Felix’s Birth Story

I don’t know about you, but I love hearing birth stories. Chris can attest that during my pregnancy I was constantly watching birth vlogs and reading up on anything birth related. I even would end up in tears because reading and watching all those made me so excited to experience the miracle of birth again. Yes, I cried because I was excited. I’m odd.

Going in, naturally I had a plan and I had it all written up and ready to be implemented. I was going to wait until the contractions were five minutes apart (the doctor told me to wait until they were eight, I just knew that was too soon), I was going to get an epidural if I needed it, deliver with gravity as my friend, and have skin to skin right away. I told Chris of my plans and he warned me that things never go as planned, which I am aware, but I still wanted to try.

Leading up to Felix's birth I did everything I could to induce labor on my own. I ate spicy food, drank red raspberry leaf tea, bounced on my exercise ball, and ate so much pineapple my mouth burned (refer to picture below). I had hoped to go into labor on time or a bit early, but such was not the case.

Two days overdue, February 14th

Just like with Ayla I started contracting a couple days previous. I knew it was false labor at that point because I could talk and walk through the pain. They continued throughout the day. I figured when I couldn’t ignore them anymore than I would know it was real. So February 17th (Monday) I started having them about an hour apart. They were hurting, but not terrible yet. So I bounced on my ball and walked a lot, all the while trying to keep it from the girls in case it wasn’t the real thing. And I did. I just told them it was Braxton Hicks and that they would know when it was for real. It was also family day so Chris was home so I could hide up in my room for the afternoon because they were starting to hurt a bit. I was already five days past my due date and was ready to get the cute little boy out of me. Chris didn’t want to know the gender so I had kept it a secret for months. I was so ready for him to find out the babe inside me was a boy.

About midnight on February 18th my contractions were about ten minutes apart, I told Chris to wear ear plugs and a mask since I knew I was in for a long night. So for the next five hours I lay in bed trying to sleep meanwhile my body was contracting. At five in the morning I woke Chris up and told him it was time. He got ready, and called his mom to come watch the girls and we headed to the hospital. We got there about seven in the morning and by then my contractions were about three to five minutes apart. They checked me and by then I was only two centimeters dilated. So they gave me the choice of going home, or walking around the hospital for a while. Since we had already packed everything in the car I really didn't want to go home so we walked. And walked, And walked. Chris was such a huge support and by the time it was eleven o'clock we had been walking for three hours. I could barely stand and the pain was so intense that I was crying. I stopped monitoring the contractions and Chris had taken over. They were about two minutes apart before I told him I couldn't do it anymore and I wanted to be checked.

They checked me and I'm sure could tell that I was ready. I was between a four and five so they finally admitted me. After I got the epidural I felt much better and lay in bed until about six when they broke my water and hooked me up to some pitosin to get things moving. I was extremely nervous and started panicking a bit. With everything that happened with Ayla I just started reliving doing it all over again; having a baby and growing to love this tiny being more than I could imagine and with Ayla having her taken too soon. I just couldn't bare the thought of enduring that level of pain again. I knew this time would be so different but it was all bringing back memories. Chris held my hand and by the time it was time to push I was ready.

I pushed for half an hour before my sweet baby came rushing out, this time I looked down as I pushed and was able to see him come out; hair and all!
A tender moment was Chris getting to call out to the rest of the staff what the baby was. Chris can come off as hard to read sometimes but when I looked into his eyes I knew that he was thrilled to have a son.

Within minutes of Felix making his entrance they knew something was very wrong. His abdomen was enlarged and they were very concerned so Chris and Felix went to the NICU to get some x-rays done to see what the problem was. So here I am, laying on the bed realizing that what I had envisioned was not what would be happening. As soon as I could leave that room I did. By that time they knew that they couldn't care for Felix there so he was going to be transferred to the Children's Hospital. I wasn't allowed to be discharged so Chris and I had to make the decision on whether Chris would go with Felix, or stay with me. We decided he should join our little baby. We quickly went over our list of names we liked and decided that our cute baby looked like a Felix and his middle name came from Chris' grandfather who died a year and a half ago.

My nurse by this point had done her twelve hour shift and was suppose to go home. She left sobbing because she didn't want to leave me after finding out that Felix had a bowel obstruction and would likely require surgery. My new nurse who happened to be her sister-in-law told her she needed to go home and she would update her later on. So Felix and Chris left at two in the morning, leaving me alone. Even now it hurts to remember how hard that was. Knowing that all was not well and having an empty baby bed next to me. This was not my plan and after everything I had gone through in the past I was angry that God would allow me another child to have issues. I was allowed to go at seven in the morning, what's kinda funny looking back is that I never told them my epidural had not completely worn off on the one leg. It didn't wear off until two days later which is probably not normal but I was afraid they wouldn't let me go if I told them so I didn't. Luckily it did wear off eventually :P.

I could go into the three week stay we had in the Children's but that would make for a very long post. They surgically removed the obstruction, the dead tissue, and both appendixes (yes he had two, because why not?) two days later. All Felix has to show for it is a tiny scar on his abdomen. He healed much quicker than they thought he would and things are moving through his body normally. Yes, my birth experience was extremely traumatic, but I am so grateful he came home before COVID-19 became a pandemic. I don't know if I could've handled the rule of only one parent in the room at a time for three weeks straight.

Felix is such a good natured baby and we are lucky to have him. With all that behind us, I can see that there were small blessings along the way and I know that going forward Felix's road won't be easy, but I am so glad he's mine!