Sullivan Jude’s Birth Story
Posted on March 1st, 2016 by RWM AdminSullivan’s birth story. April 7, 2015
This little guy made me wait and work for him!
It all started in the middle of the night on April 1st. I was having regular and timetable contractions all night. I was so excited to finally meet our gender surprise baby, and nervous thinking “This is it! Of course it is! This is my third baby and my previous two births started like this too.”
I was wrong.
I labored all night and sure enough everything stopped by the morning. I even told my husband, Andrew, that I didn’t think he should go to work because today was the day!
Once the contractions slowed down that morning we headed straight to the chiropractor to help get things going again. After my adjustment I walked around for an hour or so but again, nothing. I just needed to rest at this point because I knew if they did pick back up I was way too tired and wasn’t confident I’d make it through.
After waking up from a nap I knew the baby wouldn’t be coming today but I didn’t get discouraged, I reminded myself that the baby was just not ready and was hopeful that all those contractions during the night helped me progress some.
The same thing happened on April 3rd (my due date) and on April 6th.
Regular contractions that were painful and timetable. After almost a week of prodromal labor I was starting to get a bit discouraged and confused. This had never happened before and why was my labor not the same as my two previous experiences? I was visiting the chiropractor almost every day, stretching, resting, everything I could think of to prepare for the big day.
On the morning of April 6th I went to the chiropractor, walked around downtown Grapevine and came home to rest. I was having contractions on and off all day but nothing regular, and I remember them being pretty intense when they did come. Still I wasn’t getting my hopes up I was trying to stay calm and focused, trying to remind myself that every contraction was progress.
We joked at dinner that I’d go into ‘real’ labor that night because I was pretty tired that evening.
Andrew put the kids to bed around 7:45 pm and I hopped into the shower. I remember feeling strange, as if I knew these would be my last moments before the real deal. I was extremely focused on my baby, relaxing under the stream of water and just feeling at peace with my pregnancy and everything around me.
After my shower I went right in to bed to lay down and try to get rest for the night. I was in bed for maybe 10 minutes when I had a really hard and really long contraction that surprised me followed by a ‘pop!’
I laid there for a second thinking “Wow that was intense and that pop… Was it my hips?”
But then I felt my water coming… I jumped out of bed, sent Andrew a text while he was in another room, and went straight to the bathroom. It was now 9:00pm, I was shocked and had no idea what to do or think! My water had never broken before I was in active labor and pushing.
I immediately sent texts to Joyce, our photographer Bailey (Bailey Nicole Photography), and Maryn (Buoyant Birth Pools) who was delivering and setting up our pool, that my water broke.
I talked to Joyce on the phone for a bit and I explained that I wasn’t having contractions yet and I was feeling very confused on what to do but I really wanted her here.
Around 11:15pm Joyce arrived at my house and that’s when it all start to hit me. I’m going to meet my baby very soon! Contractions were coming very slowly at this point and I gave Joyce a recap of my week, telling her about all the prodromal labor I’d been having.
I asked her if she could give me a vaginal exam to check where I was. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Still at about 1cm and cervix very high. I didn’t want to admit it but I felt so defeated.
She could tell by the look on my face and reassured me that everything would be okay, we should get some rest and reassess in the morning.
Joyce offered to stay the night on my couch so she could be here for me whenever I needed her. I seriously couldn’t have found a better midwife. I was so at ease knowing she was not leaving even though I felt like I had a long road ahead.
We laid down around 12:15am and it seemed as soon as we did my contractions picked up. They became very intense and close together but I tried to lay and relax and breathe through them. About 1:30am I got up and sat on the edge of the bed because laying down was so uncomfortable.
Andrew asked me if I wanted him to go wake up Joyce and my response “I don’t know” he knew things were getting serious!
Joyce came in and after that, it’s all kind of a blur. I felt like my body was going into transition really fast.
I remember her checking me and letting me know the baby’s head was right here and Robin was not going to make it. Hearing that I was so close and progressing so fast was a relief. I was ready to meet my baby and knew everything would be different with how intense this pain was.
It seemed as if my body starting pushing on its own. I was laying on my side because I remembered hearing that it was an easier position to be in, but I listened to my body and flipped on my back and the baby started to come much faster. As he was crowning, Joyce told me that she could see eye brows and the baby was coming sunny side up!
Sullivan Jude was born at 3:26am. Our surprise boy! I was so relieved he was here, crying and healthy!
I brought him up to my chest and just fell in love! We did it! I did it!
I could have not asked for a better team (Joyce and Robin) to be there for us through my pregnancy and birth. We feel so blessed to have found them and would have them again in a heartbeat.
The love, confidence, and compassion these ladies showed us was remarkable. They helped us achieve our ideal birth.
