Sam's Birth Story

Samuel Baer Yorgesen was born September 5th at 8:57pm.  He weighed just a smidgen over eight pounds and was twenty and a half inches long.  I was in labor for nine hours.

Feel free to stop there unless you're interested in greater detail.  I'll do a post later on why Sam has a rather unusual middle name.

After a few days of contractions I had an OB appointment where I was told I was likely to deliver soon (NEVER have them give you an estimate, it is terribly disappointing when the time frame passes, and then another week goes by.)  Everyone was fretting about when I would deliver and every single phone call I made had to start with "No, I'm not in labor" before I could proceed with the conversation.  It was then that I crossed over to the dark side of pregnancy.  I requested an induction.  And not an induction for good medical reasons like I had with Ben.  I had a social induction.

A social induction means that I needed the baby to come out around the schedule that I decided.  I was going to wretch that little angel out no matter if he was ready or not.  This is generally considered to be an extremely selfish thing that really increases your chances of having a c-section, the strong pitocin contractions generally means that you'll have to have drugs during labor and it's about as far as you can get from a 'natural' birth.  I was so paranoid about people judging me that I didn't tell anyone.

So why did I choose the induction?  Turns out this time of year really isn't a great time to be having a baby in this household.  It's a really busy time in David's office and the closer I got to the tax deadline, the less time David would be able to take off.  Turns out he only took off two and a half days anyways, and that was after going all the way to CA on a business trip the day before I had Sam.  But this pales in comparison to my main reason, and that was Joshua.

Josh started preschool this week.  As in, drop him off at the door, away from mama all morning preschool.  I didn't want David and I to be in the hospital when this happened.  Josh is very sensitive to change (trust me, a whole 'nother post is coming your way on the craziness that it has been dealing with all this) so I wanted us to be home and in some sort of rhythm before he began a second brand new routine.  Therefore, a social induction it was.  Sorry Sam, I'm afraid this is just the beginning of you needing to make adjustments to accommodate your siblings.  You can commiserate with your daddy later on on the woes of being the younger child.

Even though this was my second induction, it was a totally different experience than my last.  With Ben I got into bed and never left it and it was all over with pretty quickly.  When we got to the hospital I was hooked up the the walking monitors, which showed that I was having regular contractions every few minutes.  Not that I could feel them or anything.  So they turned on the pitocin to the very lowest setting, hoping that I just needed a little whiff to get things moving.  Then David and I started walking the halls.  We walked for so stinking long (with the pitocin being cranked up every twenty minutes) that everyone we passed started making jokes about paths worn in the floor or prepping for a marathon.  My nurse was rather surprised because according to the numbers on the monitors, I was in labor and should be feeling it.  Nope, my feet sure did hurt but baby boy was stubbornly refusing to move down.

After a few hours of this, the doctor broke my water and said that I should deliver in the next few hours.  Again, don't tell me this people, because we relayed that info to family and when that time frame passed without us calling them (I was at that point pushing out a baby, so we couldn't even send a message that everything was fine) my mother was getting nervous.  Shortly after my water broke I couldn't make it down the hall without having to stop and breathe (or low like a cow) through a contraction.  At that point we settled into the room for the long haul.  Things were getting painful and while I had wanted to try labor drug-free, the idea of numbness became extremely appealing.  I spent some time in the jacuzzi (wonderful relief for about 15 minutes, until things got even more painful) before they checked my progress again.  I wanted to cry when I was only six centimeters after seven hours of labor.

It was then that the blessed anesthesiologist came and administered the intrathecal, which is much faster acting than an epidural and doesn't last as long.  It made me incredibly itchy, but the warm numbness was a vast improvement.  An hour later they shifted me to my side because of baby's heart rate and all of a sudden the extreme need to push hit me like a sledge hammer.  It always amazes me when the sensation hits and there really isn't words to describe it besides that I HAD to push right then or the world might end.

Twelve minutes (and a second degree tear) later baby Sam was on my chest, eyes screwed shut and screaming his head off.  After a few minutes of this I realized that the edge of my medical bracelet was digging into his thigh.  Poor baby, what a rude arrival!  After the offending object was removed, he settled right now and even began to nurse.  I pushed sixteen minutes with Ben and for an hour with Josh.  I was a little disappointed to see that Sam wouldn't have David's beautiful bright blue eyes.  He looks very much like his brothers.

Twenty four hours later I was back home in my own bed with our sweet little Sam.  My favorite memory of this birth is Josh and Ben waking up the next morning and coming in to find that their brother had arrived.  It was so sweet to watch their confusion melt into excitement to meet the baby.  They both gave him hugs and kisses.  I had gifts ready for the boys ('from' Sam) but they were downstairs in the closet so it was too far to go get them.  Turns out they didn't need presents at all.  At least at this time.  I think I'll bring them out the first time I have to be home alone with all three.

And thus begins our lives outnumbered by our children.  It hasn't been the easiest transition, but we all love Sam and are so happy that he's here and healthy.

If you're interested, here is Ben's birth story and Josh's birth story.