How do I even begin?
I dreamt about this day for so long.
I fearfully anticipated it for so long.
I anxiously awaited his arrival for so long.
May 23rd: We arrived back in West Des Moines from Grandma Karabatsos' funeral around 5pm. We ate a quick dinner and unpacked the car. My feet were so swollen I immediately packed them full of ice and put my feet up on the couch. We ventured upstairs to the bedroom around 8:30pm and immediately fell asleep.
9:00pm hit.
Contractions started and were consistently 10-12 minutes apart. This wasn’t anything I got too excited about as this had been happening for the past three weeks.
Contractions went 8-10 minutes apart.
5-7 minutes……
3-5 minutes…………
And finally I awoke Jamie out of a deep slumber at 2:30AM.
At first he thought it was another “false alarm” but after I went to the bathroom---it was the real deal!
No, we weren’t running around the house like crazy first time parents.
No, we weren’t screaming to get everything packed in the car.
We were calmly taking our time and I even jumped in the shower to try and provide myself some relief. We eventually pulled into Mercy Hospital around 3:30am and checked in.
Thankfully the maternity ward wasn’t busy at that particular time so they took me back and hooked me up to the monitor.
It was confirmed---contractions were consistently 3 minutes apart.
They check me.
1 cm dilated!
EXCUSE ME??!!
The nurse called the doctor and they decided to keep me for one hour to see if I would progress.
Thankfully, I dilated to a 2. They kept me where I was and boom---it settled in rather quickly that today was the day we would meet our little boy!
7:00am: Nurse change.
If there was any day that God was on our side---today was the day. Mary Beth Greenwood walked through the door. A tall, auburn colored hair woman with big blue eyes walked through the door and loudly exclaimed, “Alright, I am Mary Beth and you are having a baby today!!”
Jamie and I knew immediately we were in for a treat!!
She was a character and we loved every bit of it! Come to find out….she is the sister of Dr. Munro—the doctor Jamie just finished his OBGYN rotation with so we knew we were in very good hands….
She immediately made me get out of bed.
She stripped me down and I hopped into the whirlpool---which by the way has some pretty stellar lights that change colors. Jamie even decided to put his feet in and hold my hand as the contractions came and went.
45 minutes passed. I got out and just like that……I was three centimeters dilated.
Dr. Roose walks in the door. I see the long hook in her hand and she breaks my water. Alright ladies---for anyone who has had their water break---WOWZERS! It literally feels like the flood of Noah’s Ark from the bible between your
legs! Intense.
Dr. Roose said, “Alright lady, your contractions will get more intense now.”
Twenty to thirty minutes passed and she wasn’t kidding. The pain was getting more intense. I tried to endure it. However, my entire body started to violently shake and I took the plunge---I asked for the epidural.
(Later to find out this decision didn’t matter)
The epidural gave me some relief for about an hour—this was when Jamie took a nap and I listened to the heartbeat of James.
From there—everything went so fast. Contractions were consistently three minutes apart but much stronger. I went from a 3 to 4 to 5 to 6……and then once 1:30pm hit—I was fully dilated
and effaced.
And all hell broke loose at 1:30 when contractions were coming every minute.
Every single minute.
The epidural didn’t exist.
The pain was intolerable.
But somehow, I did it……we did it. Jamie was on my left side. Mary Beth was on my right side. I literally put their bodies through a week long marathon.
For three hours I pushed.
I push for 10 seconds, breathe in quickly and then repeat two more times.
Nothing.
He wouldn’t crown.
The doctor came in after two hours and held my hand saying, “Beth, I don’t know what else you can do---you are reaching exhaustion and he is stuck behind your pubic bone. I will let you keep going but I don’t know.”
I was scared.
Jamie was scared.
My nurse looked at me and said, “Beth, you can do this.”
Around 4:20pm, Dr. Roose came back in and she said, “If I can get in there and reach his head, I am going to try and use the vacuum to get him out.”
13 minutes later, James Regan Seidl was born.
8lbs. 6oz.
20 ¾ inches long.
Dark black hair.
Deep blue eyes.
And a set of lungs that filled the entire maternity ward with screams.
A relief (an understatement) came over me.
And love instantaneously filled my heart and the same feeling was confirmed when I looked at my husband’s face.
He was finally here.
Love,
The Seidl Sprouts
I dreamt about this day for so long.
I fearfully anticipated it for so long.
I anxiously awaited his arrival for so long.
May 23rd: We arrived back in West Des Moines from Grandma Karabatsos' funeral around 5pm. We ate a quick dinner and unpacked the car. My feet were so swollen I immediately packed them full of ice and put my feet up on the couch. We ventured upstairs to the bedroom around 8:30pm and immediately fell asleep.
9:00pm hit.
Contractions started and were consistently 10-12 minutes apart. This wasn’t anything I got too excited about as this had been happening for the past three weeks.
Contractions went 8-10 minutes apart.
5-7 minutes……
3-5 minutes…………
And finally I awoke Jamie out of a deep slumber at 2:30AM.
At first he thought it was another “false alarm” but after I went to the bathroom---it was the real deal!
No, we weren’t running around the house like crazy first time parents.
No, we weren’t screaming to get everything packed in the car.
We were calmly taking our time and I even jumped in the shower to try and provide myself some relief. We eventually pulled into Mercy Hospital around 3:30am and checked in.
Thankfully the maternity ward wasn’t busy at that particular time so they took me back and hooked me up to the monitor.
It was confirmed---contractions were consistently 3 minutes apart.
They check me.
1 cm dilated!
EXCUSE ME??!!
The nurse called the doctor and they decided to keep me for one hour to see if I would progress.
Thankfully, I dilated to a 2. They kept me where I was and boom---it settled in rather quickly that today was the day we would meet our little boy!
If there was any day that God was on our side---today was the day. Mary Beth Greenwood walked through the door. A tall, auburn colored hair woman with big blue eyes walked through the door and loudly exclaimed, “Alright, I am Mary Beth and you are having a baby today!!”
Jamie and I knew immediately we were in for a treat!!
She was a character and we loved every bit of it! Come to find out….she is the sister of Dr. Munro—the doctor Jamie just finished his OBGYN rotation with so we knew we were in very good hands….
She immediately made me get out of bed.
She stripped me down and I hopped into the whirlpool---which by the way has some pretty stellar lights that change colors. Jamie even decided to put his feet in and hold my hand as the contractions came and went.
45 minutes passed. I got out and just like that……I was three centimeters dilated.
Dr. Roose said, “Alright lady, your contractions will get more intense now.”
Twenty to thirty minutes passed and she wasn’t kidding. The pain was getting more intense. I tried to endure it. However, my entire body started to violently shake and I took the plunge---I asked for the epidural.
(Later to find out this decision didn’t matter)
The epidural gave me some relief for about an hour—this was when Jamie took a nap and I listened to the heartbeat of James.
And all hell broke loose at 1:30 when contractions were coming every minute.
Every single minute.
The epidural didn’t exist.
The pain was intolerable.
But somehow, I did it……we did it. Jamie was on my left side. Mary Beth was on my right side. I literally put their bodies through a week long marathon.
For three hours I pushed.
I push for 10 seconds, breathe in quickly and then repeat two more times.
Nothing.
He wouldn’t crown.
The doctor came in after two hours and held my hand saying, “Beth, I don’t know what else you can do---you are reaching exhaustion and he is stuck behind your pubic bone. I will let you keep going but I don’t know.”
I was scared.
Jamie was scared.
My nurse looked at me and said, “Beth, you can do this.”
Around 4:20pm, Dr. Roose came back in and she said, “If I can get in there and reach his head, I am going to try and use the vacuum to get him out.”
13 minutes later, James Regan Seidl was born.
8lbs. 6oz.
20 ¾ inches long.
Dark black hair.
Deep blue eyes.
And a set of lungs that filled the entire maternity ward with screams.
And love instantaneously filled my heart and the same feeling was confirmed when I looked at my husband’s face.
He was finally here.
Love,
The Seidl Sprouts
