Avery’s Birth Story

It’s kind of hard to believe I’m sitting here about to write my third birth story. It feels like just yesterday I was writing Emma’s. (You can read hers here and Tegan’s here). But today I’m going to be sharing Avery’s birth story.  I love how different each birth experience was and I feel so grateful for the births I had.  Let’s get into little miss Aves’ story because it’s a fast ride!

Let me briefly back up to Easter Sunday.  I told Craig I wasn’t feeling myself/was feeling off that morning but couldn’t put my finger on it.  As the day went on I started feeling worse and worse, and I was having some contractions that night but they fizzled out.  I ending in having a 100.3 fever/body aches/chills later on that night.  We called the on-call physician and he recommended just taking some Tylenol and trying to sleep, then to see how I felt in the morning.  Luckily all that passed, but then for the next couple days I had a stomach bug that really took me out.  Of course I googled and lots of articles say how an upset stomach *can* be an early sign of labor, but I felt pretty confident this was a bug and not labor.

So then on Tuesday my MIL came over to hang out with Emma and Tegan so I could rest.  I laid in bed most of the afternoon and slept on and off. It was so helpful to have that last bit of rest time!  She went home around 5 and we went about our normal dinner/bathtime/bedtime routine with the girls. I told Craig I was having what felt like strong Braxton Hicks contractions, kind of like what I had on Sunday evening, but wasn’t convinced they were the real thing.  I decided to take a bath and see if they also fizzled out.  Mind you, I was only just 38 weeks pregnant and my other kids didn’t come until 40+4 and 39+6, so I was not anticipating actually being in labor.

While in the bath, I continued having contractions and decided that maybe I should time them just to keep track.  After I got out, they continued to get stronger but were happening at various intervals…some were only 30 seconds long and some were a minute long.  Some were only 2 minutes apart and some were 5 or 7 minutes apart.  I got back in bed to watch Netflix and noticed at some point that I was having to breathe through the contractions and that’s when I realized it was probably the real deal.  They were becoming increasingly uncomfortable. I let Craig’s parents (who live about 30 min away) know and asked them to come over to spend the night since I felt like it would be realistic we ended up going to the hospital at some time that night. I also called the on-call doctor at the hospital and told her about the contractions and the timing, and she said since it was my 3rd baby and the timing of those, that I should probably come on in to get checked out.  So once Craig’s parents arrived, we loaded our bags in the car and headed to the hospital.

The whole way there I was thinking about how embarrassed I would be to be sent back home again if this wasn’t actual labor, lol.  Like it’s my 3rd kid, I should *know* for sure.  Well, once we arrived and got checked into triage, it became quickly apparent that we were not leaving the hospital!  The doctor checked me at I was at 6cm (was only 2cm the day before at my appointment) and said “Okay! Let’s have a baby!”.

They asked me what I wanted to do for pain management and I said please get me an epidural stat 🙂 They got me to a room and soon after, my contractions went to like a level 9 pain level where I think prior to that they were at like a 5 or 6.  In hindsight, I know it was my body going through transition.  Those contractions were beyonddddd!!! We brought the massage gun for Craig to put on my back, and where it had been helping before, with these it felt like it made it worse. I think it’s just because they hurt so bad nothing was really going to fix it.  Except I guess an epidural! The nurse anesthetist came in and got me all situated for the epidural, placed it in my back etc. and then I laid down flat on the bed to let the medicine go down and start working.  Prior to this, I was standing up but bent all the way over with my forearms on the bed or on all 4s on top of the bed.

The doctor came in to check me and said I was at 9cm and told me that I was progressing really quickly.  I asked if I’d have time for the epidural to kick in before having to push and she said “we will see” (haha).  She sat with me for a while and watched the contractions happen and the nurse anesthetist came back in to see if the medicine had started to take effect.  It really was barely in my legs and lower abdomen, but it took the slightest edge off at least.  I think I only had a few more contractions until the doctor checked and said I was at 10cm and baby’s head was right there, and let me know we could try to push.  I was so nervous to push without the epidural fully working but just went with it.

The good news is, pushing actually does help with the pain from the contractions.  It’s like working with your body instead of against it, I honestly don’t even remember feeling those contractions because I was focused on pushing.  I think we went through 2-3 contractions, and since I could feel most everything I was more in control of how hard to push.  I could feel that if I pushed too hard, I might tear and I REALLY didn’t want that especially without the epidural.  So I was definitely more in control in that aspect.  I gave a few pushes and Avery came out!

I could tell the moment I looked at her that she was smaller than my other babies, and thankful for it since I pushed her out without much, if any, pain medication.  The older two girls were 8lbs 4oz and 8lbs 3oz, and Avery was just 6lbs 8oz.

Recovery has been pretty good so far, I was up walking around and easily feeling better after this L&D than the previous two. Which is good, since I have 3 kids to take care of at home now!

We love Avery so much and feel so complete with her in our family <3

Avery Rebecca Carter – 6lbs 8oz, 19inch long, born 4/3/24 at 1:19am

xo,

Bess