Laying down with my sweet boy right now staring at his precious face as I write this. The miracle of life is such a beautiful thing and I’m so grateful God allowed me to be a mamma.🩵
So without further ado, here’s my birth story of our little Harrison!
To start off, after much prayer, consideration, and weeks of hoping my body would go into labor on its own, my due date was nearing with no end in sight.
There were a few things that were important to me this time in L&D. But mainly, for many reasons I really wanted give birth without an epidural this time. It was something I had really strived to prepare my mind and body for.
Because my pregnancy was not considered high risk, I was able to go passed my due date in hopes that he would come on his own.
In my previous pregnancies, my firstborn was only 5 days late and he was 8.13- and had a 14in+ head. However, my second born was 6.15 at 2 weeks early due to GDM, with a much smaller head circumference and more petite features. So I had carried 2 complete opposites of the spectrum.
There were a few indications for me that this boy was going to be bigger. One of those being that no matter what I did, he would not move into my pelvis, even up to the 39-1/2 week mark. I had done absolutely everything natural to help his head engage, but he just wouldn’t budge.
With that in mind, I knew that I didn’t want to go too far past my due date for my own peace. Well and to be fair I felt like an overgrown watermelon at this point.😂
So after lots of prayer and thought, my husband and I decided to schedule induction for 40 weeks +2 days .
This was in hopes that he wouldn’t be too big and also that if he did have a larger head my wish to be able to labor and deliver without an epidural would be a little bit more feasible; mentally and physically.
After doing everything on the planet to try to induce naturally from home, even a few rest days-(besides castor oil lol), on the morning of October 14, we showed up to the hospital at 6 AM to start induction.
First thing they did was get me hooked up to wireless monitoring, and check my cervix. Which not to my surprise I was still only about 50% effaced and dilated to a 1-2 cm.
This was spot #1 in our day where we knew God was showing up for us. The Dr. that ended up being on call was just the right one we needed. And the day shift nurse I would have for 12 hours happened to be the same one my sister in law previously had. She was amazing to say the least. I had so much peace about whatever the day would hold knowing God had already provided a terrific Dr. and nurse.
The Dr. started out by explaining that the first thing we’d need to do was help my cervix ripen for his head to become more engaged, just doing Pitocin wouldn’t help the cervix ripen, just dilation at this juncture.
The two options that we talked about were either cytotech or a foley balloon. The idea of cytotech didn’t thrill me, but I knew that in order to make any progress my cervix would be where we had to start. Because this was my third child it would be more favorable to do the cytotech than the balloon, and so about 9 AM we started it. Procedure is, they would check me at four hours and then go from there.
The first hour, I rested, to let it set in place in my cervix, and then after that, got up and started doing lots of movement to encourage it along. I did a lot of yoga ball exercises, pelvic tilts, psoas release, side-lying release, etc.
At the four hour mark, I was 70% effaced and we agreed it was time to start Pitocin to bring on longer contractions.
They started me at 2 and watched me for an hour or two. Unfortunately, Harrison did not react well to that and I was having contractions about 45 seconds to a minute apart, not giving him time to rest in between or me. So, they took me off of the Pitocin. It was a little frustrating, I’ll admit, but I cared way more about Harrison’s safety than a quick labor. The other thing my nurse could tell was that he was not in a very good position. While another little hiccup we felt convinced with continued correcting movements we could help reposition as labor continued.
But however in this happening, we then saw spot #2 where God worked. My body actively took over at that point and started slowly contracting on its own!
I was able to move more in tune with the contractions over the next 2 hours or so, and it felt really good to know my body was showing signs of readiness. We continued a lot of movement and I felt good making steady but slow progress.
After this pace for a while my nurse decided to start up the Pitocin at a 2 again to see what my body would do now. Thankfully it responded beautifully, and so did Harrison.
At this point I was tired though.
Having been there 12 hours and with slower progress, it was a little bit defeating, to be honest.
So with that I got in the labor tub while I decided what to do next.
The best logical solution seemed to be to break my water as I was 80% effaced now and babies head a lot more engaged and believed to be in a better position. I labored in the tub for about an hour, and just rested and relaxed. I started to really have an inclination that once my water was broken, things would get very intense- fast. And my body truly needed a little break. The water felt amazing. The hospital even had faux candles and a galaxy light while they diffused essential oils. It was beautiful.
It was also at this point where I knew I would need to decide whether or not I could continue without an epidural with my energy waning.
I had been there 13 hours with quite slower progress. It was then, that my mom read to me my affirmations. Words that many of my sisters in Christ had written out for me, ones I had written, and then she also gave me a little peptalk herself. Honestly, this ultimately gave me the willpower to believe I could do it if I really wanted too.
My determined spirit felt renewed.
And so I made my decision to press on, and at 8 or so got out of the tub and just a few moments later at 8:20, the Dr came and broke my water. Almost immediately contractions picked up and became more intense. Movement at this point was absolutely necessary. About 8:45 I started utilizing some nitrous oxide during contractions. While it didn’t take away the pain it did help take the edge off of the intensity and was the distraction that I needed. However, because I had an anterior placenta, they did have to switch to corded monitoring to keep a close eye on baby’s reaction. By 9:30 I was in intense active labor and dilated to a seven. Contractions were about a minute apart and climbing. My mom and husband took turns helping me press on tailbone and back as I labored over a ball on the bed. I knew that at the end of each contraction at that point my body was getting ready to do fetal ejection reflex. I had cautioned the nurses that with my last delivery, my body voluntarily pushed her out and I was not able to stop, so they might prepare for that again.
Now at this point, the doctor on call had to be pulled to an emergency C-section. The nurses calmly but very urgently begin calling to see if another doctor on-call could race over to deliver me. They also took me off of the Pitocin momentarily to try and keep my body from pushing him out without a doctor present.
It was fierce at this point.
With each contraction, I knew that we were so close to delivery. The pain was extraordinary, but also reassuring as I could actively feel him quickly moving through the birth canal.
As soon as they knew the doctor was almost done with the previous patient, the nurse put me back on Pitocin at 10:15. Instantly it kicked in and within those next few surges I could feel baby crowning.
I cautioned them again that my body was starting to eject him. And at 10:25 the doctor came right out of the OR room and into my room to baby’s head crowning.
Just as the nurses were helping him get prepped, he quickly coached me through breathing as I had chosen to push side-lying instead of on my back this time to prevent or tear minimally.
It was such a blur for me as I could feel each hard surge and try to listen to the Dr instruct me with pushing.
It’s one of those moments that are forever ingrained in your mind, but at the same time you can’t properly describe it. I felt down to his head to just fully grasp what stage I was in delivering and knowing it would just give me a final bit of force to finish.
And in just a couple pushes little Harrison made his way into the world.
The instant relief I had was unlike any other physical peace.
They quickly brought him to my chest, and I cried inexplicable tears of joy.
His precious cry immediately came out and I just relished the moment. I remember saying over and over- “we did it, we actually did it. Thank you God”
And we had done it.
Within five minutes, the placenta came, and the Dr. quickly stitched up a very minor first-degree tear.
Harrison Cooper was 8 pounds and 3 ounces, 21 inches long, and had a 13 and three-quarter inch head.
My mom instincts were right, and I knew he was going to be another little chunker joining our family.
From the beginning of this pregnancy to the very end, God showed each step of the way how he is powerful enough to change things. From one pregnancy and L&D story to the next, it’s a testament to how He uses each experience to grow our faith and belief in Him.
He answered every single of my prayer requests for my labor and delivery in His most profound way, and I couldn’t be more in awe of Him.
Our family feels so perfect with him in it and I’m so thankful for another miracle gift of life.🩵
Welcome to the world little Harrison.
Xoxo, Shantel
