Brayden's Birth Story

It has been a week (tonight @ 6.57pm) since our little bundle of joy joined the outside world & I am just now finding a few minutes to get his birth story typed up; we are just enjoying him so much......I can't describe the emotions that come over me when we look at him!

We checking into Emory Eastside on 8/2/09 at 6:30 & we got settled in at about 7pm our midwife came in, check me (still no dilatation) & went over the induction plan. We decided not to stress about the baby being 'sunny side up" & to just proceed with the cervidil to soften my cervix & see what happens from there.



It had to stay in for 12 hours so Lance & both settled in for the night & tried to get some sleep but who can sleep at the hospital with all the interruptions?? My parents & sister got into Georgia at about 1am, got to our house to take care of the puppies & then got some rest so that they were ready for the next day.

I was awake early on Monday....I was excited & nervous & was having some cramps too so I was a bit uncomfortable but nothing horrible. Our midwife came in that morning & removed the cervidil & ordered the pitocin, she also checked me & I was only a fingertip dilated so we had a long way to go still. I got my IV put in after 2 attempts & they started me on my antibiotics (failed strep B test), pitocin & fluids & away we went. We thought that things would be moving right along & they were HOWEVER the nurse turned the pitocin on but did connect it to my IV so from 8-10:30 I was having contractions every 2-5 minutes on my own (which was a good thing). We realized this when I had to use the bathroom & when we rolled my IV into the bathroom with me Lance noticed that there was a huge puddle of liquid underneath where my IV was & when the nurse came in she realized that she never hooked up the pitocin line to my IV so we wasted 2.5 hours of the morning!! Anyway, at about 10:30am she hooked it up to my IV & this is where the fun begins. My contractions got to be every 2 minutes & lasted for 2 minutes so I was not getting a break at all. My water broke at about 1 pm & it was the funniest thing ever; I was in the middle of a really bad contraction & Lance was breathing with me through it & all of a sudden water was gushing & I looked at Lance & started to cry & said "I think I just peed all over myself"...he looked under the blanket & said no baby I think your water just broke & it did it all by itself...Good Job (he is so cute). He ran out of the room & got the nurse & she came in & checked it...it did appear to have meconium in it so we had worried about that for a bit but then the contraction pain took over! Let me just say that my husband Lance was a great & wonderful coach. he was so calming & wonderful, we were doing our breathing together & without him I never would have made it!!

I made it to 5 cm with no drugs or epidural but I told Lance I couldn't do it anymore & he told the nurse to get the epidural for me as soon as possible. The pumped me full of fluids really fast so that they could give me the epidural & while they were doing this I was having contractions while in tears about the whole thing but the pain was more that I could handle & even though my wonderful husband was right beside me holding my hand & breathing me through every contraction I just couldn't do it naturally....I am still a bit upset about it but Lance & I did what we thought was best for the baby & I.

The epidural didn't hurt at all & once I got the epidural I was in heaven.....I was contracting still but in no pain! Brayden's heart rate dropped a bit from the epidural so they had to put me on oxygen.....

At about 6pm I told the nurse that I was feeling some pressure so she got the midwife in the room & she checked me & said are you ready to start pushing?? Lance & just looked at each other, smiled & said "really"...she said yep & he ran down the hallway to get our moms & the pushing began. I pushed for about 45 minutes & then he was here. Brayden Lance Goodson was an outside baby & on my belly looking at me at 6:57pm.....it was the most wonderful feeling that I have ever felt in my life.



Our baby boy was here after all these months of carrying him & the past few days of worrying about his delivery. He had apparently turned himself to the correct position & was no longer sunny side up so that was not an issue at all....THANK GOD! I only had "skid marks" as they called them but received 3 stitches for them just so that they would heal properly.

Lance went through my whole pregnancy saying he wanted to cut the cord but not watch the birth.....he was holding my leg the whole time & when he saw Brayden's head crowning starting to cry & as I pushed I looked into his eyes & fell in love with him all over again. He was the rock that I needed him to be & is such a loving father to our son. He cut the cord & actually almost cut our midwife because he was crying & shaking....it was a sweet & beautiful moment!


Brayden is the cutest bundle of joy that we could have ever been blessed with. We love him so much & we are enjoying every minute with him. We are having issues with breast feeding but are trying to work through them as best we can.

My birth plan wasn't completely thrown out the window but I did give into the epidural & am thankful that I did; I actually got to enjoy my labor & delivery & wouldn't change anything that happened on August 3rd 2009 for anything!!