In a few days, five years ago, the Lord blessed my husband and I with our firstborn son. I’m reposting his birth story which was originally shared on a different website:
Our beautiful gift from above is here! Today I am sharing the birth story, the days & weeks leading up to the exciting day, why we chose the name, and other little tidbits of information. I was hesitant to share the birth story because I do value some privacy in my life, but I would like to have something to read in the future…and who doesn’t love a good birth story? When I was still pregnant, I spent hours reading other bloggers stories & just marveled at how a woman is able to push an 8lb bowling ball out of her bottom. Disclaimer: Obviously don’t read this if words like “dilated” and “epidural” make you queasy. Also, don’t read to criticize how this baby entered the world – having a natural birth, epidural, or csection doesn’t mean anything. All that matters is that baby & mom are happy & healthy.
I wanted to do a little “still pregnant” updates before getting into the actual birth story, but I knew I’d forget the details. So, below is the “countdown” to the day I delivered & I have been updating it since I was 37 weeks pregnant.
The Countdown
37 weeks: I have to be honest, 37 weeks is not my favorite. I’ve been greeted by a familiar friend (nausea) & it really sucks. My doctor seemed a little too please when I shared my symptom with her, I guess it’s a sign that my body is prepping for labor. From the looks of things, the doctor is guessing I’ll be going over my due date. I just hope it’s not any more than a few days past.
38 weeks: I’m feeling pretty great this week, especially the past few days (in fact, I think this is the best I’ve felt all through my pregnancy. Even my nausea has disappeared (which should be celebrated, but of course I’m over here worried that it’s a sign that something is wrong. Go figure.). This upcoming weekend is our last weekend with set plans & Travis seems to think the baby might make an appearance just because it’s a busy weekend. I don’t think so. And neither does my doctor, since I’m showing zero signs of labor.
39 weeks: Alright. I think I’m officially over being pregnant. The anticipation is KILLING me – every day I find myself wondering, “Will today be the day?”. We are approaching the date Travis thinks the baby will make his appearance, the 7th. I’m starting to believe it as well because I do believe in signs – my doctor originally had planned on not being in town starting the 6th. I had been praying fervently that my doctor would deliver the baby, because I really like her. Well her plans have been canceled & she will be in town the 6th, 7th, and 8th. I guess we’ll see…
40 weeks: Nope. Still pregnant. I don’t feel like anything will happen anytime soon & my body certainly isn’t showing any signs. Tomorrow I have an ultrasound to make sure I have enough amniotic fluid (because my baby belly hasn’t grown in 3 weeks). If everything is fine, I’ll continue waiting. If not, I’ll be induced.
*Ultrasound looked great – baby and fluid levels were just fine.
**On Tuesday evening, we had to run in for a stress test at the OB triage since baby was having a lazy day. Turns out he was just fine & starting kicking the monitor on my stomach as soon as we got there. Go figure. At least it brought some peace of mind for 24 hours.
Surprise!
On Thursday (the 13th) was my last doctor’s appointment. I had a non-stress test beforehand & figured we’d be schedule an induction day for late next week, if baby hadn’t made an appearance by then. After the test, we found that baby did not pass & my doctor wanted to know if I would be okay being induced that night.
Of course, I said yes.
So at 4:30pm, I was being admitted to labor and delivery as my husband raced home to grab all of our stuff. I was very excited and a little nervous, as I had not expected Thursday to be the day.
At 6:00pm, I was given cervidil. Because I was not dilated, I couldn’t receive pitocin (the labor inducing drug). The best they could do was give me a drug to coax my body into delivery. I guess many women can give birth naturally after the drug is administered, so that was the hope.
Oh boy, after an hour or two, I started feeling contractions. They didn’t feel horrible (sort of like period cramps), but I refused to complain because contractions usually means the cervix is dilating.
Nope. Not mine. I was having painful contractions at least every 2-3 minutes for the entire night & through the early morning…with no results. Zero. My body was not doing anything. Dealing with contractions was hard, but after learning all my hard work was resulting in nothing, I became very disheartened.
Around 6am on Friday, my doctor came in and said she’d like to start administering pitocin. Unfortunately, since I wasn’t dilated, I couldn’t get an epidural. From reading & chatting with other women, I knew that pitocin would make contractions even worse. I felt that I couldn’t go on much longer, if this pain increased. I asked begged for an epidural and she told me that while she could give it to me, if nothing happened in a few hours, I’d need a c-section. I told her that I was fine with that – I never had a birth plan made because my only goal was to get baby out.
I had to wait until after 9am to receive an epidural – and oh my lord, how wonderful that felt! The nurses let me nap a little before pitocin was given & I don’t really remember when they actually administered it. Travis quick ran to get breakfast while a nurse told me to relax, as we had another long day ahead of us.
The nurse helped me turn to my side around 10am when I realized my water had broken. I was so ecstatic & the nurse seemed pleased. We decided to leave it be & not check to see if I was dilated, just to give my body a little more time. Fifteen minutes later, I was being checked & assumed I was no more than 5cm…when the nurse beamed a huge smile and told me that I was a 10 & this baby was coming now.
I texted Travis to get his butt back to my room while nurses scrambled around the room to get ready for baby. They let me start pushing while the doctor was being paged & after about 30-45 minutes of pushing, baby Sali was born.
I cried. Travis teared up. Baby looked healthy & slimy & utter perfection.
Our baby boy, Fischer Reed, was born on October 14th (my due date guess!), at 11:49am, weighing 8lbs 5oz and 21 inches long.
We had skin-to-skin for about an hour before we were left alone to bond and rest. I was exhausted but couldn’t nap with a new bundle of joy in my arms. I stayed in the hospital until Sunday.
*Extra notes*
Turns out, I was the talk of the labor unit for the weekend. I gave birth to an 8 pound baby, even though I hardly looked pregnant & I went from zero dilation to 10 in an hour. I guess I’m an exciting patient.
It felt so weird not being pregnant anymore. My lungs felt stronger, my stomach felt…empty (in an indescribable weird way), and I missed that feeling of baby kicking away inside.
Did labor hurt as much as I anticipated? No. I thought it would be worse. It took a long time for the contractions to feel worse than my endometriosis cramps that I was so used to & I thought pushing wasn’t too painful either.
Would I do it again? Eh, ask me again some other time. I do have to say, kidney stones are worse pain-wise. I’d rather give birth than get another stone.
*Behind the Name*
Travis & I had girl names picked out pretty much right away, most names chosen months before we were serious about starting a family. oy names on the other hand…well it took us a while to agree on something. Honestly, I think both of us were getting a little frustrated with finding a good name. On a whim, Travis google searched video game character names (real surprising…right? lol) & came across the last name of “Fischer”.
I wish I had a snapshot of my face when Travis suggested I name my child, “Fischer”. I thought it was pretty stupid, unique, and it had zero meaning behind it.
My mind changed just a few hours later & I absolutely fell in love with it. For some odd reason, it just fit. It was unique, but not completely out there, as Fischer is a common last name. What really helped verify our name choice was a bible verse that I was reminded of:
“And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.”
-Matthew 4:18-20 KJV
“Fishing for men” was something that brought Travis & I together, as evangelizing was an important part of Cru (the college christian ministry we were a part of).
It also is the “purpose of life”, as in Matthew 28:19, we are told to “Go and make disciples of all nations”.
As parents, our main goal is to raise our child to love & cherish the Lord and his name really represents our history and God’s purpose for our lives.
Samantha Sali 