Birth Stories

Next stop on the nostalgia train: Birth Stories!

Kender's Birth Story

I went into labor at 11 pm. Ryan had worked a long day of construction and had been praying that I wouldn't go into labor that night, but God had other plans. From what I remember, it was a pretty easy natural labor and delivery. Nothing out of the ordinary. I did lots of mindful breathing, and only had to push for about 40 minutes before Kender was born. I was in labor for a grand total of 6 hours. Not bad at all! Kender came into the world at 5:07 am. He was 8 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long.

I remember feeling absolutely elated. I looked into those huge baby eyes and felt an unbelievable surge of joy and love. I was too excited to sleep, and I wanted to send pictures of my precious baby to everyone I could think of.

That sleeplessness eventually turned into severe anxiety, which then plummeted me into a major depression. Fortunately I was functioning again after about three months with the help of my doctor. But that was the beginning of my journey with Major Depressive Disorder.

Fun Fact: The doctors commented on the size and weight of his placenta. Apparently it was a nice healthy placenta lol.

PS - We didn't have great cameras back when Kender and Rhett were born, so I've made all the pictures black and white in an attempt to pass them off as "artsy".

Rhett's Birth Story

I was H.U.G.E. when I was pregnant with Rhett, and I was having false labor for weeks before I finally went into real labor. My sister came into town so she could help with the baby for a couple weeks. Rhett must have been waiting for her, because I went into real labor at 3 am - just hours after she arrived!

I was under the impression that your second baby is easier to deliver than your first, so in my mind this labor and deliver would be super fast and easy. I'm not sure what gave me that impression, but I was in for a big surprise. I imagine Heavenly Father was looking down at me, shaking his head at my naivete.

I expected to give birth to a 7 lb baby within 5 hours, but instead I gave birth to a whopping 9 lb 4 oz baby after 10 hours of natural labor. I don't deliver my babies naturally because I'm brave or noble - I do it because I'm deathly afraid of that giant epidural needle. But after 9 hours of labor with Rhett, I was begging for an epidural. They told me I could have one, but he would be born before it would take affect. And I couldn't stay still for the life of me.

So I soldiered on (ie, puked and cried like a baby). Poor Ryan... I honestly thought I might die, and he had to put up with me in that state for hours. They had to give me oxygen to keep me from passing out a couple of times. When I was finally ready to push, I only had to do so for about 20 minutes before Rhett made his way into the world. We met our big baby boy around 1 pm. If I remember correctly, he was 21 inches long.

I remember feeling SO relieved once he was finally out. I also remember thinking, "I am NEVER doing that again." But alas, Rhett was a ginormous happy baby, and about 3 years later I was ready to try for another one.

Fun Fact: Rhett's hands were massive. That was the first thing we noticed when he was born. He had BEAR hands!

Mason's Birth Story

I already wrote in detail about Mason's birth story, so for this post I'll just give a brief summary. I spent my entire labor in triage, and Mason was born like 5 seconds after they moved me to a delivery room. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but he was born FAST. I had to push for maybe 5 minutes if even that. His head was born before the doctor even had his gloves on.

I was in labor for a total of 8 hours - contractions started at 5:30 am and Mason was born at 1:17 pm. He weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 20 inches long.

Fun Fact: Mason was born with long beautiful eyelashes. He also had an enormous umbilical cord. I was grossed out by his belly button for weeks. But it's normal now 😊

Ok, I think the next stop on this nostalgia train will be baby milestones, and I'm sure that will be a long one if only from all the pictures! But I'm excited to see them all together at the same ages ❤ I don't know if you can tell, but I'm having a lot of fun with this!