My Birth Story with Quincy
- cfifefit
- Jul 21, 2020
- 9 min read
*I want to start by saying that this post may be triggering to any woman or family who have experienced miscarriage or infertility. My heart reaches out to each and every one of you*
On March 26, 2019 we lost a baby. It was as gut-wrenching and painful as you would think. You can read about it on this old blog here.
With the power of prayer and God's grace, we welcomed a new blessing into our lives on March 26, 2020. A baby. A rainbow after the storm. A light in this dark world. That's right, exactly a year later. This blog post is about to tell you the details of this perfect day.
Really and truly, I am writing this because I never want to forget the details of this day. I want to ride the feelings of this day forever. I want to write about it while it's still so fresh in my mind because I really would relive it all over again if I could. However, it's also a bonus to entertain some expecting women anticipating their own birth, give hope to women anticipating pregnancy, or satisfy anyone who is nosy about the details LOL. So grab some popcorn and enjoy.
A week before Quincy was born, I was somewhat persuaded to scheduling an induction, being that we were in the height of a worldwide pandemic. If I so much as had a cough, I would be separated from my baby at birth until my COVID19 test came back negative days later. And if it was somehow positive, I wouldn't meet my baby for weeks! There was talk that it could be possible that any hospital could do away with any visitors or birth partner at any given moment. I was dilated, his head had dropped, and labor could be started at ANY moment. I was inducted with Bentley so I had hopes to go into labor naturally with my second. We scheduled the induction for March 25th out of fear, and prayed like hell it would happen sooner than that.
A few days before the scheduled induction, I experienced on and off contractions. They were uncomfortable and could be timed at some points. They always ended up subsiding as I fell asleep. Despite my contractions on and off all day on March 25th, the induction was pushed back. At first I was so grateful, because I took it as a sign that it would happen on it's own. As the day went on and I experienced more pain, I was READY for this baby to come. I called my doctor to let them know I was experiencing these contractions and to see if there was anything they could do. I wasn't in actual active labor, and I KNEW that. I was starting to think my contractions weren't going to progress anything, being that I had been 3 cm dilated for weeks and the initial natural contractions with Bentley's birth also did not progress my body on it's own.
Finally, that day at 8 PM we were told to come in. Maybe my body had started to do things on it's own? After getting Bentley situated, we got to the hospital at 9PM. AT 11 PM, I was given pitocin. (an IV administered drug to jump start labor) The contractions hadn't done a damn thing.
11 PM - I kid you not, things started happening immediately. Contractions picked up right away. It was uncomfortable but I was able to talk and joke in between them. As time went on I had to get up and bounce on a birthing ball, walk around my hospital room, kneel on the floor, etc. Because of covid, my plan to use the birthing tub was out of the window. After this, I gave it all to God. I was already a little disappointed because things were already not how I'd imagined.
3AM - I asked to be checked for progress. If you are a woman who has birthed children, you know this is a bold move. It's hurts like a B during contractions and the results could either make or break your mood. 4cm. Ouch. It was discouraging to hear that I hadn't even progressed ONE centimeter despite the hours of pain I had endured. It kinda broke my mood for a sec but I kept on going.
7 AM - At this point I hadn't slept a wink. This was shift change for our nurse and I was on the birthing ball. (Being in bed made my contractions so much more painful) Our night shift nurse was very accommodating to our needs, even Tanner's! Even though we hadn't seen much of her throughout the night we really liked her. We had two nurse's during the day. One was in orientation & fresh out of nursing school, and one was watching over her. We ended up adoring them BOTH!
Shortly after shift change, I asked our main nurse (the new one) to check my progress. Because my waters were bulging, she was very unsure when she checked me. She gave me a very hesitant " 6 centimeters?" Even though she wasn't sure, it made me happy to know I had progressed. At this point, I was in A LOT of pain, while moaning and breathing through every contraction. I truly thought things were about to happen FAST.
9 AM ish? - Despite the pain, I was trying to finally lay down in bed, but was starting to feel VERYYYY nauseous and dizzy. I asked for a barf bag and my mouth was watering really bad. My nurse asked if she could check me because this feeling sometime meant it was time to push, which is also called being "complete". She checked me and felt around in there what felt like eternity and gave us a very confident "you're COMPLETE!!! Lemme just go grab the other nurse to be sure"
F YES. I did it. No meds. No epidural. It was time to push. The other nurse came in, checked me and also took an eternity. The bulging waters still made it hard for them to feel. She gave me a sorrowful look and said "I'm really sorry but you're still about the same, 6 cm" I held in my tears and said okay. I was completely devastated that I had prepared myself to push, only to find out I was the SAME. Contractions were about one minute apart.
I collected myself, and they offered to help me into the shower to help relieve some pain. I agreed because I remembered how helpful the shower was in Bentley's birth. I labored in there for forever. Tanner checked on me frequently, and helped put the water on my back. Contractions slowed down and felt more manageable for a while. I was dead tired.
12 PM - I got dressed, back in bed, got the monitor back on me, and all situated. As soon as I got back in bed, those deadly contractions picked up. I had been laboring for over 12 hours. My body was tense and exhausted because I hadn't slept in 2 days because of the previous anxiety of the scheduled induction and inconsistent contractions. My water hadn't broke yet. I was starting to lose motivation. This is when I talked to the nurse about an epidural. She told me she thought it was a good idea because my body needed to relax to be able to progress. For a few minutes, I felt really discouraged that I couldn't do it naturally. But I also knew that I was doing what I needed to to get Quincy out.
Shortly after we made plans for an epidural, the doctor came in to talk to me. One of my fav doctors was delivering! I was in so much pain during this convo that I just remember mindlessly nodding to everything she was saying while also moaning through contractions. I didn't care at this point, I NEEDED that epidural.
She ordered the epidural to get me comfortable, then she would come back to break my water. She told the nurse to turn my pitocin down because the contractions were too intense and one after another.
OKAY, I can do this. Just wait for the epidural. Got it.
12:45 - 1ISH? - Time for that epidural! They wouldn't let Tanner watch because apparently this made men either scared or queasy or both. My nurse let me hold onto her for dear life. I had a death grip around her. All social distancing rules
out the window. This 20 minute process was very uncomfortable because, despite the immense pain with contractions, you couldn't move even the slightest muscle. It felt like a hit my back with a hammer, and then a shock rain all the way through my spine. BUT THE RELIEF WAS ALMOST INSTANT. (5-10 mins)
For about an hour, I was able to zone in and out of sleep. It felt nice to be able to rest. Tanner was able to sleep some. We were waiting for the doctor to come in to break my water and that would get things moving. She was held up with another patient.
I don't recall the time, but I started to get very uncomfortable. I asked the nurse to come change my position about 3 times in the matter of like 30 minutes. I was able to move and pick up my legs, but not get up and walk around. This feeling made me very antsy, panicky, and tearful. This felt like hours. Tanner held my hand and we prayed. I played and sang worship music. That truly was the only thing that got me through this feeling. You can find my delivery playlist here.
4:30 PM - The doctor came in to break my water! I had tears rolling down my face because I was so happy to see her, I really didn't think I'd be so happy to have my water broke LOL. The deed was done! I was ready to see things finally start moving along. She said I was about 8 CM!
5 PM - I told the nurse it felt like I needed to push. I started to feel my contractions and felt pain again. I seriously thought Quincy was about to come out. She told me to ride it out because it hadn't even been 30 minutes before I was last checked. AT this point I had to squeeze Tanner's hand because the pressure was almost unbearable. With each contraction, I could feel Q pushing against my cervix.
5:30 PM - I begged for the nurse to come back in to check. Well, it turns out I was right! I was ready to push! It finally felt like we were seeing a light at the end of the tunnel :) When she told me this, I cried. We were going to meet our son soon. After like 2 pushes, they said they needed to call the doctor fast! They told me to stop pushing, which
was almost like impossible. It's like trying to hold in the biggest poop of your life.
6 PM - The doctor came in, and as she was gowning up, I yelled "CAN I PUSH?!" They said yes and I started doing my own thing without anyone counting or coaching. This felt so empowering. I felt God in the room, giving me strength with each push. The nurses were singing along to our worship music. Not even 10 minutes later Quincy Coah Parkes was born at 6:09 PM. He was 8 lbs 8.5 oz and 20.25 inches long. While I Wait by Lincoln Brewster was playing on my spotify - which was perfect because we waited 7 months to get pregnant (with a miscarriage in between), 9 months of pregnancy, and 20 hours of labor to receive our blessing.
Quincy didn't even cry. He let out a few squeals and after that he was just looking at me. It seemed like he was taking it all in, and was mesmerized to see his parents faces. It was so cool to watch him, watch me. During these few moments, I was able to catch Tanner's eye contact and we both had tears in our eyes,
For about an hour or so, I had some complications post-delivery. My IV had stopped working, which meant I wasn't getting pitocin anymore. I needed the pitocin to continue contractions so the bleeding would stop. It almost felt like an episode of Grey's anatomy because the doctor was ordering however many units of shots, pills and whatever else they could to stop the bleeding. I still had Quincy on my chest while they were working on me, but I won't lie i was a leeeetle scared. They would push really hard on my belly, then pump meds in, scrape out my uterus with what looked like a shovel. And they kept doing this until they got the bleeding under control. At this point I was thankful for the epidural. I don't think I could've handled the pain of getting my uterus scraped out. ***If you are pregnant, don't let this scare you because this occurrence is rare!
Finally I got to breastfeed Quincy and he latched on like a champ!
*** I must note that breastfeeding contractions, feel exactly like labor contractions esp if you are a second time mom. I had to moan and breath through those suckers for a week.
We got wheeled down to recovery and enjoyed papa johns at like 10 PM!! It was the best pizza of my life because I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours. The next few days were pretty peaceful. Peaceful, but SLEEPLESS haha!
This really concludes the story! All in all, it was a good experience. But longer than we anticipated. I know this has been a LOOONG blog, but it was a LONG labor! So thank you for reading :)
PLEASE give feedback, comment, or ask a question in the comments. Who knows, I MAY write a blog about birthing during a pandemic!
xoxo
Court
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