Teddy's Birth Story

It all started with my blood pressure…

A few weeks before Teddy’s birth, I was informed that I had gestational hypertension (high blood pressure in pregnancy, that hasn’t quite become pre-eclampsia). As we got closer to my due date, my doctor informed me that the longer we waited, the worse GHTN can become. Therefore, an induction may be necessary, just depending on numbers and how I felt toward the end of pregnancy.

Well, fast forward a few weeks and my blood pressures were still worrisome at each appointment. My swelling was worsening also, and my doctor gave me a date—well, an option of dates. At my Monday appointment, he said “we can do this Tuesday or Wednesday. I said, “How about Thursday or Friday?”. He laughed and agreed to Thursday as long as I promised to take it easy and didn’t have any BP-related symptoms. Apparently I just really like to test limits.

So, Thursday came….

I had tried everything to get my body to go into labor on it’s own to potentially avoid an induction. Ev-ery-thing. I’m talking pumping, sex, curb walking, chiropractic care, acupuncture, and even went as “far” as ordering this STL famous dish that jump starts labor for many women. Nothing worked. I struggled because I just didn’t feel “ready” physically or mentally. I could tell baby wasn’t ready either. I didn’t feel like they were “low” and I wasn’t having contractions. Well, Thursday came. I got a call around 8:30AM that we could head into the hospital for the induction. As many people may go flying there immediately- we did the opposite and took our time. I think we ended up walking in around 11:20AM. I was in no hurry to get going, I’m not exactly sure why. It wasn’t that I wasn’t excited, I just didn’t feel “ready” (if that makes sense?!). I think with moving just a few months prior, things still felt ‘unsettled’.

Once we got there, things went smoothly to begin. We still had to wear masks as a COVID precaution. We were told we’d be able to take them off when it was just us in the room, but then had to put them back on any time someone came in the room (except when I was laboring). Next, they took us up to our room and I met my labor nurse, Claudia (who was a DREAM), and she checked my cervix— I was about 2CM dilated and 80% effaced— which I had been for about 2 weeks. After all of my labor-inducing efforts, I was hoping to be a bit further dilated, but I also felt like baby wasn’t putting much pressure down low (which typically helps with dilation). I also didn’t feel many contractions. I let Claudia know this and she immediately starting coming up with a labor plan to help things progress naturally too. I could tell she was going to be amazing and truly wanted me to have a great delivery! I was so grateful for her.

They hooked me up to Pitocin around lunchtime and had me do some walking. Mark and I walked the halls with my little IV pole for what seemed like hours. I walked, and walked, and walked, but did not feel any contractions. They continued turning up the Pitocin levels per protocol, but I did not feel anything. It took a while of being on the Pitocin (at a pretty hefty dose) before I even started to feel contractions in the slightest. I remember texting our birth photographer, Alex, with updates about this and she said “jeez, do you have a uterus of steel?!”, which made me laugh.

So, Claudia checked my cervix again around 230PM after continually turning up the Pitocin and having me walk. It hadn’t changed. I was 2 CM and 80% effaced. She also stated that baby seemed “high” and agreed that there wasn’t much pressure on the cervix (which we needed for effective dilation to start happening with contractions). Claudia had come up with a plan for me to do something called the “Miles Circuit”. This is basically a mix of different positions to help open up the pelvis and engage baby, bringing them down further. We fumbled with the pillows so much to get into a good position for one of them, and I remember my knees just burning from holding the position, but I was damn determined to bring this baby down. She said once we finished this circuit, she would check me again.

So, it was time for another check…

Claudia checked my cervix again around 4PM and I was dilated to 4CM and a tad more effaced. I was so ticked. I thought for sure some more progress would have been made after all of that work and activity! She did inform me that baby had absolutely moved downward, though, so this was a HUGE improvement thanks to the Miles Circuit! That did make me feel better, because I knew that if baby was engaged when these contractions started ramping up, I’d likely progress a bit more. Claudia’s confidence truly kept me in a positive space!

We continued with different positions and pacing around the room and I slowly started to actually get uncomfortable with contractions— FINALLY! I remember doing one of the positions on my knees on the bed and a tear rolled down my face because I was in so much pain with contractions. Mark was doing back pressure to help ease some of the pain, and it was helping somewhat. Claudia looked at me and said “is that a tear?!….you just let me know if/when you’re ready and I will make the call!”.

It was at this point, around 6PM, when I was in tears from pain, that I decided it was time for my epidural. The epidural was fast and easy. I cried the entire time it was being placed because I was in so much pain with the contractions, which were starting to group very close together. Once it was placed and I got the “test dose”, I felt great…for about 30 minutes. Within that 30 minutes, they also decided it would be a good idea to break my water, so baby could fully engage and get things moving.

Then the pain came back…

Suddenly, the pain with contractions started to come back. I was feeling them more than I ever had with my other babies after epidural placement. I kept hitting my button for a bolus dose of medicine through the epidural, but it was just barely taking the edge off the pain. It was getting super intense. I started to feel slightly out of control of the situation when this happened.

Then baby’s heart rate dropped…

I was so focused on the pain I was experiencing, that I didn’t realize my baby’s heart rate had dropped into the 80’s (normal is above 100). Suddenly, I was being turned from side to side, the resident came running back in with the attending doctor, and I was having internal monitors placed. It was a little frightening, but I knew that I was in good hands and was down for whatever we needed to do for a safe delivery. After what seemed like forever, they were able to get the heart rate to come up positionally. At this point, Mark decided to text our birth photographer, Alex, because things seemed to be heating up fast. I felt a really big wave of anxiety come over me as I saw the concerned look on some of the nurses’ faces. I was writhing in pain and told my nurse that I was having excruciating pain and tons of pressure and felt like my epidural was not working.

Claudia decided to check my cervix again around 7PM….

And then I was “complete…”

After telling Claudia I felt tons of pain and pressure, she checked me and responded “umm, yeah because you’re a 10, you’re complete, baby’s head is right here!”. I had gone from a 4CM to 10CM in like 30 minutes. I was shocked, but not even excited in that moment because HOLY SHIT OUCH!

They told me not to push because my doctor wasn’t here yet, so they told him to get there ASAP. I told them I couldn’t wait, I absolutely had to push. I have never felt that way before, because I was usually too numb from the epidural that I had to actually be told when to push! This time, I was feeling so much pressure, but also so much pain. I began pushing and pushed for a couple minutes before my doctor showed up and walked in! Once he arrived, it was go time. I pushed through about 3 more contractions, screamed my ass off, cussed, felt that “ring of fire” like no other, and had a baby! This was a very non-calm, non-relaxed birth— that just ain’t my style! HA! I delivered our baby right at “shift change”, which is exactly when I delivered our previous baby (Lou) as well! I just have a “thing” for living on the wild side.

Can we skip to the good part?

The coolest part?! I got to deliver my own baby! I got to pull my baby out of me and it was so amazing how my instinct took over even though I was in excruciating pain. My doctor always tells me— go ahead, reach down and pull baby out! The physical relief I felt immediately after pulling my baby out of my body was indescribable. I remember laying back full of relief, exhaustion, and confusion— like “what the eff just happened?!”. What a whirlwind. I needed a second. I cried so hard. Tears of relief, joy, exhaustion, pain, and pride streamed down my face before even actually looking at my baby. It was like a fog of emotions that I needed to cry out first, so I could be a little clearer minded to process this new person.

Once I was able to collect myself after a few seconds with my new baby on my chest, still not knowing what it was, it was time to see if baby was a boy or girl. I was absolutely giddy to hold baby up, look, and shout “OMG BOY!”, then clenched him against my bare chest with so much pride. That moment was heaven. I began to cry, again. Lots of crying. I was just so thankful for this baby and so freakin’ proud of what my body just did. I DID THIS. I MADE THIS. Amazing.

The true knot…

We were told that our baby boy had a “true knot” in the umbilical cord. We are not sure when this formed, but we felt so blessed that everything went the way it did. A true knot can be a scary situation for babies, and may have very well been why our baby boy was not tolerating labor well. True knots are rare, and many situations with a true knot do not end up with the best outcome. We feel so lucky and so grateful. You can see the knot close to the nurse’s hand in the photo.

That golden hour…

The one thing I had mentioned when asked originally about a “birth plan” (which I didn’t have, we like to roll on the wild side..), was that- if possible, I’d like to do skin to skin uninterrupted for the first hour postpartum. I am so grateful I was able to do this. Baby boy was ready to nurse the entire time. He was extremely active, awake, vocal, and ready to eat. So, that we did. We did tons of nursing, cuddling, staring, talking, and loving on our sweet boy during this time. His warm skin melting into mine. His fast-paced breathing. Studying his every feature. Watching him move his fingers, sigh, cry, breathe, and just be. Wow. Babies are such miracles + so freaking cool. I can seriously feel this moment all over again, just looking at this photo. Alex grabbed some amazing pictures during this time that I will truly cherish forever. Mark and I are so smitten and it shows.

While I was enjoying that golden hour, it took my mind off of what was going on down low. As I was having stitches placed, I started to hemorrhage. There was a lot of fundal massage, manual extraction, rectal placement of Cytotec, and a bolus bag of Pitocin given, which luckily helped keep things at bay. Again, living on the wild side over here. Everything ended up being okay, but I remember it being quite painful while they got everything under control. I was still in a bit of a fog during that, which was probably for the best.

Theodore “Teddy” Franklin

Now that we knew our baby was a boy, it was time to choose a name! We had narrowed down girl names and the night before my induction we had decided on one boy name— Theodore. We loved it because there can be multiple nicknames associated with it, and I loved the classic name. His middle name is my grandfather’s name— we wanted his legacy to be carried on and knew it would mean the world to him, just as he means the world to us. Teddy is the most fitting name for this sweet boy. We are so in love and so thrilled he is ours. Also— peep that dimple! I cannot! Every little wrinkle on his body. Every little piece of hair. Just everything about him made me so happy. I could not WAIT to bring him home to meet his waiting siblings. This little guy was exactly what we needed. Mark and I are so incredibly proud to be his parents.