Peter's Birth Story

This is the first time I've written a birth story post prior to a baby's first birthday! Haha! I'm feeling pretty proud of myself right now. 😉 Peter's whole existence is such a joy to me, because there was a time that I believed we wouldn't have a 4th baby. Caleb was adamant that 3 was our max, but I'm so thankful that God changed his heart and opened it to having another child! People asked me if #4 was a surprise, and I would answer that no, not in the sense that we weren't trying to get pregnant, because we did plan for the pregnancy. But the fact that we were trying for a 4th child at all was a surprise, and not something I would have expected to happen a couple years prior. God is so good, as are all His ways! This is a long post, but I suppose it's kind of a long story! 

Peter's was our first pregnancy to not find out the gender, it was my first pregnancy with complications, and he was our first baby with potential health complications as well. What a doozy! The pregnancy had been one of my easiest at the beginning, and I was so thankful! But in the last couple months I started having high blood pressure that even sent me to the hospital on Mother's Day. To add to it, we had been told at our 20 week anatomy scan ultrasound that the baby had higher than normal fluid levels in his/her kidneys and we would need to monitor it throughout the pregnancy. This led to follow up ultrasounds at 26 and 32 weeks, at which point we were told that the fluid levels were high enough to diagnose as a condition called hydronephrosis. Tiffany told us that in many cases it resolved itself before birth, but worst case scenario, our pediatrician would send us to a pediatric renal specialist after birth. She wasn't concerned about it, which reassured us, but I also talked to a friend who is a nurse practitioner in the NICU and she told me that they see this diagnosis often in utero, but then it's not present at birth. So that was hopeful! 

Tiffany had told me that she would be out of town the week of my due date, and so we were hoping there would be a reason to induce me before 39 weeks. This was the first time I wanted to be induced, and between the high blood pressure and the baby's kidney issues, she said it shouldn't be a problem. We had tentatively planned on Thursday, June 1st, and my last prenatal visit was scheduled for Tuesday, May 30th. I went to my appointment and Tiffany told the nurse to take my blood pressure as soon as I sat down, without giving any time to catch my breath or relax. She was hoping it would be high, but wasn't expecting it to be as high as it was. I can't remember exactly, but it was 150 something/90 something. She came in and said "I'm going to need to induce you today. I don't want to wait until Thursday." I was in shock and so stressed because this is NOT what I had planned! She then told me she would wait until early the next morning if I'd rather, and I said I would. She called the hospital to see about scheduling, and found out that they were completely booked; the only option was for her to admit me right then and head to the hospital. I called Caleb and my Mom on the way home and told them. Getting the kids ready to head to my parent's, getting mine and Caleb's stuff together, having so little time to prepare the kids and basically just having to dump them on someone else without warning was so hard! I'm thankful for my parents, in-laws, and sister who stepped in to help during that turbulent afternoon! 

Caleb and I headed to the hospital, got checked in, and had to wait almost an hour to be called back. The labor and delivery unit was busy! Finally we were put in a room, I changed out of my clothes, got in bed, and the nurse started an IV. The IV is hands down my least favorite part of having a baby. 😂  She started a low dose of pitocin, as well as the fluids required before the epidural, and we sat back to wait for labor to begin. Within a couple of hours I was feeling some tightening sensations, but not really any pain. I had been dilated to 3cm for a couple of weeks and was still hanging out right around there. I believe it was about 8 o'clock when the anesthesiologist came in to do the epidural. Right after he left, Tiffany and Sam, who was a midwife in training, came in to break my water. 

At this point it was probably close to 9:00, and I was feeling so sleepy. My legs felt warm and heavy from the epidural and I was so relaxed and happy. I had dilated to about a 5/5.5, and my nurse laid me on my left side with a peanut ball between my legs. This is the same thing that they did when I was in labor with Claire and it had worked pretty quickly that time, so I was hopeful we'd have a baby before midnight. All we had to do was wait for labor to pick up. She said she'd be back in our hour to check me, so Caleb and I dozed off and on until she came back at 10:00. I was still dilated to a 5/5.5, and she rolled me to my right side and put the ball back. I was concerned that it wasn't working! I couldn't believe nothing had changed in an hour with the Pitocin and the peanut ball. We went back to sleep until the nurse came at 11:00 and once again, I was only at about 5.5cm. I began to question how quickly this whole process was going to go, but honestly felt so warm and fuzzy and happy that I was perfectly content to lay there and keep resting. 

I had fallen asleep when all of a sudden I woke up and knew that something had changed. I was feeling the most intense pressure in what I will refer to as my "lower half" 😂. It wasn't pain exactly, but the pressure was so great that it was extremely uncomfortable. I frantically woke Caleb up and asked what time it was. It was 11:45, only 45 minutes since the nurse had last been in. Caleb called her and she came within a couple of minutes. I was kind of freaking out because it felt like the baby was going to pop out any second. The nurse checked me and was like "Oh yeah! You're fully dilated!" and then she made a frantic phone call and said "She's ready in here! We need a cart ASAP! I'm calling Tiffany!" Several other nurses came in with all of the birthing supplies and they were all so sweet to me. I was struggling not to push during each contraction because the pressure was so great. It was just an instinct to push against it, and to not push brought so much discomfort. The anesthesiologist had told me that I shouldn't feel any pain, but I would feel pressure and I didn't know what he'd meant. Now I knew! My previous 2 epidurals had numbed me so thoroughly that I couldn't even feel the pressure, which led to ineffective pushing and tearing. I was hopeful this would be better, and it was! The nurse assured me that the baby was not crowning, because I truly believed he was just about to come out. Finally after what felt like forever, but was probably only 25 minutes, Sam arrived. She couldn't deliver the baby without Tiffany present since she was still fulfilling her midwifery clinical hours, but she got her gown and gloves on and checked me. Within a few minutes Tiffany walked in, and I was so relieved that we could finally get this baby out! I was finally able to push against the pressure, and I could feel the baby moving down and out. It was the best epidural I've had; I could feel the sensations of birth without the pain. This made it my best labor experience of all. I abolsutely loved it! After a few pushes, the head was out, and then within one or two more, we had our baby! They held the baby up facing me and I saw that we had another boy! Our Peter! 

This was right before we were moved to a regular room. Peter was only about an hour old! We were so tired, but so happy!

Peter Keller Horton was born at 1:01 A.M. on May 31, 2023. He weighed 9lbs 10oz, which was Claire's exact birth weight. Having a son named Peter had been a dream in my heart for a long time, and it felt so right that he was here! We also named him after Dr. Tim Keller, one of our favorite pastors whose teaching and writing have been profoundly impactful to both Caleb and me. We had decided that it would be so special to name a boy after him, and then a couple of weeks before Peter was born, Tim Keller died of cancer. We felt for sure like that was the name we were supposed to use if we had a boy, and I felt certain that's what we'd have. I hadn't even been stressed with picking a girl name because I was sure we wouldn't need it. How blessed we are by having another sweet son! We pray that Peter will grow to be a great articulator of the Gospel, just like his namesake. Oh, and to continue the story of God's kindness to us, Peter's kidneys turned out to be completely normal and healthy. 😊 Praise be to God for the gift of life and health!