Will's birth story

I haven't really been a blogger lately, but I do want to record the story of my little Will's birth so I shall do it here so it can be included in our family history.

William was due on May 28 (or 29, depending on who you talked to, not that it matters). My last two babies came 2 and 3 weeks early so naturally, I assumed he would be coming early as well. Silly me. My parents had planned on him being early as well and when his due date came and went I was feeling the pressure. I needed to utilize the help my parents could provide while they were here and how upsetting for them to go home without seeing their grand-baby! So, I was induced on May 30. It was such a hard decision for me to make and I felt so sad and so defeated. I had prepared this entire pregnancy to labor and deliver naturally and without drugs or intervention. I prayed and prayed that Heavenly Father would get things started and bring Will out on his own, but it didn't work out that way.
The hospital called early on the morning of the 30th and asked if we could arrive by 7:30. I was so nervous and emotional. I thought we would be leaving a quiet home but everyone woke up and we all ate breakfast together. It was nice.
My mom and Scott both came to be with me for the delivery. By the time we got into our room and signed the million waivers and such it was 10:00. My midwife came in and hooked up the pitocin around 10:30 and broke my water at 10:45. I could not believe how much water came out when she broke it. It literally sounded like a full flowing river for at least a full minute. Usually they increase the amount of pitocin from the IV every 15 minutes to get things going, but as I wanted my body to react as naturally as possible I requested that the nurse only increase it every half hour.  I slowly started contracting irregularly. By about 12:30 I was contracting regularly. For the entire labor the pitocin drip only when up to 10 ml which they usually go up to 36 ml for a normal induction, I think.
By 1:00 I was in active labor and in "the zone". My mom sat and brushed my hair while Scott would let me squeeze his hand during the contractions. Up until then I had been doing some squatting and exercises to really work with my contractions, but by about 1:30 they were strong enough that all I could do was breathe and endure them. Around 2:30 I could tell that my contractions were not making much progress any more. I stood up and leaned over hanging onto Scott's arms for one and it was SO much more painful that I knew I should change my position, but the contractions were so much more manageable while sitting on my ball that I chickened out and sat back down. My midwife came in to check me at 3:00 and I was dialated to 7 cm but  William's head was posterior so she had me lay on my side and man those contractions got SO intense. I remember moaning and yelling through each contraction and thinking how crazy and weird I must seem. It felt like I was screaming, but my mom and Scott swear I wasn't and that I looked quite controlled. After about 15 minutes she had me move and lay on my other side and within minutes I was completely dialated. I thought for sure once I reached this point he would just slide right out of me, I mean, he is baby number four!  But no, it took what seemed like an eternity from this point to the end. As I was laying on my side still I was doing involuntary pushes through the contractions which actually was SUCH a relief. When my midwife could see his head she had me lay on my back and I started really pushing through the contractions. It felt like he crowned pretty quickly and then stalled. I think it was only about 3 minutes where he was stretching that last lip of skin to come out but the pain made it feel like hours. Scott makes fun of me that the best moment of the labor was the moment was when I yelled, "Just pull him out of me!" Finally, the relief of his head passing through came and a small push later to get his shoulders out and I was free...sort of.
I was exhausted and everything was still throbbing as they whisked him away from me. He was very limp when he first came out and they wouldn't put him on my chest or wait to clamp the umbilical cord because of it. While the baby team worked on William my midwife assessed the damage and said I had four small tears. Ack!! Dang it! I just knew if I could deliver unmedicated I would avoid this problem. Of course I could totally feel one of the tears happening when he was coming out though. Oh man, having to be sewn up without the epidural was a nightmare. Between the stitching  and her having to keep scrubbing it all down with gauze to get the blood out of the way I was so annoyed and miserable.
Meanwhile, Will's first apgar score was only a 4 (hence why I couldn't hold him), but by the time his 5 minute apgar came around he scored a 9. Finally I was able to hold my sweet baby boy.
My biggest disappointment with delivering naturally was that I was not feeling strong and on top of the world afterward. I had heard, and hoped, that you feel great, walk around and such after but I felt just as loopy, weak and awkward after as I had after my epidural wore off with my other kids.
Now that I've just complained and described the most painful and intense few hours of my life I'm going to shock everyone and say that I'm 90% sure I would deliver naturally again if I were to have another baby. I can't really give a good reason why except that I feel an extremely strong connection to William. Like we were a team and we went through that crazy experience together. Birth must be an excruciating experience for those babies too and a small part of me feels like maybe with the epidural I've abandoned my other babies in that process and was pain free while they still had to endure it. I know it sounds silly but there it is.

Now, enjoy a few pictures of my sweet, sweet baby Will.

Right after delivery:

Next day hospital visit with a proud big sister:

Four days old:

 Henry getting to know his baby brother:

 Lydia is by far most obsessed with Will. She asks to hold him all day long:

 I am totally smitten: