Birth Day

Two amazing, blissful, unforgettable weeks have passed since we brought our sweet Morgan home - where does the time go?? I've been doing nothing but holding the kiddos for the last two weeks, so I am taking some time to update tonight, as Hunter is in bed, Justin is on duty, and I've perfected dual handed typing while holding Morgan at the same time :o)

The Birth:

We made the decision to induce on Wednesday, June 9, due to the fact that Justin would be pretty much unreachable the week of my due date, and the week after due to a mega round of testing for Justin. With Justin being 20 minutes from home, and another 45 minutes from the hospital, we decided it was safest to be slightly more proactive!

We left home at bout 6:30pm on Wednesday, scanning the radio all the way to the hospital looking for the Blackhawks game on the radio...we couldn't find it (guess the folks out here are still bitter about their San Jose Sharks!) so my dad filled us in on the score periodically during our drive. When we got to the hospital, Justin set to work finding NBC on the tv in our room, while I got settled in. (tip: skip the hospital gown and wear your own clothes!! I bought an inexpensive sundress/swimsuit cover up and wore that - I felt a million times more comfortable, especially when we were walking the halls...)

The L&D floor got busy with active labors all of a sudden, so Justin and I were left alone to watch the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup! - just as we predicted, the Batts have produced yet another Chicago championship baby! (flashback: Hunter was born during the playoffs the year the White Sox won the world series!) At 11:00pm, the induction began via cervadil, and Justin and I settled in for some sleep (they wheeled in an extra hospital bed for Justin to sleep on - I was glad he didn't have to sleep in a chair!)

Around 3:30am, the serious contractions started on their own, and we knew we were on our way! We slept some more, and a few hours later walked the halls for a bit. Around 8am, the back labor was getting pretty nasty, so the midwife suggested I get in the shower - this turned out to be absolute magic, and I stayed in for a long, long time! At 10am, I had to get back into bed for a bit to monitor the baby for a few minutes. It's true what they say - laying in bed is the absolute WORST! At 10:30am, as I was dying to get up out of bed, the midwife broke my water and HELLO - a totally different level of contractions began! The nurse told me to stay in bed since I was having stronger contractions that way, thank goodness for my midwife who told the nurse "she said she wants to get back in the shower, so that's what we're going to do!" (even in the midst of intense contractions, I really wanted to hug the midwife and punch the nurse at that point!)

So back into the shower I went, although the hot water didn't help nearly as much now that my water had been broken. By 11:00am, I really thought that giving birth without pain medication was quite possibly the dumbest idea I had ever had. Thank goodness for a midwife who kept reminding me that I was actually doing this, and a husband who never doubted that I was totally capable. I'm unsure of the timeline at this point, because everything happened VERY fast! The midwife had stepped out to see patients at her office across the street, and the nurse was trying to talk me through some contractions. The best advice I received while preparing for an unmedicated birth was "when you feel like you are going to die, you'll have the baby within a half hour". Just after 11, I knew I had hit that point. It was during this time that the nurse decided to tell me "you are only 5 centimeters, you are in active labor now, and you can expect it to take about an hour per centimeter from here on out". THANK GOODNESS I had sought the advice of experienced friends and read Ina May's guide to childbirth! I knew my stuff, and knew my body well enough to realize that what she was telling me was total garbage, and I was getting very, very close.

Sure enough, about 11:30 and still in the shower, I discovered the only thing that made the contractions bearable was pushing - oh no! Just as Justin went out into the hallway to get someone, the midwife had come back from across the street. Everyone started rushing around as I got set up in the bed. I was still only six centimeters, but unable to stop my body from pushing. Again, thank goodness for my midwife who trusted me, and my body, and just went with it. No coached pushing (counting to 10), no one yelling at me telling me how to do it, just Justin and the midwife gently encouraging me. I was pretty much passing out in between contractions, but I do remember the midwife giving me foot massages! I went from 6 cm to complete in about 5 minutes, and pushed for only 6 minutes after that. Our beautiful Morgan Elizabeth was born at 11:46am, weighing 7lbs 14oz.

Morgan was immediately placed on my stomach, something I hadn't experienced with Hunter's birth. It was such a peaceful, magical moment, and I will never forget it. After a while, the nurse took Morgan to get checked out and cleaned up a bit, but only for a minute. She was brought back to me right away, and I got to hold her skin to skin under a warm blanket with my Norah Jones CD playing in the background, and Justin close by and making the phone calls to share the news. It was by far, the most perfect moment I have yet experienced in my life.