Declan Curran Vogt came into this world on Thursday August 15, 2013 at 10:10pm. He weighed 6lbs 13oz and was 19.5 inches long. Here is his birth story:
I had been having contractions for a couple weeks but it was nothing painful and there was no consistency to the contractions at all. However on Wednesday, August 14th, I started getting some mild discomfort with these inconsistent contractions. I took notice of it but didn't think too much of it. I had been a week late with Alex and I was still a little over a week away from my due date with this one, so surely this couldn't be the real thing. I took some Tylenol PM so I could sleep that night and boy am I glad I did!
I slept great that night, but woke up feeling extremely crampy. As I got Alex ready to go to his grandma's house I definitely started feeling the uncomfortable contractions again. I took Alex over to Grandma Gerry's house and I told her how I felt. I told her I plan to start timing the contractions to see if there is any pattern to them. Dr. Bale told me I should come in if the contractions were 5 minutes apart, lasting one minute, for one full hour. When I got home I signed into work and while I was working I started timing the contractions. There was definitely a pattern starting to form with the contractions. After a little while they were about 4.5 minutes apart and they were lasting one minute each. They were still not very intense, so I didn't panic, but I figured I should probably start packing my hospital bag. I had an appointment with Dr. Bale at 12:45 so I figured I would just show up for that and he could tell me whether or not I needed to head straight to the hospital.
I called Matt to let him know that he may want to come home and pack his own bag. I don't think he quite understood that this baby was coming soon. He said to just pack him a shirt, pants and flip flops. I stressed to him that if I was not going to Dr. Bale's office, I would have him take me into the hospital at this point. It still didn't sink in. So I just let it go and finished packing my own bag.
I arrived at Dr. Bale's office and nothing much had changed with the frequency or the intensity of the contractions. When the nurse called me back she asked how I was doing. I told her I was fine, but I that I think I might be in labor. I asked if Dr. Bale would know for sure and she assured me that he would. Keep in mind that I never actually went into labor with Alex, so I wasn't quite sure myself that this was really it. When Dr. Bale came to check me he asked me to tell him when I'm having a contraction. I didn't even have to tell him because he felt my belly tighten up. After that contraction he checked my cervix. I was dilated to 3cm and was 90% effaced. He said it looked like I was indeed in labor but it was still very early labor. He manually stretched out my cervix a bit (ouch!) and then he suggested I go home and wait for the contractions to get more intense. I was confused since the contractions were the right amount apart and had been for a couple hours. He basically just said to give it a bit more time and once the contractions start to get more painful, go to the hospital.
I didn't want to go home by myself so I went to my mom's house instead. She agreed that I should't be alone and was happy to hang out with me as I labored. She was watching Will and Harrison too so I thought that would be a good distraction. When I got there I signed back into work and started warning people that this could be it and that my back-ups should be ready to take over my work starting tomorrow.
My mom kept an eye on me and she began to notice when I was having a contractions even when I didn't tell her I was. She kept saying, "We have to go to the hospital!" I kept telling her that the contractions were really not that bad yet and I wanted to wait a bit. I did call Matt to let him know that he needed to leave work soon and go home and pack a bag. He told me he would leave work in 15 minutes. That was at about 4:00.
In the meantime, I asked my mom to take some pictures of me. I have pictures of me leaving my house on the day I had Alex and since I knew that ship had already sailed with this one, I figured we could at least get pictures of me at my parents' house - the place I did my laboring - for this one.
Since we just needed to kill some time waiting till Matt got there, we decided to walk next door to Dorothy's house to let her know I was in labor. Tom (her husband) died the day before, so we figured she could use the good news. She was very excited.
I was definitely at a point where I was ready to go into the hospital at this point. The contractions were still bearable, but getting more intense. I was hoping I could get the epidural shortly after I got to the hospital so I wouldn't have to deal with much pain. I called Matt again to find out how close he was and it turned out that he had just left work. WHAT?? This was an hour later! He was definitely not getting that we were having a baby that day! I told him that I'm not worried about giving birth in the car or anything, but to hurry it up at least a little so we could get to the hospital.
Matt finally arrived at my parents' house around 6:15. I gave my mom and dad hugs and kisses and told them I'd see them later that night. We told them we'd call as soon as we were all checked in and let them know where I was in my labor.
We arrived at the hospital a little after 7:00. Things were a little confusing for a while as my doctor doesn't usually deliver at St. Luke's and I forgot to pre-register. It took quite a while for them to get it all straightened out but finally I was put into a room to answer all the questions and sign all the paperwork. The nurse checked my cervix and after all that I had only progressed to 3.5cm and was still 90% effaced. The way the nurse looked at me, I swore they were gonna send me home. She said she was going to call my doctor and see what he said.
Matt and I waited a bit longer in the room and the nurse finally came back and told us that Dr. Bale was gonna "let" me stay and have a baby. Thank goodness, because I did NOT want to go home and wait for some other arbitrary reason to come in. I called my parents and told them the news and that they could take their time since I hadn't had much change from that afternoon. I did tell them too though, that she said the baby's head is VERY low, so once I finally do start to have some change, it should go relatively quickly.
Finally the nurse told me that they cannot give me an epidural until there is at least some sort of cervical change. She gave me the option to walk around the hospital, have a doctor break my water for me or just sit and wait. I opted to walk.
By this time it was about 9:30. Matt and I walked for about 15 minutes total. Each contraction got more and more intense as I walked. All I could think is, "Man, if this is how bad it hurts at about 4cm, I can't imagine how women do this naturally!" At the end of the walk I had a contraction so painful I had to stop walking and talking and just brace myself against a desk. At that point my parents got off the elevator and saw us standing there. As soon as that big contraction was over I told Matt I was hot and wanted to go back to the room to get a pony tail holder. It was about 9:45 at this point.
When we got back to the room, I put my hair back and braced myself for another contraction. I put the bed completely back to I could lay down and I white knuckled the bars on the side of the bed. I wanted to call the nurse but was in too much pain to even grab the call button. Rick and Gerry arrived at this point with Alex. It was so great to see Alex, but I couldn't really enjoy it since my contractions started coming on top of each other. All of a sudden we heard this "WOOSH!" sound. Of course it was my water breaking. It did not just trickle, it was as if the whole bag just burst and I was laying in a puddle. I finally got the strength to push the call button and the nurse came in. She was very happy to hear that my water had broken on its own and she told me we could call for the epidural now if I wanted. I did!
She sent everyone out of the room (except Matt of course) so she could clean me up and change my bed sheets. Everything from here on out was a bit of a blur. My water broke at 9:58pm. The nurse cleaned me up and called for the epidural just minutes later. I got back in the bed and waited. The anesthesiologist came into the room spouting out all the information she had to tell me. I heard nothing except, "Do you have any questions?" I said, "Yes, how soon can you get that in me?" She laughed and we attempted to get me into the correct position. The nurse wanted to check my cervix real quick before the epidural went in. I was at 6cm. So NOT expected!
As I sat back up I started having another contraction and with this one my body started pushing! I was in denial, so I tried to ignore it and get into position for the epidural. Then my body started pushing again. Finally I told the nurse that I felt like I was pooping. Then my body pushed again! I couldn't stop it!!! She checked me real quick again and said, "Oh sweetie, you don't need that epidural, two pushes and the baby will be out!"
Matt said that at this point I just had a look of panic and terror on my face. I just said, "NO!" I couldn't imagine giving birth without some sort of pain medication. They assured me it would be over before the epidural could even kick in. So the next thing I knew I was on my back pushing. Matt said it looked like a big purple grapefruit coming out of me and he was so glad at that moment that he is not a woman. A swarm of people rushed into the room with warmers and other stuff for the baby. The house OB just barely made it. As promised, one push and his head was out - one more push and he was sitting on my belly crying.
I was in shock! I couldn't believe that just happened. My whole body was shaking and I couldn't even pick him up to give him kisses, but let me tell you, it was love at first sight. Next thing I knew they took him off my belly to clean him up. I told Matt to get the camera. Everything happened so quickly we didn't get any of that on video so I at least wanted to get some pictures and video of after the birth.
With Alex I don't even remember Dr. Bale taking care of me after the birth. All I could do is stare at my baby. Unfortunately I was WAY too aware of it this time. I kept staring at Declan, but I definitely felt everything that was going on down there. I was numbed, but still felt it. Dr. Bale showed up at this point. He said he gets to the hospital fairly quickly, but it's hard to get there in time when they call to let him know the baby had been born already.
Matt went out to let the family know they had a grandson (and brother for Alex). They were all shocked too. They thought they were just waiting till I got cleaned up and got the epidural. They had no idea I actually had the baby. (You can watch the announcement video here).
It was an unbelievable night! My water broke at 9:58pm and Declan was out by 10:10pm. I'm SO glad they didn't send me home!
(Notice the look of shock on my face)
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