Home of the Hollars : Asher Joseph's Birth Story

So even though I haven't written here in over two years, I documented Isaac's birth story, so I thought it would only be fair to document Asher's. Not that little boys would ever care whether or not their birth story was remembered, but I guess this is more for me than anyone else :)

Well, I guess to start from the beginning, Asher measured BIG my entire pregnancy. I felt like around 30 weeks I looked (and felt) about as big as I did full term with Isaac. At 36 weeks my doctors ordered a growth ultrasound to make sure baby wasn't too big. Although baby measured 6 lbs 15 oz, it was nothing of concern. I continued on teaching and living my normal life, hoping baby would make his or her entrance on their own, and I wouldn't have to be induced again!!

Fast forward to 38 weeks and my doctors told me to think about possibly inducing if I wanted to. They said since I had a successful induction with Isaac, there was really no point in going past my due date when the baby was measuring so big. At first I was totally against induction, but when you are super pregnant, and the doctors are assuring you that you and the baby will be safe, it starts to sound much more appealing just to get the baby OUT!

We decided to induce the Wednesday before my due date which gave my family time to plan to come up her to take care of Isaac. I took off the three days before the induction to get some last minute things done and spend one last full day with Isaac before he became a big brother. Finally, Wednesday arrived. My parents came up from Atlanta, and we all went out to eat for my Dad's birthday downtown. After dinner I kissed my baby good bye (I was SO emotional about him not being my baby anymore...is this normal???!!!) and Josh and I headed to the hospital.

We checked in, and I started to feel a little nervous. Last time, I feel like I totally had the mindset of "ignorance is bliss" and just let the nurses tell me what to do. This time, I knew what was about to happen. They strapped me up to the IV, the contraction monitor, the baby's heart rate monitor, and gave me my first dose of a pill called Cytotec. This pill was a million times better than the Cervidil they gave me last time. The Cytotec game me a little back labor and the IV made me have to pee basically every hour, but other than that, the night was uneventful.

In the morning, they checked me and I was at a 2! I labored really slowly with Isaac, so I this is pretty much what I was expecting. Slow and Steady! They then started the Pitocin which cranked up my contractions some, but still not nearly as bad as with Isaac! Josh and I were having totally normal conversation while watching House Hunters on TV when they checked me again and said I was at a 4! I was nervous to get the epidural because the pain really wan't too bad. My doctor assured me it was fine to get the epidural because she wanted to go ahead and break my water soon.

Soon after the epidural, my water broke on its own and I was at a 5- keeping up with my "slow and steady" pace :) A little while later, my nurses came in and seemed a little alarmed. They said the baby wasn't liking the Pitocin and baby's heart rate kept dropping with every contraction. They had to turn the Pitocin down and eventually turn it all the way off to stabilize baby's heart rate. I was getting super shaky at this point, and really trying hard to stay calm even though I was freaking out a little. Dropping heart rate and only being 5 cm was not what I wanted to hear. Josh was SO great in this moment and he helped keep me calm. I just prayed that God would keep my baby safe no matter what happened!!!

I texted my mom at 3:35 and told her they were cutting off all the Pitocin because of baby's dropping heart rate and to please pray that the baby would be ok. After cutting Pitocin, the nurses put me on the peanut (kinda like a big, long yoga ball) for half an hour on each side. At 4:35, Josh left the room to go to the bathroom, and my doctor came in to check me. Miraculously, I was at 10 cm, and she said I was ready to push!!!!!!!!

As soon as Josh came back in, I told him we were about to have this baby!!! My doctor and all the nurses were SO excited because no one knew the gender! We got everything ready, I pushed for about 6 minutes and we got to meet our sweet baby ASHER at 4:57 pm!!!! Thank goodness he was a boy because Josh and I still had no girl name picked! They placed him on my chest, and I felt like everything was in slow motion. He was perfect in every way, and we couldn't be more thankful for another healthy, beautiful baby BOY :)