I typically write up a small something to talk about my sessions. For this birth, though, I asked the mom if she would like me to share her birth story in her own words along with her images. Here is what Sara had to say about her experience:
“With Roderick, it was different. I thought I knew what to expect. I thought I would remember- I just did this song and dance 11 months ago with my daughter Olivia…but it was different.
My OB and I decided on a scheduled induction. We did that with Olivia. Her birth was perfect. Smooth. As she was a high risk pregnancy, we decided induction was best for her. Since Roderick arrived so soon after, we thought it would be good to schedule an induction for him as well.
We were set for Thursday morning, September 19, 2019. I received the call at 8am to go to the hospital. My first round of meds started at 12. The plan was to begin pitocin at 4. Steve and I walked the halls. He gave me back rubs. Anything to help my labor progress.
Once the pitocin hit, the contractions ramped up. As the time went on, I got quieter and quieter…trying to make myself as small as possible in hopes of ignoring the pain. This is what my body needs to do. This is what we’ve been waiting for.
A few hours later, I decided it was epidural time. It took awhile. My blood pressure dropped. We needed medicine to help it come back up. Once hooked up and ready to roll, my daughter came to visit. Normally Olivia loves mom and wants to be on mom. Not this time. No huggies. No snuggles. It was heartbreaking, but we think she didn’t want to see her mom with a bunch of wires…or she knew what was happening. She was about to be a big sister. She left awhile later when it was her bedtime.
For the next few hours, it was a lot of waiting and flipping. With the epidural, I couldn’t get up. My most exciting moment was flipping from my left side to my right side and then back again.
We enter the home stretch- 7cm dilated- and Roddy’s heart rate starts dropping with each contraction. He doesn’t like when I lay on my left side. He doesn’t like when I lay on my right side. He doesn’t like when I sit up. My nurse suggests we try all fours. At this point, my body was so tired. I felt heavy everywhere. I got on all fours and watched the monitor. My eyes didn’t leave it for the full 30 minutes. When it was time to flip, Roddy dropped into the birth canal and I was almost completely dilated- 9cm. 20 minutes later…at 2am, it was time to start pushing.
My OB got to my room quickly. It was go time. I was already exhausted. My blood pressure had stayed on the lower end, making me feel more tired and my limbs so heavy. As the contractions came, I started pushing. I felt like I was making no headway. I pushed and I pushed. Roddy was moving down so slowly. After awhile, we started pushing every other contraction so I could recover with oxygen. My contractions were coming so quick I wasn’t recovering fully before the next. I kept pushing. And pushing. And pushing. We were finally getting somewhere. I began to push again with every contraction. I felt like I was ripping my body in half to get this baby out. But I kept pushing.
After an hour and a half of pushing, baby Roddy made his appearance at 3:30am Friday, September 20, 2019. After we were both cleaned up, we had our family bonding time. Skin to skin contact. Roderick is perfect. He is beautiful. He is the perfect addition to our little family. We are so in love and could not be happier.”
It is an honor to be invited into a birth space to capture these precious moments that fade away all too quickly. I hope that having these images will keep the special memories alive for my clients. If you’re interested in having your birth documented, learn more here.
-Kristen
Kristen Adkins Photography 