Walker's Birth Story

Mommy and Daddy went to the hospital at 6:30 AM Tuesday the 20th to be induced. The doctor checked her and she was 1 cm dilated, 25% effaced thanks to the contractions over the weekend. Mommy was hooked up and her water was broken at 8:00. Then the pitocin was started. The contractions were 2.5 minutes apart but manageable for a while. Margaret's mom, Matt, and our doula helped her stay focused and she worked through each contraction. They started getting much more intense around noon as she entered active labor. By 1:30, she had had two contractions that went off the chart and stayed off it for a full minute before coming back down. She knew she could get through each one, but she wasn't sure how much longer she could get through them at that point - the pain was so intense.

At about 1:45, the anesthesiologist administered the epidural and it was a life saver. It took about 20 minutes to fully kick in (no one tells you that beforehand!!) and Margaret could still feel the contractions on her left side. She leaned to the left for a while and the pain diminished even though she could still feel each contraction. She was checked at that point and was 5 cm. The doctor said that it could be 5 more hours of labor or that it could take as little as an hour for her to be fully dilated. She talked and laughed through her contractions for about 2 more hours and then she started to feel the contractions again, but much higher in her back. They increased in intensity and were really painful. She started to feel a tiny bit of pressure but didn't mention it because it was so little. When the nurse came to check on her again (about 4:30), she noticed the pain and said that it was time to check her again. Margaret requested that she wait for Matt to come back in the room because he had missed all the internal exams up to that point. He was back in the room in less than a minute and the nurse checked. What do you know, 10 cm. She asked Margaret to lean up and feel the baby's head and she did - he was only about 2-3 inches inside! Matt felt his head and then the nurse had Mom push one time to see what kind of a pusher she was. Walker came down quite a bit, so she said it was time to call the doc - not to sneeze or cough :).

The nurse pulled the mirror up so Margaret could see the birth and Matt ran to the waiting room to tell everyone that it was time to push. The nurse came back from calling the doctor and reported that he was on his way, but it was rush hour traffic and he might be a few minutes. The grandparents all came in the room to wait for the doctor (even though there were only supposed to be 4 visitors in the room and we had 6). He finally arrived at about 5:00 and said, "This lady's born to breed!" Everyone laughed and the excitement was palpable. Margaret and her mom were already crying :). He put his suit on and got everything ready. Margaret pushed 3 times, for about 5 minutes, and watched Walker's head come down farther and farther with each push. After the third push, his head was out and the doctor cleaned his nose and mouth. She gave one more small push to get one shoulder out and then the doctor pulled out his other shoulder. At that point, she asked if she could pull him the rest of the way out and the doc said, "Sure!" She delivered Walker at 5:13 amidst many tears and laughs. His apgar scores were 8 and 9 and he was (and still is) absolutely PERFECT.

After the nurse checked him out and the doctor finished with Margaret (no episiotomy or tearing, just what he called "skid marks"), the nurse brought Walker over to cuddle with Mommy and Daddy and asked everyone else to leave so that we could spend an hour getting to know our little boy without interruption. That hour was so precious as we looked him over and introduced ourselves to him. It's amazing how much love you can feel for someone in such a short time and that that love can grow so much each and every day. Even the stinky diapers are precious to us :). Thinking back on the day when we were shocked by the positive pregnancy test, I can't imagine our lives without Walker. Matt and I look at each other in a completely different light now and our love for each other has really grown tremendously. It's amazing how much one day 9 months ago has changed our lives so completely and so much for the better. We still are in complete shock that he's ours and that we actually made him. Each and every moment with him is a wonderful blessing and we are so SO thankful to have him in our lives.  

Margaret