Harrison’s Birth Story | May 22, 2019
Here are my scattered thoughts and memories from the day our sweet Harrison was born.
You can also read Macey’s birth story here.
At 5:30 am I wake suddenly and immediately think “oh my goodness, did my water just break!?”. Sure enough, a few minutes later I feel more water, so I turn over to tell Jonathan what I think is happening (my water never broke with Macey, they had to break it at the hospital) and hop into the shower. Shortly after that we call the hospital and they let us know we should make our way to the hospital. When we checked in I was only feeling minor cramping but they confirmed indeed my water did break so I was admitted, that was around 6:45am. I continued to feel gushes of water and minor contractions.
We were told that my doctor wasn’t on call (just like with Macey) and that she’d be back in the hospital the next day – so I knew most likely someone else would be delivering our baby.
Around 1pm I started to have stronger contractions but nothing too significant because there was no change in my dilation.
My amazing family was in the waiting room already and they all took turns walking the halls and stairs of the hospital with me to try to get labor going.
After lots of waiting, the doctor suggested we consider pitocin, this was around 2:30pm so I had been at the hospital for a while now! I was reluctant to do the pitocin because it was such an unknown to me, but I knew it was time to consider speeding up the process (infection risk goes up if your labor takes too long after your water breaks).
So, around 3pm they gave me pitocin and boy did my body react! At that point my mom and Jonathan were in the hospital room with me, mostly just chatting and hanging out. After a few smaller contractions caused by the pitocin, there was one that was big enough to make me ask my mom to leave the room. The plan was just to have J & I labor together.
Not 5 minutes after my mom left the room the contractions became insane. After 3 or 4 major contractions I felt like my body was already hunkering down to push! I felt a lot more pushing pressure than I ever remembered with my delivery with Macey. Things were progressing quickly and I felt I barely had enough time to compose myself after each contraction. I was standing at this point, leaning over, and hanging on Jonathan’s neck. After many back to back contractions, I told a nurse that I felt like baby’s head was RIGHT THERE. So they paged the doc and asked me to try to sit down on the bed so they could check my dilation. I did NOT want to sit. I remember saying, “I’m gonna sit on baby’s head!”
Sure enough, as soon as I sat down and laid back I felt the head. The nurses and my husband were still working to get my sweatpants and slippers off, can you believe that!? Once they got those off, I contracted one more time and I heard the nurse say to someone in a slightly panicked voice, “page the doc again!” because the doctor still wasn’t in the room yet. But, I was gearing up to push and there was no waiting for the doctor. I heard the nurse say, “ok push”…and with half a push OUT CAME OUR BABY BOY!!!!
Jonathan was able to peek over and share with me that he was a boy. I was in shock because I honestly thought we’d have another girl (remember the gender was a surprise to everyone). I couldn’t believe it, a BOY. They immediately tried to bring him up to my chest but they stopped him at my stomach because the umbilical cord was so short. Jonathan then cut the cord and I was able to snuggle my sweet baby boy for the first time. Such a surreal moment!
I remember asking the nurse for a blanket because my legs were shaking. I thought I was cold. She sweetly explained that that was adrenaline causing the shaking. I looked at Jonathan, smiled and said I cannot believe we have a baby boy and that he came out like that!
The nurses then asked what his name would be, and we both said “Harrison”. We had discussed a few middle names but leading up to this day we had started gravitating to one middle name in particular; Unite.
Harrison Unite Brodin born at 3:49pm
6lbs 4oz
19inches long
Harrison was my grandma’s maiden name and also my twin brother’s middle name. It’s been one of our favorite names for a long time so I was thrilled we’d get to use it!
Unite was the name of my father-in-laws uncle. Unite flew planes in WWII and was shot down and killed near the end of the war. My brother, James, traveled to Belgium a few years back and saw Unite’s memorial (picture below) – so both sides of my family had a special connection to Unite.
James says
Fantastic post! So happy I was able to be a part of it in multiple ways! Love you!
Anna says
OH man…I’m crying over here!! Such a precious birth story!! Love Harrison and all of you so much!!!