Ivan's Birth Story

On April 3^rd at 1:02pm Ivan Joseph Dougher was born. This is the story leading up to that moment.

About a week before Ivan was born I started getting this really bad tummy ache that was really bothering me.  Tuesday March 29^th was my 39 week midwife appointment and I told her about it, she told me to call her the next morning if it didn’t get better. Of course it didn’t so bright and early I gave the office a ring and went in to have a nonstress test. Turns out I was in early labor with contractions 5 minute apart, silly me I didn’t even know. After being checked out and them determining that I was only 2 cm dilated they sent me home to wait it out. The 3 block walk home really kicked my labor into the painful zone. Within 2 hours I was in a lot of pain with each contraction. I called the midwife and she had me come back in to check me again, no change. Cut to 10pm that evening, my Mom had drove down from her house 3 hours away and we had all basically sat around as I was in never ending labor. Finally I had to fall asleep. 5 hours later I woke up and wasn’t in labor anymore. I called the midwife as soon as she was in her office and she was totally puzzled and told me to go walk around for awhile to see if it would kick back in. Three hours of walking around the mall did nothing but make me sad and super tired. My mom went home that afternoon and Mike spent the next two days trying to get me to stop crying. I was a mess, after being in actual labor for so long and not getting a baby at the end I have never felt so defeated in my life.

Saturday April 2^nd I spent the day cleaning the house and watching the X-Files while Mike was at work. I had finally calmed down and accepted that the little bear would come when he was good and ready to come out. At 4pm I sat down to play on the internerd and I started having contractions. I totally ignored them . Mike came home and we went out to dinner with a gaggle of friend at our favorite restaurant the Coppertop. During dinner Mike started noticing that something was wrong, every few minutes I was getting this pained look on my face. I finally admitted that I was having contractions but didn’t want to do anything about it till I was for sure going to have this baby. After dinner we stopped by the store to get cat litter and a few other things for the house. In the middle of Walmart I declared that I was in labor and we had to “fucking get home right now”. Labor brought out the potty mouth in me for sure. At 10 pm I called the midwife to tell her and we went up to the hospital to get checked out and see what was happening. Still only 2 cm! We were going to be giving birth in this fantastic place called The Birth Place where they have big beds and everything is set up like a real home birth but with the wonders of being inside of a hospital. They wouldn’t admit us until I was 5cm so triage had me walk the halls till midnight. When the doctor checked me then I was sure she was going to send me home and tell me to wait it out. But guess what! 5cm! Off to the Birth Place we went!

Now I allowed Mike to call our family and my Mom to drive back down. Before I was afraid he was going to jinx it by telling anyone. I labored in horrible pain until my midwife came in at around 11am and broke my water, gave me the tiniest bit of painkiller she could and sent me off to relax in the whirlpool tub. I went from 7cm to 10cm in an hour thanks to that combination. After getting out of the tub and her checking me again the nurses told me I could start pushing. After 21 hours of painful labor I explained to them why they could push and I would be going home to nap. I had no urge to push like everyone says youre supposed to get. Sitting down made me feel super trapped so I had being walking around the whole time I was at the Birth Place so I was beyond tired and over it. Finally they convinced me to start pushing at 12:30. Everything was going great the first half, minus the horrible pain I was in every time I pushed, the second half Ivan’s heartbeat started dropping every time I had a contraction. Thanks to my fantastic midwife he came out and was just fine. 

As soon as they set him on my chest I started crying harder than I have ever cried. I kept asking the nurses and the midwife if I could keep him, if I could take him home. I was in disbelief that this beautiful creature was mine! Ivan was perfect at 7lbs 2oz and 20in. He cried like crazy, turned bright red and wanted to breastfeed right away. Three things which made the nurses so proud! My mom and Mike were fantastic during the birth. My mom held one of my legs because I was so exhausted I needed help keeping them back and Mike talked me through it all. After a few hours of new family time with just the baby bear, papa bear and I our family started coming to visit. I will never forget sitting surrounded by everyone who loves us holding our son. Even Mikes Mother and Father were in the same room together and that hasn’t happened in about 20 years! I couldn’t have asked for a better birth story, my little man was worth every second of pain and exhaustion and I would do it again a million times if I had to.