Oliver's Birth Story

Oliver Benjamin Koenig

Born February 28, 2012

1:57 AM

8lbs 3oz, 21 inches

I finally have a few minutes to sit down and record Oliver's birth story. I am writing this out to remember the details so feel free to skip any part. If you want the action just skip to the actual labor part.

On Valentine's day at 11pm I started having contractions every 10-15 min that lasted throughout the night. After not sleeping much I got up excited thinking that we were moving towards active labor and getting to finally meet our baby. David stayed home and we spent the day walking and keeping busy while waiting for contractions to get closer together. David's family took Aidan for the day and we finally decided to head to the hospital around 7pm. At that time I was 5cm dilated and my contractions were about 3-5 min apart. Since I wasn't showing signs of really being in pain they suggested I leave and walk for a couple of hours and then come back. I did and we came back around 12am and found out I was still only 5cm and not much had changed even though my contractions were 3 min apart consistently. They offered to break my water, give me pitocin or for me to just go home and come back when contractions were stronger. We opted for the last choice because we were exhausted and it was already 2am. We came home, I took a shower, and then the contractions stopped and I was able to sleep. The next day I didn't have any contractions until about 4pm and then they lasted until 4am and then stopped. I was learning that although they were close together they weren't strong enough to count as real labor. Essentially I was hanging out at 5cm and just waiting for something to change to signal it was time. Meanwhile David had passed off all his projects at work and didn't really want to go back to work, take them all on again just to have to leave again. He took off the rest of the week and we thought and hoped something would happen. Well it didn't. I still had contractions everyday for 6-12 hours and then they would stop. Often they lasted throughout the night so I wouldn't sleep and then I had to catch up during the day. So frustrating! This trial of our patience was really hard since things were already started and it felt like when it was time, things would go quickly.

On Tuesday 2/21 David went back to work. We had a normal week and I just kept active hoping that eventually labor would start. Friday 2/24 was my due date and my doctor said that if I was still pregnant on March 4th we would induce labor. At this point I was feeling like I would be pregnant forever so it was nice to hear that. Sunday afternoon we went for a walk and then when we got home I started to have a strong backache that didn't go away. It would get stronger when I had a contraction and after about 2 hours of this we decided it was time for someone to come get Aidan. Of course as soon as we did this, my backache went away. It came back and contractions were close together and I thought they hurt so we decided to go to the hospital. They checked me and I was still 5cm and then they monitored me for awhile and as I was laying down everything just stopped. We decided to go home and of course as soon as I got up the backache and contractions started again. Ahhh...

Actual labor: Monday, February 27 was a normal day and I didn't really feel anything. We went to bed and at 10:30 I started feeling strong intense contractions mostly in my back. This was different than anything I had felt before. I breathed through a couple and then told David that we better call his mom since they were very strong and pretty close together. We got up and started getting things together (at this point it meant gathering our bags that had been packed/repacked for 2 weeks) and as we were doing this the contractions were 3-4 min apart and very intense. The ride to the hospital was very uncomfortable and I don't really know how I did it. We had to stop 3 times in our walk up to Labor & Delivery for me to get through contractions as I felt my body was going to explode with each one. We got up to Labor & Delivery and they were excited to see us back. They knew us by now and were quick to do an exam. I was 8cm dilated at this point (12:30am) and didn't want to stand or sit down or do anything. I couldn't find a comfortable position and just felt intense pressure. Looking back I can see that I arrived at the hospital during transition. They moved me into a delivery room, I got in the bathtub and at 1:06 my water broke in the bathtub. Perfect place by the way! After that I had a strong urge to push so we moved to the bed and I started pushing at 1:20. Oliver was born at 1:57. He had a very short cord so he couldn't even reach my chest until after they cut it. The next hours are kind of a blur but once he came out he spent a long time laying on my chest while they stitched everything up. He came out with his hand by his head so his arm/elbow caused a lot of tearing. As I look back on his labor, this period where they worked to fix things up was by far the worst. At least I had a beautiful baby to hold and admire.

We did it!

Oliver is beautiful. He is perfect and it is amazing how fast you grow to love someone. We were anticipating his birth for quite some time and are so glad it turned out the way it did. It sure is a different experience having a baby who is full term and to have had a vaginal delivery without an epidural vs. an emergency C-section.

Weighing Oliver

Admiring our little one

I am so grateful for all the doctors and nurses that helped us through this experience. It was a wonderful birth and I really feel that they supported us in having the experience we wanted. We were asked about how we wanted everything to go and it was very relaxed this way. I think from our experience in the NICU we felt like we shared custody of Aidan when he was born. This time around Oliver was ours and they left it up to us to choose when to do everything.

Oliver picked up breastfeeding right away and is a champ. He is pretty easy going so far although he's only 4 days old so there's a lot we have to learn about him. Aidan is excited about the baby and woke up the first day Oliver was home asking "Baby go?" He then ran into our bedroom to find out where the baby went. Whenever Oliver cries Aidan is the first to run over to him and if Aidan wants to hold him he will not give up asking/shouting until you comply. It is so sweet to see them together and we can't wait until they can play together.

Our family of four