Insights on Parenthood | My Birth Story: Delivering During a Pandemic

Aug 13

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Since having Eleanor, I’ve realized how difficult parenthood can be. There is so much that we don’t talk about when it comes to starting and raising a family - this is hard work! Within the first few weeks of becoming a mom, I knew more experiences needed to be shared. So I started reaching out to women in my life and asked them to share a bit about their journey to motherhood. We will be featuring their answers over the next few months. We will talk about pregnancy, birth, infertility, and everything in between. These are the real stories - the good, the hard, and the messy. Ultimately, I hope this is a way we can learn about and celebrate motherhood. Everyone’s journey to motherhood looks different, but no one should do it alone.

I’ve always known I wanted a family. I’m the middle of 5 so I grew up in a household full of people and family. I love the hustle and bustle of a full home, there is always someone there to spend time with. While Brian only wants 2 kids I want 5 or at least 3. Hey, I’m a middle and I want to spoil a middle!!

After the most amazing wedding, Brian and I started talking (like most couples do) about what the next 5 to 10 years would hold for us. We knew we would move in together, get a house, and work. We wanted kids but would wait a few years. Well as the years went by and we watched our friends and family begin their parenthood journey, we felt like it was time to start trying for a family of our own.

I was fortunate to have a healthy pregnancy with no real complications. Yes, I had heartburn, acid reflux, my back, and feet hurt a lot but that was all considered normal. It wasn’t until the last month and the final week where things started getting more difficult for me. I had a BIG belly. I mean it looked like you took a summer watermelon and added it to the front of my body. I had gained more than the suggested amount at 45 lbs and I felt so uncomfortable. Baby would move and rotate making it harder and harder for me to sleep and sleep is my favorite!

We talked with our doctor and decided to schedule an induction for April 9th. Once it was scheduled, I started having regrets, could I deliver on my own? Was it fair to evict the baby before he or she was ready? I really wanted to have a natural delivery without an epidural. So I called my doctor and we decided to schedule a growth scan to see what the baby was like. We wanted the gender to be a surprise, so we hadn’t seen the baby since the 20-week point. This was important to see how big the baby was. If baby was too big I would run the risk of having a c-section, and I DIDN’T want that.

On Thursday, April 9th, I went in for a growth scan, masked up and went in without my husband. At 40 weeks pregnant, I sat in a waiting room in a kiddie chair, constantly shifting from side to side to get more comfortable while I kept my distance and texted updates to my husband. We were in the early stages of the Pandemic of that point and so much was unknown and changing daily. COVID-19 was really putting a wrench in my support system.

There simply weren’t enough chairs in the waiting room for us all and I couldn’t stand much longer. I was fine, I told myself. This will all end in a month or so. Generally, I consider myself a realistic person, not overly optimistic or pessimistic. When I was called back for my scan, we had the obligatory introduction and ‘how are you feeling’ conversation. She scanned and measured my belly. Baby was measuring 8lbs 13oz, but she said it was hard to tell with how low baby was resting. I followed up with my doctor and we decided due to my discomfort and the size of the baby that we would stick with our scheduled induction appointment that night and likely see her tomorrow.

You know the feeling when you are all ready to go and just waiting to leave the house? I had that feeling the rest of the day. I went home and kept working. I needed to pass the time. I swore I would deliver early, I didn’t. I had planned to take all of April off to rest and prep and instead I kept working. Up until I left for the hospital I was working with brides on postponement plans for their spring and summer weddings at this point 8 weddings had been rescheduled. Having a baby during COVID was really uncharted territory.

That afternoon I had a call with the Dayton Daily News to be interviewed for an article on how businesses were being affected by the pandemic and shutdown. We had to try it twice because the journalist was working from home and his 6-month old needed some attention, something I was soon going to become really familiar with. That afternoon we had Milo picked up by friends who would watch him over the weekend for us. (Thanks Ty and Bailey!)

While all of this was happening, we should back up to the morning of the 9th, I started having weird belly pains. I came up from the den where I was working to tell my husband who was working in our kitchen. He grinned with what can only be described as a Grinch smile from ear to ear and said “you’re having contractions.” I strongly disagreed but I was wrong. What I know now is that I was having contractions. Baby and mom were ready!

We checked into the hospital late..oops, and made our way to our room and settled in. Time to get some sleep. Over the next few hours I was woken up to take the next round of meds. I hadn’t dilated much by morning. So at 7 AM we started pitocin. Every hour they would up the dosage of pitocin and I would continue to try and nap and work from my phone. I don’t care for hospitals and have never found them comfortable so I need to stay distracted.

By about 11 AM they came in and asked about my pain, I had decided to get an epidural. The anesthesia team came into my room to prepare. There were 3 of them, since all elective surgeries were on hold due to COVID they didn’t know what to do with themselves. I got the whole team! If you are thinking about getting an epidural, be sure to do some cat-cow poses and stretches beforehand, they had to go digging in my back twice to find some space in my spine for the epidural. It was painful and Brian was kicked out of the room during it because I guess a lot of husbands tend to faint during the procedure!

The next few hours passed and I was checked to see how I was dilating...by 4 PM I had jumped to 9cm dilate and an hour later they walked in and asked if I wanted to have a baby! I was game and ready. We turned on my Mood Booster playlist on Spotify and started delivery. Pushing in total lasted about 25 minutes and we were surprised to learn that we had a BABY GIRL!! I swore I was having a boy, so it was a fun surprise for all the doctors and nurses. If I’m being honest, I cried when they said it was a girl. Not because it was a girl, but because I was so sure we were having a boy!

Eleanor Joy was born on her due date at 8lbs 10.6oz!

The next 36 hours was the beginning of what our little life of isolation would look like. We had minimal contact with hospital staff and tried to sleep despite being woken up every few hours for vitals and medicine. We were approved for early discharge because they didn’t want to keep people there any longer than needed. However, without the hope of family or much support once we went home we opted to stay one more day and went home on Easter Sunday. We dropped by our friends house to drop a blanket off with Milo and headed home. Milo came home the next day.

If I’m honest, the birth was the easy part. The next 3 months were some of the most difficult weeks of my life. Both emotionally and physically I was pushed to places I’d never been before.

You can expect more updates on family and baby in the future. This is such a special time in any family and you learn so much so quickly. I want to share my journey and allow others to learn and grow from it to make their experience easier.