Stanford James Sievers

We had joked all pregnancy that Stanford was going to come on the 29th because that was a day before I qualified for 100% 12 week maternity benefits and fmla. 

My water broke while I was asleep just after 1 am on the 29th. The huge gush of water was totally unexpected since I had been told less than 10% of women’s water break before they go into the hospital and even less than that have it rupture all at once like mine did. I woke up and calmly said to Travis, “hey babe, I think my water broke” Travis sprang in to action getting together everything we needed for the hospital as I aimlessly wandered around not really being able to focus. After about 30 mins we were in the car on the way to the hospital.

I felt my first twinge of a contraction and thought, "okay that wasn’t that bad." We went to the wrong entrance at first and the security person was less than helpful. Cue walking back to the car. We drove around and found the right entrance and Travis dropped me off to look for a parking spot. I ran to the bathroom because I was leaking everywhere. I dried off a bit and walked out and he was frantically looking around and looked so relieved when he saw me. We took the elevator up to labor and delivery and they brought me back to a room to be checked. 

I was starting to have more regular and painful contractions at this point. The nurse checked me and I was at a 4! They thought my fluid looked a little strange so they had to send a sample to the lab to be tested to be sure my water had broken. It took another half hour to confirm that it had indeed and we were checked in. 

I was having contractions about 2 min apart and was struggling to get through them. The nurse kept telling me, "I’m going to need you to keep it together sis!" while they took blood, hooked me up to an iv, etc. once these items were taken care of she paged the anesthesiologist who informed her he would be up in a bit. Her answer was no, she’s dying come now. I was crying and writhing at this point every time a contraction hit. 

When the doctor came up finally I was sooo ready for the epidural (another 30 ish mins). I’ve always been terrified of needles but I have never been more calm and collected. Handled the two contractions he was working around like a champ since I knew I would have some relief soon! 

Once the epidural kicked in I was totally fine! The next 6 ish hours we just talked and tried to rest while I was periodically checked. At the beginning the nurse was a little concerned that Stanford’s heart rate was dropping after each contraction had finished. But after a while he was able to stabilize and all was well. 

I finally stalled at a 9, and we used some pillows over and hour and half to open up my hips and help me go the rest of the way! The nurse called my doctor and she was on her way when I started practicing pushing. I was so lucky to be able to have my actual doctor deliver him! 

After 1.5 hours of pushing the doctor suggested using a vacuum to get him out. Unknowing to me she tried it and it didn’t work at all, so while I thought the vacuum was helping get him out I really pushed him that final distance. The relief I felt on that final push and holding him in my arms is like nothing I’ve ever felt. Holy makeral had I been ready to be done. I just looked between him and Travis is complete disbelief that it was over, this was my baby and we were parents! My doctor stitched me up without me even noticing. I just held my baby!

It took a long time to stitch me up, I tore in 4 places. We stayed in labor and delivery for a couple hours learning to breastfeed and waiting for our room to be ready. My family had been waiting for about 6 hours in the waiting room and some of them had had to leave before they could come see us. It was so fun to have them all in our room after and see how much they immediately loved him! 

Also, in a turn of events I got fmla and 11 weeks at 100% so I only missed out on one week of 100% paid maternity leave!

We love Ford so much!