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Braylen’s Birth Story Part 2

Part 1 here


It was almost as if the very next contraction was a whole new level. From that point on they didn’t want me getting back in the tub in case I needed to push at any moment. I think that if I could have gotten back in it would have really helped, so that’s a bummer. Instead, I labored for a while in bed. It was, to put things lightly, not fun at all. After about 30 minutes of that my doctor checked me and said that I was a 9 and needed to get out of bed and move around. I thought that that would actually help me be able to wrap my mind around them more, but wow, it just made them more intense. The whole time I kept thinking, ok this really freaking hurts, and I want it to stop, but I need to let them happen and get more intense for the end to come. You see it felt like the most awful menstrual cramps ever, and before this, mine were getting bad! This led me to look into pain relief options such as CBD products like those on sites like VibesCBD. I had heard that women use these to help with the pain and to relax their bodies while they were dealing with the cramps. I never got around to trying it but I was adamant I would do it! Now, however, there was nothing for me except gas and air and potentially an epidural. I had to learn how to deal with this pain on my own! This was a scary concept for me! Before this point, I hadn’t even come close to screaming through anything, but now with about 4 of these contractions, I literally screamed. And then it was kind of embarrassing the second it was over, thinking ‘Oh gosh, my poor people in the rooms next to me!’. The contractions were happening so fast that I was only having maybe 30 seconds in between them. I was rolling on the ball, walking around, pretty much anything to help me get a grip on what was happening.

I can literally hear my thoughts in this photo. At this point I was probably saying to J that I couldn’t do it anymore. That I couldn’t possibly handle one more contraction, and that I was not joking about it: {and yes, I realize how haggard I look, but hey- I was laboring for about 8 hours at this point..forgive me;)}


The worst would be when I would be walking and one of sneak up on me. A few times I would just grab on to whoever happened to be closest to me and just burrow in to them! My nurse and I got really close really fast here;)


But then, before I knew it, I was back in bed with my doctor saying it was time to push. I was a little confused at this point though honestly. In all the hypnobabies studies they say you will have the uncontrollable urge to push. So, in my birth plan I had written that I wanted to do ‘mother directed pushing’ and not the typical count to 10 Dr. directed pushing. I told my doctor that I didn’t have any urge to push yet, but she said I was a 10 and ready. So I kind of threw that plan of mine out the window and trusted her. Unfortunately, there was a little ‘lip’ of my cervix that wouldn’t go away, so for the first few rounds of pushing, not only was there that going on, but she was also trying to move away that lip. That honestly was the only part of pushing that hurt at all, and that was over after probably three rounds. Initially I was trying to do the type of pushing that I had read about, keeping my mouth relaxed, being vocal, etc. but then we found out that if I saved all my energy for the actually pushing and not vocalizing things went much faster. Not gonna lie, it took me a little while to really understand ‘how’ to push. I had always heard to push like you are trying to poop. Well, apparently I couldn’t remember how to poop because the first few rounds of pushing didn’t do anything!Haha. Once I figured it out, I pushed for about 40 minutes {which honestly felt like 10}. Everyone had told me that pushing hurts, and that you feel this insane ring of fire, but that wasn’t my experience at all. I really just felt like it was a really intense workout. I was sweating, I was using every freaking muscle in my body, but it didn’t hurt! What a relief. It was so beautifully helpful to be surround by the people I was too. The whole time I was pushing {esp. towards the end when they could see the crown of his head for a few rounds until he came out} J, my doula, my nurse, and our friend Christi were all SO encouraging. They just kept saying how close I was, how he was almost here, to keep going, try harder, push longer, etc. I really needed that motivation because it was pretty strenuous. My incredible doula kept putting ice cold wash cloths on my face..and it seriously felt like heaven while pushing. Thank you Briana!


Then the most life changing thing ever happened to J and I. I delivered our son. OUR SON!!!!



As he was coming out my Dr. saw that his cord was wrapped around his neck twice! She yelled “CORD, woah cord TWICE!”. It totally freaked us out but she said it hadn’t done any damage at all. She said that he had one of the ‘fattest, juiciest cords’ she had ever seen! They immediately put him on my chest, all warm and gooey {which I thought might gross me out a little, but man in that moment there was nothing more beautiful in the world}. Of course being a boy that he is, he instantly pooped and then peed on me. Welcome to motherhood! They let me hold my beautiful boy while they rubbed him down a little. That first cry, oh man.


There was no better sound in the world. His big quivering lips letting out that huge sign of life. God is good! They didn’t clamp his cord for about 10 minutes, which was awesome for him to be able to have that blood.


I held him for probably 20-30 minutes and then passed him off to J. Let me back track for a second. Seeing the way J looked at him..be still my heart. This man that I love with all my heart, now loves our son. We created this life, just the two of us. No one will ever love Braylen the way we do. I will never forget that look of Js crying face. It makes me cry even thinking about it. He was such a proud daddy. Proud of me, proud of our baby for making it in to this world. He kept telling me over and over again just how he was SO proud, and how much he loved me and Braylen. He was mesmerized by him. And I was mesmerized by both of them.


They had to spend some time stitching me up {UM OUCH} How did I not even think that that could be a part of my birth. Thank the Lord I didn’t feel any of that happening while it did, my doctor even had to tell me that I tore because I didn’t know. Crazy how our body can handle pain. Although, there was still a part of me that wished that I was able to take some of the best CBD oil UK or US products because I knew for sure that this would’ve taken some of the pain away. One of my friends did start using THC products to help ease their pain as well as relax them on stressful days, this friend suffers from anxiety so she said it has been proven to be a really useful asset to her.

When I asked, “does delta 8 make you high?” (which is what she takes) she said yes it does have those properties, so she tends to take it when the kids are not with her and she has a day off, or she takes a day to herself. But although these treatments would have helped me, I wouldn’t have changed experiencing that pain for anything in the world. It will definitely make me stronger! While I was getting fixed up J was taking in our son and then eventually passed him of to get weighed. He was two weeks early and was still a super healthy 7lbs 7oz, 21in. long! Way to go baby boy!


They brought him back over to me once I was finished and we got to just breathe him in for a little while before our families entered. They were elated to meet their new grandson {and nephew}. It was as if the room couldn’t have one more ounce of love in it, it was simply overflowing. Tears all around.

Unfortunately that was only able to last for about 15 minutes before the NICU doctors came in and needed to get started on his echocardiogram. They didn’t want too many people in the room, so my family went back out to the waiting room. {Thanks for being so patient with us!!}. The echo took about 45 minutes. THE LONGEST 45 MINUTES OF OUR LIVES. J was totally the strong and stern daddy that never once left the echo techs side. He watched over the whole thing like a hawk. It was so hard for us to see our baby boy already be hooked up to so many machines. And to make matters worse, the techs don’t give you any indicators that things are looking totally normal, or horrible. He just took image after image for 45 minutes. Then said “well, im finished, you’ll know results probably tomorrow”. Oh my gosh. Tomorrow?! It was almost too much to bare. Thats where our angel Christi came in again and worked her magic, and talked to the NICU cardio doctor and had him give her some preliminary results letting us know that there was no obvious coarc present! She them convinced them to let me be able to breastfeed as well. Those two things were music to our ears. So within about an hour and a half after he was born I was able to breastfeed him! What a difference from initially not being able to feed him at all for at least the first day! Again, God is good! With Christis help, he latched right on, and made me immediately cry tears of joy. What an indescribable feeling. The fact that my body knew exactly what he needed, and that he knew exactly how to get it! After feeding him we let the families back in and then transfered to our recovery room. I was already on cloud nine, and then even more so after about an hour of being in the recovery room. The cardio doctor came in and told us that he didn’t need to stay any extended period of time in the hospital. He was able to go home with us when we were ready, and to just had to have a follow up echo and EKG a week later because everything looked so great. Again, tears and tears and tears. How did we get so blessed!?

above two photo Melissa Young Photography

Overall, his birth was one of my most treasured times. With the help of Hypnobabies, my support system and Christ, I was able to give birth without as much as a Tylenol. He created my body to do exactly what it did. My son was born after 9 hours of labor, completely healthy. The rooms that we were in those two days feel magical to me. From laboring in the tub and delivering in the delivery room, to soaking in those first few days as a family of three {or five, counting our other babies, Honey and Boomer!} the rooms are magical. It was there that we heard his first cry, woke up to our first morning together, snuggled and breathed him in time and time again. It was all so powerful. So beautiful. I wouldn’t trade a second of it {even the hardest points of labor} for anything in the world, because it all led to Braylen. To us becoming a family. To J and I becoming parents. To experiencing a love that it truly indescribable until you feel it yourself. I will always thank Jesus for allowing us to have the birthing experience I so strongly desired. I also want to encourage any of you mommies out there {ones to be, or ones that are pregnant again} to try and go natural. Find a pain method that works for you, and give it your all. Just think about what you would do if you were suffering from knee pain, for example. Would you consider buying something like these vegan cbd gummies wholesale products from a local retailer to take some of the pain away? Would you utilize natural methods? Whatever you would do, just apply that to this scenario. Of course, the pain here is more intense, but if you have an idea about what works for you and what doesn’t, you’ll be much more prepared when it comes to mapping out your birth plan. Although, it may be hard to follow that down to the last letter. Not that there is anything less incredible or magical about having a baby with meds or C-section {please don’t get me wrong here} but if you can try and go natural..do it!


Comments

  1. Kelley says

    When I saw that photo of your nurse hugging you, well, here I am at 51, mother of 28 and 25 year olds, and I started bawling.

    These two posts are positively divine, and I give to God all the glory.

    Just beautiful. Accept my heartfelt congratulations all the way from the Philippines to both J and you! God bless you ALL!

    BTW: Who took all the rest of the photos? Did I miss that somewhere?

  2. Sarah @ Modern Country Style says

    Okay, you totally made me bawl too! Just to think that I’ll be doing it all any day know seems unbelievable.

    You sound as though you did amaaaazingly. I can say that know we’re on our fifth baby!! Well done, you.

    And thank you for sharing with us…this was SUCH a great post.

    With love from a very teary,
    Sarahx

  3. Tricia N says

    All I can write is, WOW! YOU are so inspiring! Such a beautiful day and amazing story! Congrats again! You just verified that I am going for an all natural birth 🙂

  4. m e g a n says

    So happy for you guys!! He’s is adorable! I have 3 little boys, my first 2 I had an epidural but after the second epidural I knew any other kids we had I wanted to go natural. My third was all natural and was by far my most favorite delivery, and ironically the least painful. It definitely felt more powerful and special going natural than not feeling any of the delivery, not that I don’t think my first 2 were special deliveries, just two different kinds of special. You’re lucky you didn’t feel the urge to push, I did and was only at an 8 but he was coming whether I pushed him out or not. He didn’t even want to wait for the doctor, my husband and nurse were about 30 sec away from delivering him themselves, which would have been even more crazy. Congratulations on your new family and great job momma!!!

    Meg

  6. Emily @ Our Little Casita says

    Thank you so much for posting such a detailed birth story! I’m due in about 4 weeks and hoping to have a natural delivery, as well – this was so helpful! Congratulations to all of you 🙂

  7. aimz says

    Congratulations! What beautiful story. It brought back so many memories of the births of my 5 children. Thank you for sharing. May God bless your precious family.

  8. Kelly says

    Love this. Totally crying and so happy for you and J! You definitely encouraged me in my desire to (when the time comes) go natural, but I’m a baby when it comes to pain…I’ll just have to remind myself of your posts 🙂

  10. ruthy ann says

    tears of joy for you and your family!! wow…I’m so, so thrilled you have a healthy baby boy! I’ve got a few months to go and your story was so encouraging!

  11. Sarah says

    What a beautiful story!! Thank you so much for sharing! I am due in 4 weeks, so stories like this make me so happy, nervous, excited, emotional…all at once!!

    Congrats to you and your precious little man!! 🙂

  12. Holy Craft says

    What a beautiful birth story that is all yours! It makes me remember my amazing birth stories and those wonderful first moments with my babies. As a hypnobirth mama, I never felt more prepared for my natural birth than I did when I was doing the materials. Good for you! Enjoy every moment of those first few weeks with that sweet little guy. Congratulations!

  16. Heidi says

    How great is our God!! It was a joy to read your story. Oh my word, how wonderful! Congratulations! Great job, Mama!! …And I’m also curious who took these pictures, they are wonderful!!

  18. Michelle says

    Adrianne – I heard this story already and still SOBBED my eyes out reading it. Kudos to you for sharing the level of detail that you did. You will no doubt encourage other mommas preparing for birthing their babies. Braylen is one blessed little man. (and RIDICULOUSLY cute!)

    PS – Happy due date! 🙂

  19. Rebs says

    Hi Adrianne!
    I just found your blog! Congratulations on the arrival of Braylen! What an amazing (and incredibly adorable) little guy! You’re birth story had me at the edge of my seat! But I’m glad he is healthy and bringing much joy into you’re guy’s life. Congrats again to you, J and your family!

    -Rebecca Omana

  20. Louise says

    Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

    I never had a strong and overwhelming urge to push to with either of my three. Think that is a bit unusual. Well, actually, with my third baby I felt about two of those urges, and I thought to myself, oh my goodness, THIS is what the bearing down sensation that everyone talks about, and it was SO STRONG . . . but then it went away! BUT the pushing phase didn’t really hurt for me either, was a blessed relief after those contractions! I think it was harder in one way though, cause I felt I had to do all the pushing myself, my body wasn’t providing me any urge to push down . .so yes, it was a workout!

    You really did do EXTREMELY WELL!

    Louise

  22. lauren says

    Thank you for sharing your story. I am 24 weeks along with our first (a baby boy!) and find your positive attitude great! Would you consider sharing your birth plan? I really want to do a natural birth too.

  23. Emma says

    Wow. Tears. From the moment you announced your pregancy, i have been looking forward to this like crazy. How awesome to share your story in such an intimate way. The photographs are beyond beautiful. Thanks for letting us into the magic.

  24. adrianne says

    Thanks so much everyone!!! Our friend Christie who is the nurse took all the during photos! Such a blessing!! I love that I got to share my story with y’all- Im so glad I was able to write down all of the details! Lauren-I can email you my birth plan fig you would like. Just let me know your email:)
    Can’t wait to fill y’all in on what our life has been since the little man has been here:)

  25. Enjoy Birth says

    YAY! What a wonderful birth story with so many miracles. I am so glad that your sweet baby is healthy and you were able to breastfeed him that first day. 🙂 What a wonderful birth team and birth. You did awesome!

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