Austin’s Birth Story + A Huge Giveaway for New & Expecting Moms

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Similac® StrongMoms®. All opinions are 100% mine.

The birth story of my sweet baby boy Austin, through my eyes.  Click here to go straight to the HUGE Strong Moms Giveaway for new and expecting moms!  I joined the Strong Moms program before I gave birth to my first baby and loved the wealth of information and knowledge so that I could be informed on all sorts of things new moms need to know without having to go search for everything one by one.  The best part is they have an awesome giveaway with a dream prize package. Make sure to see all the prizes and details below sweet Austin’s story!

“Why did you do that?!”  The words of my father after hearing how close we cut it to giving birth in the parking lot.

The thing is, I didn’t mean for it to happen that way.  This was my third baby.  My first two had been 10 and 8 hours in active labor with pitocin to induce contractions.  I wasn’t really worried about a quick labor for this one.

I woke up a bit before 5 am on October 27th and realized I was having contractions.  They turned out to be pretty consistent so I woke up my husband to let him know I was having contractions. He rolled over to grab a few more minutes of sleep.  I continued to lay there for about 20 more minutes just assessing the situation more than anything. How strong were they?  How quickly were they coming?  They were a little painful, but not too bad and coming about every 6-8 minutes.  About 5:30 AM I woke my husband again and told him he should probably get up.  He got up and told me he wanted to take a quick “2 minute” shower.

While he showered I got up and got a few things together for myself and the kids.  As soon as the clock hit six I called my friend Sarah who was staying with the kids while we were away in the hospital.  She just lives a few streets away so she got up and out of bed and to our house in about 15 minutes.  I took about another 15 minutes to go over things with her and we were out the door and on our way to the hospital about 6:30 AM.

I am glad Sarah was there to testify that when I left the house I was definitely having contractions, but they weren’t anything crazy.  I just looked like a normal woman going into labor. Not a woman who would have already delivered her baby 30 minutes later!

I obviously wasn’t in too much pain, because I made sure we snapped this pic before we left for the hospital since I have one right before laving for the hospital with each of my other children

The hospital is a generous half a mile from our house, so it took literally minutes to jump in the car and drive down the street.  When I left my contractions were still about the same,  6-8 minutes apart.  We pulled into the parking garage, parked, and walked to the edge of the garage.  Brad looked back over his shoulder and said, “Oh we parked in physician’s only parking.  I am going to have to go back later and move the car.”  I told him to just go move it now.  I didn’t want to have to worry about that while we were in the hospital.  Now it isn’t like searching for a spot at the mall on Black Friday, he just had to pull into the next section over.  He went and pulled the car around to the next aisle and got out of the car looked at his watch and saw it was 6:41 AM.

I don’t know if it was standing or because it was the first time I had stood still since I got up that morning, but all of a sudden the contractions were coming hard and fast.  They felt like they started again as soon as the last started to die down.  We picked up the pace and walked into the hospital through the ER entrance.

The nurse at the door there took one look at me and said “Labor and delivery I assume?  I will go get you a wheel chair.” and took off.  I told Brad to just keep walking.  Down the hall, right in front of the elevators the nurse caught up with us and I sat in the chair. We arrived at the Labor and Delivery unit where the nurse told the crew, “I have a customer for you!”

I think they took one look at me and probably knew more than I did.  They quickly moved me into triage where I was in the same bed as I was in for HOURS when I was in labor with Hallie.  Only this time they were moving with MUCH more purpose.  Brad had gone back to the desk to fill out a single sided page they needed.  The nurse checked me and found I was already a full nine cm and things were happening FAST!  By the time Brad walked back in they were wheeling me to a delivery room.

Things are a little fuzzy here. Everything was happening so fast and I remember specifically saying two things to the nurse:

1.  I want the epidural.  Call the doctor!

2.  Please help me!

Brad thinks it is pretty funny that I kept asking for the epidural and the nurse kept telling me that “We are working on it!”  He said I finally looked at her and said, “Why are you lying to me?!”

They got me in the delivery room in about a minute and checked me again.  “She’s a 10!”

I remember it hurting a lot.  The contractions were constant and strong.  The nurse put an IV in my arm.  She told me “Don’t move.  Even if you are having a contraction.”  I didn’t move. And I was having a contraction.  I don’t have great veins for IV’s and I distinctly remember that it took several tries for them to get my IV in with both of my other labors.  I guess I just needed to put a little urgency on it to get them to get it in on the first try!

The next second my water broke.  Immediately after nature kicked in and I looked at the nurse and told her I had to push.  Keep in mind, this whole thing has happened in probably less time than it took you to read to this point and there was no doctor in sight!  The nurse just looked at me and said “Okay!”  I pushed once and could feel the head deliver.  A second time for the shoulders and one last push got him out.

I remember asking what it was.  The big excitement for the delivery room was supposed to be that we didn’t know the sex of the baby, not that it was almost delivered in the parking lot!  Brad looked and excitedly told me “It’s a boy!”  I had my eyes closed and remember them setting him on my chest and knowing I had to open them to see my baby, but my body was in pain and utterly exhausted.  I did though, and he was 6 pounds 13 ounces and 19 inches of perfection.

The nurses bustled about and one called for time of birth.  Another called back 6:55 AM.  Exactly 14 minutes from the time Brad had looked at his watch in the parking lot.  It felt like forever, and no time at all- all at the same time.

My doctor just happened to already be downstairs at the hospital as he was prepping to go into surgery.  So shortly after all the action he strolled in and made a joke that he was sorry he missed it but he could hear me from the elevator.  I don’t think I was that loud 🙂

He gave me some local anesthesia and finished things up while they bathed and did all the things they do to newborn babies and I was able to hold him again.

He was just Him for awhile as we hadn’t quite settled on a name yet.  We worked quickly though and decided we would call him Austin Hauk.  Austin was a name we had always loved and we liked the tie in to our Texas roots and Hauk was a family name from my husband’s side.

It was my first birth without drugs and many of my friends wanted to know what I thought.  Would I do it again?  Did it hurt?  How was it?

Well, I feel like I am now a member of a secret club.  Just for women who know and endure the level of pain that this experience brings. It did hurt.  A lot.  At the same time, not even two months later, I can barely remember it.  It was quick for me though.  I couldn’t believe that it had only been about 10 minutes since I arrived in labor and delivery when it was all over.  I can’t really imagine doing it for a second longer than I did.  Knowing it only took 10 minutes and 3 pushes, I might do it again- but I definitely am a chicken and wouldn’t do it if it was going to be much longer!

My one disappointment was that with three pretty significant virus’ going around no children were allowed on the entire floor.  That meant that my older two kids that had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the baby would have to wait until we got home to meet him.  Since we were out of the hospital about 30 hours after walking in, it wasn’t too big of a deal.  You can see how proud they are to have their new baby home and get to “help” with him though!

At the end of the day, the story doesn’t matter much.  The sweet and utterly perfect baby boy snuggled in my arms is everything.

I am so glad to share these memories with you.  It is perfectly timely because Similac is having a Capturing Memories from Bump to Baby Giveaway where you could win the GRAND PRIZE Gift pack worth over $15,000. Plus play the instant win game for a chance to win one of our instant win prizes each day*.

The Strong Moms Giveaway runs from 12/2/14 until 2/16/15 and the grand prize includes so many great prizes like:

• 3 Professional Photo Shoots
• Canon® EOS Camera and Lens Kit
• A GoPro® Hero 3 Camera
• A 13-inch MacBook
• Adobe Photoshop® Elements 12 and Adobe Premiere® Elements 12
• Beginnings Baby Record Book
• $500 Shutterfly® Gift Card
• $500 Pickles & Ice Cream® Gift Cards
• Medela® Pump in Style Breast Pump
• A What to Expect When You’re Expecting® Book Set

Instant win prizes are just as fun!  Mom can play the instant win game once a day for a chance to win one of the fabulous instant win prizes below. Over 300 lucky moms will win instantly. Some of the great prizes up for grabs are:

• Similac® Prenatal Vitamins
• Similac® for Supplementation Formula
• Shutterfly® Gift Cards
• Snoogle® Full Body Pillows
• Beginnings Baby Record Book
• Medela® Pump in Style Breast Pump
• A What to Expect When You’re Expecting® Book Set

Just by joining the Similac StrongMoms program moms receive a number of benefits like:

• Nutritional guidance for a healthy pregnancy
• Emails with tips and tools
• Infant formula savings, samples and partner offers – Who doesn’t love coupons?

I joined before my first baby was born (over 5 years ago?!  Where does the time go?)  I loved getting the updates on the developmental stages of my new baby so I knew what to expect and look forward to each month!  I also really appreciated having the samples on hand because as a first time mom I didn’t know what I would need and when, so it gave me great options as I ventured into motherhood.  I only wish I got to enter the contest too!  The Strong Moms Giveaway with those great prizes would just be the icing on the cake! 

Thanks for reading my crazy, wonderful, quick, intense, and perfect birth story and if you are expecting or a new mom, I hope you will visit Similac to sign up for the Strong Moms Giveaway and program just like I did when I was first expecting to get a wealth of knowledge and benefits throughout the journey with your new baby!

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