Below is his birth story! It's a crazy but beautiful story and I didn't want to leave out any details. Be prepared for a small novel about his arrival!
Our Saturday started off a little shaky. Conor had literally kicked really hard for over 2 hours straight in the middle of the night from about 2-4am. That should have been my biggest clue that labor was going to start soon. He was a frequent night kicker, but it was unusual for him to kick for so long in the middle of the night. Peyton didn't sleep well either and Michael was up for a good portion of the night with him. Patrick woke up around 6:30am, which is actually a little bit early for him on a weekend. I decided to turn on a movie for him and try and lay on the couch to feel a little better. I had not had any contractions recently, but still wasn't feeling great. Patrick was pretty agreeable to watching a movie which was nice. My dad came over to walk the dogs around 8am. Before he left he said, so you going to have a baby today? I was pretty confident that there would be no baby today, so I said "nope, not today!" A few minutes later, Peyton and Michael woke up and we hung out as a family for a little bit.
Around 10:30am Michael left to take the dogs to the vet and I took the boys to Patrick's soccer practice. I ran around with Peyton the whole time during the soccer practice. We threw football, played soccer and were just running around on the indoor field next to Patrick's soccer practice. Michael showed up towards the end of the practice from the vet, which I was relieved about because a full hour of running around with Peyton really wore me out!
We headed home for lunch, play time and a nap for Peyton. After Peyton's nap I cleaned the house for the babysitter for the night, which also seemed to really exhaust me this day! Then Michael and I got ready to go to St. Henry's writer's night.
We left for writer's night around 7pm. On the way there I joked with Michael that the baby was so low and putting so much pressure on me that I wouldn't be surprised if my water broke just from the pressure from him being so low. I also mentioned that I had a silly dream that my water broke at the show. Of course, I didn't actually think it was going to break and had no reason to think that it would! For some reason with Conor I always had dreams of what was going to happen throughout my entire pregnancy.
I ate dinner there and felt completely fine for almost the whole show. Around 10pm I got a couple of small contractions but didn't think anything of it. I had been having contractions for weeks and since these were small and didn't continue I didn't worry about it at all. However, around 10:30pm I got up in the middle of the show and headed to the bathroom. All of the sudden I started to feel really strange. No contractions, but I knew something was up. On the way out of the bathroom I felt a small surge of water. Not huge, but enough to make me a little concerned. I calmly walked back to my seat and texted Michael at 10:46pm the following: "I'm a little concerned that my water just partially broke. We might need to leave. I'm not feeling good." If you are wondering why I texted him instead of just telling him, it was a very slow quiet song and I was sure Michael's reply back might be a shout of "What?!? really loudly. I didn't hear anything but the last line of the song that was playing which was "Come on child, it's time to meet your mom." I quickly looked around, noticed most people had tears in their eyes and Michael's mom looked over and said "That one was for you." I was confused and not thinking straight but looked at Michael and said "It's time, let's go."
I learned later that the song that was playing was a song written by Don Sampson titled "Mom." The song was recently recorded by Garth Brooks. The words are absolutely beautiful. As you will learn later, Conor arrived quickly and we were all scared, but I think this song might have been a little reminder that Conor and I were being watched over.
Little baby told God, hey I'm kind of scared.
Don't really know if I want to go down there.
From here it looks like a little blue ball
That's a great big place and I'm so small.
Don't really know if I want to go down there.
From here it looks like a little blue ball
That's a great big place and I'm so small.
Why can't I just, stay here with you?
Did I make you mad, don't you want me too?
God said oh child, of course I do
But there's somebody special waiting for you
God said oh child, of course I do
But there's somebody special waiting for you
So hush now baby, don't you cry
'Cause there's someone down there waiting whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright
A loving angel tender, tough and strong
It's almost time to go and meet your mom.
'Cause there's someone down there waiting whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright
A loving angel tender, tough and strong
It's almost time to go and meet your mom.
You'll never have a better friend
Or a warmer touch to tuck you in
She'll kiss your bruises, your bumps and scrapes
And anytime you hurt
Her heart's gonna break
Or a warmer touch to tuck you in
She'll kiss your bruises, your bumps and scrapes
And anytime you hurt
Her heart's gonna break
So hush now baby, don't you cry
'Cause there's someone down there waiting whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright
A loving angel tender, tough and strong
It's almost time to go and meet your mom.
'Cause there's someone down there waiting whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright
A loving angel tender, tough and strong
It's almost time to go and meet your mom.
And when she's talking to you make sure you listen close
'Cause she's gonna teach you everything you'll ever need to know
Like how to mind your manners, to love and laugh and dream
She'll put you on the path that bring you back to me
'Cause she's gonna teach you everything you'll ever need to know
Like how to mind your manners, to love and laugh and dream
She'll put you on the path that bring you back to me
So, hush now little baby, don't you cry
'Cause there's someone down there waiting whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright
A loving angel tender, tough and strong
Come on child it's time, to meet your mom
'Cause there's someone down there waiting whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright
A loving angel tender, tough and strong
Come on child it's time, to meet your mom
Michael and I quickly headed home to relieve the babysitter and her younger brother who she was also babysitting at our house. I called the hospital on the way home and the doctor told me to lay down and wait for 20 minutes and see if my contractions continued. I started getting contractions on the way home and they were pretty close together (about 5 minutes) and pretty painful. I made it about 5 minutes laying down before I knew that he would be coming soon and the contractions were not stopping. I started trying to finish packing my bag and could barely do it. I was having to breathe through the contractions and they were coming really close. Michael got back from taking the babysitter home who lives about 5 minutes from us. Our babysitter was young (about 14 years old) and her 8 year old brother was with her, so we didn't feel comfortable leaving them with the kids really late for fear we couldn't get in touch with a family member to take them home. Mark, Michael's brother, was the closest to us and was on his way to stay with the kids while we went to the hospital.
Michael drove about 100 mph to the hospital. I kept telling him to slow down, but I think he realized how quickly my contractions were coming and that I was having trouble breathing through them. We made it to the hospital in record time. Since it was a Saturday night at midnight, there was only one lady at the front desk. I recognized her from checking us in with Patrick. She was taking her sweet time checking in a couple that was scheduled for an induction the next morning. Michael was beyond furious and was getting extremely frustrated that she wasn't checking in the person who was actually in the middle of labor first. She was extremely slow and just sauntering around. We had to sit there for about 10 minutes before it was our turn. As soon as the lady walked back from dropping of the scheduled induction, Michael told her that this was our third child and I was in active labor and we did not have time to wait to fully check-in. Her reply was "Oh, that's what everyone says." I think Michael could have screamed at her, but he kept his composure. She was asking me all kinds of questions, which I could not answer because I was in so much pain I could not talk and was starting to shake a little. I think she realized that the contractions I was breathing through were about a minute apart and stopped checking us in to take us back to the room.
Warning: if you have a weak stomach or don't want to know details skip the rest and head straight to the pictures :)
She wheeled over the wheelchair and I looked at Michael barely able to move to sit in the chair and said "Honey, I don't think I am going to make it to the room." She quickly took us back to the evaluation room gave me a gown and asked for a urine sample in the bathroom. I was able to hobble the two steps to the bathroom after breathing through a contraction, but when I got in the bathroom I managed to lean on the toilet seat but I froze and could not move. I yelled VERY loudly to Michael (although I'm not sure it was exactly audible). "He is coming NOW, get a nurse, please please help me."
Michael ran into the hallway and I could hear him yelling for a nurse. About a minute later, a couple nurses ran in and helped me to the wheelable bed as this was not a delivery room. I was already starting to push at this point and the rest of my water broke as they were lifting me onto the bed. They ripped off part of my clothes and the nurse said "She is complete, the head is already coming out." They quickly started to wheel me to a delivery room. They asked me not to push, but my body was not cooperating and even though I was trying not to, I was pushing anyway. Luckily it was past midnight on a Saturday which is not a busy time, so almost giving birth in the hallway wasn't as big of a deal as it could have been!
They got me to a delivery room that had nothing in it and was not set up for a labor yet. It was the first one and I think they knew that I wouldn't make it to another one. I did not want to move and it was painful to move, so Michael lifted me up and put me on the delivery bed as I was pushing. The two nurses tried frantically to get one heartbeat as I was pushing so they could know that Conor was still breathing. I looked at the nurse and said "I just don't think I can do this." She told me that I could and to push really hard through the ring of fire. She asked if I wanted to pull him out myself. I couldn't compose myself enough to reply, but I was thinking "HELL NO, I'm not even sure I am going to make it to the end." I'm not sure of the timing, but I think the doctor that was reserved for emergency situations and for people without insurance walked in at this point. I pushed two more times, through the ring of fire (which there should be a much more hateful phrase for) and he was out. I was told we were in the delivery room for 6 minutes before Conor arrived.
He was a little slow to cry which made me a little nervous, but he did and was just perfect! The nurse took a couple pictures of him after he was born, but I am still a little upset that we don't have many pictures of him or us afterwards. Delivering the placenta and my stitching was extremely painful so Michael had to stay with me the whole time and could not take pictures. Because Conor decided to come so quickly and my body didn't have enough time to catch up the doctor had to take her time at the end. This was by far the most painful part and I am pretty sure I was breaking Michael's hand off. We didn't find out for a little while after he was born how much he weighed because there wasn't even a scale or a place for Conor to go in the room.
I was exhausted and in shock and just so overwhelmed afterwards. I do remember Michael looking at me saying, wow you are amazing! I don't think a lot of people could do that. That really meant a lot to me. I know he was just as scared as I was, if not more, because the dad is pretty helpless except for providing moral support. I was extremely thankful to have him there and be so helpful.
I was also extremely thankful for the nurses that were there and were ready to go at a moment's notice. It is not a job where you can have an off day. The delivery nurses have to be ready to go and be prepared to help because there are two lives that are depending on it! We heard the nurses telling our story to all of the other nurses in the hallway after it was over. We also consistently got the comment from each nurse throughout our stay "Ohhh you were the one that almost delivered in the hallway!" I asked how common it was and they said they get about one good story a month. Guess I filled the February quota :)
We had to stay in our room until about 3:30am to answer all of the pre check-in questions and have bloodwork done that I didn't get to do beforehand. They also wanted to monitor me and Conor in the delivery room for a little while. I had Group B strep with this pregnancy and did not get any type of medication before Conor was delivered. It can be life-threatening for the baby, so we definitely wanted to make sure he was acting alright before going upstairs. My doctor and I both knew beforehand that I might not get a full round of medication because of my fast labors, but we didn't realize it would be that fast!
Conor's first picture
My first picture with Conor
Our first family picture
First picture with daddy
All swaddled up and ready to go upstairs
5am snuggles with my precious little buddy
A few little pics while we were still in the hospital. I just LOVE those cheeks!
Yawning
I can now officially say that I have survived a natural birth! It is sort of fun to compare all the birth stories because they are all SO different! Patrick came on his own with no pitocin but I did have an epidural. Peyton was induced for medical reasons with Pitocin and an epidural. Conor came 100% all natural! If you are curious on my preference, it is definitely #1. I strongly prefer for the child to come when he is ready and to avoid pitocin at all costs! My epidurals with Patrick and Peyton were both given very late so I was able to feel contractions with both. The pitocin contractions felt like they were on steroids….long, painful and quick timing between them! The contractions with Conor were actually easier all natural than the pitocin contractions.
Love you so much Conor! We are so excited you are healthy and part of our crazy little family! Let the fun begin!!!
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