AUGUST 13, 2019- A day that would change our lives forever.
If you’ve been following my journey, you know Josh and I struggled to conceive for over a year (head over to the Infertility post found HERE). And when we found out we were expecting, we were overwhelmed with pure joy and excitement. We prepared for his arrival and waited patiently for our little guy to make his big entrance into the world. During this waiting period, we tried our best to live it to the fullest- enjoyed a super fun vacation with friends, crafted up a killer nursery, enjoyed brunch at First Watch more than once, continued the tradition of attending Thurby during Derby Week, took lots of extra naps, and did as much as possible as a couple before #BurrisPartyof2 became #BurrisPartyof3.
However, one of these activities we did not plan for was an injury. JB injured his wrist at work one evening in March, and after several months, that injury never got better. In late June, he decided to see a specialist, which lead to a scope surgery. During the scope, the doctor discovered a severe torn ligament that required an additional surgery for complete ligament reconstruction, which would be much more extensive and serious than expected, plus a 6-month recovery. This hit us 6 weeks before our due date, and this mama was stressed. When you imagine a birth, you picture the dad bedside, gripping the hand of the laboring mom and then holding the newest bundle of joy every so tightly. However, with this injury, a brace, multiple surgeries, and lots of pain would interrupt that typical story for us, an added hinderance to an already eventful time. After throwing myself a little pity party, I realized our situation is minimal compared to some stories and we were beyond blessed already, in midst of this roadblock. It could be so much worse, and we are just beyond thankful that wasn’t the case. At 9-months pregnant, we feared labor would start when JB was under anesthesia, but thankfully God heard our prayers and made sure that didn’t happen. Surgery came and went and JB was scheduled for an appointment to be placed in a cast from his surgical bandages on the 14th. And still no baby.
Leading up to the final days, I would consistently scan through the internet for articles, tips, and answers to random questions on all things baby. The uncomfortable nature of the third trimester caused major lack of sleep, so my nights often consisted of me eagerly searching Pinterest and The Bump app of all things possible- from labor, delivery, postpartum, and everything in between. Being the Type-A planner I am, I wanted to make sure I was as prepared as possible. I would do so much research to understand what all signs of labor were so I could understand what to expect- and I would question every little “symptom” as if it were labor. But I was often just overthinking-like I seem to always do.
Around week 36, I started to progress. At my weekly appointment with my doctor, I was 1 cm dilated and continued to increase by one centimeter each week. But no baby and no other signs of labor. I was due on August 15th, and I had an appointment on the 16th. Our doctor decided at that point, if baby wasn’t here, we would then schedule an induction. Josh and I would talk often about how we imagined Little Man’s arrival would be. And we truly thought a late induction would be required. I believed I had at least a week to prepare before he arrived. But oh were we wrong.
Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.
John 16:21
At 4:50 AM the morning of Tuesday, August 13th, I woke up restlessly, just as I would throughout any other night because sleep was just impossible. But this time felt different- I was woken up by a wet sensation- like I had peed the bed. 😂 TMI- I had a large amount of discharge throughout my pregnancy, so I often questioned the reasoning and if my water was breaking. But because only 15% of pregnancies have the bag of waters break naturally, I didn’t expect mine to be apart of those small amounts of cases. However I was wrong. On this stormy early morning, my water had broke and everything started to become real. All the preparing, researching, and classes we had attended, and I drew blank on what I was supposed to do. So I pulled out the pamphlet given to me at the beginning of my pregnancy and called the doctor, of which I was told to head to the hospital. (Come to find out- as soon as your water breaks, it is a definite admission to the hospital due to risk of infection.) I woke up JB, told him it was game time, and decided to go ahead and shower and get freshened up before heading to the hospital. After getting ready and gathering all our bags, we headed out the door to the hospital around 6AM. The hospital was about 1 hour away, so I began to feel contractions about 35 minutes into our drive. However, that didn’t stop my from getting some work done. I had some final projects at work that I needed to submit and I finished them on the way up. When we arrived, it was confirmed that my water had broken and I was officially admitted. At that point, I had increased to 4 cm dilation, from the 3 centimeters that I was that Thursday before. We were going to officially have a baby!
8AM: After being admitted, receiving an IV, moved to the labor and delivery room, and all other protocol, the contractions started to hit me heavily. I knew going into this I was going to elect for an epidural, so as soon as I could, I received one. Because I was already at 4 cm dilated and progressing well, that was done immediately.
Side note: While I had an idea of what I would want during birth for the most part, I did NOT have my birth plan on paper. I know- this seems so outside my personality, but there were several things I was unsure about and wanted to wait until I was in the moment to make my decision. Plus- I procrastinated and didn’t have time to write one out once my water broke. 😜 Do I suggest this- no. But fortunately for us, one was not needed.
9AM: After the epidural, I was feeling great. It was a rainy and gloomy day, so perfect napping weather. I definitely took advantage of that, because I knew I would need all the rest possible to prepare for what was to come. All our families came and visited, but in between visits, I napped. Ironically, JB’s appointment to receive a hard cast was that same day, but he was able to reschedule for the next day since we were already up in Louisville.
My labor was pretty darn textbook- already dilated, water broke, and progressing just as I should. At that point, I was expecting to have the baby around 4-5PM.
4PM: When I was given the epidural, the sweet anesthesiologist gave me a bolus button to push. This would give me an extra burst of medicine if I was feeling any discomfort, but could only use it every 15 minutes, as needed. Because I was taking the epidural so well, I wasn’t needing to push it but every 2 hours- if I even did at all. However, I was started to feel some discomfort and had to push it more frequently than I had been. After about an hour, I was having to use the bolus button more than the 15-minute intervals suggested. This was concerning, as I was starting to feel extreme pain and it seemed as if the epidural was no longer working. At this point, the nurse called the anesthesiologist to have him come and check it out.
Now, what happened next I do not want to go into too much detail about. I experienced some very unprofessional care, however, I do not want to bring any auras of negativity to this post, so I will savor the complaining. However, long story short- it was discovered that the epidural tubing was disconnected from the port. Therefore, I was not receiving any meds. When this happened- we are unsure of. It most likely occurred when I was being assisted with changing positions every so often since I did not have full control from the epidural, however, we are unsure of the exact moment. After about 2.5 hours of active labor and feeling every moment of it, the epidural was reconnected and its effects began working again. I am so thankful to have had my mom and JB in the room with me. They were rockstars at keeping me calm and helping me get through this rough time. Now- I know LOTS of women have natural births all the time, however, because I was not in that mindset nor had this as a part of my birth plan, I was not handling the pain well at all. Crying, screaming, vomiting, wanting to give up- all the things. After feeling every contractions of active labor (at 7 cm dilated), I have found a new appreciation for those mamas who choose to do the entire thing naturally because that shit was awful! Shew!
After my epidural kicked in, I decided to take another nap. Not only was I exhausted from what had just occurred, but I knew I needed to rest as much as possible to have enough energy to push. I was now at 8 cm dilation, but wasn’t progressing at all. From there, they decided to give me a small dosage Pitocin drip to push me along. I truly believe the unexpected pain of the disconnected epidural caused my body to go into a stressed state, which I believe caused me to not progress at the same rate I was. This paused labor longer than anticipated and lengthened the waiting period. It also caused little man to be a little stressed. When I would turn on my left side, his heart rate would plummet. This made us very nervous, so I stayed on my right side or sitting up. Thankfully, this issue didn’t go any farther and the baby remained healthy.
10:55 PM The Pitocin did its thing and I started to push. At that point, my mom and JB were in the room and we were ready to meet our little boy. JB thought because of his injury, it would hinder him from being fully apart of the birth, but the delivery nurse situated him to be able to help me push by holding one of my legs. I was so glad he was able to be apart of the process and it made it that much more special that he was able to witness more than he expected. After about 25 minutes of solid pushing, our little guy came into the world without any issues. I still remember exactly how it felt when they handed him to me immediately after he was born. And a big boy he was! I did not expect to have such a big baby, because I didn’t feel like I had gotten that big, but I was proven wrong. JB was able to cut the cord as I had those first amazing moment of him on my chest. His sweet smell I will always remember and would give anything to box it up in a perfume and wear it everyday. 😂
They always say you will forget all the pain you experienced after the baby arrives. And that couldn’t be more true! I would experience all I did 100 times over to have the healthy little man I have now. He was worth every tear shed, every drop of sweat, and every strain.
I often look at his beautiful face, scanning every detail and soaking in all his features, wondering how it was possible that this little human was once growing inside of me. What a fascinating concept, and I still can’t wrap my head around how amazing it truly is! When I see his face, I see the work of God, and I am so thankful our good Father trusted me to be this little guy’s mama. It brings me to tears thinking of how wonderful that day was. I would endure all the pain, anxiety, and worry al over again if it meant I could relive that day over and over. It truly was the best day of my life!
The birthing experience instilled in me a confidence and empowerment I didn’t realize I had. Pregnancy was a wonderful experience for me, and I had no complications or issues. In fact, I actually enjoyed being pregnant. But the entire birth was even better. The love and emotion is truly addicting and it was the best day of my life. We are beyond blessed that we had such a healthy delivery, baby, and recovery and cannot give enough glory to God for it all.
Big thanks to Brianne from B. Reed Photography for capturing these gorgeous photos during our Fresh 48 session. She drove all the way up to Louisville to capture these sweet first moments with our boy and they are memories I will treasure forever. She was absolutely amazing with our little one and worked in that small hospital room so well. She is so talented at what she does and I highly recommend her for all your photography needs!
Maverick Dean Burris | August 13, 2019 | 11:26 PM | 8 lbs 14 oz | 22 inches
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