Birth Story!

Birth Story of Conner James Raborn!! Boy, I loved his birth, it was so so perfect! So I had a scheduled induction for Friday June 10th at midnight (so basically Thursday night) and I woke up Thursday morning at 5am to pretty strong and regular contractions. (I should also mention that I did the baby mama dance the night before, that probably did it lol). I almost didn't believe it. Then I timed them throughout the rest of the day and they varied from 30 minutes to every 3. I called my mom and told her it was time but they weren't reaching the 5-1-1 rule yet. Come 11pm (and hour before we could go in for our induction) I about couldn't take it and we went in and waited in the parking lot. I was in so much pain but it was manageable. I made it to midnight and we ran in and got checked in. I knew I was at least dilated to a 2.5 and 80% effaced because I had been for over a week and they checked me and I was already a 5 and 80% effaced!! They hooked me up to the monitors and I waited to get my IV line in to start pitocin and it took them 2 hours to find a vein and they blew 5 of my veins. It was awful. I can't believe I sat through intense contractions through all of that! They were surprised I was already dilated to where I was and was in active labor. Most inductions of course haven't really started active labor. So I was pretty much ready for my epidural and requested it. It took about an hour and I was pretty dang ready for it. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be probably because I was in so much pain. The anesthesiologist was so amazing and quick and did it perfectly even with my scoliosis! It started to work immediately and I was SO happy. It was wonderful. My doctor rounded on me and said congrats and it could be 30 minutes or 3 hours then 30min-3 hours of pushing. So they got me on my side with a peanut ball to progress labor since epidurals and pitocin slow labor and about 15 minutes later I felt different and called for a nurse. They didn't believe me really and took a while to walk in and when they checked their eyes got big and said well ready to have a baby?! I was so scared but my doctor ran in and got set up and I was surprised at how much pain I could still feel down there. I just couldn't feel the contractions anymore. So that was scary. I pushed for about 30 minutes feeling like there's no way this will actually work (LOL) and then my body took over and he came shooting out right before my doctor gave me the lidocaine pain shot. He barely had time to catch him, he had to drop the shot and everything. Then our precious baby boy came put with his little hand above his head, not sunny side up thankfully and it was the most surreal feeling in the world. I just looked at Cody in awe. Conner and I did skin to skin and breastfeeding immediately. Surprisingly his little head was perfectly round, it was incredible. Cody cut the cord and my doctor stitched me up. He ended up having to give me a small episiotomy at the end because I would have torn badly otherwise. Then I quickly delivered the placenta in one push and I hardly bled! 2 hours later they wheeled me to recovery and honestly I have felt fantastic ever since. It surprised me greatly. We stayed for 2 days after that in the postpartum wing. The postpartum recovery rooms were small but nice. It wasn't so nice having them need to check our vitals every hour for 2 days straight but I'm glad we were healthy and ok. Going home a family of 3 was incredible! Our rainbow baby boy was finally here and we were in heaven. Conner James Raborn 7 pounds 8oz 20 inches long, born at 7:10am. And what a miracle, we had my sweet sweet doctor deliver. He wasn't on call until 7am that morning and it was a complete answer to a prayer. Going into natural labor on my own earlier that day helped ease my worries of induction and created a fantastic quick induction experience along with a better natural labor experience since everything was already set up and ready for me at the hospital. I wasn't in pain for long at all. Plus I still got my amazing doctor! Little Conner is so so perfect and only lost a few ounces since birth! He hates sleep though so that made the 2 days in the hospital was really rough. So little Conner came into the world at 7am that morning when he was supposed to be expected around 3pm that day or later. I love it so much! It was such a perfect experience in every way and we have bonded well as a family these past few days and have adjusted to a new life together! Oh and Lucy ADORES him! BTW, he is a mini Cody and I love that so much. Conner only has a slight clubbed foot like we suspected and we are grateful for that and start treatment in 2 weeks. Please be praying for us. We chose the name Conner long before we got engaged and James is a family name on both sides of my dads side of the family counting 18+ members with James as their first or middle name. It is an honor for him to join the group! With so much love, New Mama Kayla Raborn 6/10/22