Graham's Birth Story

He’s HERE!

Our sweet baby Graham arrived about 12 hours before his scheduled c-section… I think he has FOMO like his Dad and just couldn’t wait to join the party 🤣

So while everyone told me that this birth would be so different than last time, and it was in a lot of ways, it wasn’t exactly the calm and joyful experience that I was hoping it would be.

One thing that really helped me process everything last time was writing it all down, which I eventually shared in Charlie’s Birth Story. So I decided to do that again this time… and going through all my notes made me realize that I wanted to share it again too.

It’s so easy to build up birth and postpartum experiences in our minds, but both of mine have reminded me that so much is out of our control. For every ideal birth scenario that you hear about or see on social media, there are also stories with struggles. No matter what, you’re not alone!

And now that we’re on the other side, I mostly just feel an overwhelming gratitude for our access to high quality healthcare, modern medicine, and the fact that I have 2 healthy boys at home. I don’t take any of that for granted.

Now let’s get into it…

I woke up on a Wednesday knowing that it was my last day of being pregnant - but that’s only because my c-section was scheduled for 7:30am the next day. Charlie and I snapped a few final photos/videos of the bump (above!) and we did some last minute packing to make sure he had everything he needed at my parents and I had most of my hospital bag ready to go.

I had been getting Braxton Hicks contractions here and there, but they really ramped up that afternoon. It was mostly just my belly feeling really hard to the touch, but some had mild cramps with them too.

We were planning on bringing Charlie over to my parents with all of his stuff and staying for dinner anyway, so after mentioning the BH contractions to Adam, we decided to go over early - around 4:30pm. We figured we’d eat early, come home and relax, and then we’d go to the hospital in the morning.

Shortly after we got to my parents, I felt my first real contraction. I remembered the feeling from my induction with Charlie and it made me nervous. After a few more, I called my doctor’s office to see what they thought/if eating dinner was a bad idea. They told me I could probably eat light but I should also start timing the contractions. If they became intense and consistent, call back.

Welp, within only 20 minutes or so, the contractions became both stronger and closer together - 5 minutes apart closer. I called them back and they told me to head towards the hospital.

Within the next 20 minutes after that, contractions were even more intense and consistently between only 3-5 minutes apart. We got to the hospital and I said no to a wheelchair because I think I was still in denial about what was happening? At this point, I think it was still only 5:45pm. Everything happened SO fast!

Anyway, I had to stop and lean against the wall on our way to the room during one of my contractions and that was when I realized we were 1000% having a baby that night.