Levi's Birth Story

It will be one month tomorrow that our littlest, Levi John, was born! What better way to celebrate than to write his birth story on the blog?! This month has flown by and I am so thankful to God for keeping my little guy  healthy, strong and happy. 

May 26th 2:45pm

I had my 39 week check up and not much had progressed. I was still dilated at 3cm and cervix was not effaced. I knew what was coming next because we had talked about it the previous week, but whoa baby did my Doctor catch me off guard! Sweeping the membranes. She did it while she was checking me, and man, that was painful! David saw the tears running down my face and looked so worried, poor guy. Little did we know, this would actually work and induce my labor.

3:30ish-5ish pm

My last bump pic 39 weeks

I knew that to keep things moving along, I had to stay active and now really try the natural techniques so we went for a walk. I definitely felt contractions, and had to catch my breath here and there but I wanted so to meet my baby so bad that I kept on walking! The contractions seemed to be becoming more consistent but once we got back home, they just died down.

6-10:30pm

Helping papa clean

When we got back home, I took a little nap. When I woke, I had a dull back ache and didn't think too much of it. The contractions were not super consistent anymore but they were there. We decided to clean the apartment, vacuum, wash all of our clothes, fold them, clean our room and our sheets, make the bed and than finally I told David at 10:30 pm that I didn't think I would be able to sleep with the uncomfortable back pain I still had and was curious to see if I had progressed any, so we decided to head to the hospital. 

At the Hospital

It was one busy night that night and I lucked out with my Doctor being on call that night! She saw me come in and when I went to the labor and delivery triage, she right away asked the nurse to check me. I Progressed ! I was at 4 cm and 80% effaced!!! Hallelujah! She had me admitted, since I was in labor and off we went into our private room!

Fast!

From here on, I didn't keep much track of time. But as soon as we were admitted, David called the family and told them we were in labor. At midnight my mom got there, which was awesome because we still had Noah with us and yes he was awake! And than my mother in law arrived, such a trooper! She drove 2 hours by herself late at night to be there for us! Both moms stayed with us the entire night and morning and that was amazing to have them there for us. 

(I had to ask David for details)

My Doctor came in and checked my probably at 1am, and things had not changed, so she broke my water.So much fluid came out that she jokingly called it "Lake Susana!" haha!  I knew that from there on out, things would get painful so I asked her to call the anesthesiologist to get the epidural.

He arrived at 3:10 am, Just in time because the contractions were becoming painful. I told him that with my last experience, the epidural did not work on me. Little did I know that having scoliosis could affect it, and this time as well, it would not work on me. I was feeling a little better for about an hour and a half. 

None of us slept during this time. We all just enjoyed each other's company, laughing , smiling and waiting for Levi's grand entrance! Or exit? which is it? I dunno!

I began feeling the contractions getting very strong and painful and had to call the nurse in. She checked me and I was still only at 5cm. I told her I could feel everything still, so they called the anesthesiologist back in. He gave me a stronger dose of the epidural and told me I should be feeling better within a half hour. I began to feel worse and worse within seconds and even had the urge to push.  

I kid you not, it  had only been ten minutes since they had last checked me and when they did, I was at a 10 and 100% effaced! I could not believe it! How did I jump from a 5 to a 10 in ten minutes?! And I was ready to push!

2 minutes and Welcome Levi

Through out this whole labor, David was the sweetest, most patient husband ever! He constantly asked how I was, he rubbed my back, kissed my head, told me how strong I was, he was amazing! And having him right next to me really did help.

It was just me and David, the doctor and two nurses in our room when it came time to push. David was sneaky enough to set up our little Kodak video camera on the shelf behind my bed so that no one would see and captured  the whole process on film. It's the perfect angle to capture our experience without showing too much. 

They set up everything and once the doctor was ready I began to push. The first couple of pushes weren't "real Pushes" because... I told the doctor I was embarrassed gas would come out! (haha, I know, gross but hey that's what it felt like and even though every part of me was exposed, I still wanted to keep some dignity!) She told me not to hold back, that if I wanted this baby out I would need to push! Luckily (no gas or anything else came out) and I pushed one big push!

Good...

another push and hold for ten seconds! Ow!!!!

A contraction.... 

Push! Push! Push! They can see his head! Me: "ow! Ow! OW! No no no no! I can't it really really Hurts!" Doctor: "Oh yes yes yes! Push!" Head is out!

one final PUSH! And He's out! 

Levi John McDaniels was born May 27th 2015 at 6:51 am.

8lbs 5oz and 19 3/4 inches!

I pushed for two minutes and this guy came out with a fountain of water behind him! Our poor doctor was drenched from head to toe!
As soon as Levi came out, they cleaned him off with a blanket and than put him on my chest seconds after! I loved that! 

Everything about our experience the second time around was so perfect and flowed nicely. Hours after having Levi I was saying I was ready for another! That;s how good our experience was! 

A lot of family and friends came to visit! We are beyond blessed!

We are so grateful for all the family that we are surrounded by!Thank you to everyone who came to meet our little Levi, and sorry if you are not pictured, we really love and appreciate every single one of you!