Henry Dean Obie
@daniellelopezphoto
On March 4th, at 39 weeks my doctor schedule my induction. This date was the best coincidence, as it’s my mom’s favorite day of the year….March Forth (get it?!). The weeks prior to that had been extremely challenging, both emotionally and physically. At week 35 I measured small, which raised a red flag for my doctor. It is mostly precautionary, but measuring small leads them to question if the placenta is working correctly, if I am losing any fluid, and anything else that might indicate why the baby isn’t thriving in utero. Up until that appointment, I had felt really good. That bump in the road made me struggle with the outside noise we have all heard as pregnant mothers, and more importantly, I struggled with the noise in my head. I worried daily about the growth of our baby, and if he would be ok once introduced into the world. Each week I went through a precautionary ultrasound to make sure baby was doing ok. If for some reason there was further cause for concern, baby might have to come out a few weeks early. I tried hard to connect to my body and quiet the mind, but it just seemed like I couldn’t do either. With the advice of my doctor, she suggested an induction once I reached 39 weeks. Thankfully, I have an incredible doctor. She is a superhero in my mind, and I fully trusted any and of all her suggestions.
The week prior to induction, I tried everything to make my body go into labor on it’s own. Unfortunately, none of the old tricks that I attribute to Olivia’s labor worked.
On March 4th, we called the hospital at 6am, they said to come up in a couple of hours, and we actually had a pretty routine morning, even though internally I was a nervous mess. I had the intention of going into labor on my own, and with the goal of not using drugs to start the process. The unknown of the induction had me on edge, but I also realized this was one last step until we met our son, so I welcomed the challenge.
After calling the hospital to ensure there was a room for me, we proceeded to get ready for a big day. Once arriving, labor and delivery was extremely busy. I was able to get a room, however active labor moms took precedent, and they didn’t have enough nurses to accommodate all the delivering moms. I was in a holding pattern up almost 5pm. At that point we started misoprostol, one pill every 4 hours. Not much changed by around 10pm, so the nurse administered another pill. Still nothing, and we started pitocin at 2am.
By 7am, my doctor arrived and said let’s do this! Things seemed to go pretty much as planned after that. First was the epidural. An amazing anesthesiologist administered that. Bozeman Deaconess truly has incredible people on their team. I chose an epidural this time after consulting with my doctor, as she expected things to move really quickly as we increased my pitocin dose. Because it was my second time delivering a child, my body was definitely ready. And, my doctor was right. Things happened fast. I was grateful to have the epidural for the first few hours of laboring, as my cervix was quickly changing.
The only issue we encountered was that I could feel the contractions on the left side of my body. I welcomed them, as I wanted to know things were progressing. However, this did concern the nurse and now I know why. By 11:00am the epidural wore off, I had contractions on top of contractions. I went from 3cm to 10cm in a half an hour. At this point, I experienced pain like I had never felt. I was literally in tears for 45 minutes while my body was transitioning. By 11:45, I had so much pressure that I knew it was time to push. The pain I was in made me know that we were getting closer to meeting our son.
Two things were running through my head during the 15 minutes of pushing. The first was ‘your baby needs you to be strong right now,’ and second was a silent prayer to God to help me find the strength to bring this life into the world.
And just like that, at 12:05pm on March 5th, after 5 long, painful, big pushes, Henry Dean Obie was born. He arrived to the song “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. As Henry entered the world, the incredible nurse by my side told me to look down at my baby being born. At that moment, I experienced pure, raw love, and I was able to find the sweet spot between complete surrender and trust in my body. Nick cut the cord, and Henry was placed in my arms. I had the most incredible team of strong & powerful women holding space for Henry’s safe arrival. Nick, the love of my life, gave me so much confidence and love as I delivered our little angel.
Overall it was a smooth birth, my amazing doctor had me push very slowly on the last push, resulting in no tears or stitches. I look back on this experience I wish I could relive a thousand times over. Brining another life into this world has been the most profound experience of my life.
Day 2 of Henry’s life, we introduced him to his new big sister, a moment that will forever make my heart swell. This past month so much has changed in the world. We are in the midst of full on quarantine. Even though there is so much sadness in the world right now, this past month has been the best of my life. I hope to look back on this uncertain time, and remember soaking in every fleeting moment with my kids and husband.
Thank you to Danielle Lopez for the beautiful birth photos and thank you to Opal & Ox for creating a video that I will cherish forever.
