Obviously most of you know we had a baby - probably from the plethora of pictures I post on instagram and Facebook - I would normally feel bad about blowing up everyone's Facebook feeds but let's be real - you would probably do the same.
Here is our delivery story:
at 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant (April 22), I waddled my huge self in to see my midwife for a check up. Her first words to me were, "HOLY COW YOU'RE HUGE - You will not make it to the weekend". These words excited me and scared me all at the same time. However, at this point I just wanted this baby out of me. He was heavy, hurting my back, pushing down on my bladder, I could feel his hiccups in my butt - just get him out. My midwife told me I was only 3 cm dilated and to go home and do some walking! That day I went home and walked our crazy dogs (more like they took me for a walk). Sean came home and we ate dinner, hung out, and I checked my hospital bag just incase.
That night I had a dream I was jumping into water and right as I hit the water..I woke up and felt my water break. It was 3:45am and I smacked Sean, yelled "MY WATER" and stood in the shower for hmm i don't know - maybe 10 minutes. *Note to pregnant women - When your water breaks..it doesn't stop until you have your little babe* I wasn't having contractions so Sean and I took our time getting the rest of our things together, and letting the dogs out. Our dog, Roku, would not leave me alone. He knew something was up.
We loaded up the car around 4:15am and drove to the Naval Hospital of Okinawa. Luckily our hospital was a 5 minute drive away, especially because it was 4 in the morning. I waddled into the hospital looking like a 2 year old who just peed her pants. We were immediately checked into a room and had a beautiful view of the East China Sea!
When I checked in I was still 3 cm dilated. I started having small contractions, but nothing too serious. After a few hours passed, it felt like someone was ripping my back and hips open. I was having terrible back labor. Our little dude was head down but facing sideways! Sean and I tried everything - Walking, slow dancing, sitting on a birthing ball, lower back massages, tennis balls, everything! Nothing was working. Then after about 7.5 hours of excruciating back labor, my nurse told me I needed to have pitocin because I was still only 3 cm dilated..if any of you have had a baby and needed pitocin you know it makes your contractions so much worse. With that being said, I was finally convinced to get an Epidural. AND HOLY COW. I am so glad I finally gave in and had one because I could hardly breath through my contractions and back labor. The epidural made me feel so much more comfortable. I had just enough to keep the pain to a minimum, but not so much that i couldn't feel my legs.
Basically, Sean and I spent the rest of the day watching movies and waiting for our little Bub to arrive.
At around 4:30pm I felt a lot of pressure and told Sean I thought I could feel him coming! So a nurse came in to check how far dilated I was and ...well, let's just say she didn't have to check. They paged my midwife and she ran in and said, "Girl, I have an hour and a half before I have to be at a mandatory PT. If you want me to deliver him, you're going to have to do it in that time". Needless to say, I pushed for an hour -I will spare you the details - and out came our little dude!
After almost 14 hours of labor, our baby boy, Barrett Sean Wetherill was born on April 23, 2014 at 5:36pm (Japan time!)
*Sorry for the gruesome picture - it's the first picture we got of him!*
This is our wonderful Midwife, LT Commander Glanton. She took care of us throughout our entire pregnancy and delivery. Since she had to run off to her PT after delivering Barrett, we couldn't get a picture until my 6 week post partum check up! We just loved her!
