Birth Story Part I

Wyatt's Birth Story

Let me start by giving you all a little background information. I was strongly opposed to being induced. Like, crazy opposed. Nothing against anyone who does it-- I get it-- I was so ready to have Wyatt...being induced was extremely tempting. For me, it was a decision that I did not make lightly. There is research showing links between Autism and Pitocin (the drug used to speed up labor). While none of this is proven yet, I did not want to take any chances. My sweet brother has a form of autism called Aspergers. No one knows where Autism comes from. All we know is that it is now affecting 1 in 70 boys in the US. If it is genetic, I have the gene so I wanted to do everything in my power to take any precautions that I could. I know that ultimately God only knows if my sweet boy will have Autism. And guess what? If he does, I will love him and take care of him and make his life the best possible life that I can. But if I can do anything to protect him, that is what I am going to do.

So now you know the back story.

Monday, November 14th, Brad and I went to the doctor for my 39 week appointment. I was only 1 and 1/2 cm dilated. My doctor made me 2 cm. That was painful (or at least I thought that was painful--didn't know what pain really was at that point).

She had talked to us the week before about having a scheduled c-section. She does not let women have c-sections unless they are medically necessary, but she knew how anxious I was about the whole situation and how I was absolutely refusing pitocin. Basically I was told that unless I went into labor FAST, then I would have to have pitocin for mine and Wyatt's safety. She said a c-section was the only way to 100% guarantee I would not have it.

After talking for a long time, we decided that I would check in on Tuesday, November 15th at 5:30 pm and they would give me cervadil overnight. This is suppose to soften the cervix and make me dilate more. The next morning she would break my water and we would hope for the best. If I did not progress then we would do a c-section. This was my best chance at having him the way I wanted to so we agreed. (I was 39 and a half weeks at this point and I was told if I went to 4o or 41 weeks, there is no way that I would be able to have him vaginally since I am a first time mom and he would be pretty big).

That night Brad and I went to my favorite restaurant, Amerigo, for our last night alone. I was having contractions, but just assumed they were my normal braxton hicks or they were just hurting a little more since she had stretched me to 2 cm that afternoon. We got home, made sure everything was all packed up and went to sleep.

I woke up at 2 am with some fierce contractions and started to time them.