Ryan's Birth Story

I wrote my birth story for Kate, so I wanted to make sure I got Ryan's story down on "paper" too. It's already been 4 months 6 months  almost 7 months since Ryan entered the world, and his birth story was really similar to Kate's in some ways, and really different in other ways - mainly how long it took!

First of all, let me say what a kick I get out of the fact that Ryan was born on his actual due date. I've heard less than 5% of babies actually show up on their due date. Because Kate was born 10 days early I was absolutely sure that we would be meeting Ryan before September 12th. In fact, many people thought he would be an August baby. I was 3 or 4cm dilated for 3 weeks before he was born, but man, he was set on waiting until his due date to show up.

The day he was born was a beautiful September Friday. I woke up around 5:30am as Adam was getting ready for work feeling some serious discomfort. I had been having intense Braxton-Hicks (or that's what I thought they were) for a couple of days, so at first I just brushed it off. As soon as I actually got up and started moving around, it was apparent that these weren't just the aches and pains of the last few days of pregnancy. Adam had left for work a little after 6am (work for him was over an hour away because we were living in NW Indiana with his parents as we were transitioning from our townhouse to a new house) but I realized quickly, after having a 3 minute long, knee buckling contraction, that what I was experiencing was probably the real deal and called him to come back home and take me to the hospital. It was totally to our advantage that we were living with my in-laws at the time because we didn't even have to wake Kate up when we left, we just told my mother in law we were leaving and that was it (later I cried about not saying good-bye to Kate!)

Little did I know I'd be meeting my baby boy in about 4.5 hours!

We left for the hospital just before 7am. I started timing my contractions and they were steadily coming along about 3 or 4 minutes apart, and getting more intense with each passing one. Since we were living with Adam's parent's, but chose to deliver in Downers Grove close to where we would eventually be living, we had an hour car ride ahead of us and because we left during the morning commute, we hit some pretty heavy traffic about 45 minutes into the trip. We joked about flagging the police down for help, and I kept thinking, "not that I need it because my contractions are still 4 minutes apart and manageable, so there was NO way I'm progressing very fast at all, right? Right?!" Adam, however,  did make the decision to drive on the shoulder of the highway (slowly) at one point to make sure we weren't wasting time getting to the hospital, which he thought was pretty cool :)

We arrived at Good Samaritan hospital around 8am and made it up to the maternity ward around 8:15am. At this point the contractions were coming around 2 minutes apart and I was feeling extremely uncomfortable. To my shock, when the nurse checked me, I was already 8, almost 9cm dilated and progressing quickly. She suggested breaking my water to move things along even faster, but I declined. I was very relieved to hear how far along I was because at that point I wasn't sure how long I would be able to handle the pain from the contractions. They also asked me if I wanted that epidural at this point. The nurse said, "it's not too late!" I'm pretty sure she asked me in the middle of focusing on a contraction because I recall saying that I didn't want to be "bothered" by it - ha ha, bothered by sweet pain relieving medicine! In the middle of a contraction I really just go into "the zone" and don't want people touching/talking/looking/breathing near me. After checking me the nurse went to get the OB on call and started prepping the warming station that babies go to once they were born. That was a wake-up call to me that they thought that this baby would be coming very quickly.

 Shortly after 9am the OB came in, introduced himself (we had met once during one of my routine check-ups) and checked me again and told me I was almost at 10cm, but suggested breaking my water to move things along more quickly. This time I agreed and as soon as they broke my water the OB told us there was meconium (baby poo) in my water. This could potentially cause respiratory issues, so they were glad that I was close to delivering, so they could get him out and breathing air as soon as possible. We even had a neonatologist called in with a respirator in case he was not breathing well.

Around 10am I got the clear to start pushing. For some reason, I always have a huge mental block when it comes to pushing and I'm convinced that I can't do it. Adam was right by my side, just like he was at Kate's birth giving me the encouragement to keep going, even though I was sure I was getting nowhere. My first two pushes really didn't seem like they did anything. I couldn't feel him moving down and I was preparing myself to have to push for hours...on the third push Ryan moved down really fast and really far and the doctor told me to take a break because the next push he was going to be out. The very next push I delivered his head and was shocked to hear everyone in the room yell "STOP!" as soon as his head was out. I didn't know it at the time, but the cord was wrapped around the neck (not tightly, thank God) and my doctor needed to unwrap it before I could push out his shoulders and body...needless to say, that was 45 seconds I never want to live again!! All I wanted was this baby OUT of my body and I was so close...and now they were telling me to STOP pushing?!? Of course, the door to my room was wide open and I was screaming, "What the #@!& are you DOING!?!" at my OB...poor guy.

Soon enough I was given the okay to push one more time and Ryan Lanman entered the world (fully) at 10:35am, just five and a half hours after my very first contraction, clocking in at 9lb. 1oz. and 20.75" long. He cried and screamed right away which was a relief considering the complications with the meconium and the cord being wrapped around his neck. The neonatologist heard him cry a couple of times and then smiled and said, "I guess you don't need me!" and left our room. I'm so glad we didn't have to use her services.

The next to hours I spent recovering and snuggling Ryan. I had the same issues with postpartum bleeding, but this time received a pain medicine and Pitocin, and as much Zofran as they would legally put in my body, intravenously that helped the nurses manage the clotting. I was really against having any pain meds because they affect me so much (like, Exorcist style puking!!) , but I'm really glad I agreed to it to save myself the agony of having to manage the bleeding without anything to take the edge off.

Well - that's that and all's well that ends well. The rest of the hospital stay was awesome and Ryan didn't struggle with the jaundice issues that Kate did, which we were extremely grateful for. 48 hours later we were on our way home to begin our life as a family of 4! The entire pregnancy felt like such a blur because my focus was split between raising Kate, moving out of our townhome and living temporarily with my in-laws.

It's strange now, thinking that the time of trying to get pregnant, being pregnant, or caring for a tiny newborn are more than likely over for us forever. We're not ready to throw in the towel just yet, but each passing day we feel like our family is complete now that Ryan is here. As hectic as my pregnancy was with him, I'm glad that I took the time to cherish my growing bump and, in the end, all the kicks and elbows Ryan would throw to my ribs. It's bittersweet for my pregnancy to be over with him, but I couldn't ask for a cuter boy!