Morgan Grey’s Birth Story

“Sleep when baby sleeps” is honestly so hard to do. I see it as an opportunity to get a little laundry done, throw the dishes in the dishwasher, stare at Morgan, etc. and right now I am taking the opportunity to share his birth story! Luckily for me, it is a short & sweet story that I cannot wait to tell.

On Friday, May 21st, I had my 39 week appointment scheduled for the afternoon. I woke up and enjoyed some coffee on the back deck and planned to just relax until Brett and I headed for my appointment and some ice cream! I wanted Brett to come because I knew there was a good chance this would be my last prenatal checkup before baby arrived. My Braxton-Hicks contractions were crazy that morning and for the couple days before that. It looked like Morgan really wanted out of there!

I had been (and still am) dealing with fairly severe back pain and decided to make an appointment with a chiropractor that morning. I got in just in time to make it to my checkup afterwards, thank goodness! Several people had been telling me I very well could be having back labor pains and that was why my back was hurting. I did not feel like they were the back labor pains I had heard about, just that it was strained muscles from moving heavy objects that I honestly should not have been moving. The chiro said it could be a little of both!

After talking with the chiro for a bit, she told me I was reeaally close to having this baby and that it’s possible that her aligning me could go ahead and trigger labor if my body were ready for it. I told her it would be fine if that were the case!

A couple hours later, Brett and I were waiting for my OB to check to see how dilated and effaced I was. To pass the time, Brett and I made guesses on my dilation. He guessed 3 and I guessed 4! The week before, I was 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced. My OB came in and asked if I had been feeling contractions. I said yes, ALL the time, but that they were the Braxton-Hicks kind because I didn’t feel any pain with them. When she asked how often they were happening and I said about every 3 minutes-ish, her eyes got big and I knew something was up!

She checked my cervix and said, “Well, how do you two feel about having this baby today? You are at 4 to 5 cm and 85%-90% effaced!” Apparently my contractions were the real ones, and I was lucky enough to not feel any pain with them (yet). Brett and I looked at each other in shock, but at the same time, we knew at 39 weeks +2 days, there was a good chance I was ripe and ready to get this baby out! She sent us up to labor and delivery and on our way up I was texting my family and telling my mom to stop by our house and grab all of our bags on her way to the hospital. My dad said he nearly had to pull my mom off the ceiling she was so excited to get that text!

It was 1:30 when we arrived at Labor & Delivery and this is about the time I consider my labor to have started. Brett and I were taken to our birthing suite where I stepped into my gown and waited for my mom to arrive with our things (I was very worried about not having my cute floral hospital gown but once mom arrived I changed into it and decided then I was ready to begin this journey)! Haha! They hooked me up to an IV during this time. Believe it or not, the IV was the thing I had been worried about most when it came to labor and delivery! Turns out it was definitely not that bad.

My OB was not on-call the day I went into labor, so I knew she wouldn’t be the one to deliver Morgan. She did break my water at 2:30 though, and she checked on me a couple times during our weekend stay at the hospital.

Once my water broke, I started to feel discomfort with my contractions and I felt back labor pain which meant Morgan was likely sunny-side-up and putting pressure on my spine. It was still quite a while before I was really in pain, but once it got the the point where I had to keep moving to distract myself from the pain, around 5:30 or 6:00, I requested the epidural. Another thing I was so nervous about but really wasn’t bad at all! The thought of it was much worse than it actually was.

Brett was checking out the pattern of my contractions!

Not too long after that, the nurse checked my cervix again and I was 7 cm dilated. I knew it was really coming down to it now! She gave me a peanut ball which I had heard can really speed up the process, and it did! Although progress was already coming along perfectly. Surprisingly, I was not very nervous. I could tell the epidural was going to keep me from feeling most of the pain! I was feeling quite a bit of pressure with my contractions at this point, which they said I needed to feel in order to know when to push when the time comes.

Somewhere around this time, they inserted a catheter and honestly, that was the worst pain I had been in all day. Kinda funny that something so small and silly made me the most uncomfortable! I told the nurses the problem and they told me to keep pressing the button that put more medicine from the epidural into my back and soon I did not feel it anymore.

Soon after, I was feeling such intense pressure that I knew Morgan would be making his appearance soon. We let the nurse know and she said the doctor and the other nurses were next door at the moment, delivering another baby! I tried to be patient but eventually I was like, this doctor needs to get in here because he is coming now.

The team came in and right away I started pushing. I was so glad to have Brett right by my side as well as my mom! One of the nurses asked if I wanted to feel Morgan’s head, so I did, and let me tell you – it did not feel like a baby’s head! My mom said the look on my face was hilarious and everyone in the room cracked up. Haha Anyway, once I started pushing, it took about 30 minutes for Morgan to pop out which honestly only felt like 5! Really the entire day absolutely flew by. After about 7 hours of active labor, at 8:50pm, Morgan Grey Houchen was born weighing 8 pounds and measuring 20 inches long. Our perfect little son!

Labor & delivery was such an amazing and unforgettable experience. It was actually enjoyable and I loved having Brett and my mom there with me through it all. My nurses were amazing and I actually miss them! Being in a birthing suite helped my anxiety because it did not feel like a hospital room and I was able to stay in that same room throughout our visit there. I didn’t even leave the room the whole time we were there!