A Baby Story

Ben and I tried to get pregnant for a year off of birth control before my OB finally referred us to a specialist. The basic “problem” was that I do not ovulate regularly, and my cervix is off to the side instead of a “straight shot.“ The specialist explained that we would try 3 rounds of IUI, intrauterine insemination, and if that didn’t work, we would move on to Invitro. The struggle to get pregnant was a journey in itself, that for which I am forever grateful. It is a part of our story and I feel like I appreciate pregnancy and giving birth and I realize it is not something to take for granted. And it is a testimony to how God uses the people he created, doctors, and the medicines and procedures they’ve created, to perform miracles. On the 3rd and final IUI try, we got our positive pregnancy test, and with that, a new journey began.

A year ago we had family over for my sister’s birthday. I had cleaned like a mad woman the day before, and from the moment I woke up I felt “crampy” all day. By the evening the crampiness had progressed but I sort of ignored it because, well, the party must go on. Everyone left by 9pm but my mom stayed behind. She was sure that I was in labor, but I wasn’t convinced. She took our dog Georgia home and said she’d be waiting anxiously by the phone, and I laughed at her. I started to realize that these cramps were indeed labor, so I started timing them on an online contraction timer. Ben went to bed because it was a Sunday night and he had work the next day, and I assured him that I would take a shower and try to sleep and see how I felt in the morning. Around 11pm I took a shower and that’s when the contractions started to get a little harder. I got myself and a bag ready then went in the room and said, “Ben I think we need to go to the hospital.” I came back in the room 5 minutes later and he was still asleep, so this time I really had to shake him. He sprang up and off we went. By this time the contractions were a few minutes apart and getting to be pretty unbearable, which made for a fun car ride.

We got to Silver Cross Hospital around midnight and went in the ER entrance, they took one look at me and up to labor and delivery I went. Thankfully the doctor I was not too fond of was coming off on-call and my doctor was headed in; I was so relieved. The first doctor broke my water and said I was around 2cm. At some point my parents and sister arrived, as well as Ben’s parents. I gotta tell ya, the abdominal contractions were nothing like I had ever felt in my life, but that was nothing compared to what was to come. I got my epidural and I.was.in.heaven. I never again felt abdominal contractions. But after a few hours I started to feel pain again, and this pain was out of this world. If the abdominal contractions were a 10 out of 10, these were a 19. They were coming fast and hard and none of the drugs were touching the pain. This was all because the baby was coming out head first, but face up towards the ceiling instead of down towards the floor. When babies come this way, their heads ram into the pelvic bone, causing intense pain and rectal pressure. (We had learned all of this and much more at our Prepared Childbirth class, another thing I highly recommend and am so grateful for), At one point I really thought I was going to die. One nurse had the nerve to ask me repeatedly, “Why are you crying?” Finally I blurted out, “Listen, this is my first time, it hurts really bad, and I’m scared, why do you think I’m crying?!” She shut up after that.

By this point it was around 3pm and I still wasn’t progressing enough, at the last check the doctor mentioned a c-section as an option, but only if we wanted it, he did not push it on us in any way. So I said to myself and Ben, “The next time he checks on me, if I’ve finally made it past 7cm, even if it’s only 8cm, I will keep going, but if I still haven’t progressed past 7cm after all of this, we’re doing a c-section.” So here we are, the doctor checks and says, “Sorry, still at 7cm.” Through choked sobs of pain I begged for a c-section. He was very calm and talked us through everything, making sure it was what we wanted, then off to surgery it was. There was a huge team of people in the surgery room, and Ben was by my side. They finally gave me a drug that blocked out the rectal pressure, and he made the incision. But I swear, I felt him pulling my insides out of my body! He said “You may feel some pressure,” to which I said, “NO, I FEEL YOU PULLING STUFF OUT!” It took a few more shouts to get them to believe me, and before we knew it the baby was out. We waited for the big announcement, and finally he said, “It’s a boy!” Even though we “knew” in our hearts it was a boy all along, it was still so awesome to wait and hear it proclaimed as he entered the world. But then we heard our son cry for the first time, which instantly melted our hearts and we began crying. Then I saw the most amazing creature I have ever seen in my life pop his head from behind the surgery drape. I kissed my son and then…everything went black.

The next thing I know Ben and the baby were gone and they were just about done stitching me up. Thatcher had to go to the nursery because he had gotten some of my fever that I had. I had felt a cold come on a few days before and I had managed to keep it at bay, but labor brought out the fever in full force. Another reason I am so thankful for the c-section because Thatcher’s fever may have gotten much worse if he had stayed in there any longer. After 6 long hours I finally got to see and hold my son. It was the most surreal experience of my whole life. Here was this baby, that by the grace of God Ben and I had created, now sitting here in my arms looking at me as if he knows exactly who I am. Like he had heard me and loved me for 9 months and now was thinking, “There you are Mommy.” My heart grew 10 sizes that day and has not shrunk back down since. That is also the day I watched my incredible husband turn in to the most amazing, loving, caring, protecting father I have ever met.

Thatcher Benjamin Skwirut was born January 5, 2009 at 3:34pm. The heavens rejoiced and the world became a better place that day. This first year of my son’s life has been nothing short of amazing. He is healthy, strong, smart, funny and dashingly handsome. I don’t see how anyone could deny God while looking into his gorgeous blue-eyed face. We've also made it a whole year nursing, which I am very proud of. I never really saw myself as a nursing mom, but it is so incredible and such a bonding time for mom and baby. And now that Thatcher is starting his 2nd year of life, I'm so excited to just sit back and enjoy him to the fullest. There are now 2 things I know for sure in life: I was meant to love Jesus, and I was meant to be this little boy’s mommy.