A Birth Story: Roman E. Schmidt

I love reading birth stories. Each one is unique and special, but I know its not for everyone. Don't worry, I will spare you the gory details. This is a completely selfish post, I want to write it because I don't ever want to forget the day my little was born. Today, Thanksgiving, Roman turns O N E + I have never been more thankful for anything in my life.

So... here it goes.

First of all, my pregnancy was perfect and I give HUGE props to those ladies that have tough pregnancies because I don't know how you do it. I worked the day of my due date and met my husband at the doctors office after for our 40 week appointment. ( I do like to brag about working on my due date ) I had been stuck at 1cm for about a week and I was ready to get things along! Everything was ready. Everyone was ready. We started with an ultrasound to check fluids and movement. The midwife came in after we had waited for what seemed like FOREVER. She said "I want to talk about what we're going to do with you, but I need to check on some other patients first." OH. OK. Sure, we will just sit here with that very small bit of VERY vague information. We waited, and waited and waited... I think I fell asleep at one point. (I have been up since 5:30AM) this was a 4:00PM appointment. It's now, maybe 5:30PM and I am running on empty. FINALLY sweet Zoey comes in and sits down, apologizes it took so long and jumps in. She explains to us that my fluids were low and the baby was not moving as much as they would like. She went on to say that she wanted to induce me and that fluids being low were a good indication that it was time to get the baby out of there. WHOA WHOA WHOA. I just came in here for you to tell me I had another two weeks of pregnancy. Welp, we were sent home to get our stuff and go to the hospital to get checked in so we could be induced in the morning. ANNNND I had a soft pretzel for dinner because I probably would have puked from the nerves if I had anything else.

When I was checked in and all that jazz they gave me something to get me ready to be induced and told me I would have a quiet night and to get some much needed rest! Patti (my fave) was on call, but they were certain she wouldn't get to deliver because there was NO WAY I would go into labor tonight. (Anyone picking up on the foreshadowing here) Everyone came to visit, my husband ate a large Big Mac (gross) and I was settled in for the night.

I complained to the nurse a little later that my back was hurting a little and she said "no problem, I will keep an eye on your monitor from the nurse's station." Ugh, okay. As my husband's snoring became louder my pain became more intense. I breathed through it because there was NO WAY I was going into labor tonight. She came back and asked about pain and I said it was at about a 5 or a 6 and I was okay breathing through it. Again, she said she would watch from the nurses station and she would be back after her round of checks. I breathed and breathed and kept my moans quiet so I wouldn't wake the hubs... at one point he rolled over and asked if I was okay, but rolled over and fell back asleep before I was done breathing and could answer. We are now to the point where we can laugh about that. Haha I still thought this can't be it. Again, there is NO WAY. Eventually I whispered to Kyle and he woke up. When he came over I asked him to call the nurse and have her come in. It had been like 2 HOURS! She came in and I told her I lied, my pain was definitely an 8-9. She acted like I was a little crazy and said she would check if I progressed at all. 5 1/2 centimeters BABAYYY. She was as shocked as we were and went to get the anesthesiologist. He came in right away and gave me the goods. (I wish I was a hero, woman that do it drug free, you are my heroes) Maybe next time, I think I could have made it... because before he attached the meds to the epidural she checked me and I was at 9 1/2 BABAYYY! This was a matter of maybe 45 minutes. When I was at 5 1/2 cm I tried to have Kyle call my mom to come and the nurse vetoed that decision, saying it could take a long time to have this baby. Now she said "You might want to call mom + tell her to hurry!" Mom just confirmed that Kyle was very calm on the phone and possibly in shock.

It all happened so fast from there, within an hour he was there. Patti (my favorite midwife) was there and they also had to call the doctor in. Roman was in distress and they needed to get him out quickly. At one point they told me I may have to get a C-section if we didn't get him in the next couple pushes. Luckily everything worked out and NICU was there right away to take him and get his breathing going. I'm not sure I knew exactly what was going on during that time. God has a funny way of making everything just as it should. He was making sure I felt nothing, but peace. All around me there was chaos, calling the NICU and the doctor, I now know my mom and husband were very worried when they made those calls, but I don't think I ever felt worried. I never once felt fear. I knew I was going to meet my babe + he was going to be perfect. When NICU was done and they laid him on my chest my life was forever changed. If you are a mom you know exactly what I am talking about and if you aren't yet, well its something extraordinary. We stared, we cried, we laughed. He was all ours + he was absolutely perfect.

Roman E. Schmidt

11/23/2016

8lbs 2oz

19 1/2 inches

4:32 AM