knew I was having a baby, but knowing, I was ready to have my baby was overwhelming and exciting all the same time.

When I got back to my office, I relayed the news to my bosses and they replied with, "We have known for nine months that you would be leaving us, but we are not ready for you to go!" I was able to wrap up loose ends at work, although there wasn't much left to do because each day when I left work, I made sure to have things ready to go just in case I went into labor that night.

I got home from work about six o'clock, just in time for my last supper. Rich and I decided to eat at Macaroni Grill because I knew I wouldn't eat again until after Tyler was born. We enjoyed our last dinner together as a family of two then headed home to prepare for our hospital stay. I had my bag and Tyler's bags packed for about three weeks so I didn't have to do much, except throw in my last minute toiletry items. I did laundry and cleaned the house so that was all caught up because I knew once we got home from the hospital, it would be a little chaotic. My Mom came over to pick up our dogs and brought us a Diaper Genie as our hospital gift. She knew we would need it when we got home!

I was told to call the hospital at 10:00 PM to make sure they had a bed for me and sure enough they did. I was set to arrive at 12:15 AM to begin the induction process. We got settled into my hospital room, which was the room I would labor and deliver in which was convenient. The nurses came in and got my IV installed into my arm - well that didn't work out so well. My vein floated so blood burst every where and my sheet was covered. The nurse told me to turn my head so I didn't see how much blood I had lost. Great way to start the night... The nurse then inserted the needle into my right hand but it hurt, it hurt really bad and I knew something wasn't right. It felt like the needle was caught on something but she told me it would hurt until I got used to it. So, like a champ, I laid in bed for the next three hours and let my hand throb so much I finally called the nurse back in and told her she needed to change it and put it into my left arm. I couldn't handle it in my left hand, I wanted it somewhere different. Finally, success with the IV needle. I was good to go and the pain was gone. I didn't even know it was inserted into my left arm. Much to my surprise, I had been having contractions but did not feel a single one. The nurse seemed surprised because they were there and looked like they would have some pain associated with them, but nothing I felt. I guess my pain threshold was stronger than I thought it ever was.

I had one bag of saline and another of Pitocin which was used to induce me and make my body go into labor. They set the drip on low so I received a low dose throughout the night. The blood pressure cuff was awful...my entire hand went numb every time it went off and that was every thirty minutes. Go figure why I couldn't fall asleep to save my life. I had to use the restroom a lot so that was an adventure because I had to take my IV pole with me. It was a sight to see and the nurses had to come in and unhook everything so I could get out of bed. The coolest part was being hooked up to the fetal monitor. All night, I heard Tyler's heartbeat which was the best sound in the whole world. I loved it, I loved hearing that he was OK and that he was resting peacefully because I knew his journey to meet the world that he was about to embark on was going to be rough.

I loved every nurse I had and made friends with them quickly. They were in my room often and we always had great conversations. I couldn't sleep so I felt the need to chat. Rich snored the entire night, but once he told the nurse and I to "use our inside voices because he was trying to sleep!" We both laughed because he was rested, I on the other hand was not.

Fast forward and 8 AM rolled around. It was time for Dr. Grider to make her rounds so she popped in to see me. She examined me and I had not dilated at all so the Pitocin didn't do anything throughout the night. She "made me one centimeter dilated" while she was there. She told me that she would be back in an hour to see if any progress was being made and if not she would break my water. Sure enough, at 9 AM, nothing new had happened so she broke my water. She used what looked like a crochet hook and I heard a little "psshhhh" and felt liquid all over my legs. Just the way I had imagined it would feel - like I wet my pants.

My Mom and her best friend Jani spent the night at the hospital because they didn't want to miss a thing. I told my Mom that I wasn't going to be having Tyler any time soon, but she wanted to be there so she stayed. She got little sleep because she was anxious and had attempted to sleep in the waiting room which wasn't comfortable at all. She could not wait to meet her grandson.

By this time, Rich's Mom had arrived from Winchester so Tyler could come anytime, but he had other plans. I laid there and laid there as the clock ticked and time passed. The nurse checked me and nothing had changed so she made me another half centimeter dilated. By this time I was one and a half thanks to the help of my doctor and the nurse. My body was being so stubborn!

More time passed and I had dilated to four centimeters. Progress was being made, but not as much as I had hoped. The Pitocin was working finally. The nurse reassured me that once I made it to four centimeters, I should dilate a centimeter and hour, but that wasn't fast enough for me. In my head I heard "you have six more hours before you hold your baby." I was so anxious to get the show on the road!

By this time, it was about 4 PM and my contractions were getting closer together and the pain was intensifying. I was hurting so I called for an epidural. The Anesthesiologist was really funny and made me feel at ease. It was a quick process all things considered. The epidural took rather quickly and the feeling in my legs began to fade fast... my legs kept falling off the bed but I couldn't lift them back up.

Dr. Grider checked me again but I was still stuck at 4 CM. The nurses kept flipping me from side to side and gave me oxygen because Tyler's heart rate dropped so they thought he had fallen asleep, but they wanted him to be active. The nurse stopped the drip altogether because they worried that I had become saturated with it so it wasn't working its magic. They continued to flip me from side to side. The oxygen was nice although I didn't have any problems breathing. My contractions had slowed down so much that I was barely having any so they inserted a device that would measure the intensity which allowed them to gauge whether or not the Pitocin would work again once they turned it back on or if a C Section could possibly be in my future. I felt really drowsy as a result of the epidural so I finally fell asleep. Rich made sure no visitors came into my room so I could get some much needed rest and relaxation since my body wasn't responding to the Pitocin.

I slept for two hours and when I woke up at 6 PM, I was at ten centimeters much to the nurses surprise. It was baby time! She called Dr. Grider in and Dr. Grider confirmed that Tyler's head was where it was supposed to be...almost out. They let me reach down and touch his head and I did. Talk about surreal!

Dr. Grider wanted me to "labor down" for a half hour and let the contractions do their job by pushing Tyler down and out on their own without me doing any work. The techs brought in all sorts of equipment, tools and such to prepare for baby time. Several other nurses flooded my room preparing things and my main nurse stayed by my side. She was awesome.

At 6:30 PM my nurse came back in, got the stirrups and handles up, made sure Rich and I were both ready and I began a trial run of pushing. I had no idea what to do or how to do it so we practiced. I got the hang of it rather quickly. Rich watched the monitor with the nurses - every three minutes and thirty three seconds I had a contraction so when they were about to peak, the nurse counted loudly one to ten and I held my breath and pushed as hard as I possibly could. I then rested in between. Dr. Grider came in about 6:45 and was there until Tyler was born. Did I mention how awesome she is?! I continued to push and Tyler was coming down and out as he should. Rich was holding one of my legs but when Tyler was almost out, he said to Dr. Grider, "Hey Dr. Grider, can you hold this leg because I need to have a seat." Dr. Grider obliged as Rich sat down. My counting to ten awesome nurse was holding my right leg, Dr. Grider stayed in the middle to catch so another nurse took Rich's place. Dr. Grider told Rich to grab the camera because it was almost time for us to meet our son. I pushed one last time and at 7:22 PM, the greatest miracle I have ever witnessed was born into this wild and crazy word. Tyler Shanahan Smith, a crying baby boy entered our lives and my heart hasn't been the same since.

Rich was so excited to cut the cord so Dr. Grider called him over to do his job and she also allowed him to cut her portion at the very beginning of the cord so he was able to cut it in two places. He was one proud papa and captured the best pictures on film. I am so thankful he took so many pictures because later on, it all became a blur because of the rush of emotions. Plus, I was in bed so I couldn't see a lot that was going on as they checked Tyler out. Rich captured every single moment. My awesome nurse's shift was to end at 7 PM, but she said she wasn't going anywhere until Tyler was born. She was great and made me feel like I was the only patient she had ever had. I am so thankful for that.

Welcome to the world Tyler Shanahan Smith. Born on April 18, 2012 at 7:22 PM, weighing in at 6 lbs., 15 ounces and 20 1/4 inches long. A beautiful and healthy boy with a crazy amount of jet black hair and long eyelashes. I just love him to the moon and back.