Riken's Birth

Riken J. Brown
December 14, 2012
6:18 pm
6 lb 19 1/4 inches


 It has taken me almost two weeks to get this post done. I have worked on it a little at a time and it took a while to get everyone's pictures from the weekend. But here is the story about how I got my precious little boy. Warning: It is LONG!

On Friday December 7th, I had a weekly doctor's appointment. When he checked me he told me I was already dilated to 3cm and was 50% effaced!  Awesome, right? Everyone kept telling me, "You know you're having this baby any time now right?" So of course we were overly excited. We went shopping Friday night, thinking we could walk me into labor. When that didn't work, we got up Saturday morning and started the shopping again. It didn't work either. The week went by and nothing happened. By Wednesday I thought I was going to lose my mind. I had another appointment on Thursday and when he checked me I was still at a 3! After spending ALL week trying to get things moving, I hadn't progressed at all. I was just about to give up hope, when they checked my blood pressure and it was like 150 something over 90. I have never had high blood pressure before, so my first thought was that it didn't read right, and the machine was being dumb. It read right. They did a non stress test and an ultrasound and decided I was staying to be induced. 

I felt excited that we were close, but scared that it was for an actual reason. Kenzie left work and got to the hospital right as they were getting ready to start the Pitocin. I was thinking that being induced was like a for sure thing. You make that decision and then it happens. Nope. Let me tell you, your body knows what it wants to do and that is what it does. I sat on the Pitocin for the rest of the day, having pretty frequent contractions, but no true labor. My blood pressure continued to rise, and Dr. Bailey decided that I needed to get on an IV medication for pre-eclampsia called magnesium sulfate or MAG. The nurse was nice enough to tell me how bad being on MAG sucked before I started it and boy was she right. It made me really tired, sick, kinda swollen and really miserable. I had to stay on the MAG during labor then 24 hours after labor. Then I had to stay in the hospital for another 24 hours after they took me off it.

The MAG helped my blood pressure but it slowed down labor. I was in labor all night and most of the next day. I would have strong contractions for a while, then they would slow down again. About 3 o clock on Friday Dr. Bailey finally broke my water. Once that was done things moved VERY fast. The contractions became very painful and it wasn't long before I was hugging the side of the bed and about crying. I decided to get the epidural and I am so glad I did. Once the epidural was in, I was SO much more comfortable and I started to think maybe I could actually do this. When they checked me again about an hour later, I was praying that I had dilated a little more. I was at an 8! We were totally shocked. Within an hour of that I was at a 10 and ready to push. As they were setting everything up for us to start, I started feeling the contractions again and I was freaking out! I thought the epidural was wearing off. I'm pretty sure I pushed the button as many times as it will let you. By the time I started pushing my legs were completely numb.

Before that first push I remember feeling terrified. I was so excited that I would be seeing my baby, but so scared. Another contraction started and I started pushing. I only had to push a few times before his head was out. I felt so dumb because the whole time I was pushing Kenzie was staring at my face instead of watching for the baby. I was thinking STOP looking at me, I'm making an ugly pushing face! Haha. I can't even explain the feeling when he was born. When Dr. Bailey set him on me I was just totally overwhelmed with emotion. I couldn't decide if I wanted to start crying or laughing. I think I ended up just smiling and staring at him and touching him to make sure he was really real. I was so happy to hear that first cry and I was completely in love from the second I saw him. Kenzie's face was priceless. He went over with him when he was being weighed and checked out. The guy was cleaning him off and told Kenzie he could hold his hand so Kenz gave him his finger and Riken grabbed his finger and put it straight to his mouth! Kenzie was instantly in love too.

It felt like a million years while he was away from me and I was being stitched up. Dr. Rosenbeck came and looked at him and my momma came in and took some pictures of us and the baby. I was so happy when Kenzie finally brought him back to me and I could just hold him and stare at him. Life changed from that moment. I felt like a totally different person and I knew this was something I was supposed to do. After 9 long, hard months and 28 hours of labor I finally had my baby in my arms and he was healthy and gorgeous!

We had a lot of visitors come to visit the baby and I felt so blessed. My family spent the entire 28 hours waiting for me to have him and they helped me so much. My parents were awesome and my brothers were so helpful by taking care of my house and my dogs while we were gone. My aunt and cousins came down to see him and Mike and Amy rode over after he was born. Throughout the next couple of days we had so many friends and family come see him. He is one loved little baby.

The day after delivery was rough because I was still on the MAG. Once I got off it, I started to feel great. I was up cleaning the room and getting ready. I was really thankful for the two days after I had him that I got to spend with just Mackenzie and the baby in the hospital. It was a really special time for us to bond and I fell completely in love with being a little family.

I am so happy. Being a mom is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I am so much more in love with my husband after seeing him become a dad. It is so amazing and so worth everything we had to go through to get to this point. Riken is perfect and I just feel so so lucky.