Boston's Birth Story

I will never forget the time leading up to Boston's birth! I was 37 weeks and my two kiddos were hit with pink eye!! I quickly got them into the doctor and they were each prescribed an oral antibiotic because upon checking they both had double ear infections as well.

Now I am not sure if this was just my experience but the oral antibiotic did not go down well. And we tried everything. But it only caused the poor kids to either throw up or if they were able to get it down, it caused diarrhea.

The stress of it all was sending me into having some heavy contractions and I was just praying that the sweet babe would stay right where he was at, where it was safe.

By 38 weeks and 3 days, we seemed to be past the sickness, although there were some lingering side effects. And at my OB appointment she asked if I would like a membrane sweep. Crazy enough this was my third pregnancy and I had never had one of those before. But I figured lets give it a go!

We went to my sister's after since she was watching my kids during the appointment and we stayed for dinner. After a tasty meal and good time with family we decided to try a walk, ya know just in case we could encourage labor.

Now something I haven't mentioned yet is, I have had gestational diabetes in all my pregnancies (it has never gone away actually so there is a good chance I am pre diabetic) And with this pregnancy it was more difficult than ever. I barely ate because even a salad would spike my blood sugars (no it wasn't from the dressing). It was to the point that I was prescribed an oral medication, which meant I had to have twice a week appointments and every week they would up my dose on the meds. Which always worked at first and then my body would shut down a little more.

So back to wanting to encourage labor. At my appointment I was again prescribed a higher dose of medicine, and very close to needing insulin shots (yikes!!) Plus they would want to induce labor at some point in my 39th week if he didn't come before then. (I was induced with my first baby and it was an experience I would prefer to not encounter again)

On our walk my sister would ask if I felt anything with the baby and the main feeling I had was just a lot of strain in my back. Which I figured was due to the gigantic belly my back was trying to support.

We had let the big kids stay the night over at my sister's hoping that baby boy would be born that night or early morning. I also might have drank a little concoction that my good friend has drank with all of her babies and had very successful labor and deliveries. (Remember I didn't want to be induced again) I drank said concoction around 9:30 pm and by 10 pm I was so nauseous I couldn't do anything but sit. I finally thought maybe if I got in the shower it would help me. But moments into the sickness was overwhelming and there was no time to react. Whoops. So then I spent the next 15 minutes deep cleaning the shower. I felt relieved after it all came up though.

By 11 pm I was feeling tightening in my stomach and figured I should just try and distract myself. My poor hubby was tired and falling asleep, so we headed to the bedroom and I tried to watch a show. After about 20 minutes I realized I hadn't watched any of it because I kept having to breathe through contractions. (Yes, I was completely in denial that I was in labor) My husband would wake up to me and ask if I was ready to go to the hospital but I kept putting it off. I didn't want to wake up my mom and sis if this wasn't the real deal.

Finally at 11:45 I woke Spencer up for good and we started to get our things together and let my mom and sister know we were on our way.

Upon arriving everything went smoothly. The night nurse recognized me from my first two babies and felt positive that I knew what labor felt like so they immediately admitted me. (SCORE!)

My plan was to get an epidural, have my water broke and hopefully in a little while have a sweet babe in my arms.

Well the anesthesiologist took about 2 hours to get there, which was fine my water was in tack and my contractions were very manageable. When he did arrive, I remember thinking his placement felt much lower than my two previous epidurals but for some reason I am not quick to say anything. My doctor then came in and broke my water, and quickly everything changed!!

Not only could I still feel every bit of my contractions, they were suddenly unbearable. I told the nurse I could still feel everything and her thought was to lay be down more and see if gravity would help the epidural. After an hour I was moaning and writhing in pain.

During all of this time baby had moved down the canal but his fist was up by his head. My doctor said she needed him to pull that back in or we would need to do a c-section. She was pushing on his hand to try and encourage him to pull it back and it ended up taking her putting water back into my body for him to move back out of the canal and pull is hand back. That was great! But painful contractions continued that I could barely breathe through. And because of the epidural I was stuck on a bed with a blood pressure cuff, monitors and soon to be oxygen mask.

My sister, who is the outspoken one, chased down the nurse and said things were not right. The nurse finally called the anesthesiologist in, but once more he was in no hurry and took an hour to get to the hospital.
During this time my contractions started causing distress on my baby. His heart was going incredibly low during my contractions. And my body was working so hard that my blood sugars had dropped to a very low point. My doctor was at the point where she had called the surgical team in, because we were on the edge of an emergency.
Well that peachy anesthesiologist came in the room, they told me he would be able to fix it and I wouldn't need to sit up. But as quickly as he popped into the room, he walked back out in search of something. Meanwhile my doctor and nurse continued to exchange looks not sure how much longer they should hold off on wisking me down the hall for surgery. Just then the nurse looked and said "nevermind, it's time to have a baby"
This was my first ever experience laboring and pushing without a working epidural. I was exhausted and all I remember is how irritated I was by the blood pressure cuff, the oxygen mask and the fact that I still had not put my hair back up from taking that shower hours earlier.

Praise God that He gave me the strength and energy needed. And He allowed baby boy to be born without an emergency surgery. (I have nothing against c-sections, they are a blessing in time of need. My desire of course was to avoid it if possible.

After 18 minutes of pushing, right at 4:18 am sweet baby boy made his entrance into the world

Boston Isaiah Stillwell 7lbs. 4oz. of perfection and God's complete grace.

I find it funny that Boston's pregnancy and labor was by far the most difficult, the most scary and yet my absolute favorite! It's where I saw God's grace so abundantly. Prayers had started right from the beginning because 3 months prior I had miscarried. They continued with the diabetes, the aches and pains and then of course the sickness right before he was born. and those 4 hours in the hospital room was filled with cries out to God, He will never leave us nor forsake us. It was His mercy to grant us this difficult time because it kept our eyes on Him. He is so good. And He has granted me with 3 beautiful children!!

Loving life as a family of 5!