- It's just gonna be easy.
Coast through it.
Oh no, no, no.
(suspenseful music)
(screaming)
(light music)
Hi, I'm Hannah, I'm the world's OK-est Mom
and if you didn't notice, the majority of last year,
I was pregnant.
And right before Christmas, I had our third son.
His name is Henry, he's the sweetest little thing
and his birth definitely taught me that you can plan
all you want and things can completely derail anyway.
So here's my birth story.
On Friday, last Friday, the doctor checked to see
how dilated I am, which is like how far open
my cervix has gotten.
(kids screaming)
So on Friday, I was a one,
which is pretty low, not a big deal.
But then on Wednesday, I was a three, so my doctor told me
to stop going into the office and work from home.
So I've been doing that but nothing has happened.
I feel very accomplished that we got a crib.
And then his little bins.
We're gonna play Go Fish.
I elected to be induced, and first,
I was over being pregnant.
I didn't want to go past 40 weeks.
Two, Henry's due date was very very close to Christmas.
I didn't want to take away Christmas from my other kids.
I wanted to be able to enjoy Christmas with them
and be home and not risk being in the hospital on Christmas.
One day out from baby time.
The boys are at a movie with Matt.
I'm not feeling imminent labor really.
I was kinda hoping he would come out on his own,
but it's just not happening.
I'm gonna be induced tomorrow morning at the hospital.
We have to get there at 5am.
I've had some pre-labor indications,
which we're gonna get really TMI up in here.
You lose this thing called your mucus plug,
which is like a lining that protects the baby from infection
or it kinda seals off your cervix.
And then another sign that labor is coming is diarrhea.
Never thought I'd be excited to get diarrhea,
but not gonna lie, I was kind of excited
'cause I was like "Ooh maybe it's happening."
But it's just not happening.
I'm really not hungry at all anymore,
it's like almost one o'clock
and I still haven't eaten anything and I'm not hungry.
He's definitely dropped, my stomach is like pretty small.
Looks flatter and I lost weight
at my last doctor's appointment,
which is also a sign that labor's approaching.
But yet, he is not coming.
I definitely wanted to kind of focus on the kids
for that last weekend, so we decided to not do
phones or electronics.
So we did some baking,
we did some holiday preparation and stuff.
So this is my last meal.
I have been craving these spicy Korean rice cakes
and crispy dumplings.
Ohhhh, I'm so excited.
(clock ticking)
I am having a baby today.
Monday came, I had to be at the hospital
at five in the morning so it was pitch black outside,
but I wanted to make sure
that I had my hair and makeup done.
How lucky was I to be induced and actually have the luxury
of doing my hair and makeup for labor?
I'm completely shocked that I'm having this baby already.
It's just very bittersweet 'cause not only is this the end
of my last pregnancy, it's the last day as a family of four.
Matt, what time is it?
- [Matt] It's time to go.
- Okay.
We're in the car.
It was a slow start, and we have to get there by 5am.
Yeah I was a little late,
but it's not gonna start without me.
It's like a wedding, you know?
I was late to my own wedding
because it wasn't gonna start without me.
It's the same thing for labor.
You can't start it without me, so.
My pregnancy was very mellow and so I assumed the birth
would be just as easy, and I was wrong.
I'm headed into the hospital.
It's happening.
(clock ticking)
We're here.
I'm in my gown.
They asked me a lot of questions.
We have monitors.
That's a contraction monitor,
that's a baby heartbeat monitor.
And we're gonna say goodbye to this bump.
It's six in the morning now.
- [Matt] Yeah, it's six in the morning, she's --
- I'm four centimeters.
- [Matt] Four centimeters dilated.
- I feel good.
How do you feel?
- [Matt] I'm excited.
- I'm nervous but.
- [Matt] Yeah, I'm really nervous too.
- What are you nervous for?
- [Matt] Just 'cause you're gonna be going through
so much pain.
I'm nervous for you.
- The most common way to be induced is with an IV drip
of what's called pitocin.
It is synthetic oxytocin, which is the chemical
that kickstarts labor.
So I got an IV drip of pitocin
and put it in the side of my wrist.
So I'm getting contractions,
probably like four minutes apart,
but they're not very strong and it's just a waiting game.
It's 7:11 right now and we're just waiting
for things to progress.
- [Matt] What are you doing?
Are you shopping?
(laughing)
- Yeah.
It's not, they're getting worse.
It hurts more and they turned the pitocin up.
I'd say like a four out of 10.
But Diandra's here, she's gonna take photos.
- Hi.
- One of the reasons why I decided to do my hair and makeup
for labor was because my friend Diandra agreed to come
photograph the birth.
If you've seen other videos, she's popped in a lot of them
because she photographs pretty much every milestone
for my family and she's our good friend.
So I was really happy that she was going to be there
to help document this.
There's one coming right now, yup.
Everything just feels really tight.
And that's it, it's over.
That was a contraction.
Welcome, thanks for joining my Ted talk.
Trying to get him to come out.
I think Matt was genuinely nervous and so he was doing
all of the things that I was supposed to do to feel better
and calm down with me.
You don't have to do this too, you know.
- Yes I do.
- You don't.
You don't have to go right behind me either.
Like my space, your space.
(both laughing)
Still here.
Nothing has changed.
I'm just waiting.
Hurts more but I have to wait 'til 2:30
to get my water broken.
The contractions are starting to hurt more
and they're closer together and I keep burping
every time it happens.
My mom has been there for all of my births.
She's a person who just kinda knows what to do
in any situation.
She's another mom, so when (beep) hits the fan,
she's the person I call.
But in true mom fashion, what she did was when she found out
Diandra was going to be at the birth as well,
she brought all the fixings
for a full blown charcuterie board
and set it up in my hospital room
and everybody ate in front of me.
Jerks eating in front of me.
- Yeah it's so good, isn't it?
- [Hannah] Look at these jerks
with their delicious sandwiches.
You're not supposed to eat during labor.
I was very jealous and I ended up doing something
I wasn't supposed to do.
(camera shutter clicking)
But it truly was the best piece of cake
I've ever eaten in my life.
Wait, there's one coming.
(knocking on door)
Yup.
So as the day progressed,
I was having consistent contractions
and they were moderately painful,
but I was not dilating at all and it became very clear
that this kid was not going anywhere until my water broke.
She just broke my water.
This is not something I had ever experienced before
and it was very weird.
Basically, the doctor has this little hook
that she'll stick up there and hook the bag of water
and rip it open.
Oh, there's fluid pouring out every time I move.
- [Doctor] That's okay.
- Ooh, now I'm having more intense contractions
and it hurts.
Ow!
I thought that the contractions were painful
before she broke my water, but I did not know pain
until after she broke my water.
Like everything is twisted up inside of your body
and like ripped apart at once.
Matt and my mom were trying to push pressure points
that supposedly help with the pain.
- Just that much pressure.
- For those of you who don't know what an epidural is,
it's the pain management
that hospitals provide during labor.
My original birth plan was to get to the hospital,
get hooked up to the pitocin.
I was already three centimeters dilated,
so labor should not have taken very long
and I wanted to deliver without needing an epidural.
None of that happened.
My pain is at like a 50 at this point,
and I just vividly remember Matt and the nurse
were having a conversation about whether or not
I should get an epidural.
I had waited and waited and waited and tried so hard
to not ask for one, and then I just got hit with this
horrible contraction, and so mid contraction,
I'm literally like
I'm gonna do it.
- [Matt] The epidural?
- I wanna do it.
Yeah.
Really, when you're in the thick of labor,
there are no words to describe that kind of pain.
It is vomit inducing pain.
I'm just tired.
As I was getting the epidural,
I realized there was a very good chance
that it wasn't going to work because I could feel
the baby's head descending as I was getting my epidural.
(clock ticking)
(suspenseful music)
(crying)
Oh no, no, no, no.
(deep breathing)
My body wants to push.
With each one, I kept telling myself,
"This is the last one you're gonna feel, Hannah.
"This is the last one you're gonna feel.
"Your epidural's gonna kick in.
"You're not gonna feel them anymore."
And then I'd get another one and then I'd be like,
"Okay, that's the last one we're gonna feel.
"The epidural will kick in and it will work."
And then I'd feel another one.
Finally, after so many contractions, it dawned on me
that I was about to feel everything.
Oh my God.
(suspenseful music)
(knocking on door and door opening)
Hey.
But luckily, my doctor -- you could hear her little heels
clicking down the hall, she was running in her heels --
threw on some scrubs and it was time to push.
(suspenseful music)
(groaning and screaming)
(crying and people laughing and talking)
(baby crying)
And just like that, Henry was here.
He was healthy and good.
They placed him on my chest.
I was crying, he started crying.
They're wiping him all down and checking him out
while he's on my chest and I'm just looking down
at my baby's face.
And it's like, that's... that's who was in there
all this time, and it was amazing.
You're so cute.
(tender music)
And that's when my epidural decided to kick in.
So we stayed in recovery for 24 hours,
which is the minimum you have to stay to make sure
everything's stable with the baby.
And then we got out of there and drove home
so the boys could meet their new baby brother.
You ready to go home?
Guys, come in.
- [Matt] Ready to meet your brother?
- [Hannah] Come here.
- He's so cute.
(kids talking quietly)
- [Hannah] I really wanted to document this
and show what one birth can look like for somebody,
but the thing to keep in mind
is it can go so many different ways.
You literally never know what's going to happen.
It's all about the common goal of keeping the baby safe
and keeping the mom safe, and keeping everybody healthy
and so, birth looks like so many different things
for so many different people that this is just one
tiny tiny version of what it can look like.
So that's I got for today.
I'm Hannah, and if you've given birth,
shout it out in the comments.
Tell us your birth story.
And if you have any reactions or thoughts about mine,
leave that in the comments as well.
Now if you'll please excuse me, this guy is tired.
(giggling)
Oh, Baldy's gotta get to bed.
'Til next time.