Beckham's Birth

So here it is, the full detailed story of the day Beckham was born. First of all, this picture (below) was my view of Ryker a couple of days before Beckham was born. Just thought it was a cute picture, and had to throw it in!

On Sunday, July 17, I was scheduled for an induction. For details as to why I chose to be induced at 39 weeks, see my "false alarm" and "baby update" posts from July.

The hospital called at 7:30am and told me to come on in. It was nice because we already had all of our babysitters worked out. The girls were sleeping at their Aunt Heidi's, and Ryker was going to go with the neighbors to church.

We arrived at the hospital just before 9:00am. My midwife wanted the other midwife from her office to check me and break my water, since she was already at the hospital. She checked me at 9:15 am, and I was still dilated to a tight 2. She said it can be a little more difficult to break the water when I'm not dilated much, but she would try anyway. Well, she did her thing with the "crochet hook", and I was just waiting to feel the gush of fluid. There was no gush. Not even a trickle. She said, "Okay, I think that did it", and I explained to her that I didn't feel any fluid, but she still thought it was broken, and we should wait and see if the contractions would start.

She asked if I wanted to start the pitocin or wait a little while. I decided to wait. That was my first mistake. I should have started it right then! Hindsight is 20/20.

They hooked up the IV and started fluids around 9:20 am. I immediately started feeling light-headed and dizzy. It could have been partly because I was lying on my back, which usually made me light-headed during pregnancy. So I turned to my side, and they allowed me to have crackers & sprite. I started feeling better after a few minutes.

So then we just waited. And waited. And waited.

I still felt no fluid coming out, and I wasn't having any regular contractions. I was having some, but they were not consistent. Whenever they checked me, I wasn't dilating. (obviously). I told them I'd like to get the Pitocin started. For some reason, it took them forever to get it to me, and didn't start it until 12:35, 3 hours after they supposedly "broke my water".

Once the pitocin started, I had to pee every 15-20 minutes. The contractions were just squeezing my bladder so much. I got so sick of unhooking all the wires and getting up to go to the bathroom! But I was being pumped with fluids, so that was keeping my bladder full I guess.

Fast forward ANOTHER 3 hours, about what seemed like 1,000 bathroom breaks, and they checked me again at 3:15. I was only dilated to a 3, and they said the baby was still sky high. They had a hard time even reaching him. (My babies have never dropped!)

I kept just breathing through the contractions. Kevin, my sisters and mom were there, and we watched a lot of TV. The women's world cup was on that day. (It was a bummer that USA didn't win.)

Fast forward ANOTHER 3 hours, and my midwife finally came in around 6:30 pm. It was the first I had seen her that day. She checked me, and he was still pretty high. She also said that she was almost ready to send me home. The thought made me sick. She said "If I couldn't reach his head, and your water wasn't broken, I was going to send you back home. But since I can reach his head, we'll go ahead and try to break your water again." That was a relief. I can't tell you what I would have done if I were to get sent home again, especially after being scheduled for an induction, and going through all that!

FINALLY, she broke my water at 6:40 pm. Feeling the gush was a great sigh of relief. Now I knew I'd have the baby soon, and they couldn't send me home! The contractions were a LOT more painful after the water was broken, and I was happy to get the epidural at 7:30 pm. I finally had relief from the hours and hours of contractions. And I didn't have to get up to go to the bathroom any more!

Fast forward 3 more hours, and they checked me at 10:20 pm. I was dilated to a 5 and 80-90% effaced. The head was "right there in zero position". They placed a monitor inside me to measure the contractions more accurately. I was so tired and very hungry. My sister even fell asleep, and I was starting to get a little frustrated. I'd been there all day, and I didn't want to stay up all night waiting.

At 10:55 pm, they checked me and I was at a "Fat 7". They had me turn to my right side, and the baby's heart rate immediately dropped, so they had me turn to my left side, and put me on oxygen. That's when I started getting scared. His heart rate kept dropping, and they kept telling me to take deep breaths so I could get more oxygen to him. For some reason, I kept thinking they were going to have to rush me out and do an emergency C-section. I was really scared.

My midwife kept rubbing his head to get his heart rate back up. I think she was trying to stretch me out at the same time, to hurry things along. I was glad the epidural had kind of worn off, and I could feel the pressure of his head coming down.

Only 10 minutes later, at 11:05, I was at a 9+. So they prepared the delivery table and stopped the pitocin. They took out the catheter at 11:10, and at 11:15, I started pushing. I hoped that I would be able to feel it, and I had just the right amount of numbness in me to feel it, but not be in too much pain. I also had a mirror.

He was born 4 short minutes later, at 11:19.

Beckham Glade Chapman was 7 lbs 4 oz, and 20 inches.

I was so happy he was finally here! I was able to nurse him before we even moved rooms. We were transferred to our new room around 1:00 am. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that first night. Kevin went home to sleep, so he could bring the kids the next day.

The kids were SO excited to meet their new baby brother! Or as Ryker calls him, "Baby Brudder".

The kids got to see his first bath! In fact, this is the first time I've gotten to see the first bath with any of my kids. The others were done in a different room, where Kevin usually went to video it for me. But they did it right in our room with Beckham. :)

My mom came back the next day as well. She took the kids to a movie near the hospital, so Kevin and I could have some alone time with the baby. Thanks, mom!

This is the view out the window of my room!

We came home on July 19, and Ryker was so happy to have his brudder home!

We chose the name Beckham just because we thought it was a cool name. There's no special story to it. Plus it's the only name we could agree on. Glade is his middle name, named after Kevin's brother.

So although it was an incredibly long day, he was worth the wait! I'm glad I was able to deliver a healthy baby boy. He is such a little cutie, and he has added so much to our family. I can't imagine our family without him!