Gus is one month and I figured I better get his birth story in writing before it fades from my memory too much. I was six days past due on Wednesday, August 19th. Labor started around 1:30 in the afternoon. Contractions remained calm and consistent throughout the afternoon at about 3-5 minutes apart. I contacted the birth center where we were set to deliver and was told to stay home as long as possible since there were no water birth rooms available. Lita was home with me this day. Her daycare was forced to close due to flooding. The first picture below is me laboring with her climbing all over me. I mean, can you even imagine anywhere else you'd rather be? Haha! I asked Corey to come home from work a couple hours early as I knew he still needed to pack a bag and we might have to fight some traffic depending on what time we headed to the hospital.
We ended up heading to the hospital around 7:30pm (by this time one of the labor rooms had opened up). When I was first checked a little after 8pm I was dilated to a 5-6 (woo!). We got settled into our room and I invited my friend/doula Leah to come join the party. Labor continued to intensify but was nothing that required any interventions. The hours continued to go by and I was surprised at how long it was taking. The Midwife finally revealed that Gus was in a posterior position which is likely why I was overdue and why it was taking a little longer for him to come. At one point I became completely exhausted and started to panic a bit (in both births I can remember the time in which I became overly exhausted and began to panic, this is why it is super important to have a supportive birth team that knows your wishes and birth plan). My team was able to calm me down enough to continue breathing through each contraction and trying different positions.
My water hadn't broken yet and the Midwife could tell I was anxious to get things moving (times are blurry but this was probably around 10 or 10:30pm). We were nearly heading into August 20th and I wanted to have him on the 19th because Lita's birthday is January 19th. Parent win, only having to remember one number for birthdays- duh! She broke my water and things started to move along quickly and painfully. I began pushing and he got a little stuck. The Midwife instructed me that I would need to push really hard on the next contraction so we could get him out. It's all a blur of course but I pushed with all my might, helped bring him up onto my stomach, and then just seconds later he was whisked away because he needed a little help taking his first breath.
Gus was born at 11:51pm on August 19th. He weighed 8lb 6oz. Born in the water just like big sister. He is the perfect final addition to our family of four!
xoxo, Casey
