Kambryn's Birth Story

Hey Blogger world! I wanted to start off The Tungate Diaries with the story of the day my beautiful son was born. I always enjoy reading other mother's stories of their children's births and wanted to share my own unique twist to birthing story world.




The last thing that I wanted was to deliver my baby boy earlier than 40 weeks. I had it in my mind and I wanted Kambryn to arrive right on schedule but of course life does not always work out the way we would like. Instead, at 38 weeks and 6 days, I delivered my beautiful baby boy. And I couldn't be more blessed and happy with the experience.

I decided to go on maternity leave from my job at the time, 2 weeks before my due date which was on August 30th. Those next 2 weeks I wanted to work for my mother to make some extra cash but also if my water was to break, I would have had my mom right there with me. Everything was great that first week working with my mom except I started to noticed my feet starting to swell. It got to the point where it hurt me to be on my feet for a long period of time.

That Wednesday, at my weekly check up they told me I was retaining a lot of water, my blood pressure was a tad bit high, and I had a small amount of protein in my urine.  I was told to watch my salt intake and keep an eye on my swelling. I did not think nothing of it and knew that with a healthier diet, that I would be just fine. I was wrong. Protein found in a pregnant woman's urine could be a sign of Preeclampsia. To find out more information about this, click here.

On Friday, my mother noticed that my face was breaking out in red hives and my ears were bright red. I felt hot but didn't notice anything else that felt weird to me. My mother checked my blood pressure and it was 157/99 at 4:41pm that evening. Of course my mother started freaking out and made me lay down on her couch and prop my legs up. 

At 5:04om we checked my blood pressure again and it was 152/97. I decided to text my midwife to see what she thought about my blood pressure and I was glad that I did. She told me that I needed to make a trip to the hospital right away to be monitored. 

When I arrived home, surprisingly my husband seemed to have been keeping his cool but I could tell that he was a little nervous and also excited. As for me, I was a nervous wreck. Watching him carry our hospital bags into our car felt so surreal for me. I remember thinking "This can't be it. We will find out that everything is okay and will come back home. It will be ok!". I had it in my head that Kambryn was going to come at his own pace and that is how I wanted it.

Once we arrived at the hospital, I first had to pee into a cup, and then was placed onto monitors for several long and boring hours. The only enjoyable part was getting to hear my baby's heart beat and getting a feel of a birthing spa room that we would have when I was to deliver Kambryn. If anything, the experience left me extra anxious, as any mother could relate.

I was discharged around 10 o'clock that night and was sent home with a 24 hour urine test, which meant that my urine for exactly 24 hours had to be poured into a jug and kept refrigerated. So that's exactly what I did all day Saturday. I made sure to drink a lot of water and watch my sodium intake. I drank so much water I filled the whole jug they gave me plus an empty water bottle. Pregnancy problems, am I right?

The next day I was back to being strapped to a monitor while we waited to hear the news of my urine test. From 11:30 AM until around 2:00 PM we waited and waited. Finally a nurse came in with our results and we were told that my protein levels were just too high and that I was going to be induced TODAY! 

I waited until she walked out of our room until I allowed myself to cry. I did not want to be induced. I wanted my baby boy to come all on his own and it hit me in a huge wave of emotions, that we weren't leaving the hospital until Kambryn was born. We still had a week to prepare and to enjoy with it being our last moments of just 'us'. I wanted that week. I needed that week. And all of a sudden it was snatched away. Needless to say I was freaking out. 

My midwife came to the hospital to explain everything to me, which made me even more nervous and the situation even more real. I am thankful for my midwife because she always had a way of making me feel more comfortable even when I was so worried. My best friend Stephanie arrived right before they hooked me up to the IV and my inducing began around 4:30 PM. Soon after, my mother in law arrived. I was so happy to have them both by my side.

Shew, that puffy face of mine!!! I was so swollen from, what was in fact, preeclampsia.Note to pregnant women or women who are wanting to become a mother some day, please make sure to watch your body during pregnancy and let your doctor know everything. Even something as common as swelling, which might be nothing, can always be something more serious. You never know until you get yourself checked out and even though I hated the experience and didn't feel as if something was wrong, I was so glad that I listened to my gut and told my Midwife about my symptoms. Who knows what could had happened if I didn't get induced.

The long hours of labor began. I remember the first couple of hours I felt fine. I didn't feel anything at all and even walked around the hospital to try and help speed things up, even though I didn't want that at all. I was fine with Kambryn taking his time and soaked in the last moments of my pregnancy. I wasn't ready for it to be over. I wasn't ready to jump into motherhood when I still had a week to enjoy the fleeing days of my first pregnancy experience. My son felt safe in my womb and it was scary to think about having a life depending on me. It is strange to say that I wasn't ready but then again I was ready.

Oh and I have to mention this because it is too funny. My husband was so excited that I was bring induced because he wanted our son to be born on Labor Day (In which he was. I mean, who goes into labor on labor day weekend? This girl.). Which is not fair that he got what he wanted because I was the one who was about to push out a child and endure the worst pain of my life. But on top of that, he had mentioned the day before that he wanted to watch the Back To The Future movies and guess what was playing on the television; A marathon of those movies. He got exactly what he wanted and that did not make me happy. Of course looking back on it now, it is funny and a nice part of our birthing tale.

Anyway.

Once I started to feel my contractions I remember thinking that they felt like period cramps. I noticed that my upbeat mood was slowly going away and I started to feel very tired. The cramps got worse and worse but I didn't ask for any pain medication yet. I didn't want any until I couldn't handle the pain anymore. Plus, I've handled period cramps before so I knew I could handle what my contractions were like at that time. I would had rated the pain a 3 out of 10 during that stage of labor.

The hospital bed was so uncomfortable to me. Thankfully they had a massage chair in the room that I slept a few hours in. It was so nice to have and it even had heat which eased my contractions. By 3:00AM the contractions went from a 3 to a 7 and I was in lot of pain.

Contractions are hard to describe. It felt like really really intense period cramps and it also felt as if someone was twisting my insides and stabbing my stomach. I don't even think that even begins to describe it. It sucked, I am not going to lie. I wanted to try to deal with the pain on my own so I tried walking around the hospital, which did not seem to help much. I ended up having to stop walking every time I had a contraction. I felt sorry for my husband's hand, which was being squeezed intensely each time a wave of pain shot through my body.

I then took a nice warm bath in the Jacuzzi tub they had in my room (which was SO nice!) but that didn't even help. My husband stayed by my side while my mother in law, cousin Ashley, and best friend Stephanie stayed in our room. I kept looking at my husband and saying, "It hurts so bad babe." and he would always reply, "I'm sorry. I love you." I mean, what could the man say? He had no idea what I was going through but he was still doing an amazing supportive job by being by my side. There wasn't much anyone could do and I was about to go crazy with as much pain as I was in. When I had a contraction, the bottom of my stomach was flat and the top of my stomach stuck out. It was really weird to watch. I wish I would had recorded it *Note to future self*.

Finally I caved and asked the nurse for anything to help ease the pain. I did awesome, I really did. I proved to myself just how tough I really am. I waited until I rated my pain a 10, to ask for medicine.When the nurse checked to see how much I had dilated I was a 7! No wonder I was hurting so badly. She gave me a low dose of Staydol to help ease my pain until the Anesthesiologist was able to give me my Epidural. 

I regret taking the Staydol because it did not help the pain and it just made me feel shaky and sick to my stomach. By the time the Anesthesiologist arrived, it was around 6:00 AM. When the nurse checked to see how much I had dilated, I was at a 10 and the pain was unbearable at the point. 

To my surprise the nurses said they were shocked to see me that dilated because to them, I didn't act like I was 10 centimeters dilated. Inside my head, I was screaming. I held it together on the outside and toughed it out as long as I could but I just couldn't take it any longer. I seriously don't know how women do it without medication. I have so much respect for those who have unmedicated births. You mama's are superwomen!

I begged the Anesthesiologist to hurry. I just wanted some relief but it felt like he took an hour to give me my epidural. I had to roll onto my side because I couldn't bend over or even sit because my son was so low. I remember squeezing my husbands hand and grunting as loud as I could. I kept saying "I'm sorry if I'm being mean but could you hurry up! I'm grunting because it's helping me with the pain." I thought I was being so mean but everyone swears I wasn't. If only they could read my mind.

I did NOT like the Anesthesiologist. See, at the birthing spa we chose, we were advised to take an Epidural class and if we did not take this class, they would not give us the Epidural. It sounds cruel but I personally feel like all hospitals should do this. It is really important to know everything about getting an Epidural from how it is done to the side effects it could cause. It was terrifying but at that time when I was feeling the most pain I had ever experienced in my life, that medicine sounded amazing. 

Anyways, the woman who taught the class was out of town, which left me with the dumb ass who said he shouldn't had drank a cup of coffee before coming into the room to do an epidural and who also dropped the needle twice. I am so lucky that he did the job correctly because I did not have any issues with the Epidural.

Finally I felt some relief once the epidural kicked in and my midwife was kind enough to give me the choice of either pushing right then or resting for an hour before we started to push. I needed that rest so bad. While I slept, my photographer made it and I am so thankful that she was able to be there to capture my son's birth. She made it right when the sun was shining just enough natural light for the photos to turn out beautiful.

I started to worry once I woke up after sleeping for an hour and a half because I could feel my contractions again. Before it was time to push, my cousin and best friend made sure to fix my hair and put makeup on me. I'm very thankful for that but at the time I could of cared less. 

 

The contractions started to get worse and it was finally time to push. At first I would push 3 times for 8 seconds and would stop even when my contraction was still going. I did not know the best way to push at all. It took me a few tries and by the second hour I finally started making progress. I would push as much as I could, sometimes 10 or 11 seconds and 4 good pushes before the contraction would let up. I started to feel sick every time I pushed. It was because of the Staydol I was given. Thankfully I didn't puke all over my midwife.

I kept my eyes on my husband because looking up at him helped to keep me sane. I prayed to god to give me the strength to keep going because I felt so tired and the pain was intense. God always provides and I felt his strength as I kept pushing with all my might. At one point my husband had a cramp in his side from holding my leg up and I looked at him like I wanted his head to explode. There was no way he was in as much pain as I was. I remember everyone laughing at him as he said, "I am in the second most pain in this room right now so don't judge me." It is funny now but that the time I could had bit his head off.

My cousin and best friend sat on the couch that was next to my bed. The photographer was balanced on the edge of the couch and the cabinet, my mother in law held my left leg and kept whispering encouraging words in my ear, my husband held my right leg and counted for me, and my wonderful midwife guided me through each push. After 2 hours of pushing my son was born on 9-7-15 (Labor Day) at 10:05 AM.

He weighted 5 pounds and 11 ounces and was 19 inches long. He was perfect! (I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about that amazing moment.)

I remember feeling a huge relief once he came out and an over whelming sense of happiness and love when I saw my midwife hold him up and I heard his first cry. He was the most beautiful baby boy I had ever laid my eyes on and I love him so much. I remember saying "I want him." While she was cleaning him. My husband bent over to kiss me three times with tears pouring down his cheeks as he whispered how much he loved me. Everyone else in the room vanished and I focused on my beautiful new family. 

 

I held my son for the first hour during our kangaroo time. I remember feeling his cord and it hurt like hell when my midwife pushed on my stomach to make the placenta come out. Talk about gross. My mother in-law helped me to get Kambryn to latch onto my breast and he got a few good sucks which made me so happy. I was so excited to be able to breastfeed.  

I tried to enjoy my time holding my son for the first time but after a while I started to get worried. I was bleeding way to much and my midwife even had to call in another doctor to help stich me up. She said my skintone was really pale and I started to feel as if I could pass out. My mother finally made it and was able to see my son during our kangaroo time. I was so happy to see her and her presences took my mind off of the pain. 

After an hour my eyes grew heavier and heavier and finally the nurses took my son and I went to sleep. I missed them finishing my stitching, measuring and giving my son his first bath. I didn't even get to say goodbye to the photographer or my midwife. But I was thankful for the sleep because when I woke up I felt more energized to visit with family and friends. 

The first time I was able to stand up, with the help of two nurses, I had a wave of dizziness and nausea hit me. I had the nurses to rush me to the toilet so I could sit down and I ended up throwing up into the trash can. All I could see was black dots and it scared me. I had never felt like that before but this is common for a mother who not only just gave birth but who looses as much blood as I did.

After a few minutes I felt a little better and was able to learn how to clean myself and take care of my "down stairs" area. It didn't look as bad as I thought it would and it wasn't as hard to take care of either. I was swollen and a little bloody but nothing like I had expected. I am so thankful I gave birth naturally because my healing time went smoothly and I felt back to normal within a few weeks.

Over all I would say that my first birthing experience was a success. I couldn't had done it without my family, friends, my husband, the nurses, or my wonderful midwife. Having a great support team makes a huge difference. I am so blessed to have a healthy baby boy. Words can never describe the love a mother feels the first time she sees her baby. 

I don't think there are many birth stories that go as to plan. And even though I was induced, looking back I am now thankful for this. It is not as bad as it seems and the hospital staff was doing what was best for Kambryn and I. They gave us a wonderful experience and I couldn't be more grateful for a healthy delivery. I feel more tough than ever and am even thinking about having an unmedicated birth next time around.... maybe. But that story is in the future and for now, thank you so much for taking the time to read Kambryn's birth story. I really hope you enjoyed it.

xoxo

India 

 I want to thank Jamie from Jamie Isaacs Photography for coming to the hospital at the crack of dawn and for staying for hours to help capture my son's birth. I have attached some of those images in this post. Check out her work by clicking Here and visiting her website. She is also found on Facebook and Instagram (@omgitsjamielee). Her work is amazing! I can not thank her enough for these once in a life time photos that my husband and I will cherish forever.