Blaine's Birth Story by Jessica Lyon
born on February 22nd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
8 pounds 8 ounces, 20.5 inches long.

I had a doctor's appointment at 8:15 on Thursday the February 21st - 5 days before my actual due date of the 26th. At my last appointment my cervix was completely closed and not effaced at all. Lisa Carlile, the CNM in Dr. Thompson's office suggested that we use a little Evening Primrose Oil to "get things moving along." By Thursday's appointment I was 1 cm dilated and 60% effaced! Wow! Lisa said that we could have this baby any day (or in two weeks-don't get your hopes up :) During my exam she did a few more things that "moved me along." As soon as I left the office I started contracting.

About every 30-45 minutes I was really feeling crampy… sometimes I thought it was hunger and other times I just knew that I was in pre-labor. I left work at 2 that day and ran some errands, having to stop occasionally to hold on to something and breathe through a contraction. I took my husband David some lunch at work and told him he better get ready for a baby, but I think he still thought we had a week to go! Thursday night was supposed to be date night for Dave and I - but baby had other plans.

We went to Jason's Deli for soup and salad (I was craving something healthy, thank goodness!) and we were home by 9. At about 9:30 my contractions started coming more regularly - about every 10 minutes. By 10:30 they were coming every 3-5 minutes. David paged Dr. Thompson, who called right back and told us to, "Get to the hospital!". While I put my prenatal yoga breathing and postures to the test to work through my contractions, David was busy packing the 4-Runner and checking everything off the list we had made. The dogs were pretty nervous, especially Tug, because they knew it was bedtime and all the rushing and bags were freaking them out.

Off to the hospital. We arrived about 11:30 and got to our room where we would spend the next 20 hours. I felt pretty good and transitioned to active labor pretty quickly, in fact my water broke about midnight as the nurse was asking us a bunch of questions and monitoring the baby's heart rate. The contractions got a lot more intense. I wanted to work through labor and delivery with no pain medication or use of forceps, vacuums, and we managed to do just that! They put me on the fetal heart monitor every 15 minutes, the rest of the time I could spend on my birthing ball, in the shower or walking around. Contractions after about 2:00 am became overwhelming. Marie (David's mom) had arrived, and was there to help massage me. I had awful back pain throughout the labor and delivery, and pressure to my sacrum and hips helped immensely. My mom caught a 6 am flight out of Detroit to Austin and was set to arrive at 11:15 am Friday the 22nd. I had no concept of time or place from about 2:00 am to 12:30 in the afternoon on the 22nd (when I started to push) because of the intense pain.

Because my water had broken, the nurses didn't want to do a lot of exams to check my dilation (for risk of infection) but the two times they did check they sawa that I was opening fast. My cervix was paper thin, but I got stuck at 9 cm for over 5 hours. I don't remember a lot during this time-except the pain and trying to focus on breathing. By this time my mom had arrived at the hospital-she actually made it, all the way from Michigan, in time for baby's birth. Also, the baby was not in a good delivery position. He was head down, but he was face up and that 1cm of cervix would not go over his face and head. I had to dilate one more cm, and we had to get him turned around. They put me in a hot shower for about 20 minutes and although that really relaxed me, my cervix wouldn't fully dilate. Then they put me in bed on my right side about an hour and then my left side for an hour. Still with no progress, they hooked me up to a Pitocin IV to increase (and intensify) my contractions so we could work on getting baby to move into a better delivery position. Along with my contractions, they used bottle after bottle of olive oil and pressure (the nurses' fingers) to get the baby turned over. My nurses, Kristen, Nicole and Vicky, were amazing - I couldn't have asked for a better team of people to help me, including David and our moms who helped me as much as they could and never left my side once. As the Pitocin kicked in I was in transition, and in so much pain that I began to cry for the first time, and I definitely saw no end in sight. They kept telling me that I was almost done (and they continued to tell me for about 2 hours!) but I didn't believe them. I said very few things during active labor, transition and delivery… among them were "Who's got my back?" meaning, "who's going to massage me during this contraction", "I can't do this for much longer", and the best one, which was during late transition - "I'm sooo hungry!"

Finally, about 12:30 pm on Friday the 22nd they said that baby was in a good position and we started the next stage of labor, which was n one sense, a relief, because I didn't have to breathe through my painful contractions any longer, I could just bear down and push. But at the same time, it was the most painful and exhausting because I was, for God's sake, pushing another human out of me! My eyes were closed 98% of the time through labor and delivery (this just felt most comfortable), my music was on in the background (music we listened to in my prenatal yoga classes). I could hear people talking and was able to answer questions but I wasn't really alert. I always knew where everyone was - everyone communicated with each other so well (I realize now looking back). As I was pushing, David got to feel the (hair-covered) head while baby was still inside of me. I pushed for about two hours, on my side for about an hour and a half. Then they moved me to the bottom of the table in preparation for delivery. When the baby started crowning, Dr. Thompson, a delivery nurse, and a neonatal nurse came in to deliver our surprise. Dr. Thompson sat down, gave me a shot and then minutes later, with two more pushes, our baby boy Blaine Miller Lyon, was born. I opened my eyes just as Dr. Thompson told me he was coming out. Everyone tells me that they were staring at him, trying to figure out if baby was a boy or a girl and even after Dr. Thompson said it's a boy - - someone yelled - - "what? It's a what??" A precious baby boy-eyes wide open, checking out his new world.

Blaine Miller Lyon was born at 2:22 pm on 2/22/08. He was 8 pounds 8 ounces (born in '08) and was 20½ inches long. He had a full head of dark hair and has dark blue eyes. We are sure he's destined for great things.

I really couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't believe that labor and delivery was over, that my pain was gone and that this baby boy in my arms was our son. They sucked the gunk out of his nose and throat and he let out a big loud shriek, letting everyone know that he was in the world. They put him right on my stomach. Dr. Thompson told me that she had to get the placenta out and that I only had a small tear (a second degree laceration), so I would need a few stitches. Blaine lied on my tummy and David cut the umbilical cord. The nurse asked if I wanted him to be taken away for his evaluation but I wanted more time with him so he stayed with me and everyone gathered around to look at him. He stared right into our eyes - the single most wonderful moment in my life… loving him so much and so intensely.

The nurse took Blaine and cleaned him up, they weighed and measured him and after swaddling gave him back to me. We then took a bunch of pictures with Dr. Thompson, the nurses and all of Blaine's grandmas (GG, Grandma Lyon and Grand-Nana). We spent two more hours in the labor and delivery room. The nurses continued to check on me, Blaine got his first bath, and mom finally got to eat! I had a quesadilla, a chocolate brownie and two glasses of cranberry juice.

Keith Miller (Blaine Miller is named after Keith) was our first visitor. He brought a beautiful yellow flower arrangement, a blue stuffed hippo (which he told us to pretend was a lion), and a musical card. Keith also got to witness Blaine's first bath. Blaine's next visitor was his pediatrician, Dr. Daniel Terwelp. We were so happy that Dr. Terwelp was on call this weekend and was able to see Blaine in his first hours. He checked him out and said he had healthy lungs.

We were moved to a postpartum room about 2 hours after delivering Blaine. David wheeled him in a crib and I was in a wheelchair. Our new room was smaller, with a TV, bed, couch and a bathroom. A nurse came in to help me with our first breastfeeding and get us settled in. They gave me pain medication and let me know what would be happening over the next few days. Jack and Marcia Mosley visited (and brought some adorable boy clothes) as well as Uncle Matt Lyon.

That night, Blaine made sure that we were up every few hours. The nurses continued to bring me pain medication throughout the night and help me get nursing figured out. We finally sent Blaine to the nursery around 3am so we could get some sleep. The nurse brought him back for feedings, and David and I were able to get some shut eye.

Saturday both my and Blaine's doctors came to check on us, and we had a few more visitors. We spent most of the day lying around, watching TV and spending time with Blaine's visitors. Saturday night we got a little more sleep than the night before.

On Sunday morning Blaine was circumcised, David was able to attend the procedure. I was discharged by Dr. Thompson shortly after and I said a final good-bye and gave my thanks to her. Blaine was going to be one of Dr. Thompson's last babies - she is leaving medicine to practice law. We were so pleased to have her with us for his birth. Dr. Terwelp also discharged Blaine, and our nurse, Jessica, finished all of our paperwork. We were able to leave around 1:30 Sunday afternoon. We put Blaine in his car seat, grabbed all of our bags and headed down to the car. Everyone buckled up and then we set out for home. We were welcomed by GG, Grammy Lyon and Jeff - it was a sunny beautiful day and we were all happy to be home.

We invite you to share your Birth Story with us!
Email Lisa Taggart at lisat@yogayoga.com