Graham Baby's Birth Story

Besides screaming his guts out as the NICU nurses checked everything on his body,
Grahammers was pretty chill and bright-eyed right after birth.
11.8.12 at 4.46am, 6 lbs, 15 oz, 19.5" long

I love our little family.

Graham baby is a major snuggle bug.
I'm kind of obsessed with his hair and little dimple.

Graham Baby surprised us by coming four days early! I was completely convinced that he would be a few days late, since I had been measuring small the whole pregnancy and most first-time pregnancies don't come early. The week before I had him, I had lots of contractions on and off, but nothing consistent or super painful, so life went on as normal, still convinced I had lots more time. On Wednesday, Nov. 7, my contractions seemed to be getting more consistent and more uncomfortable. I still just thought my body was gearing up for the big day a week away. I cancelled all my plans that day and spent most of the day on the couch, timing my contractions, which still didn't seem to have a rhyme or reason. I remember talking to my Mom on the phone that day, and she predicted I would have Graham on Friday, which I of course thought was way too early! Ha. Little did I know. My doctor said not to call her until my contractions were consistently five minutes apart for an hour. I never got near that magic number until about 5:00pm that day. All of a sudden, the contractions became super painful and started logging in at five minutes apart. Finally! By the time an hour had gone by, my contractions were three minutes apart and they were so intense, I was crying through each one. I later learned that my pain was increased because Graham baby's head was already so far down inside me. I remember thinking, "This HAS to be it. If this is not labor, this is torture." Although it all felt very surreal, I had texted Andrew throughout the day, telling him how weird I felt and that he needed to pack his hospital bag as soon as he got home, just in case. He got home from work around this point and started throwing stuff in a bag as I called the doctor in tears. She, of course, told me to go to the hospital. I'd heard stories of friends in labor not being far enough along in the process only to be sent home from the hospital, and I wanted to make sure this did not happen to us! A neighbor across the street was outside and saw Andrew taking our bags out to the car. They exchanged greetings and he shouted,"My wife's in labor!" Weeks later, the couple told us they'd watched out the window as we made our way down the front steps to the car. I had to stop halfway and sit down because a contraction was so painful. At this point, the guy across the street had to walk away from the window, as his wife told him, "Those are contractions!" Ha. They don't have any kids yet, so it probably traumatized them. Oops. By the time we made it to the hospital, it was about 7:30pm, and I was in MAJOR pain with contractions about 1-2 minutes apart. I remember dismissing Andrew's offers of the circle drive drop-off and a wheelchair because I just wanted to get to a room with him as soon as possible. I even tried to convince him to bring in our bags so he wouldn't have to leave my side once we got inside, but as I crouched down by the car in torturous pain, he refused and half-supported/ half-dragged me towards the hospital doors. In the maternity elevator exclusively for use by women in labor, I had a contraction through which I had a death grip on Andrew's jacket as I doubled over, screaming/ grunting/ whimpering in pain. And then, DING! The elevator doors opened just in time for the expectant mothers' tour to be crowded around the elevator, being explained to the convenience of the maternity elevator. About 10-15 women with big bellies stared bug-eyed at us as they parted like the Red Sea so we could scoot by. I got the same look from the nurses' station as they scrambled to find a room near us since I could barely walk at this point. Once they got me in a hospital bed, the staff scrambled around me doing who knows what, as the only questions I needed answers to were, "When can I get the epidural?" and "You're not sending me back home, are you?" They assured me they were keeping me and the epidural would come soon. A blur of IV's, paperwork, questions, and I can't even remember what else took up the next hour as my contractions felt like they were breaking my body in half. I was the classic screaming/ crying woman in labor, but there was no drama queen here. This was REAL, horrible pain. I rated it at a 9 only because I knew it was supposed to get worse, which I couldn't imagine. I remember the nurse getting in my face, forcefully telling me, "Jaye. Do not lose control! You can do this! Blow through the pain! Come on!" (Andrew later adopted this approach with me too, and helped so much.) She kept me focused as the pain made me feel out of control crazy. I commend any woman who can bear this kind of pain naturally. Bring on the meds for me! The anesthesiologist finally came, and getting the epidural was actually much worse than I anticipated. I was hunched over, trying to keep still, but my left hand was swelling up from a misplaced IV, so the nurse immediately started switching it to my right hand, while I was of course in riveting pain of contractions. The epidural was slightly painful to get, but I remember screaming at one point, and the anesthesiologist saying, "I'm not even touching you!" I gasped out, "It's a contraction!" Ugh. At this point, I had no thoughts of the possibility of paralysis or whatever else could happen when an epidural goes wrong. I just wanted the pain to STOP. Finally about 9pm, my epidural was in and had kicked in (took about 15 minutes, instead of immediately like I had expected), and I was feeling good. It was unbelievable how I went from the worst pain in my life to not even being able to tell when I was having a contraction. The nurse became concerned as Graham baby's heart rate dropped consistently after each of my contractions, which she said was no good. She gave me an oxygen mask and had me try different positions with my body to see if he liked them better. She thought the umbilical cord could be wrapped around his neck, but surprisingly didn't freak me out too much. I'd gone through weeks of worry late in my pregnancy, and I just couldn't go there again. I wanted to trust God and trust the doctors/ nurses and just not allow myself to expect the worst. She encouraged me and Andrew to sleep for a while, since it would probably be a long night. Seriously?! Andrew napped some, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the monitor, making sure Grahammers' heart rate never looked too alarming. The nurse was in all the time checking on me and Graham, and finally turned the monitor away from me so I wouldn't drive myself crazy. My dilation was moving along, my water finally broke (which felt like a balloon popping inside me- so weird!), everything was progressing nicely except little Graham's heart rate. Somewhere around 2:00-3:00am, my nurse had me do some practice pushes, but wouldn't let me do any more until the doctor came, just in case anything was wrong with the baby. Usually you push for a while with just the nurse, and then as they say, the doctor just comes in to "catch the baby." My doctor wasn't on call, so the other one in her practice came in around 3:30am. She did an awesome job, being a very calming presence in the room, and explaining they might have to vacuum Graham out if his heart rate did not tolerate me pushing. I was so glad she was there the whole time. I pushed for about an hour, which was longer than they expected the baby to be okay with it, and then vacuumed him out at the very end. Up to this point, I had not felt any pain while pushing (just pressure). The epidural was doing its job! But for some reason when she attached the vacuum to G's head and I pushed with it attached, it hurt! But it was over quickly as his head came out, followed by the rest of his body with one more push. I remember the doctor and nurse saying "Look down!!" I'd been pushing with my eyes closed, but I remember the moment of looking down and seeing them lift little Graham up as he came out of me. CRAZY moment. My baby!!!! I can still see him at that moment, tattooed in my heart forever. He wasn't crying as he came out, which of course scared me. The NICU people (who have to be in the room if a vacuum is used) immediately whisked him away to the other side of the huge room right after Andrew cut the cord. They did the standard checks as the doctor explained to me that the cord wasn't wrapped around his neck, but it was a really short cord, which probably was strained as he traveled farther down inside me, causing his heart rate drop. Andrew watched as the NICU people took FOREVER checking him as the doctor attended to me. Andrew was capturing G's first moments of life with the camera as I was calling out, "Is he okay? Is he okay?" I was DYING for them to bring him back to me, and they finally proclaimed him fine and healthy and put him on my chest. I couldn't keep it together and bawled as little Grahammers snuggled up against me, making it all worth it. I couldn't believe he was mine!!! I know I'm not biased or anything, but I'm pretty sure he's the cutest thing I've ever seen. :) I am so incredibly thankful to our sweet Lord for this precious little baby boy.

Our first snuggle time.

I stinkin love that little face.

Waiting to be discharged from the hospital after a blur of two days of
family and friends coming to visit and meet little Grahammers. Thankful for all the love. 

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