Patton Robert Etheridge | Birth Story
I can’t believe Patton has been with us for a MONTH today. Time has simultaneously stopped + moved quicker than ever before & he’s changing every single day. I’ve spent most of today’s nap times looking through the hundreds and hundreds of photos + videos we have of him. It’s heart-wrenching to know he’ll never be this tiny again — that we’ll never have these moments again. Nothing will make you want to soak up every moment like having a new baby.
These first four weeks have been the absolute best and most challenging of my life — nothing feels the same and priorities have completely shifted. I don’t think anything can prepare your heart for the intense emotions that come with the new title of mama. He is our whole world & in honor of this first little milestone I wanted to share his birth story & the best day of our lives — April 26, 2020.
At 36 weeks I began going to the OBGYN weekly for appointments and week after week they would check to see if I was dilated only to tell me that I wasn’t even close. My 38 week appointment on April 20 was no different — not even a centimeter! Like I mentioned in my pregnancy journal, I wasn’t really ever disappointed by this news — I never felt a rush to get him here, but I knew that if he didn’t show up on his own in a couple of weeks that I would have to be induced which wasn’t my preference (I was hoping to go into labor naturally.). So I left my appointment & reported to Nathan (who couldn’t come to my last few appointments due to Covid & was always on the edge of his seat waiting for an update) that it wasn’t baby time yet. So we carried on with our lives as normal.
On Thursday, April 23 Nathan (& every other man in the country) was gearing up for the first sporting event in months — the NFL draft. As we were sitting down to watch the first round, he politely asked if I could please not go into labor that evening through Saturday evening so as not to be interrupted. I laughed. And not even an hour later I started feeling funny — I really just felt like I was about to start my period. Just crampy and bleh all of a sudden. Could it be…..? Progressively throughout the evening the cramps became a little more intense and started to come and go like real contractions. I downloaded a contraction timer app and started timing them, remembering from our labor and delivery class that we shouldn’t go to the hospital until contractions were 5 minutes apart, lasting at least a minute each for an hour. My contractions at this point were all over the place……3 minutes apart…….8 minutes apart……2 minutes apart……12 minutes apart. And I still wasn’t in a lot of pain yet — probably a 3 or 4 on a scale of 10. BUT they continued throughout the night.
And then the next day….nothing. I woke up feeling completely normal. Not a contraction in sight until that evening when a similar situation occurred. I was having contractions but they weren’t consistent & weren’t very painful. This pattern continued through Saturday night (after the draft was over — you’re welcome, Nathan) when things became a little more intense. Contractions were becoming more consistent and more intense (probably a 6 or 7 on a scale of 10) and we spent most of the night awake timing them on my app. By the time morning rolled around, I just knew. I gently woke Nathan up and told him I thought it was time to go to the hospital. For someone who generally wakes up veryyyyyy slowly, he was UP. We called my midwife, told her the situation and she told us to head to the hospital. It was happening!
We spent the next hour calmly getting ready, putting the last items in our bags & loading up the truck. What started as me telling Nathan it wasn’t a rush quickly became OK LETS GO NOW. Things were intensifying quickly and every time a contraction rolled around I couldn’t stand up or speak until it passed. The truck was loaded, we said our goodbyes to Lady Bird & we were off. Thankfully the trek to the hospital was about 8 minutes but it felt LONG. “NO NATHAN I DON’T WANT A BREAKFAST BAR PLEASE JUST DRIVE”. (I regret not eating that breakfast bar, btw.)
We pulled up to the L+D entrance at Northside, parked & began check-in. Thankfully the whole process moved pretty quickly and we were taken to our room within about 10 minutes. I immediately changed into a hospital gown and our nurse who would be hanging with us for the day (Roxanna!) placed bands around my belly that measured my heart rate, Patton’s heart rate & contractions and walked us through next steps. Within about half an hour, my midwife-on-call came to check me to see if I was actually in labor (I was PRAYING this was the real thing and they wouldn’t send us home because this pain was INTENSE.). She checked me and…..I was SIX centimeters & 100% effaced. I was officially in active labor and they couldn’t believe I labored at home for so long before coming in! After it was official, things moved pretty quickly — IV was put in, catheter was put in and THANKFULLY within about 15 minutes the anesthesiologist was in our room to give me the epidural. (I’ve heard horrible stories about the pain of an epidural but believe me when you’re in this much pain, you don’t even really notice it — it was kind of a electric shock to the back that shot down my leg and…that was it!) Almost immediately the pain began to subside & I finally felt like myself (with a very numb lower half) for the first time in days. (Bless all you mamas who go natural!) You could see the the intense contractions I was having on the monitor and I didn’t feel a thing. On top of that, Roxanna brought me a warm blanket and I honestly have never felt so relaxed in my life. LIFE WAS GOOD.
For the rest of the morning + afternoon, Nathan and I just relaxed and spent some last alone time together. It was such an sweet, quiet, wonderful day dreaming about our little boy that we’d be meeting so soon. Family couldn’t be there with us due to Covid, but I honestly can’t imagine the day any other way than how we experienced it.
My midwife would come and check me every couple of hours to see how I was progressing. Sometimes epidurals can slow labor down and that seemed to be the case with me as I was still at six centimeters a few hours later. They decided to give me a very small amount of pitocin through my IV and to break my water to try to speed things up. When they broke my water it was green (not what you’re expecting to see) & it turns out that Patton had taken his first poo a little earlier than he should have. Apparently this is pretty common but can potentially be irritating to baby’s lungs if he inhales this fluid (called Meconium Aspiration Syndrome) so because of this, the NICU team would be in the room for delivery now just in case they were needed. We were obviously worried (& Nathan was obsessively google-ing), but our whole medical team ensured us it wasn’t a big deal so I tried to relax.
After these measures were taken to speed things up, I quickly (within an hour) was 10 centimeters dilated and they told me as soon as I started to feel an intense pressure, we’d start pushing. I wasn’t sure what pressure they were talking about but when it arrived I KNEW. It started out like contractions, coming and going, but it finally settled in and never left. I had an epidural, so I couldn’t feel pain but this pressure I was feeling was almost as “painful” and intense as the contractions I was having when I arrived at the hospital. It was go time! My midwife, Roxanna + Nathan were the BEST cheerleaders + hand holders. My midwife told us she could feel his head and that we were so close……but then every time I pushed Patton’s heart rate started to plummet. They turned me from side to side trying to get it to rise again and next time I opened my eyes, it went from three people in the room to about fifteen. Within about twenty minutes of pushing, things went from relaxed to the exact opposite. Everyone was whispering and moving quickly without really telling us what was going on, but the doctor stepped in and made a quick call that we needed to get baby out ASAP. After that, it was a complete whirlwind. They tossed Nathan scrubs and quickly began wheeling my bed down the hall to the OR. Nathan held my hand as they rushed me back and within about five minutes of the doctor making that critical call, Patton was born. And he was absolutely perfect with STRONG lungs, big beautiful deep blue eyes, a head full of dirty blonde hair, the longest eyelashes & the most perfect pouty lips. Everything changed for us in that moment. Just like that, I became a mama & Nathan became a daddy and we would never be the same.
Although our day went differently than we had expected, I’ve never felt disappointed or upset. Our medical team took a scary situation and handled it & delivered a healthy baby. That’s all I could ever ask for & I’m so thankful for every single doctor + nurse who worked with us that day.
The next few days were spent in the hospital getting to know Patton & memorizing everything about him. Learning how to be mom + dad. Adjusting to our new life. Soaking up every moment. Watching him see the world for the first time. Celebrating with family + friends via FaceTime. It was such a peaceful, intimate, few days that I wouldn’t change for the world & on the afternoon of April 29, we brought him home where the magic really began. <3
Patton Robert Etheridge | April 26, 2020 | 7:26 p.m. | 7lbs. 5 oz. | 20.5 in.
