Colton’s Birth Story

It’s about time I wrote this up. But before I get to the actual birth story, let’s back up, since that helps set the tone.

A few weeks into finding out I was pregnant, I decided I wanted to pursue a water birth, and since water births aren’t allowed in NYS hospitals, the birth center was going to be my best option. The first time I met Dr Katharine Morrison, I was SO impressed by her and her philosophy. After my anatomy scan, I made the decision to switch my OB care to the Buffalo Birthing Center. Everyone here is absolutely amazing and treats their patients like they are their only patients.

We had centering OB appointments every two weeks. We still got our individual check ups, but we also had group appointments that had a certain topic each week. Even as a Mom with two other children, this was so beneficial for me and I learned so much! And met some AMAZING women who will now be lifelong friends because of the connections we all made with each other.

Throughout most of my pregnancy, I was low-risk. I saw the chiropractor regularly which kept me sane and kept my back happy. At 28 weeks, I started having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions and Katherine wrote me down at work to part-time for risk of pre-term labor. Other than that annoyance, I felt relatively fine! I was active and hardly gained weight and the weight I did gain, was totally up front!

At my 35 week appointment, Katharine, sent me for pre-eclampsia blood work because at that point, my blood pressure had been slowly rising over the weeks and my feet were increasingly becoming more and more swollen. The good news was that my blood work came back perfect. But she wanted me to monitor my BP at home and to text her every couple days what it was so we could keep an eye on it. And at that point she decided she would like to see me for weekly appointments instead of every other week centering appointments.

Then again at 37 weeks, she did follow up blood work again and all of my numbers looked wonderful again, so I just kept checking the BP at home.

During all of this time, I was experiencing on and off prodromal labor. I would have contractions most evenings that would linger and not go away, then they would always die off when I went to bed. Sometimes they were just annoying and other times I thought it could possibly be pre-labor. They were never painful. Which is exactly how my labor with Remi started.

At 39w3d on May 2nd, I started having lots of contractions that morning, and they were coming consistent and happening about every 10 minutes. Then they would die off, then pick right back up. I had an OB appointment that night and they told me to bring my bags just in case it was the real deal. Of course, it was not, and Katharine decided to do a cervical check and she estimated I was at about 2 cm and 40% effaced. This was my first cervical check and only done to see if I was in labor or close to it.

Prodromal labor is a serious mind-fuck, every time the contractions start, you really think they could be the start of labor, then they die off. This was happening sometimes multiple times a day, and happening just about every single night. I began to question whether I would even know if I was in labor because I was just used to having contractions all the time.

At 40w3d on May 9, I had an OB appointment that morning, BP wasn’t great, but overall it was a great appointment and she sent me for another round of bloodwork (which came back wonderful again). She also put a call in to Children’s to setup for the  following day for a Non-stress test since I was now over 40w. At every appointment, she made sure I was not having headaches or blurry vision, which I was not.

Well wouldn’t you know that that night overnight, I experienced the worst headache I had had probably all pregnancy and no matter what I did, it would not go away. And my BP shot up higher than it had ever been to at 154/96. I texted Katharine and she told me to meet her right at the office that morning. While at that appointment, Katharine did another cervical check where I was still about 2 cm and around 60% effaced and my blood pressure wasn’t getting any better. At that point, Katharine decided that I was too high of a risk to deliver at the birth center and would need to be medically induced at the hospital. I was now one of the less than 10% of women at the birthing center that had to be transferred to the hospital. Something I never expected. Gestational hypertension was rearing its head and we needed to get the baby out of me.

This was literally my worst fear the entire pregnancy that I wouldn’t be able to deliver at the birth center. It was my dream to birth here. I wanted the natural birth, possibly birth in the water, and take my baby home with me within hours of giving birth. And suddenly that all felt like it was thrown out the window. Of course there was a lot of crying that morning at that appointment and I told Katharine that my biggest fear of going to the hospital was feeling like I couldn’t “do it” (as in have a natural birth because in the past at the hospital I had epidurals) and Katharine reminded me that the difference this time was that I was going to have HER there with me. And that was a nice reassurance. With both Hank & Remi’s births, I didn’t know a single person in the delivery room (besides my husband of course) and I got the OB on staff to deliver them, so I was lacking in the support department with the OB not knowing me and what I put out to achieve months prior. And by having Katharine there with me, she knew exactly what I wanted. I didn’t even have a birth plan written up like I did with Hank and Remi.

So Katharine told us to arrive at the hospital between 3-3:30 pm. We of course had to stop for some food at Qdoba on the way up!! We got there and they immediately hooked me up to a monitor which showed I was having contractions (which I knew, they were the same prodromal contractions I’d been having for weeks on and off) and I honestly wasn’t phased by them because I was just SO used to them!! As they were getting ready to place an IV, Katharine arrived and put a kabosh to that since she didn’t deem it necessary, YAY for not being tied down by that thing. And put in an immediate request for wireless monitors so I could move around as needed.

Since I had a “favorable cervix,” Katharine decided to use cervidil to get things going. She said generally if there is already a lot of effacement, it’ll just be the push the body needs to get into full blown labor and that it should only take 4-6 hours to get things going. So at 5:45 pm, the cervidil was placed on my cervix and the wireless monitors were also placed. I ordered some food and put it in the fridge in case I needed something substantial as labor progressed. At this point my contractions were about 5 minutes apart but like I said before, they were the same old contractions I was used to. So I decided to rest the best I could since I figured labor should be starting soon.

At 12:45 am, Katharine came in the room and I told her what my status was and she decided to do a cervical check because she thought I would’ve been in labor by then. Much to all of our surprise, I was STILL at 2 cm and about 60% effaced. Katharine was fully convinced that that cervidil was a dud (or in her words “lacked juice”). So she decided to pull that one and put in an order for another cervidil.

She placed the second dose of cervidil at 1:15 am and at that point, I decided to sleep some more. Really hoping this time that labor was pending. At 3:30 am, I woke up feeling a LOT of pressure and the need to poop. As soon as I got up out of bed, I noticed that my contractions were coming every 2 minutes and lasting 1 minute. I was like woah! How much of that was I sleeping through?! THAT just goes to shows how used to the contractions I had gotten haha!!

At 3:35 am, I shot Katharine a text (she was down the hall), and I said “Think this cervidil is working. Contractions getting strong and about 2 min apart it seems” and at 3:52 am I sent another text that said “Wanna come down here?” to Katharine. In the meantime, at 3:45 am, I called my doula, Savannah, and asked her to come to the hospital and I also texted my photographer, Lisa, to update her of what was going on and she decided she would head in to the hospital.

As the minutes went on, I realized that this was the real deal and that I was actually in labor YAY!! At 4:10 am, I decided to get in the tub and labor in there (in the 40 minutes or so prior to this, I was mainly walking around laboring and leaning on a counter when I would get a strong contraction). At this point while I was climbing into the tub, I still would not call them “painful” but present, strong and consistent. At 4:15 am while I was laboring in the tub, Katharine pulled out the cervidil and ripped off the wireless monitors. When she pulled out the cervidil, I’m sure she knew where I was at (cm & effacement) but didn’t say a word, and I am SO glad because honestly being told I was only 2 cm at 12:45 was a bit draining thinking it would be a LONG time before I would have a baby.

I labored in the tub for probably the next 20 minutes or so; getting a stronger urge to push with each contraction. At one point I screamed “I CAN’T DO THIS!!” and Katharine said in her sweet, reassuring voice, “but you ARE doing it,” which was exactly what I needed to hear. And at that moment I thought back to a conversation I had had months prior with my photographer and friend, Lisa, who said that at every birth she’s witnessed where a Mom has said she couldn’t do it, she was in transition. In between a couple of my contractions, I asked Casey to snap some pics of me in the tub, in case Lisa didn’t make it in time. At this point, I KNEW we were close to delivering a baby. Also while I was in the tub, Savannah arrived and immediately started rubbing my lower back as I was having lower back pains. And her and Casey made sure I stayed hydrated in between contractions as I was doing A LOT of work and really out of breath. At about 4:30ish, Katharine decided I should get out of the tub as the baby’s head wasn’t coming down with the contractions and would go up a little after each push. We assume that my water broke at some point while I was in the tub because I never felt or saw it breaking.

She suggested I try the birth stool. Oh the birth stool. The stool that I looked at and thought who the hell would want to give birth on this thing. HAHAHA!!! And let me tell you, getting out of that tub WHILE contracting with a baby’s crowning head was one of the hardest things ever that morning! At 4:40 am I was on this stool and with each contraction, I was pushing with all my might. It was SO amazing pushing when my body felt the need and not being coached to do so. At 4:42 am, Katharine informed me that the top of Colton’s head was out to about the top of his eyebrows and I was able to feel his full head of hair. And she said with the next contraction our goal was to get his head out. Lisa arrived somewhere around this time. (Sorry for downplaying labor, Lisa! Haha!!). And Casey told her she might want to get her camera out because a baby was coming haha!! But she did one better and decided to video the contraction that would be the one that allowed me to push my baby out. At 4:44 am, with the next contraction I pushed with all my might and not only did his head come out, but so did the rest of his body. The kid literally popped right out in that one push like a wrecking ball!! Colton finally decided he was ready to meet us at 4:45 am on Friday May 11, 2018.

I now made THE longest walk of my life with a baby in my arms and a cord between my legs from the bathroom to the hospital bed. As I laid down, upon quick inspection, Katharine suspected a second degree laceration. They checked his APGAR and wiped him up while he was doing skin to skin with me. At 5:10 am, the cord stopped pulsating and I cut the cord. It was SO cool. I’m so glad I got to experience that. For about the next 1.5 hours, Colton stayed on my skin just cuddling and nursing. It was so amazing being able to hold my baby for 2 hours before anyone else touched him.

While I was holding him, I pushed out the placenta, which to be honest, was WEIRD haha!! It felt nothing like I thought it would feel pushing it out. And as he was skin to skin, Katharine decided it was time to inspect the tears and repair the damage that a 14.5 inch head caused. She determined I had a FOURTH degree tear that needed to be repaired. Casey gladly went and got the room Tim Hortons haha!! (And brought me back the best bagel of my life). Before she would sew me up she gave me two lidocaine shots to numb the area, and let me tell you, those HURT!! And she spent easily the next hour sewing me up.

I finally agreed to give the staff my baby so we could do an official weigh in. Everyone was making guesses, most of us in the 8 lb area. One of the baby nurses said when she first walked in the room that he looked like a 10 lb baby, and I was like NO WAY! Haha!! Well sure enough, the moment arrived, she set him on the scale and everyone just started laughing and exclaiming he weighed 9 lb 14.8 oz!! 1 oz away from 10 lb! I still am in AWE that I labored and pushed out an almost 10 lb baby with a 14.5 inch head vaginally without a SINGLE pain med!

Let me tell you, short labors are extremely intense, just like everyone had told me who had short labors. But I will still chose that any day if given the choice over a longer labor! I “joked” that I was going to end up with a car birth (Remi’s labor was much shorter than Hank’s by hours) & now I seriously think it could’ve been a possibility if I were to go into labor spontaneously!! Thank goodness that didn’t happen!!

I may not have been able to have the EXACT birth I wanted at the Birth Center, but I still got the birth I wanted and dreamed of for 9 long months! I DID IT! I FREAKING DID IT!! I may have had to use every intervention under the sun to get pregnant with my babies, but man did I know how to carry them and birth them!! My body was MADE to birth a baby, and birth a baby is exactly what I did. And I would do it again in a heartbeat! It was the most amazing birth experience one could ask for. I had the best support system around!

Welcome to the world, Colton Cash Astry.

Shout out to Dorky Stork Photography for the awesome pictures!

Remi's Birth Story

I've been meaning to post this for awhile. I don't even have any excuses because I had this mostly typed up in the hospital!! Oops!! Anyways, here it is :)

Monday morning 10/26/15

* I woke up with lots of pressure, took Hank to daycare, came home and hung out & watched my newest guilty pleasure, The Real Housewives of Orange County

* Had a lot of Braxton Hicks, that were wrapping around to my back, but they were not intense

* Tracked my "contractions" on & off and they were about 8 minutes apart then I stopped tracking because I got annoyed! LOL

* Chatted with a girlfriend saying we were ready to have our babies and she told me to drink some of my red raspberry leaf tea!

* Picked up Hank from daycare at 12:30 pm & mentioned to the girls that I was feeling "off", I got home and put him down for nap & ate some lunch

* Timed contractions again & they were about 5 minutes apart but a little more intense than they were in the morning, but still not bad by any means (snuggling with Hank when he woke up) 

* Because they were averaging about 5 minutes apart, I called my OB at 2:20 pm and they said to head to L&D to get checked out

* Called Casey to come home from work & told him to take his time because I wasn't sure if I was in actual labor or not. I texted Mary that she needed to take Hank and she sent Marcus over to pick Hank up and we headed to the hospital at 3:20 pm, but not without stopping at Redbox first to drop off my movie (Pitch Perfect 2) 

* Contractions got closer (about every 2.5 minutes) and much more intense on the way to hospital. I think Casey was getting a little nervous as I kept grabbing ahold of the "oh shit handle". Thank goodness we were before rush hour and didn't run into any traffic problems!

* Casey dropped me off while he went to park his car, I went to the ER and got lots of stares and the person on duty brought me up to the L&D unit. 

* Got into triage and was checked and the resident estimated I was around 5 cm, but then the Doctor came in and estimated I was closer to 7 cm. Holy shit! I really was in labor. While waiting to get into a delivery room, I went to the bathroom and saw my bloody show. I also texted my birth photographer, Lisa, to let her know she should head to the hospital. I think I gave her a mini heart attack 

* I was officially admitted at 4:38 pm

* Contractions were getting really intense and I asked for epidural because the back pain was unbearable. At this point I was picturing a long night ahead of us. So, I asked for the epidural at 5:30 pm.

* They started an IV and wanted to get antibiotics started ASAP since I was GBS+. They prefer to have the antibiotics in for at least 4 hours. They were happy I asked for the epidural in hopes it would stall labor a bit so I could have as much of the antibiotic as possible. 

Mid contraction:

In between contractions:

* After the epidural was placed I was feeling the contractions still & at this point the contractions were on top of each other with virtually no break in between them, so the doctor gave me a second dose and it finally started kicking in by probably 7 pm

* I told them I kept feeling pressure in my bum so they decided to have me checked again and I was fully dilated. This was just minutes after the epidural had kicked in. 

* So I started pushing at 7:10 pm 

* I said "maybe baby will be born in the caul!" because at this point my water still had not broken & they said waters bulging, then pop and it broke 

* Since the epidural had just kicked in, I couldn't feel when I was pushing, so it was basically guessing game. It's not something I would recommend. I would rather have that feeling of when to push. Had I realized I was "right there" I wouldn't have gotten the epidural. 

* I got to feel his head as he was crowning, it was the coolest thing!

* I had Remington Scott Astry at 7:50 pm. 7 lb 15 oz, 18 3/4 inches. We were "team green" and Casey told me "Remi has a weiner!" Apparently the OB spilled the beans in the delivery room when I was pushing, but neither of us caught it thankfully!! Haha!

* I needed an episiotomy (again) and had a 3rd degree tear in the same spot as I had with Hank. They told me the healing process would likely be worse this time around but instead I healed much faster and felt much better after this birth than I did with Hank. I had no problem at all moving around!

* I was able to do skin to skin with Remi for probably an hour, during which that time he pooped on me! They said he probably would've been 8 lbs had they weighed him when he was first born haha!! 

* We nursed for the first time in the delivery room when he was about an hour old, he had a VERY strong latch! I told the doctors he was a little piranha!!

Overall, I had an awesome labor and delivery experience! I hope my next labor goes just as fast!! I'm so glad I hired a birth photographer to capture my labor & delivery, if you'd like to see the pictures, here's the link: http://dorkystorkphotography.pixieset.com/remingtonastrybirth/

I also ended up getting my placenta encapsulated this time and I'm so glad I did!! I felt so amazing just days after giving birth & best of all, no PPD!! Hallelujah!! 

First picture as a family of 4: 

Look at that hair!!

Heading home: 

Here's my Detailed contraction history from the "Full Term" app: 

My morning contractions :

My Birth Story

So I've been meaning to write this post but just hadn't gotten to it! ;) Hank is napping & I'm feeling pretty good, so I figured I'd take some time to sit down & write this! Warning, it'll probably be a long post! (This actually took me two days to write haha)

So on the morning of Thursday May 16, I had my normal weekly doctors appointment. Even though Casey had only slept a few hours (because he works til midnight), he went to the appointment with me. They took my blood pressure and it was a little elevated and they also noticed some protein in my urine, so the PA called one of the doctors and they made the call to medically induce me that evening because of these factors and the fact that my due date was the following day. They told me to go home and rest and I'd likely need to go to the hospital (Women's & Children's) that evening. We rode home and stopped at Purina then the college because I had to grab a few things in my office. As we pulled into the college, they called us and told us that labor & delivery was expecting us. We were shocked thinking we had all day to get some stuff done around the house, but that wasn't the case. We came home and packed up the Durango and headed up there. We of course had to stop at McDonald's for lunch on the way up! :-)

We checked in and had to wait a few to get a room, but once we were in the room, they had me change into the lovely gown so we could get things moving. One of the doctors checked me and I had no dilation and my cervix was high, so they opted to use a drug called Cervidil to ripen my cervix. This drug needs to stay on my cervix for 12 hours, then after the 12 hours are up, they usually start a drug called Pitocin. At 3 pm, the doctor placed the cervidil on my cervix, then I had to lay still for 2 hours. They also pointed out that I was having contractions, but I just thought they were Braxton Hicks, so they were just the annoying feeling I'd been feeling for days haha. At 5 pm, we called the cafeteria for dinner. That was an amazing dinner! After dinner we just hung out and tried to get some rest knowing that it'd be a long day tomorrow! We watched the season finale of The Office and I was getting really uncomfortable! I was having really strong period type cramping and my lower back was killing me! So I asked the nurse if I could have something for the pain. She said she would check with the attending doctor. In the meantime, I felt like I had to go to the bathroom really bad! So I sat up, and all of a sudden felt a GUSH, I thought, I either just peed myself or my water just broke. Well it turns out my water broke. I was pretty excited that my water broke on its own! And since my water had broken, I was allowed to have an epidural. They did not check me for dilation because my water had broken (I'm wondering now if I was dilated at this point).

So since Children's is a teaching hospital, there are tons of resident doctors there. The anesthesia resident came in the room to get my history and brought in the stuff for the epidural. The attending anesthesiologist accompanied him. He got me all prepped and my nurse was amazing, holding my hand and helping me relax. So he placed the epidural and all of a sudden I felt a tingling go down my right leg, well that was no good, it meant that the epidural was in the wrong place and they had hit a nerve (which I still have tingling from!). I should add that it took him a long time to get it placed. So they had to remove it and do the whole process all over again. This time the attending doctor did the epidural and it was much easier and faster and I didn't have any weird feelings this time. They started up the epidural and I was feeling much better! I think it was about 10 pm or so by now. So I decided I was going to try to get some sleep.

I tossed and turned and started getting very uncomfortable. I was having a ton of pressure and was watching the monitor and could see that the contractions were strong and close together. At 3 am, a resident came in to pull the cervidil. She noticed that it was no longer attached to my cervix and was actually laying on the bed, so who knows how long that had been out! It's possible it fell out when they placed the catheter but who knows! And she asks me, "is this your first baby?" and I answered "yes" and she replied that I was 9.5 cm dilated, I couldn't believe it! She said no wonder I was feeling so much pressure, I had been in active labor, laboring on my own, no wonder I couldn't get comfortable. I woke Casey up to tell him that things would happen a lot sooner that we had expected! She said she would come back to check on me in 30 minutes. I was still at 9.5 cm, so she decided to check again in another 30 minutes or so. I was so relaxed during the first 9.5 cm not knowing I was in labor, so that was likely why it was moving along so fast. I was so happy to find out that I had begun labor on my own and wouldn't need pitocin. I wonder if my body would've gone into labor on it's own anyways that night! It was nice to know that my body was doing something on it's own!

At about 4:30 am, the doctor came back in and said we would begin pushing. At this point it was just Casey, me, the nurse and the resident doctor in the room, and it was nice and dark and as relaxing as it could be. I pushed for awhile and my contractions were spreading out, which was nice to let me relax a little in between pushing, but at the same time I just wanted things to move along! After about 30 minutes of pushing, they called in the delivery team and the lights came on, and a "million" people came into the room and it was "go time!" It was nice having so many people because each person had their own job and position. Casey was up by my face with the portable fan, thank god we brought that! I pushed for what felt like ages! I was getting so out of breath and was hyperventilating, it was definitely the hardest workout I'd ever done in my entire life!! I even blew a blood vessel in my eye, thankfully it was small and not that noticeable! As the pushing went on, Hank was down in the birth canal but I was having a hard time getting him out. The attending doctor at this point informed me that they'd need to perform an episiotomy and possibly use a vacuum to get Hank out. I think this kicked my butt into over drive knowing I had to get him out fast because I really didn't want the vacuum to be used. Finally Hank was out!

Henry Alan Astry (Hank) was born at 5:44 am on May 17, 2013, my due date! I had even joked the week before that Hank wanted to be unique and actually come out on his due date. He was immediately put on my bare chest so we could have immediate skin to skin contact. I just talked to him and cried, I didn't even care what was going on "down there" at that point! We delayed clamping the umbilical cord until it had stopped pulsing, then Casey was able to cut the cord. He stayed on me for awhile until they took him off to weigh him and stuff. He weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces and measured 20 inches long. While he was being measured and such, they had informed me that I had a 3rd degree tear and they were stitching me up. Even with the anesthesia, that hurt like hell! But Hank makes everything worth it! :-) As soon as they were done weighing him and such, we breastfed for the first time and he latched right on. It was amazing seeing him just know what to do! After he was born, we handed out "Oh Henry" candy bars to the L&D staff and they loved it!

That morning as they were testing Hank's glucose levels, they discovered that his blood sugar was borderline low, so the poor guy had to have his heal pricked every 3 hours :-( His levels were always borderline or normal, thankfully they were never too low. But if his levels were below what they wanted, he had to have good levels for 24 hours before he didn't have to be tested anymore. The hospital was having a baby boom today, so it also took us until that evening to get into our room up on the Mother/Baby floor. It was so nice getting out of the delivery room and into that room which was much more comfortable and homey. We had lots of visitors while we were there, which was also really nice! Hank roomed in with us but before I could feed him each time, he had to have his sugar tested to see where it was at. We tried to do an early discharge on Saturday evening, but that didn't work out because they discovered he had a lower sugar that morning, so they had to continue the 24 hour testing until 7 am on Sunday. We were getting a little stir crazy and ready to go home, but better to be safe than sorry! Thankfully his levels continued to be good so we could go home on Sunday morning. It was wonderful getting out of there and able to get home and get settled!

I have to say that Children's is an amazing hospital and I am so happy that I chose to give birth there. I badly wanted to go into labor on my own, but instead needed a medical induction and it still was amazing. Everyone treated us so wonderfully. We had amazing nurses in both labor & delivery and on the Mother/baby floor. The doctors and residents were all awesome and made us feel like we belonged. They were willing to do anything for us. The food was also beyond amazing, which everyone knows will make me happy! Haha!

A little update on us...Hank is doing really well! He had a weight check at 1 week old and he weighed 7 lbs, 15 oz, so he's already above his birth weight, which makes me happy knowing that I'm providing him with enough food. Breast feeding is definitely one of the toughest things I've ever done, but it's wonderful knowing that I can provide him everything he needs, so I'm hoping it'll work for us for awhile! Hank's umbilical cord came off at 1 week old, I was so surprised at how fast it came off! Hank has a lot of personality and is becoming more and more aware of his surroundings. The animals are all doing really well with him as well! We are using the cloth diapers all day and only using disposables at night. Now that his cord is off and his circumcision is healed, the diapers are very easy to use and he always has a cute butt! Haha! Hank also likes to pee when I change him, so we have to be very careful! He's even pooped on me while changing him! Oh the things that change real quick when you have a child! It's still very surreal having him here, I can't believe he's mine! This little thing that I worked so hard for for so long is finally here! It's just wild! He makes me smile and makes me so happy! We are so in love with him!