Sawyer Timothy Glenn: A Birth Story

As I was lying on the hospital bed, exhausted and numb, the last thing that ran through my head before Sawyer arrived was, “oh my goodness, am I really ready for all this?”

Then, that set of chubby cheeks, a button nose and two blue eyes beneath a full head of beautiful blonde hair was placed on my chest and everyone but Sawyer and David disappeared from the room. 8 Lbs and 7 Oz of little stranger was now part of our family forever. Ready or not, I was in love.

It turns out that even though I went a few days past my due date, he was doing his best the whole time to meet us. But I should start from the beginning.

Monday morning came bringing us two days past my due date. Sawyer’s head was pointed down and he was doing what he could to thin out his escape hatch (my cervix).

I just wouldn’t start contracting. At all. Other than an excruciating pinched nerve in my right leg and the discomfort that came with being a huge, ambling whale, I felt totally fine.

So the doctor introduced the need to induce. If my body still wasn’t cooperating, induction day would be August 21 at 1 a.m. Yes, you heard me right. 1 a.m. We became concerned because that day fell so close to David’s Step 2 board exam.

What came next was a very personal spiritual experience. We hit our knees as we pleaded with Heavenly Father that everything would turn out alright. Then we put our heads down and just kept going – David back to the books and I hit the road for some errands.

When I came home a little after 4, I felt something and thought my splattered bladder had done it again. Turns out it was something else. Not my water breaking, but you know, that other thing that has to come out. We were suddenly hopeful and it was easier to go about life. We went to the post office to mail some thank you cards, picked up the dry cleaning and David started a new set of practice test questions.

Even though there was a little trickle now coming out of me, I still didn’t feel any contractions until …

6 p.m. I hit the deck. Literally. Some invisible battering ram had slammed into my lower abdomen at the same time it cramped up. Holy pain batman, so that was a contraction! Then there was another. Once they started, they were immediately 2-3 minutes apart and at least 30 seconds long.

When David came out of the office and saw me cowed over on the floor, he knew what was going on. When he heard how close they were together, he also told me not to be a hero and just go into the hospital already.

When we stumbled into Labor and Delivery around 7:30, a quick check let us know we wouldn’t be leaving again.

In the midst of all that pain, a familiar face popped into the room and let me know she would be delivering our baby. I had seen this midwife twice during my prenatal appointments and she was absolutely fantastic. Midwives are throughly underrated!

After a little wait due to an evening baby boom, we got into a Labor and Delivery room where they turned the lights down and we turned some quiet music on. I had progressed quite a bit and was definitely dialated enough for an epidural. But even though I was ready, the anesthesiologist was not.

You know those birth plans that women obsessively compile while pregnant? Yeah, mine went out the window. I had sworn that I would not accept any IV pain medication other than an epidural because it would pass to the baby. But in that moment, I welcomed the Stadol with open veins – just enough to take the edge off until the epidural arrived. Yes, it passed to Sawyer. Yes, it made him sleepy and lethargic. And yes, he was just fine.

The anesthesiologist, a Western grad, was fantastic. My scoliosis made his task a tough one. According to the midwife, some doctors won’t agree to do an epidural on a tweaked spine like mine. But he was both extremely comforting and competent. Soon, I couldn’t feel the contractions. But even though the lower half of my body was numb, the rest of me was still in overdrive. Every time a contraction would come, I would start shaking like a leaf.

By about 4 a.m. gravity had poked the little crown of his head out on his own and it was time to push. I remember the midwife sitting there, whimisically twirling his locks of blonde hair in between contractions. The epidural had worn off just enough for me to make a difference pushing and I could even feel his little feet kick my upper abdomen as he wiggled his way out.

This was it. Was I really ready to be a mom? Was all this waiting finally over?

At 5:38 a.m. they placed that set of chubby cheeks, a button nose and two blue eyes beneath a full head of beautiful blonde hair on my chest. He let out a few tiny cries and then peace just came over him. He gripped David’s finger and we remarked how strong he was. And yes, I cried.

After that, everything was literally perfect. Our little one passed every test with flying colors. His cries were so little and were in the minority. I think it took him three days of life on earth to discover he had lungs.

Although I felt like I had been hit by a truck, my experience was thankfully missing most of the things women dread including tearing.

It’s over. Pregnancy is over and I am a mom. It’s still a surreal feeling and I’m not sure if I will ever get used to it. But there’s no way I could love anyone more than I love my little family.

Let the adventures begin!