Maverick’s Birth Story

He is finally here! Maverick John Coppola arrived on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 3:08 pm. He weighed 9 pounds and 2 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. In other words, he was huge! He came out looking bruised, purple, and puffy like his sister and I was sure he was the spitting image of her, but a few days have passed and he is looking more and more like a Matson every day. He is absolutely gorgeous (if I do say so myself) with blue eyes and lots of dark blonde or light brown hair. At five days old, he really looks nothing like his sister at this point, and I have to admit, after having one child that is the absolute clone of her Daddy, I am kind of excited to have one that looks like me!

It has taken me a couple days to actually be able to take the time to sit down and write out Maverick’s birth story, and for a few reasons. First of all, bringing home a second baby from the hospital is a little busier than coming home with the first. But secondly, and the main reason was that the labor and delivery really was such a whirlwind that I have needed to think about it and reflect on it a little before putting it all into words. It was very intense and it happened very fast, and because of that some of the details seemed very blurry to me. I will do my best to journal every detail though, I know time has a way of changing how things are remembered, so although so of it seems unclear, it’s better I do this sooner than later.

I had my final Doctor checkup on Monday the 18th, and I was only 2 cm dilated and not really effaced at all. Friday was my due date and the Doctor did not feel comfortable having me go past it, because of my GD. We made the decision to schedule an induction for Friday, and although I hoped and prayed all week I would go into labor on my own, I guess that wasn’t a part of the Plan and Friday morning came with John and I off to the hospital at 5:30 am, bright and early. We checked in through Emergency and got sent up to the third floor of Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where we were checked into our room.

The nurse checked finally came and checked at around 6:00 am, and basically said that the Doctor had been generous with his estimation of 2 cm on Monday, that I still seemed to be only at about that. This meant the plan would have to change a little. Originally, we had just planned that I would come in and have my water broken that morning, that that should have sent me right into active labor and no other medicines or unnatural forms of induction would be required. But I guess I hadn’t really thought about what would happen if that weren’t that case. The Doctor and Nurses didn’t seem to think this was a big deal, they wanted to start me on Cervadil, and insert used to ripen the cervix. Now I had tried that with Tula, in fact I checked into the hospital the night before I was induced with her and had that in for 12 hours and it did absolutely nothing, so I was a little skeptical. My main concern was that it would take 12 hours and wouldn’t work, and that they would have to do further intervention, and so much later in the day. I didn’t want to lie in bed all day bored and start pictocin at 8 o’clock that night, and go into labor tired and hungry. Plus, I was on a bit of a clock as well. I had never left Tula overnight and I had already been told that I could be released 24 hours after baby was born, as long as there were no complications. Most of the time, they want you to stay 48 hours, but I was desperate to get the baby home and be there with Tula so my Doctor was good about that. I know every hour I laid there not in labor and not progressing was another hour that Tula had to spend without me and I was in such a hurry to get home to her it was unreal. However, when I found out there would be no “active” labor right away that morning, I called Jenelle and Dad and they came by at about 10 to the hospital and sat with us for awhile. Of course they brought Tula along, and although she didn’t know what to think about being in the hospital and seeing me in the bed and hooked up to anything, she seemed just as happy to see me as I was to see her. She immediately got into the bed with me and snuggled a little and wanted to nurse. And I am pretty sure that that was what did it for me. I had heard that that could send you into labor. In fact, some doctors claim that breastfeeding while pregnant can lead to early labor. I breastfed Tula throughout my entire pregnancy and can honestly say never felt so much as a contraction while doing so. But it must have been the combination of my “readiness” for the new baby, the cervadil, and maybe just being in the hospital. It wasn’t long after she was finished, I would say around 11:30 am, that I started feeling a couple contractions. They weren’t very regular, but they were getting more and more intense. I knew the doctor was coming on his lunch break to check on me and possibly break my water, so I just visited with everyone until he got there and when he arrived at 12:30, Jen, Dad and Tula left. Doctor checked and removed the Cervadil. I was 4 cm! This was a good thing; it meant he was able to break my water at 12:40. He did so and left, and I would say it didn’t take a half an hour for me to feel like I was in full on, active labor. I could not believe how fast that seemed to work. Not quite an hour later, the nurse came in to check on me and I felt that my contractions were getting strong enough that I was ready to be checked again. Although I was now 90% effaced, I was still only at 5 cm, and I was in enough pain that that news was heartbreaking to me at the time. I was sure I couldn’t take much more and felt discouraged. I decided then that I wasn’t going to ask to be checked again. I would rather not know how much progress I was making than know that it wasn’t very much.

However…not even an hour later things were getting crazy in my room. I can honestly say that this labor, while induced naturally, was no easier than the one with Tula on Pit. Faster, yes, for sure. But the contractions were possibly more volatile with Mav than they were with her. My contractions were coming on so strong that I was moaning and groaning like a wildebeest and the nurse kept peeking in on me, sure I was ready to deliver. She asked me if I wanted to be checked again, and I said I wanted to work through a couple more contractions. I knew I was close, but on the other hand, I didn’t want to know if I wasn’t. According to her notes, she checked me at 2:43 pm and I was 7 cm and 100% effaced. I told her I thought the baby was coming, she said to get back on the ball and see what happens after a few more contractions. She did call for the doctor though and tell him to hurry, I know that much. She also called for the nursery nurse to come and set up the baby’s warming table, etc. for after delivery. I sat for maybe three minutes and all of a sudden was convinced that I needed to go to the bathroom. I told the nurse so and went running to the toilet, she was screaming for me to get back on the bed. Well I barely got to the bathroom and realized this was definitely not the place I needed to be, and waddled my way back to the bed. I was pretty much a crazy lady at this point. The nurse said she would call it “unruly”. I knew that this was it and I needed to push. At this point, the nurse had in her notes it was 2:58 and I was 10 cm. Well, obviously. When I sat back on the bed, I couldn’t sit properly and felt in between my legs and I could feel his head. Holy cow, this was it and there was no doctor in sight. I laid back and started pushing, I remember the nurse yelling, “I need hands”. I looked down and there was my nurse, a new nurse, and the nursery nurse standing down there with eyes as big as pie plates. My nurse looked at me and said, “YOU need to push this baby out” making it very clear that it was up to me. What I didn’t realize at the time was what she was trying to tell me was that this was pretty much going to be completely unassisted. To this day, I have no idea why, and I don’t know why I never asked. Maybe I will one day. But I started to push, I remember yelling “Can ONE of you help me?” at some point through the contraction and they just kept telling me to keep pushing. I think it took two “pushing contractions” and I felt him emerge. It was the strangest, but most beautiful feeling. I feel like I could feel every little bump on the kid on the way out. And then one big plop and it was done. I remember just looking down, in between my legs, and he was just lying there. I saw him blink for the first time. And I swear me made eye contact in that one little blink. The room was so quiet, I think the nurses were all freaked right out, I know John was. And I guess it was right then the doctor walked through the door. John said as he walked in he was putting on one of those paper apron things and when he got to the door he threw it down and just grabbed some gloves and ran to me. He grabbed Maverick and aspirated him and placed him on my belly immediately. He started to cry and I just hugged and held him and took in the moment. It was all so surreal though. I know the nurses were in trouble, I think that the doctor was furious and they were all just trying to stay composed and professional in front of me. I know he was mad they didn’t call in time, and in fairness to them, I went from 7 cm to 10 cm in about 10 minutes, and the only indication I was at 10 was that I had a head practically hanging out of me when I sat back down on the bed. So it was kind of just quiet in the room, I didn’t mind though. They took Maverick and cleaned him up a little, I asked them to wait for the bath and let me spend some time with him first.

There is not a more precious time to spend with your newborn than those first few moments after delivery. I feel like they are God’s reward to Mothers for all the pain and agony they just endured. I know that absolutely everything else was irrelevant at that moment and I just held my son and fell in love. I know there were other things going on in the room, it’s kind of busy and chaotic in there, but I am just lost in him and oblivious to it all. We had a few minutes together, I nursed him for the first time, stole some kisses, and Daddy took him back over watched while he had his first bath. I remember the doctor apologized for being a little “tardy”. It was cute. Haha, I remember when they told me he was 9 pounds 2 ounces I asked all the nurses if any of them could say they lost 10 pounds today. I remember that same feeling I had with Tula after an unmedicated birth, a sense of empowerment and pride and power that I didn’t need anyone to even acknowledge what I had done, I knew that it was nothing short of amazing and I had just done a phenomenal job. I remember putting that little babe in John’s arms for the first time and the look on his face as he finally meets him. How carefully he brings him over to the nurses and how gently he holds him. I remember immediately sitting there thinking about how good it feels to not me pregnant anymore, and what an immediate physical relief that is on my body.

Basically, I labored from 12:40 (when they broke my water) to 3:08 (when he was born) so about 2 and a half hours and he came in about two big pushes at the end. I went from 5 cm to 10 cm in just over an hour. I should have known, Tula was a one push baby and the nurses I had with her warned me to tell my Doctor how fast she came, and that the next one could be even faster.. Well, he most certainly was!

I am so, so thankful that in those absolutely crazy final moments of delivery, when everything is so chaotic and you think it will never all be clear, that my brain is just kind of recording the whole thing to sort though later. And though I wouldn’t claim to remember anything close to every little detail, the perfect little details I do remember are so clear to me, it seems as though that memory could never escape me, even if I wanted it to. I will never forget seeing him for the first time on that table. Ah, to see his eyes open and that he was moving and there and perfect. There has never been a more beautiful sight to a mother than her child for the first time, I’m sure.

John, thank you again for helping me have a fabulous unmedicated labor and delivery. You are an amazing support and strength to me, but in those moments you are a rock. I love that you know exactly what I need at the time and you were my hero throughout the whole thing. I am sure the nurse thought we were crazy, every time she came in the room we weren’t talking. But that’s how I like it and what I need and for 3 hours your just sat there holding my hand and staring at me and swaying with me, trying not to laugh at all my crazy faces and moans. Oh yeah, and you yawn. A lot. And although it kind of annoys me at the time, I look back and think it’s so cute that you tried so hard to cover it up from me, I am sure thinking that it wasn’t possible for you to be more tired than me. You are honestly the best labor coach ever, and I am grateful and honored to have shared those moments with you in this life. When you thank me for those babies, know that it was my absolute pleasure, and I have felt honored that you chose me to be the mother to your kids. It’s moments like these, when the core of who someone is really counts, that I am reminded why I fell in love with you, and will love you forever. We are building a beautiful family together and I look into Tula and Mav’s faces and see you and me and us and I love my life all over again.

As far as the details, that’s about as descriptive as I can get. When I have my 6-week checkup with the doctor I will definitely have some questions for him. I have a feeling that most of the fuzzy details will remain that way though. I assume that the nurses didn’t want to assist me because of a liability issue? That’s the only reason I can think of. I would have liked to have thought that in a moment like that, it would have been more about people just helping people, but I guess not. And that’s okay. If anything, it made name picking a lot easier. We had had the name Maverick in mind only for a couple weeks. It literally just came to me one day and when I went to look up the meaning the baby book said it meant “unconventional”. Well after his birth, I was sure he came in the most unconventional way, and he was my Maverick from that point on. I wanted his middle name to be after his Daddy, and I think John was proud to have a son named after him. So Maverick John sounded perfect to us. And although we wanted to give it a few hours to make sure we were sure, I was positive from the moment I saw him. We have been calling him Mav, that seems to be the nickname that is sticking, and it just suits him. Funny how that works.

Mav…thanks you for coming into this world so quickly and easily. You gave Mommy a huge break and I am grateful! Although the end got a little wild and you proved yourself to be an unstoppable force who waits for no man. I love you so much already. You are the calmest, chillest, sleepiest baby ever and it has been a wonderful first week with you. You are truly a great baby, and I have a feeling that you are going to be a wonderful little boy, and an amazing man. I thank God for you everyday, and I will always feel blessed to have been chosen to be your Mommy. I hope that life brings you as much excitement and joy as your labor brought me. I love you!