This is Fisher's birth story. If you've read my previous birth stories before you know that I go into a lot of detail. I really like to remember as much as I can about these major life events, even if the details might seem silly or like too much information. You've been advised.
October 29, 2017 Sunday. We went to church and I got to lead the primary in our first rehearsal through the primary program. It was a lot of work and it was hot! I came home exhausted and had several people say to me, "if that won't put you into labor, I don't know what will." I laughed and said, "If only." I've never gone into labor early. I've only ever gone in to labor one time, the rest I've been induced so I was totally planning on that being the case with this baby as well.
This pregnancy has been different in so many ways than my other pregnancies, though. I had so many people just expecting me to have him early. And oh, the pain I've been in! My sciatic nerve hates me. My back hurts, but my ligaments... holy cow. So much pain. But I really didn't want to get my hopes up for an early delivery.
Sunday night our friend texted to ask if Ethan was driving the girls to band in the morning. His response was, "Yes, as long as you don't have the baby." My friend then asked, "Are you thinking your little guy is going to make his appearance this week?" To which I said, "I doubt it...but for the first time since I was pregnant with Jonas I'm letting myself hope..."
That night I fell asleep in the living room around 9:30pm. While I slept Ethan worked on some financial planning stuff and was really excited about it. So, when I woke up at 11:30 pm he was eager to talk about stuff. We talked for a little bit and then went to our room. I was getting ready to climb into bed and remembered that I was hoping for him to give me a blessing before I went to bed... I mentioned that to him and he said, "Well, its not too late. I'm not dressed for it, but in the privacy of our bedroom I don't think it matters too much." So he gave me a beautiful blessing. We prayed and went to bed.
We were both still pretty wired though, so we continued to chat. I usually fall asleep really easily but my nap had been long enough and the conversation had been engaging enough that my brain was on and I wasn't going to be drifting to sleep anytime too soon. So, in an effort to let Ethan sleep I got up and cleaned the kitchen. While I cleaned, I watched an episode of one of the shows I enjoy on Netflix, called Call the Midwife. Probably not the best time in my life to be watching it, but I'm enjoying it. I loaded the dishes, washed the big dishes, cleaned the counters... all the things I should have done earlier, but was too tired for. Ha!
I climbed back into bed some time between 2 am and 2:30 am. But I couldn't get comfortable. After laying there for about 30 minutes I started to recognise that I was having contractions. So I started watching the clock which made it even more difficult to sleep. I had had a few times in the previous 10 days where I contracted every 10 minutes, hard contractions that I wondered if they were doing anything. But just like in past pregnancies they stopped after a couple hours. I was thinking this could very well be the same thing.
The contractions were coming every 10-12 minutes while I laid in bed, but they were feeling pretty hard. I decided to get out of bed sometime around 4 (I think). Laying down is about the worst position possible for contractions, so I thought maybe it was just my position. Maybe if I changed position the contractions would stop or would feel less intense.
I called my parents around 4:30 and talked with them. I told them that I thought I might actually be in labor. I didn't want to wake Ethan up and leave the kids if it wasn't the real deal, so I continued to wait. I started the contraction timer on my phone and the contractions were now coming around 8 minutes apart.
At 5:45 it was time to wake Bryant for seminary so I said goodbye to my parents. They were sure to tell me to keep them updated, if it stopped or if I went in to the hospital they wanted to know. I told Bryant when I woke him that I might be in labor. He asked if he should tell Bro. M when he went to seminary. Bro. M is my OB and is married to the seminary teacher who hosts seminary each morning. I said, "I don't know. Is he usually there?" Bryant said that he is sometimes, but we left it at that.
I went in to my room and woke Ethan up. The contractions were getting closer and stronger. 6-8 minutes apart. Ethan is in a clinic with one other optometrist here and that other optometrist was out of town until the evening of the 31st. So as I woke him I said, "I think I might be breaking the rules." In his waking stupor he mumbled, "Why?" "I think I'm in labor... sorry." We talked about my night as he got up and started his process for getting ready. I also decided to get ready to go at this point. I didn't have a bag packed or anything and while he'd been sleeping I didn't want to disturb him so I didn't get started on it until he was up. He did tell me, "Not that it makes a difference, obviously, but I do have a full morning of patients scheduled and a pretty open afternoon." I told him I'd see what I could do to help him out.
He was driving to band at 7 am. He asked me if I needed to go with him, but I still felt like I needed to get kids ready and out the door... or at least ready. I also needed to find someone to take Abraham. On Saturday at our ward Halloween party I had mentioned to a friend that I figured I'd better get a plan for the kids in case I did actually go into labor. But I didn't do anything about it. Whomp, whomp.
When Bryant popped in after seminary he told me that he had told Bro. M. Bryant was pretty excited. We had family prayer and some of the kids were just oblivious to what was happening I guess. I feel like we told them all that I was probably going to have the baby that day. But Jonas and Eliza both had no clue until they came home from school.
I sent Ethan with Eliza and her friend to band. They left at 7:07 am. I sent out this message to my friends who live in our tower apartment building at 7:15 am.
Of course, because I'm surrounded by amazing women I had several offers for help. I was still thinking I had a little bit of time, but after 5 minutes I sent out this message.
One amazing friend already planning to come get me and this message comes in from Bro. M's wife. We all had a good giggle over that.
I wanted a picture of my belly before I had this baby so Levi snapped this one for me before I left. The lighting is awful, but it will do. I didn't get my teeth brushed. I didn't get anything packed for baby. But it was time to go! My friend helped me with my bags down to her car. She was going to come pick me up in the breezeway of our tower but just as she was coming around a big moving van pulled in and there was no way she could get past him. She got as close as she could to me and I walked over to her. I told her I would have gotten there a little quicker, but I had a big contraction and had to wait for it to pass to walk the rest of the way.
The drive to the hospital is about 12 minutes. While in her car I had 3 big contractions. I just closed my eyes and breathed and then would continue with our conversation. I called Ethan and told him I was on my way. I had expected to be driving myself there, so he had expected that as well so he was surprised that I wasn't. I asked him to meet me to help with the stuff. We drove down into the emergency tunnel entrance to the hospital. He was there ready to greet me. We both thanked our friend as she made sure to tell Ethan that it wasn't going to be long.
As we walked into the hospital he asked if I'd gotten my picture. I told him Levi had tried but it was a terrible picture so he asked if we should take another one. It was funny because we were right outside his clinic waiting area so their sign is in the background of the picture. One of the techs for Flight Med heard us talking and came running out asking if we needed a wheel chair. She ran over to the UCC and got one and had them call Labor and Delivery to let them know we were coming. Then she helped us over to L&D I was grateful for her service! The nurses all cheered as we passed them.
Once in Labor and Delivery they took us into a room and started taking vitals. I was wearing a skirt and they told me to take off my underwear and they would put the monitor on. They introduced themselves, one of the techs was brand new and shadowing the other tech. The nurse was new to Misawa but she had a really calming voice, her name was Michelle. One of our friends is the flight commander over Labor and Delivery, Kawana, and she came in and was helping the other nurse know their procedures and where things are... stuff like that.
At this point the contractions were really hard. I was just starting to feel the urge to push. I was stressed because I felt like I was going to poop everywhere. And I still had my clothes on. Ethan was concerned about that too. They brought him some scrubs to change into (remember he was at work, so he had on his uniform). They did ask me if I wanted to take my skirt off, I didn't think I'd be able to honestly. But the nurse helped me so all I had to do was lift my bottom off the bed. At some point they asked if I felt like I needed push and I said, "Yes." So they decided to check my cervix. I was having a contraction as she checked and I thought I might die it was so uncomfortable. She looked up at the Kawana. Her face was serious, you could tell she didn't want to say too much. And Kawana wasn't sure what she was trying to avoid. Michelle did end up saying that I was just about complete except for an Anterior Lip. But she didn't feel like committing to that, so Kawana checked me next. I think she said she felt the same thing as Michelle but she wanted to see what the next contraction brought to that Anterior Lip so she just stayed there for it. Apparently the next contraction did its job and I was ready to go.
They were not ready for me to be ready. People started bringing stuff in to the room and setting stuff up. They told someone to call Dr. M (Bro. M). The other doctor who was actually on call popped her head in to see if they needed her to which the nurses said they might. We found out later from Bro. M that someone had called him to tell him my status and she said, "She's close" to which he replied, "What does that mean?" But while he was on the phone he could hear the overhead paging system calling him to Labor and Delivery. Luckily he was only across the street at the elementary school! I'm thinking that call might have been from the new tech who was shadowing the other tech, but I don't know for sure.
I remember saying, "He's coming. He's here I can't do anything about it." Everyone kept telling me to take deep breaths and that I was doing a great job. I was trying. I was trying not to push. They did manage to get the bed pulled apart and my legs up. As Bro./Dr. M walked in I could feel the baby's head was ready to come out. He seemed surprised at how "close" I actually was. Thankfully he was able to just come right over and I could start pushing.
I remember pushing and pushing and not getting any relief. I heard the doctor tell me to give another big push and I was worried that something was wrong. All along the doctors have been concerned about a should dysplasia since what I described to them in Levi's delivery seemed to be just that. Dr. M had told me that they would be prepared for that just in case. He told me that if the shoulders didn't follow the head out that I could potentially have a nurse up on my abdomen pushing with me as well as what would follow if that was unsuccessful. I wasn't sure if I should expect someone getting up on to me at this point, but I was pushing with all my might. But I still hadn't heard the baby cry. I still felt no relief.
The doctor told someone to grab my legs and pull them back and that seemed to do the trick, I could finally feel things going somewhere as I pushed!
This part of the story isn't my experience because I was completely oblivious but Ethan's going to take over for a bit...
"Out came the baby, but he was still wrapped up in the amniotic sac. I could see his head, but he was encapsulated in the amniotic sac, still swimming in fluid. The Dr pulled on his head and tried to grasp his shoulders, still wrapped in the membrane and was able to break the bag and pull him out. Born in Caul. Whoosh, gush, and hello."
The baby was here! They put him up on my chest and I was shocked and immediately in love and worried sick... he was purple. Literally purple. And they were rubbing him constantly. He wasn't crying right away, but he did start and he didn't stop. I kept asking if he was OK and they assured me that "He's crying. He's fine."
But seriously, look how purple his face is. It was so scary! I just kept asking if he was OK and being reassured that he was great. The doctor was waiting for the placenta to deliver and it finally came out so things could move on for me. They asked if they could take the baby after Ethan snipped the cord and I was desperate that he be OK so I wanted them to take him to make sure he really was fine.
When they weighed him and told me he was 9 lb 4 oz I said, "I'm glad I didn't go a week over like I'd expected!" He's a big boy (though not the biggest they delivered this month... one baby weighed in over 11 lbs!).
Ethan actually snipped the cord twice. Once when the baby was still attached to me and then once again over here closer to the baby's belly.
The doctor made sure that I didn't have any tears or damage that needed repairing and then finally someone helped me out of my own clothes that were now covered in baby goo and into a hospital gown. We also got our first photo together.
And I had to get our traditional Daddy and baby photo. This is the first time Daddy's been in uniform that's for sure!
From the delivery room I got to walk to a recovery room. They did some initial tests on the baby... one of which was a glucose test that they have to do based on the baby's birth weight and baby's gestational age. Since he was so big for 39 weeks he had to have this test. And they want the level to be below 45, but his was 51 or something like that. That meant that we were going to have to do more screenings until we had 4 good reads in a row. Poor guy.
I also tested positive for Group B Strep with this pregnancy. A first for me. That means that I was supposed to have 4 hours of antibiotics during labor to protect the baby from getting sick. Obviously, my 30 minutes in Labor and Delivery was not enough to get it. I didn't even have an IV before he was born! So because of that they put an IV in the baby in case he needed antibiotics later on... that way he was only stuck once. You can see how his arm is all wrapped up below. Poor guy!
In the recovery room (that totally looks like its from the 80s) we got lots of great pictures. You can see that his colouring is improving a little. But they all assured me that it was just bruising and he was fine. That first day Ethan was really stressed about naming him. He spent a lot of time exploring options, even though we'd been through our process and came to the hospital with a list of our favourites.
He looked at website after website, including Japanese names. He left no name stone unturned. I told him what my favourite choice was sometime mid-afternoon. But he wasn't ready to commit to a name yet. So the search continued. We were hoping to be able to tell family in the states his name before they went to bed, but by this point it was too late.
We also didn't want to announce it on social media until he had a name... that might be the real reason I was so anxious to get it chosen. I wanted to share with the world this beautiful baby boy!
I love to watch Ethan with our kids...but newborns are especially sweet. The nurses were even awed by his way with the baby. He is such a good daddy. We are so blessed to have him.
Lots of this face happens if he's awake.
Sweet, sleeping pictures.
Eyes open. Taking in the world.
Because of the glucose situation he had to get his little heel pricked and his sugar levels checked throughout the day. They told me to let them know when I was ready to feed him again each time so they could check. The blood had to be tested no more than 40 minutes before a feeding. But they didn't want to go too much longer than 2 hours between feedings, so I had to wake him up a couple times. But thankfully, it worked out to our advantage and he passed each glucose test and we only had to do it 4 times total! If he had failed one, they would have started over. There have to be 4 good reads in a row before he can be discharged. So we were thrilled that we only had to do it those initial 4 times!
Ethan left to have dinner with the kids around 5:30 pm. Then they all came to meet their new brother around 7:30. They were all so cute! Before anyone got to hold him they all just stood at the side of my bed and asked me questions about the baby, about the IV line, about his name, about my food, etc. Then someone had the courage to ask if they could hold him... three guesses who it was...
Eliza just loves having a baby around. She wants to hold him, she even wants to change his diaper (though I haven't let her yet... I figure its better for him to learn how to get his diaper changed before we teach her how to do it).
Levi was so excited! He really was trying to talk us into naming Halen because it was hailing when he was born. When I told the kids that I was pretty sure the baby had dimples and that I think he's going to be a thumb sucker (this baby loves to suck) Levi was so excited that "He's going to be so much like me!" While he was holding him the baby opened his eyes and Levi was thrilled that, "He looked at me!!"
These two little boys wanted a turn to hold him as well, of course. But they didn't last too long. There was a hospital room to explore after all!
But just look at that face. He's going to be such a great big brother.
This old pro was so sweet with him. I think this is the only time he's held him still...
I love the way he holds his hands by his face. Such a sweetheart.
Ethan came back after the kids were all at school the next day. We spent the morning discussing... you guessed it... BABY NAMES! My favourite from the day before was still my favourite. Ethan had one other name that he really liked and wanted to explore so we did some reading and talking and finally decided on his name. We were even able to call some of our family in the states before they were in bed to let them know. But not everyone... we took just a little too long.
Fisher Wallace Woodbury.
Because of the Group B Strep they had to do a blood culture that was supposed to incubate for 48 hours before they let us go home. They kept the IV line in him all that time in case he needed antibiotics. Between his and mine I was getting so frustrated everyone time I tried to nurse him on my right side. They were so in the way! And whenever they knocked them together, it really hurt me. I hope the wrapping on his arm protected it from hurting him.
Ethan left a little after we decided on the name and I was not looking forward to spending my whole rest of the day and night by myself so when the paediatrician decided that baby was doing well enough that we could go home that night I was stoked... the only problem was that it was Halloween and so Ethan was pretty busy with the kids. But he worked his magic and found friends to take kids around and he came to get Fisher and me to bring us home!
I asked Ethan if he remembered how to dress a newborn and he laughed while saying, "Nope."
I think he did alright, though Fisher wasn't too sure about this clothes thing.
All bundled up and ready to go.
And we made it home! The kids were all gone when we got there, so as they trickled in after trick or treating they were super excited to see their brother who now had a name.
