Tyler Joseph Billings' Birth Story

TYLER JOSEPH BILLINGS

It has taken me forever to get around to finishing Tyler’s birth story. We all know that parents take fewer baby pictures of each child after the first. Well, I guess in this case Tyler will have fewer blogs than Caroline. I had so much time then to write weekly blogs while on maternity leave with her. This time around I’m just now getting to my first blog about Tyler. Being a mother of two affords less time for getting things accomplished. I’m learning there is a small window of opportunity to get things done and that I need to seize every opportunity that I can. Well, here is his story that I will probably retell on all his birthdays…

Tyler's due date was May 1. Tim and I figured since Caroline was late there might be a chance that he would be late as well. So we scheduled an induction for Cinco de Mayo, thinking it would be cool to have birthday parties with Mexican themes. We tried to make an effort to hold off having him for that day but, as events unrolled, he came a little early. Not to mention I carried him lower and he was longer and weighed well over a pound more than Caroline did. It was getting more and more uncomfortable each day. It all started on late Thursday night (29 April) around 11:30 p.m. I felt paint in my lower back really bad and then I started to have contractions for 30 minutes straight. Tim woke up for whatever reason and I told him about the contractions. He found a contraction timer app for his iPod and downloaded it. I was having consistent contractions for four hours straight; they started off five minutes apart and lasted for a minute and a half and then moved closer together to three minutes apart. We got out of bed, ate, and watched part of a movie. Nothing changed except my back was starting to hurt. I did not know if this was it or not, but I just wanted to be close to the epidural in case the pain came fast. We drove to the hospital around 4:30 a.m. It seemed around thirty minutes after they hooked me up to a monitor my contractions got further and further apart. After about three hours they sent me home. I guess I never got the memo that I had to bend over in extreme pain to go the hospital. My parents drove over when we told them we were going to the hospital. So my Mom stayed with us through Saturday afternoon. We went grocery shopping and she made meals and stocked up my freezer. It was nice to have her around helping me with Caroline. I was feeling bad that I could not get on the floor and play with her any more because of my size and discomfort.

On Sunday morning (2 May) I was sleeping and I felt something leak and I knew I did not pee on myself. It did not smell like urine. So this time I went to the hospital by myself, and they did two tests on me and kept me there for about two hours. The nurse told me the tests came back negative and I peed on myself. So when I was getting dressed I took about a foot of the litmus paper they used to test the amniotic fluid, wrote down the name of the paper and put it in my purse. I was completely disappointed and confused at that point. I thought, "I guess I won’t go back to hospital until there is a head coming out of my body." Later that morning I tested everything the fluid leaked on and it came back positive; the color changed to a dark blue. I even had Tim pee on the paper just to see if urine would change the color. It turned orange which was clearly on the acidic side. After that I texted my doctor and asked him to call me. He said to go down to the hospital and he would tell them to admit me and get ready for an induction. When I got there, the nurse explained that I may have had a foresac rupture, which is a pocket of amniotic fluid separate from the "water" that Tyler was in. So it seemed I would have been safe to wait until the 5th after all, but it doesn't matter; by having him early, that was just 3 more days of life that I have been able to spend with him.

We went to the hospital around 2:30 p.m. and got settled in the room. Tim started his play by play updates on facebook. We had a really cool nurse named Nicole. She had a good sense of humor which Tim and I always like during times like these. It seems to ease any tension; perhaps that is why we like Dr Wolf as well. After I got in place with the IV and all my vital signs checked, they started me on fluids and the oxytocin at 3:39. About an hour later I received the epidural. I had plenty of contractions during that hour but none that hurt. It was awesome; I felt absolutely no labor pains at all. That is the way to go! Some people like a la natural. But personally I love being able to have a baby and enjoy every minute of it and laugh through it if someone says a funny joke. I will never be able hold the pains of delivering a baby over Tim nor my children's heads. At 5:34 I became 4 cm dilated. 4 cm is usually the hardest to reach when dilating; after that it was all down hill. By 6:24, I was at 6 cm. Then I quickly progress to 10 cm by 6:49. The nurses called the doctor to come to the hospital. When he came in, I made the joke that my goal was to beat my pushing time of 13 minutes with Caroline. Dr Wolf said, "Oh, I bet you can do it in 6 minutes." Sure enough he was right. After 6 minutes of pushing, our beautiful bundle of joy came into this world at 7:16 p.m. He was 7lbs 12.8 oz and 21 inches long. Having delivered two children, I can say it is just as amazing as the first. There will never be a high greater than the experience of bringing children into the world. Perhaps that is why we do experience the baby blues afterwards. We have to come down from that climax in our lives.

Tim is cutting Tyler's umbelical cord.

It amazes me how much love a mother has to go around for all her children. The love I have for Tyler was just as deep as for Caroline the instant I saw him. Perhaps I was even more excited this time around to have him because I knew the immediate love I was going to experience when I held him my arms for the first time. It seems like he could not get here fast enough.

Mother's Day with Tyler

This past mother’s day was amazing. After church we went out to eat and there I was a mother of two, watching my daughter color on one side and my son sleep on the other side. All day I had that warm, fuzzy feeling like I had fallen in love all over again. It seems so much more complete to say “the children,” instead of “my child.” This was a very special day for me as I celebrated the love I have for my children.

The children watching their first soccer match: US vs England

Caroline is such a good big sister. She loves Tyler so much. She is so gentle with him and gives him kisses all the time. If he cries, she grabs his pacifier and hands it to me. If I put him down on his play mat, she will grab a blanket and put it on him to keep him warm. She even wipes his mouth off with his bib. Her nurturing instincts have come to the surface since his birth. I didn’t even know she could say “baby” until she saw him in the hospital. I think they are going to be very close and get along well as they grow up.

Tyler is growing like a weed. He will be two months this Sunday and he is already 13 lbs. All his weight is in his height; he is now in 3-6 month clothes based on his height. So, pants don’t fit him in that size just yet. He is a wonderful baby and hardly makes a sound except when he needs something, which is easy to read. He is cooing and smiling very well now. Last night was the first time he slept all through the night.We are so blessed to have this new addition to our family of four.

Tyler's room