so we've made it through pregnancy and baby's here yep cute as a button
yeah and we just wanted to share kind of our thoughts about how the
labor and delivery process went with you guys and kind of her birth story
so my water broke at two in the afternoon and great time to do it yeah it really was
it was like a beautiful spring day and warm and i was wearing this orange dress
and just gosh gush gush gosh gush in the car i was sitting on a chuck's pad just
awesome time had by all
well it appears today is going to be the day that we work on meeting this little girl um
we weren't quite expecting for today but it seems that's just how these little babies come um we had
everything pretty much ready you know it's like ready as you can be my bag was packed
dad's all ready dad's bag's packed you can see her little car seats back there in her little bag
if you need to know what to pack in your bag or what labor is check out our youtube videos
that we have all about that but it made it pretty easy in terms of like going into the
hospital we had our hospital bag packed we did yes we had our car seat installed
and kind of like lots of preparations done with our nursery all set to go too so a couple hours
went by and i wasn't really doing much in terms of contractions um they were pretty irregular like
every 10 to 15 minutes they maybe got down to like every seven minutes but nothing exciting for labor
so a couple hours later when i was in the hospital we started pitocin um to
which is a medication that helps conductions it just causes contractions make them stronger faster
just depend it just it's oxytocin it's the hormone that causes contractions you kind of titrate it
um to get a contraction pattern that you want i felt like once that started like we've been kind
of making laps around the hospital and i was like able to help her through contractions and
like definitely as the the pitocin dose was ramped up i felt like my back rubs became significantly
less helpful in terms of helping her kind of like breathe through the pain or being distracted by
it so when do i say they were totally useless like i was there for support very appreciated
um but when i when my water broke i was about three centimeters or so so when i got to the
hospital i was about three centimeters and the pitocin started and i don't know did i make it
an hour with the pitocin oh you mean a couple hours oh okay i made it a couple hours on pit
but there was like this moment where like you could tell like sarah was working she was sweating
she was like uncomfortable we just come back from a walk and i was like hey like we know that you
want an epidural right like why don't we i that being said i think i thought that i wouldn't like
need an epidural that i'm really tough and that i was gonna get an epidural because i wanted one and
in general but in my mind i really think i thought i wasn't going to need it but i tell you what i
needed that epidural i it was i was not having a fun time yeah oh you did this to her
you did this all right first of course yeah and not that way we're supposed to be fun but like
we have the ability to control pain um thanks to modern medicine and so i could like tell
like she was uncomfortable sweating through the contractions like hey like why don't we it's about
to be shift change let's get the anesthesiologist in here yes wow that was amazing and actually like
the timing there worked out really well because while sarah was getting her epidural he got paid
for two c-sections and like three other epidurals um and maybe had we waited 15 minutes later like
i would have been waiting a long time and it was not fun which may have happened to some of you
guys too so after my epidural uh my ob checked me and i was five centimeters um like 80 i think
and the baby was super low she was always super the whole time baby was ready to come out kind
of pushed down by ear tight belly yeah but my ob also when she checked me at that point said
you know you're five and she's ot meaning her head was kind of turned sideways coming
down and you need you want it to be you know facing front to back kind of like this to exit
um most smoothly and so i honestly knowing what i know i was a little nervous um that the baby
was ot i've done c-sections for lots of deep transverse arrests where the baby just kind of
doesn't fit through anymore but we had we had an amazing nurse who said like hey like we're gonna
get this baby moved and like had sarah even though sarah had an epidural she was able to put sarah in
three different positions where she went from like you were i was on i've had a peanut ball
and i was kind of on one side the flying cowgirl position yeah okay and then you like were like
flipped to the other side and i thought our labor nurse was just on your belly for a while and then
did like the dog in the fire hydrant position anyway like lots of positions that like we
were vaguely familiar with but just had an awesome nurse who was like we're gonna get you
this vaginal delivery we're gonna get that baby in the right position i was super comfortable as well
like the epidural was life-changing like we rested we had a good time sarah took a nap and like i did
some work for a little bit like while she went to fully and yeah and so i got the epidural at six
seven seven and we did some position changes for four hours at 11 my ob came back and checked me
um and i was nine and just barely a lip left and four like completely a face and she said
hey i'm gonna give you an hour if you want to push between now and then i just know let me
know and if not i'll be back around midnight and we will work on having a baby so that was really
i was like okay this is gonna happen because i was like nine plus two which to me was like okay great
if something happened the ob could pull the baby out she could do an operative vaginal delivery so
at that point i knew i was probably not gonna need a c-section uh as long as little girl
cooperated um then the pushing started yep so which like from what i understand having never
delivered a baby myself and having caught only a couple as a med student like there's something
about like learning and knowing how to push that you seem to do quite well yes and i think part of
that is i've helped a lot of women push um i've seen it i just it came pretty easily for me even
though i had a really dense epidural and felt absolutely nothing um was able to push really
feel your contractions coming on do you think sort of yes i could like i could feel pressure
all of a sudden i could like feel pressure and i was like we're having contraction let's push
so i think there's like five pushes total but the the funniest part is like after push number
four like baby's head is like almost all the way out it's me um the ob who happened to be a
good friend of sarah's and then uh yeah we got to have two people there for the delivery so sarah's
sister was there too um and so sarah like looked at us kind of standing who are like some of my
favorite people and she's like with a baby almost outside oh i got to take a picture of you guys
which just made everyone in the room laugh but we got this great picture of us getting ready moments
away from meeting little girl yes um and so it was just really special to me you know here's
my husband here's my sister who's my best friend in the world and then my dear friend who is my ob
gyn who was in my wedding and i just love her so much and they're all standing there i'm about to
meet my baby i documented that moment my sister helped catch um and then the little girl came out
screaming screaming which like as the pediatrician is the best thing because you're like oh lungs are
intact heart's beating well like this kid has got energy splunk and vigor yeah and she entered the
world with a yell screaming screaming she hasn't stopped since she has but man she was a little she
stops screaming when she's eating yeah that's her motto yes so keep going keep going a little more
oh my god
like
hey all right dad you got it i'm protecting everyone it's not my first rodeo it won't
spray everywhere i promise all right you got it i'm gonna okay
so it was awesome like it was so much after i got that epidural labor was so much fun like we had
a great time my husband was there my sister was there um it was just really a special nice time
for us to be together yep and like sometimes the anesthesiologist will talk about like a ring of
fire or something you might feel despite having an epidural what about like that and repair and
i lucked out and did not have the ring of fire and sorry i wrote my phone um so
i lucked out and just had what they call a dense block sometimes if it's so dense and you can't
push they turn that down a little bit so you can feel a little more because i was pushing okay we
didn't have to so i missed out on that um it felt nothing for the repair um had a very small tear
and though we put that back together while i had this sweet little baby on my chest um and that was
that was our labor yeah it's um that there was like moments those first moments i didn't know
how i was gonna feel um and like my first thought was like man she's really ugly like i thought she
was gonna be way cuter than that if i'm honest um about like just having men squeeze through the
birth canal uh but like then you like just get hit at least i did anyway with this wave of emotion
you're like man like how is this feeling and it's so amazing so common right like how do i like this
is something that like so many people in the world get to experience and yet like i get this feeling
of watching a baby that we made like come into the world and like how awesome was that moment
she's a little booger is daddy i think the first thing he said when she was like put up on my chest
was i think she has earlobes which is funny because i don't know if you know there's kind
of two types of ears in the world some people have earlobes i have earlobes and mine are just
connected don't they kind of connect right here these i'm pretty sure the connected ones are
dominant yeah that we figured she was gonna have his ears and when she was first born
he thought she was gonna have earlobes which she doesn't she doesn't but it was funny that
that was the first thing he said it was also hilarious when i asked him you know
what is the thing that surprised you most about her birth this was when we were on our
way home from the hospital he said i was really i didn't think she was very cute when she was born
and so she's gotten significantly cheaper since those first moments
the head kind of rounds out the face is a little less smooshed than like when they first come out
we're obviously biased because they're her parents he's our favorite baby in the world totally would
you talk i feel like something that we've been working through has been like just breastfeeding
for the first day and like yeah um breastfeeding there is one i wasn't quite prepared for
i knew all the like mom ob stuff because i do that and we do a little bit of help as obgyns and
helping moms breastfeed not a ton um but that i think i don't even know where to begin other than
i didn't know what i was doing very much and yeah and i think like if we've learned anything we've
been in the hospital like nearly every day for the last 10 years um like and i've lived
pediatrics and ob gyn for a vast majority of that time and like there's still so many things
we don't know yeah breastfeeding it's hard like if we can encourage you guys and you
like ask questions we're like hey like is this normal you look at this we help us with position
or is this latch okay is it supposed to feel like this yes um are there like and like if you don't
breastfeed that's okay too that this was just our journey was to breasts to try to breastfeed and um
it's a another very steep learning curve and i think there's some people it's just
really easy for yeah and you see it uh and it just seems like it's this easy natural thing but like i
didn't know what i was doing she was tiny and you know didn't know what she was doing um she did you
know like you know what i was doing yeah story of our life um but i think one other piece of advice
just from like having been at this for a couple days um like something that i've really enjoyed
as a partner and like every night baby slept on my side of the bed um right like so she's
done all the work of caring baby for nine months i did all the work of birthing baby um and now
he's doing all the work of feeding baby and like i think it would be really easy for me to like
not be as active but the fact that like baby's on my side means like she stirs i get to be the
first one to interact with her um if she's having trouble going to sleep after a feeding like that's
my job like that's like i get to be the one who's the master of putting her down which i'm
not that good at yet um but like haven't stopped on effort and like you know like we are dancing
we're singing all the songs i can think of making up once when i can't think of anything um but then
like midnight breastfeeding has become this kind of special time for us where like you know like
i'm up with the feed and like the the 2 a.m chats with that 2 a.m feed and then like started reading
a book to our family like kind of with the the 5 a.m feed or whatever time that next midnight
feed comes yeah really nice and it's just like been this special time at least for me as partner
to say like hey like i can't do the big things but i can do a lot of support things that help
which is really helpful even like reaching over the bed to try to get her out of the bassinet like
your core in the first you know few days it's just it's gone right you it's very very weak so my core
is really weak my pelvic floor is very um tender and feels sometimes like it might fall out of my
body so kurt's done a lot of bringing the baby to me and doing a lot of i'm just been trying to
take it easy um which he's been a huge help yeah yeah and also like we've had help from family too
so like we yeah like if there's another thing that we've learned like anyone doing like newborn care
by themselves like you are an absolute super human yeah um like i feel like there's been a
lot of time where we're struggling and there's two of us and we have help yeah um and so like
by all means like yeah like breastfeeding i feel like i need four hands to get her to latch like i
am trying to get her on i'm like kirk can you hold her arm can you hold her other i'm can we do this
it's it's definitely a team sport here and i think it's going to get easier but um it's
definitely a team sport yeah and we're learning wow so much and so and it's so fun so exhausting
so fun she's so sweet we have this tiny little human that we get to take care of
um and it's so great like this is the greatest thing we're going to do it's
exhausting and i think a lot of people like you see this newborn bliss which is
totally wonderful in these beautiful things is it sleep deprived like happiness i like maybe i
we're still happy we still really like each other we love that baby um we're tired and
sore and really happy yeah i'm not that sore but it's a lot of work a lot of work yeah i think even
like gosh i've cared for thousands of babies yeah um in a 15 minute a point yeah like incremental
real baby is so much more work than i anticipated and i feel bad that like i'm like man like babies
are a lot of work they have to eat often they poop all the time they like need to be cared for there
are these fragile little humans yeah i think i underestimated how much work a baby is and so
um i won't make that mistake again yeah um and i think i have a total new respect for postpartum
it is pregnancy certainly is a is a journey uh postpartum is a wild ride of things that
you kind like are alluded to maybe amongst your friends or your family or whatever but
i will be doing a postpartum vlog where i really share some of the things i didn't know or have
surprised me or how i'm surviving um because i've i've definitely gotten some insights yeah uh into
the postpartum journey so but and with that we're going to be bringing you guys some more
content yeah care of newborns how to take care of a baby what are some things how do you swaddle a
baby um and some other like good advice hopefully like from our expertise but also like man we're
learning so much and what are we learning along the way too and we'll be circling back to some
of the pregnancy topics we didn't have time for in the last 39 plus weeks um so we hope you all stick
around and subscribe to our channel if you have any questions or things you're hoping we'd cover
advice please leave those in the comments below we will see you all next week bye guys
we're doctors but not your doctors anything we've said in this video
is for education or entertainment purposes only it is not medical advice
any specific medical questions you have should be directed to your provider