our birth story

We had the MOST special and truly most SURPRISING gender reveal for our baby.

For starters, we didn’t find out the gender until the delivery…

Here’s our baby’s arrival story.

During pregnancy I had a LOT of anxiety about giving birth. I think it was because my mom had severe complications during her delivery with my sister (HELLP Syndrome) which didn’t cure my imagination. My doctor left my method of delivery up to me, and I wrestled with whether I wanted to opt for a c-section or not. I was having recurring nightmares about dying during childbirth and would cry on the spot if I talked about it. Truly. This happened several times.

Ultimately I decided to have the baby vaginally.

After the pregnancy lasted 41 weeks, my doctor scheduled an induction.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

In the hospital I was a pretty likeable patient (according to me, lol). As far as a birth plan, I had an open mind and wanted whatever intervention was best for the baby and myself.

Our only request for the hospital staff was for Matt to be the one to first announce to me, “It’s a girl,” or “It’s a boy,” when the baby was born. And also I wanted meds. Haha.

We started a cervadil induction at about 8 pm on April 30th. The cervadil medication quickly caused strong contractions. But as they became stronger, the baby’s heart rate dropped. The whole night, about every five minutes, my nurse or a whole team of nurses would run in and flip me onto my side and throw oxygen on me. I was sobbing. I was so afraid that the baby was suffering. The midwife came in a couple of times at the request of my nurse, but she wanted to stick with the plan to have a vaginal delivery,

Six hours after the whole induction process began, my water broke on its own. The midwife took the cervadil medication out of me at this point because the baby was still not responding well to the contractions. I decided to get an epidural (VERY HAPPY DECISION).

Even though I  was no longer receiving induction meds, my body progressed, and five hours later I was 9 cm dilated. All the while, the nursing team continued to run in every few minutes to turn me every which way to get a response from the baby, which proved more difficult now that my whole lower half was numb from the epidural. AND by the way, still pregnant. You try taping a ten pound bowling ball to your belly and rolling over. Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep.

By the morning, at 10 am, I had a new doctor from shift change. When she came in, she told me it was time to push!

“RIGHT NOW?!?!” I literally practically screamed in surprise, fear, and excitement.

“You are here to have a baby, right?” she said.

Now that I’ve been through the process, I understand that the doctor isn’t usually there for the pushing of the baby until the baby is literally coming out. But my doctor stood in the room for the first push, explaining that she expected my delivery to be soon since my body had progressed so quickly without the induction. It was apparently extremely unimpressive. “I’ll come back,” she said.

Hours later, the doctor came back– to say that she was leaving for another shift change.

Two providers. I’d been through two providers.

Meanwhile, each time I pushed the baby’s heart rate would disappear from the monitor. This is supposedly normal, but the baby’s heart rate wasn’t coming back quickly enough. Hearing the baby’s heart rate leave the monitor was extremely distracting and very scary. My delivery nurse would poke the baby to try to stimulate a response.

My nurse.

Before delivery, when this nurse first came in the room Matt and I had a moment where we looked at each other. “OH NO,” our look said. I did not like this spicy lady. But as soon as the delivery process started she won me. I owe her a debt I can never repay.

Y’all. L&D nurses work HARD.

Nearing four hours of pushing, my new midwife came in, (provider number 3) as well as a team for the baby and the NICU team. (When my water broke earlier in the night, it contained meconium, meaning the baby had gone to the bathroom. This can be common, but is dangerous because the baby could have swallowed this. NICU teams prepare for adverse events from this by being present at the delivery, ready to intubate the baby if necessary).

As I pushed these last pushes, something was wrong. There was no longer any progress in the birth. (Each push did nothing). The midwife took out her cell phone and called the doctor from the previous shift (provider number 2). “Come back. I need your help,” she said.

About 15 minutes later, in walked Dr. Balint (again).

Dr. Balint explained that they would need to do a vacuum delivery. She said they try not to do this unless absolutely necessary because it can involve some risks. The worst risk was that it could cause the baby’s brain to bleed.

“Can you just give me a c-section?” I asked.

“That’s even more dangerous now,” she said, “The baby is too low.” (The head was 1/4 of the way out at this point). “I’ll give you a few more tries to push without the vacuum,” she said.

The baby was flipped, “sunny side up” which means facing the sun instead of face-down like they’re supposed to be. This was what was making it so hard to push.

Dr. Balint turned the baby’s head inside me, flipping their body over at the same time.

And with the fear of God in me, I pushed for dear life, knowing I did not want the vacuum on my baby, or an emergency c-section if that didn’t work.

The head came out with the cord wrapped around the neck twice. It was quickly removed.

“OPEN YOUR EYES, YOUR CHILD IS BEING BORN!!!!!” Dr. Balint yelled at me. (LOL, I was scared).

“IT’S A BOY!” Matt proclaimed.

We both sobbed.

This was the first time in my life I’ve ever seen Matt cry.

Matt quickly cut the cord as the baby was taken to the NICU doctor to be examined.

“He’s fine,” said the doctor.

PRAISE GOD.

It is so clear to me that God creates life. How in the world could this special miracle, this beautiful boy, be some sort of natural accident? No. None of it an accident. This amazing boy has a purpose and his life is meaningful because God designed him especially for a reason.

It was the most special, surreal, beautiful, terrifying, breathtaking moment I’ve ever had.

And then we were three.

Hudson Clark Whaley. Born 1:48p on Tuesday, May 1st. 7 pounds 5 oz, 20 1/4 in long.

All praise to God.