Our Baby is Here! Her Name + Our Birth Story

OUR BABY HAS ARRIVED! This is a post I’ve dreamed about writing for the longest time and I’m so excited to introduce you to our daughter, as well as share her name and birth story. Hopefully this post makes sense and doesn’t have too many typos — I’m a bit sleep deprived over here! 😂

MEET OUR DAUGHTER

Clay Willa Armbruster
7 lbs 15 ounces
20.25 inches long
November 8, 2020 at 4:36 a.m.

BIRTH STORY

*FYI: I’m sharing all of the medical details of my 24-hour labor experience. 

At 5 a.m. on Saturday, November 7th (38 weeks and 5 days pregnant, 10 days away from my November 17th due date), I started feeling contractions. I was concerned that I wouldn’t know the difference between Braxton Hicks and real contractions when the time came, but when I woke up feeling lower abdominal pains (period-like cramps) instead of the usual belly tightening that comes with Braxton Hicks, I just knew it was the real thing. I woke Justin up to let him know and I started timing them to figure out how I was progressing. The contractions were hard to track because they weren’t super consistent, but when I started getting ones intermittently that aligned with the “contractions every 5 minutes lasting for one full minute,” I called my OBGYN’s office to see what they recommend I do. They told me to go ahead and get checked out at the hospital, so we grabbed our bags and headed that way not knowing for sure if we’d have our baby with us the next time we came back home.

We arrived at the hospital, got checked in and were put in a triage room. They had me pee in a cup, change into a gown and they hooked me up to the monitors. I was able to watch my contractions on the screen and it seemed like it wasn’t picking up on all of them. The nurse tried to check my cervix, but was unable to reach it due to the angle and how the baby was pressing on it. She brought the doctor in and she struggled to check it as well. Since I wasn’t 39 weeks yet, they couldn’t give me anything to speed up the process and they recommended I continue laboring at home after we had spent a few hours there. They said they thought there was a 50/50 chance I’d be back later that day. Knowing how much pain and discomfort I was already in, I highly suspected I’d be back later.

Spoiler alert: I was right!

We picked up Panera and Jack’s Donuts on the way home while I continued to have very painful contractions in the car. When we got home, I laid on the couch, turned on Unexpected on Hulu and watched it all day as my contractions continued to get worse and worse. They became unbearable over time and when I was at my limit and consistently having minute long contractions every 5 minutes, I called my OBGYN again around 5 p.m. and they told me to head in. This time I knew more confidently that the next time we came home, we’d have a baby with us.

I was struggling when I got there, you guys. They rushed us back and when they checked me, I was at a 6. I then learned that you have to get an entire bag of fluid in you via IV before you can get the epidural, and even though they put something on it to make it go in me faster, it felt like it took 10 years. I was a little worried about the pain of the epidural during my pregnancy, but with the pain of the contractions, it honestly felt like nothing. It felt like a normal shot to me and they told me it would kick in within 15-20 minutes.

Unfortunately, it did not.

I think they underestimated my size (I’m 5’10) and didn’t give me enough medication, so once those 20+ minutes came and went, they gave me more. You can feel a coldness running up/down your spine when they insert the medication, which is an odd feeling. To be honest, I can’t remember if the medication worked this time or if they had to come back a third time and give me even more. Needless to say, I was in pain a lot longer than I anticipated and it was rough. I squeezed Justin’s hand and pulled on his arms, moaning in pain every few minutes. However, when the epidural did finally kick in, I was on cloud 9! I no longer felt my contractions or anything below my belly button for that matter. It was wild to see my contractions spike on the monitor, but not actually feel any of them. It was equally wild to see my legs being moved by the nurses without being able to feel that either. It was so freaky that I couldn’t watch (lol).

To help me dilate faster, I laid on each side with a peanut ball between my legs, which again, I couldn’t feel. They eventually broke my water for me and said it never would have broken on its own because it was so thick. They also used a catheter to drain my pee a few times (fun!). Once I got to a 10, I was able to start pushing. Justin and the nurse held my legs while I did what I thought was pushing (and it was), but it was so hard to even tell if I was doing anything since I couldn’t feel it. Instead, I focused all the pushing energy in my face, so my jaw and arms hurt so bad from clenching.

Strangely, my contractions started to get further and further apart as we started pushing, virtually stopping altogether. The nurse went and got the doctor to check the baby’s position and she said things were progressing nicely when I pushed, but since the contractions were getting further apart, it was counterproductive to keep pushing. At the same time, my epidural started to wear off (OUCH!) and they had to come back in multiple times to add more and more medication to it because the other doses weren’t doing anything. They decided to give me pitocin to speed my contractions back up, so we took a break around 3 a.m. as we waited for that to kick in. Justin and I both dozed off a bit before the nurse came back in for round 2 of pushing.

The pitocin did the trick and things progressed a bit quicker after that. I was really struggling to stay awake during these few hours. I felt like I was going cross-eyed from exhaustion and I felt so low on strength. My epidural was still working at this point, but I was starting to regain a little bit of feeling in my legs and I was having painful lower back contractions throughout this final stretch. I threw up around this time too, pushing for about an hour before the baby’s head started to crown, which I could feel the pressure of a little bit. The nurse had me stop there as she called in the doctor, so I had to just breathe and not let the baby come out, even though she was coming out anyway with my contractions and breathing, without even pushing. Let’s just say the doctor made it there just in time because just 2-3 pushes later, the baby was out!

My eyes were closed while pushing and at 4:36 a.m. on Sunday, November 8th, I opened them to see my baby placed on my chest and I started sobbing. I had dreamt of this moment my entire life and the emotional release of knowing that I DID IT and was able to bear the pain to deliver this life I lovingly grew inside me for 9 months was overwhelming and magical. All the days I’d spent wondering what she’d be like had all come to a finale in this very moment. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

She didn’t cry right away when she was on my chest, which worried Justin, but I wasn’t worried for some reason — I think it’s because the nurses let her lay on me for a while before whisking her away to clean out her mouth and nose, which I don’t think they would have done if there was anything to be concerned about. Justin cut the cord and he was afraid he was going to cut the doctor’s finger because of the small area where she had her hands placed (he didn’t). 😂 I did have a second degree tear, but I didn’t feel the doctor stitching me up whatsoever.

Justin gave me a push present in our hospital room after she was born, which is a beautiful necklace with mine and Clay’s birth flowers: peony for my September birthday and chrysanthemum for her November birthday. I love it so much!

One last thing I want to mention: even though my labor was very painful and lasted a very long 24 hours, it really was my dream day. I had told my mom the day before I went into labor that I’d love to have my baby on a beautiful, warm day like that day. My preference was to go into labor naturally as well, preferably not after my due date, and to have my baby vaginally — and that’s exactly what I got! We had Clay on a sunny, oddly warm weekend in November (75 degrees, which is very out of the norm for Indiana) and drove her home under blue skies and colorful fall trees. It was perfect!

Okay, I could go on and on about this life-changing day and experience, but I’ll stop here. I wanted to take a second to thank you all for following along on my pregnancy journey. I appreciate all of the sweet messages of support, love, encouragement, etc. I truly cannot believe I’m not pregnant anymore and the sweet little life I’d been growing inside me for 9 months is here with us. We’ve shed so many happy tears over her already. We can’t get enough of her and we feel so lucky!

Welcome, Clay. We love you more than you could ever imagine. I’m a mom!!!!