samuel david ulrich
saturday, may 18, 2013
9 pounds 1 ounce
21 inches
10:49 am
(finally finished samuel's birth story...two months later. haha. lots of pictures to come!)
(finally finished samuel's birth story...two months later. haha. lots of pictures to come!)
It was finally friday and i was so happy. The week had probably been one of the most tiring weeks i have ever had. I spent monday(5/13) at school, tuesday(5/14) & wednesday(5/15) at the hospital doing double clinicals, both of which were eight and half hours long, and thursday(5/16) all day at school. on top of that i was sick with an annoying cough and congested nose and chest. I was also happy it was friday because i was going to the doctor and was excited to have them finally check me to see if i was dilated. My mom came with me and i was a little bit disappointed when dr. schwartz said i was only 1 centimeter, but also relieved because i still wasn't done getting all the baby/hospital stuff together. She measured my belly and i had gone from a fundal height of 39 the week before to a 37 this week. The baby was dropping. We talked about next weeks appointment and doing fetal monitoring since i would be overdue at that point. She also told me to get my hospital bag packed since babies always decide they want to come in the middle of the night. I put it on my to-do list for the next day.
We left the doctor and i left to the pharmacy to pick up some medicine in hopes of getting well before baby arrived. I finally made it home and then it was off to BJ's where we were meeting grandpa and auntie diana for dinner. It was 6:30. We ordered our food and were talking when i started not feeling so good. I had eaten a small salad and a bite of pizza and felt really full and was starting to notice pain in my belly. It was different from braxton hicks and i knew in the back of my head that this was the start, but kept telling myself that it wasn't. auntie diana could see that i wasn't feeling well and kept asking me if i was okay. I texted my mom asking if contractions counted if they didn't hurt. She said yes as long as they were coming regularly. We finished dinner, and i told david that we better go to target to get some nursing bras for me in case baby decided to come early. Off to target we went, at this point i was still feeling pretty good. The stomach pain was only coming every 15 minutes or so, and nothing to the point where I couldn't walk or talk. When we got home I felt fine up until going to bed at midnight. I took a shower hoping it would help me relax and go to sleep. No such luck and back into the shower I went at 1:30am after tossing and turning in bed. While i was in the shower i had two "real" contractions that hurt. no more of just the tightness of braxton hicks. When i got out of the shower i told david that i was pretty sure baby was coming today and he better get some sleep while he could. Who was i kidding to tell a soon to be first time dad to go to bed while his wife was having contractions!
We finally started timing the contractions for real at 1:43 a.m, and boy did they hurt. They were coming on average every eight or so minutes. I was determined to look some what decent in my pictures so I started blow drying my hair in between the pain. Finally around 3:30 a.m. I texted my mom the times of the contractions I was having and told her that I think baby was gonna come today. I also made sure she brought over some nail polish remover and cotton balls to do my toe nails because no one wants ugly feet when you are about to have a baby. By the time my mom got to our house around 3:45 a.m. contractions were coming regularly about every five minutes. They were hurting really bad and i was trying out different positions to make them less painful. That's when my mom told me i was having back labor. It was so intense, and i felt immediate relief once each one was over. As i continued to have this pain, i was straightening my hair in between each one and my mom painted my toes. David was such a big help, and helped me through each contractions. He reminded me to breathe, and put pressure on my back with each one. I was determined to stay home as long as possible so that i wouldn't be sent home from the hospital for not being far enough along. Finally around 5 a.m. we went to my moms house so i could be more comfortable to relax, but once we got there it was decided that we should leave for the hospital since the contractions were now coming 3 to 4 minutes apart. The car ride to to hospital was not fun, and i kept telling david to slow down on the bumpy parts of the road, and to go faster when they were smooth. I had three contractions in the ten minute car ride...not fun!
Once we got to the hospital we were checked in after what felt like forever. I changed into my gown in the triage room and they hooked me up so they could monitor baby's heart rate and the contractions. It was around 6 a.m. The nurse checked to see if i was dilated and much to my surprise i was already at a 5!!! When i found that out, it totally put me in the mindset that i was halfway there and i was going to be able to do this. They moved us into the labor and delivery room and we met our nurses, who were the best! Since i had a new nurse shadowing my nurse, they both stayed in my room the ENTIRE time. it was so nice. Contractions were hurting so bad and i felt like yelling with each one, but was reminded by everyone in the room to just breathe through them. Not too long after getting to my room my nurse asked what my pain was and i told her 8/10. Since i was only 5cm, she must have been nervous because she sat down next to me and started telling me all about epidurals and how i would have to have a bag of saline before they would be able to give me one and that would take at least 20 minutes. Throughout the whole pregnancy i knew i wanted to have as natural of a birth as possible. No pain meds, no pitocin to speed up labor, no inducing. I acknowledged her epidural talk but still didn't want one. I was checked again around 8:30 a.m. by my doctor and she said i was at a 5/6. Since my water hadn't broken yet, and contractions were going off the monitors, she suggested to break my water for me to help my progress. I said yes, and next thing you know i am sitting in a lot of warm fluid. It was the craziest feeling, and i could feel that there was not so much pressure as before. The nurses had me moving around in all different positions because baby was sunny side up and that's what was causing me to have such bad back labor. I sat on the birthing ball, in a rocking chair, leaned over the side of the bed, held onto david, and layed in bed. I definitely preferred holding onto to someone like slow dancing and having another person put pressure on my back. We had a party in the delivery room with my mom and dad, david's mom and aunt, and david, plus the two nurses! Everyone was such a big help and they all took turns rubbing my back and holding my hand. I would call my dad over to hold one of my hands and i would squeeze and let go, and he would still be squeezing mine. I had to tell him a few times to stop squeezing my hand, i was supposed to be the one squeezing his! I also turned into some crazy holy lady while i was having contractions. I was saying a lot of "ohh lordy, lordy, lordy!" and "oh lord, please help me!" I was checked again around 9:30am and was at a 7/8. Finally some progress. I was starting to feel lots and lots of pressure on my bottom and they checked me again and i was at a 9. It was around 10:00 a.m. A few contractions later i felt like pushing so bad! I was telling my nurse and she told me to wait at least a few more contractions. I told her i couldn't and that i was gonna push and she gave me the go ahead after one contraction. Everything was happening so fast. The doctor wasn't even in the room yet and i started pushing. It hurt a lot but also relieved a lot of pain and pressure. The doctor finally came in and the pushing continued. Pushing baby's head out was the craziest feeling. There was SOO much pressure, which was gone right after. After a few more pushes baby was born, and i immediately felt no pain! It was such an amazing moment, and i was so happy to hold and meet my sweet boy. I don't remember anything that was happening around me, because i was in such awe of how beautiful he was. While i was getting stitched up(ouch!!) the baby got his footprints stamped, weighed and measured and a bath. Once they handed sam to me, i knew he was a big boy...but everyone else thought he looked small and was in the 7-8 lb range. when the scale said 9lbs 1oz everyone was so surprised.
Having my family come in afterwards to see the baby is something i will never forget. My three brothers came in and saw the baby, and were so sweet with him...taking lots of pictures and talking with him. I also loved having my family in the delivery room with me. I was thinking it might be a little awkward to have anyone besides my mom and david in the room with my while sammy was being born, but everything felt fine and natural with them in there. i'm so happy they could be there to witness this amazing experience. Also when you are in such pain, you don't really care who is coming in to look at you, even with your legs up in the air!
My favorite moment came after they took me, baby, and david into the postpartum room. They settled us all in and left us alone to get some rest. Baby samuel got to lay with me skin to skin on my chest and i remember feeling so happy and thankful for everything that i had in my life. He was so calm and snuggly and slept so peacefully on my chest. I felt so lucky to be his mama and so thankful that he had david as a dad.
Having a baby was definitely the hardest thing i have ever done. The pain is something that i can't begin to describe. It hurt so bad that i couldn't even cry. I gave birth to samuel all naturally with no pain medication what so ever. This is something that i am so proud of myself for being able to do. I would definitely say that before going through birth my pain threshold was low, but after going through this...it has gone up quite a bit. I am also so proud of myself for finishing my first semester of nursing school while being pregnant...and with a newborn. After sam was born i had to go back when he was just six days old. I also had to take my final when he was only 12 days old. Throughout the whole semester i would have to tell myself pretty much every single day that this is something i could do. "you can do this!" was my mantra...and i did it! I am so thankful for david and everything he does for me and sam. Although i am the one who wakes up in the middle of the night to change the diapers and feed, he is the one who sings silly songs, and talks to him about all kinds of things. from dating to pooping to playing football. so funny. I remember him talking to sam in the kitchen one night telling him that "he was so cute and it must be hard to be that cute and that he was once a cute baby too, and knows how hard it is!"
I love my two boys oh so much and am the happiest i have ever been in my whole life.
We finally started timing the contractions for real at 1:43 a.m, and boy did they hurt. They were coming on average every eight or so minutes. I was determined to look some what decent in my pictures so I started blow drying my hair in between the pain. Finally around 3:30 a.m. I texted my mom the times of the contractions I was having and told her that I think baby was gonna come today. I also made sure she brought over some nail polish remover and cotton balls to do my toe nails because no one wants ugly feet when you are about to have a baby. By the time my mom got to our house around 3:45 a.m. contractions were coming regularly about every five minutes. They were hurting really bad and i was trying out different positions to make them less painful. That's when my mom told me i was having back labor. It was so intense, and i felt immediate relief once each one was over. As i continued to have this pain, i was straightening my hair in between each one and my mom painted my toes. David was such a big help, and helped me through each contractions. He reminded me to breathe, and put pressure on my back with each one. I was determined to stay home as long as possible so that i wouldn't be sent home from the hospital for not being far enough along. Finally around 5 a.m. we went to my moms house so i could be more comfortable to relax, but once we got there it was decided that we should leave for the hospital since the contractions were now coming 3 to 4 minutes apart. The car ride to to hospital was not fun, and i kept telling david to slow down on the bumpy parts of the road, and to go faster when they were smooth. I had three contractions in the ten minute car ride...not fun!
Once we got to the hospital we were checked in after what felt like forever. I changed into my gown in the triage room and they hooked me up so they could monitor baby's heart rate and the contractions. It was around 6 a.m. The nurse checked to see if i was dilated and much to my surprise i was already at a 5!!! When i found that out, it totally put me in the mindset that i was halfway there and i was going to be able to do this. They moved us into the labor and delivery room and we met our nurses, who were the best! Since i had a new nurse shadowing my nurse, they both stayed in my room the ENTIRE time. it was so nice. Contractions were hurting so bad and i felt like yelling with each one, but was reminded by everyone in the room to just breathe through them. Not too long after getting to my room my nurse asked what my pain was and i told her 8/10. Since i was only 5cm, she must have been nervous because she sat down next to me and started telling me all about epidurals and how i would have to have a bag of saline before they would be able to give me one and that would take at least 20 minutes. Throughout the whole pregnancy i knew i wanted to have as natural of a birth as possible. No pain meds, no pitocin to speed up labor, no inducing. I acknowledged her epidural talk but still didn't want one. I was checked again around 8:30 a.m. by my doctor and she said i was at a 5/6. Since my water hadn't broken yet, and contractions were going off the monitors, she suggested to break my water for me to help my progress. I said yes, and next thing you know i am sitting in a lot of warm fluid. It was the craziest feeling, and i could feel that there was not so much pressure as before. The nurses had me moving around in all different positions because baby was sunny side up and that's what was causing me to have such bad back labor. I sat on the birthing ball, in a rocking chair, leaned over the side of the bed, held onto david, and layed in bed. I definitely preferred holding onto to someone like slow dancing and having another person put pressure on my back. We had a party in the delivery room with my mom and dad, david's mom and aunt, and david, plus the two nurses! Everyone was such a big help and they all took turns rubbing my back and holding my hand. I would call my dad over to hold one of my hands and i would squeeze and let go, and he would still be squeezing mine. I had to tell him a few times to stop squeezing my hand, i was supposed to be the one squeezing his! I also turned into some crazy holy lady while i was having contractions. I was saying a lot of "ohh lordy, lordy, lordy!" and "oh lord, please help me!" I was checked again around 9:30am and was at a 7/8. Finally some progress. I was starting to feel lots and lots of pressure on my bottom and they checked me again and i was at a 9. It was around 10:00 a.m. A few contractions later i felt like pushing so bad! I was telling my nurse and she told me to wait at least a few more contractions. I told her i couldn't and that i was gonna push and she gave me the go ahead after one contraction. Everything was happening so fast. The doctor wasn't even in the room yet and i started pushing. It hurt a lot but also relieved a lot of pain and pressure. The doctor finally came in and the pushing continued. Pushing baby's head out was the craziest feeling. There was SOO much pressure, which was gone right after. After a few more pushes baby was born, and i immediately felt no pain! It was such an amazing moment, and i was so happy to hold and meet my sweet boy. I don't remember anything that was happening around me, because i was in such awe of how beautiful he was. While i was getting stitched up(ouch!!) the baby got his footprints stamped, weighed and measured and a bath. Once they handed sam to me, i knew he was a big boy...but everyone else thought he looked small and was in the 7-8 lb range. when the scale said 9lbs 1oz everyone was so surprised.
Having my family come in afterwards to see the baby is something i will never forget. My three brothers came in and saw the baby, and were so sweet with him...taking lots of pictures and talking with him. I also loved having my family in the delivery room with me. I was thinking it might be a little awkward to have anyone besides my mom and david in the room with my while sammy was being born, but everything felt fine and natural with them in there. i'm so happy they could be there to witness this amazing experience. Also when you are in such pain, you don't really care who is coming in to look at you, even with your legs up in the air!
My favorite moment came after they took me, baby, and david into the postpartum room. They settled us all in and left us alone to get some rest. Baby samuel got to lay with me skin to skin on my chest and i remember feeling so happy and thankful for everything that i had in my life. He was so calm and snuggly and slept so peacefully on my chest. I felt so lucky to be his mama and so thankful that he had david as a dad.
Having a baby was definitely the hardest thing i have ever done. The pain is something that i can't begin to describe. It hurt so bad that i couldn't even cry. I gave birth to samuel all naturally with no pain medication what so ever. This is something that i am so proud of myself for being able to do. I would definitely say that before going through birth my pain threshold was low, but after going through this...it has gone up quite a bit. I am also so proud of myself for finishing my first semester of nursing school while being pregnant...and with a newborn. After sam was born i had to go back when he was just six days old. I also had to take my final when he was only 12 days old. Throughout the whole semester i would have to tell myself pretty much every single day that this is something i could do. "you can do this!" was my mantra...and i did it! I am so thankful for david and everything he does for me and sam. Although i am the one who wakes up in the middle of the night to change the diapers and feed, he is the one who sings silly songs, and talks to him about all kinds of things. from dating to pooping to playing football. so funny. I remember him talking to sam in the kitchen one night telling him that "he was so cute and it must be hard to be that cute and that he was once a cute baby too, and knows how hard it is!"
I love my two boys oh so much and am the happiest i have ever been in my whole life.
