Our Birth Story: Welcoming David, our 4th child!
He’s HERE! I’m so excited to share David’s birth story here on the blog! As a newborn photographer I love when mamas share their birth stories with me, and so it felt fitting to share my own story here!
Also, It feels so surreal to think back on announcing our pregnancy with baby #4 last in the fall. From the sweet little gender reveal we did with our kids (you can watch that here) to telling so many of you I was expecting…wow.. the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 held a LOT of joy!
David’s birth story is a little long, but I want to document for myself (and those of you who enjoy reading birth stories) so I can remember before some of the details fade.
Some Background: My Pregnancy with David
First off, I’ve gotta say, that pregnancy is different for every woman and for every pregnancy. So, while I generally knew what to expect, given that this was our fourth time around, I also knew it could be very different than my previous experiences.
I was exhausted and nauseous with afternoon/evening sickness in my first trimester. I’m planning to share a blog post with tips on what worked for me sometime! It was an interesting couple of months keeping up with everything our family had going.
My pregnancy was really pretty uneventful. We found out we were expecting a BOY which really threw ALL of us…except my dad who was the only person in our extended/immediate family who voted for “boy” in our gender reveal poll! We all thought we were having a girl. HA!
David had been measuring ahead my entire pregnancy by a week or two. It wasn’t enough for them to change my due date. My history of birth is that I’ve always gone into labor early (more on that in a bit) with our other three children.
David was also breech and so we tossed around a couple of options. We could try and ECV (an External Cephalic Version where they try to turn him around from the outside), or schedule a C-section for after 39 weeks.
I wasn’t really concerned too much about his size. However I did want him to turn head down and avoid a C-section as we determined a breech delivery wasn’t safe at this point given some of the medical factors we had going on for David’s birth.
Our 34 week appointment…
So, we walked into the 34 week appointment unsure what we would see. I’d gone to Sacred Spines Chiropractic and we had tried the Webster Technique in addition to some Spinning Babies moves in order to encourage this baby to move head down position. Now we would see if it had worked.
When the ultrasound tech told us he was head down, I cannot tell you how thrilled I was. Seriously. She made my entire week! This had been the most stressful part of my pregnancy and here we were…back to our original plan! My OB was thrilled like I was!
We are good to go? Right?
We thought it would be smooth sailing as David had finally turned around before birth. But….something else came up we just didn’t expect.
I have low blood pressure. It gets more significant while pregnant, but it isn’t anything dangerous…just uncomfortable. However at one of my last appointments (around 36 or 37 weeks I believe) my blood pressure was high.
This wasn’t normal for me. I wasn’t in a serious enough situation to call for an induction…yet. But, we started monitoring baby a lot more often. Between the non-stress tests and OB appointments, I was at the doctor a lot at the end of the pregnancy. I was so thankful for great medical care!
At my biophysical profile ultrasound at 38 weeks, David looked SO good. They estimated that he was around 7lbs 15oz. We knew this could be off a little.
I was kinda relieved, but also not sure what to make of all if it. I was HUGE and pretty miserable.
This was more uncomfortable than previous pregnancies but figured it was due to being older than the last time I was pregnant. HA! If I’d only known…
The week of David’s birth
My OB (who I really like) recommended a scheduled induction. This, I realize is a little controversial in the world of birth choices. However, due to the hypertension issue being on the table now, we agreed. I honestly thought I wouldn’t make it to the induction day. Really. Surely I’d go into labor beforehand.
The night before David was born
Despite having some prodromal labor on and off for a couple of weeks. I was still pregnant the day before the induction. My parents were keeping our 3 other children so we could head to the hospital the next morning. We packed the kids up and dropped them off.
One of my favorite memories from that day involves our impromptu date night that night! We felt kinda hungry, and took advantage of having no kids with us. A quick stop at Culvers for ice cream and a snack it was. What a fun moment before David’s birth!
That night at home I didn’t sleep well. AT. ALL. I think it was a combination of anticipation, excitement, and LEGIT WAITING for my body to go into labor. ON. ITS OWN.
For one of our other children’s births, I had gone into labor the night before the scheduled induction! Surely it would happen again that way. right?
By the time my alarm went off? I was still pregnant. Ugh.
My goals for David’s Birth
I have to share that, what I really wanted, was a peaceful, controlled, worshipful birth and, most importantly, healthy baby at the end of the day.
Peacefully loading the car and driving to the hospital felt a little weird. But looking back, it was really nice, and it fit what I really wanted. Our doctor, who I trusted, was there and going to deliver our boy! I knew our kids were safe and being taken care of, Dan was with me, and I wasn’t in any more pain than I had been the last few weeks.
When we arrived at labor and delivery unit and checked in at our scheduled time, we found out many women had gone into spontaneous labor the night before and so the floor was busy. Thankfully, my room was still reserved and we got to skip triage (since it was an induction) and head straight to our room.
We weren’t top of the priority list as I was stable, and not in active labor, so it took a couple of hours to get my IV and everything rolling. This was totally fine by me! Dan and I relaxed, settled into our delivery room, and just waited.
A Positive Induction Birth Story
Eventually everything was good to go a couple of hours later. Between being hooked up to monitors and the Pitocin, it was a real party of cords. Ha! I was still in the same uncomfortable state I had been in for a week or more so by the time she came in to break my water (like our plan) I was ready to get the show on the road.
I got my epidural, and suddenly things began to pick up speed. This is the progress I wanted for David’s birth…I definitely didn’t want it dragging out! But, unfortunately, my epidural wasn’t working quite as well as I had hoped.
I’d gone through active labor really quickly and now we were nearing/in transition. I was not receiving the pain relief I’d wanted despite different position changes, so the anesthesiologist make some adjustments and WOW. It made a huge difference.
So much so, that I took a nap. Yep. a nap.
Dan had turned on my worship playlist for me, and I passed out. It was blissful. And muchhhh needed. I was so tired.
45 minutes or so later I woke up, my doctor was back in the room. Let’s go! I was so refreshed from my nap and ready to push. After 20 minutes of pushing, David Jonathan was born!
When they handed him to me, I felt like he couldn’t be around 8lbs….and he definitely wasn’t! Ha!
David clocked in at 9lbs 7.5oz and 21.5inches long. His name means Beloved, given by God and he’s the perfect addition to our family! David shares Dan’s middle name and initials.
We are so thankful for the kindness and sweet words from my clients and friends! You all have been so wonderful as we’ve added David to our family and your support of me and our family is such a blessing!
I’ve recovered really well and can’t wait to share some things I recommend for postpartum soon! Thanks for taking the time to read David’s birth story.
Here is a peek into some of our own newborn images by my sweet friend, Sami. Enjoy this glimpse into our family life!!
Image Credit: Sami Orndorff
Katelyn Ng is a newborn and family photographer serving Indianapolis mothers. She’s a grateful wife, homeschooling mama to 4. To find out more about Katelyn, head here!
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