Austin Matthew's Birth Story

I was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday, January 3 at 8 a.m.

Around 10:30 p.m. on Monday, January 2, I started having contractions. They felt similar to other contractions in the past, so I waited/labored at home. I had uncontrollable shakes and around midnight, I decided that we should definitely go in. After spending Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve in l&d triage before being sent home, I wanted to be sure it was the real thing before heading in.

In triage at 1 a.m., we found out I was dilated to 6-7 cm. I asked how much longer they thought until I would hit 10 cm and be able to push. When they couldn’t give me a timeframe, I asked for the epidural. I really feel it was the best decision I made.

After the epidural kicked in, my parents, Matt and I were able to relax a bit while I continued to dilate. We listened to music, cracked jokes with the nurses and rested. There were a few times that my blood pressure dropped pretty low, but the nurse was able to reposition me and that seemed to fix the problem.

Around 5:30 a.m., they said I was fully dilated and could push if I felt the urge. I didn’t, so they continued to let me rest. An hour later, I still didn’t feel the “urge” but figured I’d give pushing a try. I ended up pushing for 20 minutes before Austin arrived at 6:43 a.m., weighing 8 lb 9 oz and measuring 20.5 inches long. So, from my first real contraction to delivery was a little over 8 hours.

Our little guy decided to come out with his hand up next to his face, giving me second degree tears in three different spots and a hematoma. Clearly God was watching over me and helped me make the decision to get the epidural early on. I cannot imagine what that pain would have felt like sans epidural.

It took them 45 minutes to stitch me up, but we were so consumed by our new baby that it didn’t feel like that long. Matt and I both had skin to skin contact with Austin within minutes of him being born and I was able to breastfeed him while the doctors continued to work on me.

 The epidural took a little longer than expected to wear off. When it was time to move from labor and delivery to the Mother Baby Center, I attempted to get into the wheelchair and ended up dropping straight to my knees. What a weird feeling!!! Two nurses had to help me up, but it felt so weird being dead weight.

After being up all night in labor and then up the next day with a newborn, we were quite tired.

One of my favorite pictures... trying to suck face with his momma, or, he's just hungry.

Since coming home, we’ve have had some challenges with breastfeeding and Austin dropped more than 10% of his body weight at his check up, down to 7 lb 8 oz. We were able to get an appointment with the lactation consultant at the hospital and things started to get better. My milk came in, but my nipples aren’t “sticking out” like they should. This has created latch issues and the pain has brought me to tears multiple times. So we started using a nipple shield which helped a lot.

For the first few days at home, my pain “down there” got worse instead of better each day. My legs/ankles were swollen beyond recognition. I felt like I had Princess Fiona sausage feet. Disgusting. Add in the breastfeeding issues and it was a rough couple of days.

At Austin’s first weight re-check, he gained four ounces, up to 7 lb 12 oz. We’ll go for one more weight re-check on Monday to make sure he is steadily gaining weight.

The nether region is feeling much better these days and the swelling in my feet is pretty much gone now.

Unfortunately, the breastfeeding woes continue. My nipples are cracked and Austin is taking in a bit of blood with each feeding. On top of that, I have Mastitis. Having a fever and feeling achey with a newborn is the worst. Matt has been nothing but amazing, taking care of Austin and I. So, I’m on antibiotics for the infection and we have stopped breastfeeding for now to allow things to heal. I am pumping every 3 hours and Austin is getting that milk through a bottle. We’ll try breastfeeding again in a few days...

We are settling into a great routine. Austin is awake for most of the day and sleeps from around 11 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. at night without waking up.

Matt has been off work for two weeks and we are both dreading him having to go back tomorrow.