Clark's Birth Story

I'm finally getting around to posting Clark's birth story. Better late than never, right? I'll make this short and sweet - that was not how I would describe Clarks arrival though.

Friday night, on the 8th of January my water broke. Reid and I were watching the Entourage movie (not worth the $20 we had to pay by the time we returned it to Redbox.) I thought I peed myself... but "it" just kept happening. I called my doctor, after of course I called my Mum, hah. I had a decent amount of braxton hicks throughout the third trimester. That week I told my Mum I wished my water would break when I went into labor so I'd just know it was really labor, instead of timing contractions and not knowing if they were "real." When I came out of the bathroom and told Reid I think my water broke, he bust out laughing. 

We were all pretty sure it was go time. Off to the hospital we went! Thankfully we had our bags packed even though Clark was two weeks early.

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon... when I was admitted I was barely a centimeter dilated but because my water broke they had to keep me. Fortunately, I progressed nicely. When it came time to push, I pushed... and pushed, and pushed and pushed and pushed for 4.5 hours. My contractions weren't consistent enough to help keep the progress I made each time I pushed. It also didn't help that Clark was posterior, (this means the back of Clark's head was facing my back. It's better to be the opposite of this.) Sometimes they call this sunny side up.

Reid and my Mum were in the delivery room the whole time. Unlike my normal personality, I was completely silent during most of my labor. Luckily Reid and my Mum kept each other entertained, along with a nurse I bonded with over NSYNC. 

Clark's delivery was the hardest thing I have ever gone through in my life, but by far the most rewarding. At 5:10pm on January 9th, Clark Richard was born and our lives are forever changed.

A huge thank you to my wonderful mother for taking all of these photos. <3