Gage's Birth Story

September 4th, 2012.

I had a doctors appointment for 10 am that morning. I was 38 weeks pregnant and SO ready to have that baby in my arms. I had been walking and bouncing on my exercise ball all week in anticipation that when she checked me I would be dilated more than the 1 that I was the week before!

Sure enough, when she checked me I was 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced!!! She said the baby was SUPER LOW and she went on and stripped my membranes. When she was done she said "We are gonna be having a baby soon, and I wouldn't be suprised if it isn't tonight!" I was SO happy! Apparently, if the membrane strip works it sends you into labor within 24 hours.

I went home and took a walk, bounced on my ball, and NOTHING. No signs of any labor/contractions. I was kinda bummed but thought, well maybe within the next week. That night when Ryan got home we hit the couch for a night of movies. We started with Madea's Big Family something-or-another which sent Ryan into laughter and me into contractions! They started coming pretty regularly, but nothing too painful. We started timing them and they were about 30 seconds long ranging from 2-5 minutes apart. Soon, they were starting to hurt a bit more and so we started timing them on an app I downloaded on my phone. Ry was all into the movie, which is pretty hilarious, and I'd hit him everytime a contraction started and he'd time it. This lasted the whole movie and Ry was getting pretty anxious. At this point I'd been contracting for over 2 hours, but I had no idea whether or not it was the real thing since they were only lasting about 30 seconds. He was begging me to just go to the hospital. I finally said, let's just lay down and try to sleep and if they keep coming we'll go. As soon as we layed down they got WAY stronger and I said "OKAYS LET'S GO!" Ry already had the bags sitting by the door, so we jumped in the car!

September 5th, 2012.

We were admitted to the OB unit right at midnight after about 3 hours of contractions. The nurse admitted me and checked me where I was at 4 centimeters and they told me this was the real thing and they were keeping us! We were so nervous/happy/excited because we knew Gage would be in our arms soon!

My contractions kept coming and soon my nurse wasn't leaving the room. I called Mom and she came and joined us in the room while the rest of our family were on standby. My nurse asked me what I wanted for pain and when I said "I'm going to try and do this all natural" she gave me a smart remark, which was not the best idea considering I was in pain and cranky. I had a quick reply to her remark that let her know I didn't appreciate what she'd said and after that we had a great relationship HAHA. But seriously, why do ppl give you such flack when you say you want to give birth NATURALLY? But that's a whole other post!!!

At around 3 am my water broke on its own, and I was warned that this is wehere the contractions really began to hurt. It took about 2 seconds after it breaking for me to agree with them. OUCH. This is where a little breathing hard/whining turned into full blown labor. The noises that come out of you are weird. It hurts so bad that it's just like this voice from within you comes out and you can't stop it. I went from standing & leaning over the bed to sitting on a exercise ball leaning back into Ryan's arms to laying in the bed. It HURT. I could talk/be nice in between contractions at first, and then it went to me literally fearing the next one.

When I was dilated to a 7 and "transition labor" began was the only time I thought I just might have been crazy to go the all natural route. I thought I was dying. I couldn't do it. I just tried to live through each contraction. All I can say is thank the Lord for my amazing husband who was in my face telling me how great I was doing the whole time. Him, my mom, and my nurse were so wonderful through the whole process. I remember just begging them to help me. Oh yeah, and begging Jesus to help me.

Our sweet doctor came in and stayed the last 2 hours with us, which I thought was SO impressive. She sat at the end of my bed and encouraged me the whole time! Finally, I dilated to a 9 1/2 and we began to push! Speaking of that, when you've never pushed before and they tell you to push... it takes a minute to figure out what you're doing! LOL

There at the end, his heartrate began to drop and Dr. Simon got real serious with me and told me I had to push hard and get him out. I'm telling ya, I never tried so hard in my life! About 3 contractions later he was crowning! I just remember Mom crying and telling me she could see him and that he was almost here and that I could do it!

The next few seconds were the best of my life. I remember looking down and seeing Dr. Simon pull him out into the world and the next thing I know he is on my chest crying. I look down and see the most precious thing I've ever laid my eyes on- and a tiny little thing at that! I look up and my sweet husband is leaning over us with tears pouring down his face and then I realize they are mine too. We were laughing and crying all at once just taking in the little boy lying on my chest. I'll never forget that moment and the love that I felt between the 3 of us.

Gage Beckham Smothers was 6 lbs 3 oz., 17 1/2 inches long, born 9/5/12 at 6:49 am.

He was perfect.
He had our hearts immediately and from that moment, our lives have never been the same.

Welcome to the world, baby.