Beautiful, magical, surreal: The birth of Wyatt

By Published On: November 26th, 2012

Written by: Tracee November 25 2012 I have to take […]

Written by: Tracee

I have to take some time to write out exactly what went down during the labor and birth of Wyatt so that I will never forget a single detail, even though it seems like I could never forget any part of this experience. Having four kids has taught me that the little details that mean the most often slip through the cracks.

We were set to have a natural—or as natural as possible—induction for Monday night, September 10, 2012, at 7:30. My sister and I began calling the hospital to see if a room was available for us to go ahead and come in to get started. Like usual, there was no room available! When we called at 1:30 a.m. we were told that a room would be ready shortly and we should go ahead and head to triage as I was having contractions yet again. Amanda, Stephen, Amber, and myself all excitedly load up and head to the hospital. Amber came to triage with me. We found out I was being admitted. (YAY!!) Then 15-ish minutes later we found out they had emergencies come up and I would be sent home to wait for a bed which likely would not be open until after noon on Tuesday. (BUMMER!) As we were walking out of triage my amazing nurse told us to hang out for just a second. She then told us I was being admitted … again! DOUBLE YAY!!!

So at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, September 11, 2012, I got into my room. I kept myself walking to keep my contractions coming (they were about 5 minutes apart but not too strong at all). We told the nursing staff all about the birthing tub and my birth plan, and in the process discover that I have the most amazing nurse ever (Aida) and she would send maintenance up right away to make sure the birthing tub was safe and met hospital regulations. While my doula (Jessie), Amber, and Amanda got the tub set up I enjoyed my insane amounts of delirium in the bed contracting away like a trooper. COME ON WYATT!!

Cytotec was placed at 4:25 a.m., while I was 2 cm dilated and 50 percent effaced, and I was told that I had to stay in bed for two hours of constant monitoring because of the Cytotec. Again, I was enjoying my delirum even when real labor hit about 10 minutes later. Contractions were becoming rather close, long and very strong. My amazing team of ladies discovered that the hose for the birthing pool did not properly fit onto the faucet in the room. UMM WHAT?! So my sister and Amanda had no choice but to leave to find some sort of adapter that would allow us to get the pool filled so that maintenance could come check it out and I could climb in to labor the way I had wanted.

During their absence I lost my delirious high and adrenaline rush and began to feel quite uncomfortable. Jessie was doing the best she could to keep me relaxed, and all was still going rather well. My sister and Amanda finally returned, with Spiderman duct tape. THIS WAS TOTALLY GONNA WORK! Amber set to work repairing the “leak” that the hose was causing, but my body could not wait any longer for maintenance to decide to make their appearance. DAMN YOU MAINTENANCE! I was 3 cm dialated and leaking amniotic fluid.

At 6:30 a.m. I climbed into what I hoped would be instant relief. My lovely nurse and sister had filled it with amazingly warm water, and laid a bunch of towels down on the bottom for cushion. Little did I know I was climbing into the bathtub from hell! Those who have seen me in person, ever, know that I am a tall girl with insanely long legs. Quite freakish actually … I look like a head walking around on legs. So climbing into a tiny hospital tub to try to gain some comfort and relief from the pressure in my pelvis was a complete joke. I could not get my pelvis to open to save my life. After 30 minutes in the tub from hell, lots of humming/yelling, and even some pleas for medication, we decided it was time to get me out of that darn thing.

At 7:00 a.m. we tried the birthing ball, which did seem to help quite a bit in opening my pelvis and relieving at least a portion of the insane pressure I was feeling (imagine being hit in the pelvic bone by a semi. over and over and over and over). However, I was too far immersed into my pain and discomfort to pull myself back out and reach some sort of sanity. I kept yelling for medications to help me, while cursing at my lovely team of ladies then immediately apologizing and telling them how much I loved them.

Finally, at 7:20 a.m. (I swear it was hours on that birthing ball not just 20 minutes) the doctor came in to start my epidural. Before he began the nurse checked my cervix, which was 6 cm dilated. I sat up on the edge of the bed to prepare for the epidural and asked if my sister could stay, even though i just knew they'd make her leave. Miraculously he allowed both my sister and Amanda to stay in the room with me! Inserting the epidural took a full 15 minutes, and during that 15 minutes I had four different big gushes of amnio fluid. I swear the Nile River was coming out of my body at this point. I was still pretty much losing my mind, yelling, cursing, apologizing, being lovey, etc.

As soon as the epidural was done (7:40ish) I knew something wasn't the same as all of my other epis. I could feel everything. Nothing was going numb. And all of a sudden my hip was exploding! Dr. Lewis came into the room to check my cervix, which was now at 8 cm dilated, and set up everything for me to push. I was still freaking out, but now I was in crazy pain and couldn't stop moving, all the while freaking out about Stephen still not being at the hospital with my kids and dad! WHERE WAS MY HUSBAND?! Things got a bit fuzzy here but I remember something about him being in the parking lot, but not really being in the parking lot, then losing the keys to my truck which had the car seats, and yadda yadda yadda. The fact of the matter was he was NOT in that hospital room and he needed to be! I felt the urge to push and began fighting against it, still screaming about Stephen needing to be there. Dr. Lewis checked me again and said I was 10 cm and could push whenever I wanted.

Finally I could not take the pushing urge anymore and at 8:01 began pushing. 26 seconds later (I went back to the video and counted the time) my son, Wyatt Dane Simpson, made it into the world.


8:02 a.m. September 11, 2012.

My husband still was not anywhere to be found, so my lovely sister cut his cord after we delayed clamping/cutting for a few minutes. It was beautiful, magical, surreal, and I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

I certainly did not get the labor or bith that I “wanted” but I got my healthy baby boy and that is all that matters. Stephen, Dahlila, and my Dad ended up making it to the hospital about 15 minutes after his birth … and magically all of my anger at my husband for not being there vanished. Newborns have that funny effect about them. 🙂

Photos by Welcome Back Photography