Giff and I welcomed our beautiful baby boy, Christian, into the world 12 days ago! He is so perfect, and truly a blessing!
Christian Taylor Leu
March 11th, 2009
9:46pm
7 pounds
19 1/2 inches
He just had his foot prints done :)
The new Leu family!
Giff with his baby boy!
Christian with Mimi
Christian with Aunt Stefanie
Christian with Uncle Josh
Christian with Uncle Nathan
Christian with Uncle Greg
The birth of this little boy turned out way different than what I had prepared for and imagined! I keep learning that God is in control, not me. So, let me share the birth story of Christian.
Monday, March 9th (5 days after my due date), I had an appointment with my midwives to determine if I had made any progress over the weekend. I had been walking, stretching and praying that Christian would come on his own. But, I found out that my cervix was still only 1cm dilated and was 70% effaced. Bummer! So, my midwife, Deborah, discussed with me the possibility of induction- which was the last thing I wanted! But, after listening to Debbie, and hearing what she had to say, it made sense for me to at least consider it. After talking it over with Giff, we decided that I would go in for the induction.
So, Tuesday morning, March 10th, Giff and I woke up, packed our bags and loaded them into the car and made our way down to the medical center. Dawn, one of my midwives, was on call, and she inserted a medicine called Prepadil into my cervix to get it ready for the induction the following day. I was only supposed to be in the hospital for a few hours that day, then I would be able to go home. But, almost immediately, I started having contractions. They were very uncomfortable, and were coming almost every minute. After a while, Dawn came to check on me and she told me that she had never seen a first time mom react that way to the Prepadil. So, after sending me to the cafeteria to get some food and a drink to see if that would calm the contractions down, she decided it was best if I stay the night at the hospital. She didn't feel comfortable letting me go home when I was having that many contractions. So, I was transferred to my own room, where I got in the bathtub for a while. I aimed the jets at my back which was killing me with every contraction! After about an hour in the tub, I got back in bed, and Giff continued to massage my lower back. He was so great during all of this! He was totally at my beck and call the whole time! At this point, my Mom, my sister and one of my brothers came up to the hospital to keep Giff and I company. I continued contracting every minute until about 9pm Tuesday evening. Dawn chose to give me some Morphine that evening so that I could get a good night's sleep and have plenty of energy for the next day (birth day). The Morphine was amazing and I slept so well that night in the hospital!
Wednesday, March 11th, I was awakened by a nurse, who told me that she was going to go ahead and start some Pitocin in my IV to get my labor going. Once again, I started contracting right away, with the contractions being only one minute apart. Not again! It was absolutely horrible! I never had any relief between the contractions, so it made them completely unbearable. Debbie, was now the on call midwife. She kept coming in every now and then and checking me. 2cm, 3cm......then finally 4cm. To try to rid my back labor, I sat on a birthing ball for a while and also got in the hands and knees position. I had learned in my birthing class that back labor is caused by your baby being in the wrong position. Christian was facing up or facing my stomach, rather than facing my back. So, the back of his head was pressing on my spine causing the back labor. So, I tried the different positions I learned in class to try to get the baby to turn over, therefore relieving my back labor. But, no such luck! This baby was not moving! Around 6pm, Debbie came in and checked me again, and I was still at 4cm. At that point, I felt like I was never going to get to 10cm! I had already been contracting for 2 days! So, I made the decision to get an Epidural. This was the last thing I wanted, but after having no relief for almost 2 days, I just couldn't take it anymore. My midwife agreed that an Epidural was the best decision. She said it may relax my uterus some, so that I could get into a better labor pattern. She said the contractions I was having were not effective, since they were so close together. So, I received the Epidural, and I tried to rest for a little while. After about 2 hours, Debbie came back in to check on me. My contractions were still occurring every minute, so the Epidural didn't help. I was also still at 4 cm. Debbie then hit me with the C word......c-section. She said she felt that after all this time, I should be further along and she thought the best thing to do would be to have a c-section. She felt there was something preventing the baby from moving into the birth canal. I was truly stunned! A c-section had never even entered my mind! This is not what Giff and I had prepared for at all this time! How could this be my only option?
After giving it some thought and talking it over with Giff and my family, we thought it was best to listen to the advice of my midwife. I knew that she would not steer me in the wrong direction. She knew what kind of labor I wanted and had planned for. So, the decision was made. C-section it is!
As soon as we had made the decision to go with a c-section, a whirlwind of things started happening so fast! They were kicking my family out of the room, the nurses were preparing me for surgery, and Giff was getting into his scrubs. Before I knew it, I was on the operating table awaiting the arrival of my baby.
In the operating room, the anesthesiologist gave me more medicine to completely numb me from the waist down. It made me feel so queasy. I barely got the words out, "I think I'm gonna throw up," before I began throwing up everywhere. It was not pleasant, but the doctor immediately gave me a shot to knock out the nausea.
Shortly after that, Giff joined me in the operating room. I was shaking uncontrollably, and Giff held my hand. It felt like 30 seconds passed and the doctor said, "We're down to your uterus." Wow! That was fast! And, not one minute later, Giff and I heard the cry of our baby for the first time. It was incredible! I turned to Giff and said' "This is so surreal!" And he agreed. The doctors then told us that Christian had the cord wrapped around his neck once, and his body twice! No wonder he never moved into the birth canal! My midwife also told me that it could have been very dangerous for him to have been born vaginally with the cord wrapped around him the way it was. God was just protecting our baby by not allowing him to dilate me. What a miracle!
They took Christian to the warmer and the nurses began cleaning him off and checking his vital signs. I told Giff that I would be fine and to go take some pictures. At about that time, I heard the doctors saying how tired my uterus was, and that I was bleeding out a lot. Their voices started sounding stressed and I began to get scared myself. Giff came back to my side, as I know he also overheard the doctors and he began to worry about me. Next thing I knew, Debbie brought Christian over to me. She asked me if I wanted to try breastfeeding. What? On the operating table? Why not! So, she placed Christian on my chest, and he began breastfeeding right there while the doctors were still sewing me up! Amazing! Christian instantly latched on! I think Debbie did that to take my mid off of what was going on with me. And, it worked! It took the doctors a long time to get the bleeding under control. But, thankfully they did and the surgery was a success.
I will never forget this day as long as I live! It may not have gone according to plan, but Giff and I have our precious little boy, and he is healthy and beautiful, and that's all that matters! :)
