Smith Henry Taylor

Smith was born on Thursday, August 22, 2013 at 10:04 PM. He was 8 lbs, 4 oz. and 20 inches. His due date was August 15th, but this little boy just didn't want to come on his own. I was going to my weekly appointments and I wasn't making any progress. I was always dilated to 1/2 cm and 75% effaced. The doctors tried to make be feel better by saying I had a "cozy uterus" and he just didn't want to leave. Good thing one of us was "cozy". On Wednesday August 21st, I went to the doctor and they checked me again for the last time. I still hadn't made any progress and they weren't even able to strip my membranes to help induce labor. The doctor told us to go home and rest and then check into the hospital at 6:00 PM and they would induce me.We checked into the hospital and the nurse went over all the baby stuff and paperwork with us and then left us to get settled. Around 1:30AM, my water broke and I could begin to feel the contractions and I asked for an epidural. After this, I went to sleep and slept for hours...it was pure heaven.


I spent the day sleeping, watching TV, and more sleeping. At around 6:00 PM, my nurse came in to check me and told me that I would be ready to start pushing within the hour. She came back at 7:00 and told me I was ready. I began pushing and it was super weird because I wasn't sure if I was pushing because of the epidural. I couldn't feel a thing and I was worried that I wasn't really pushing. The Dr. came in and reassured me that I was pushing, but I needed to do it a certain way to get him out. I nodded and thought "great. I don't even know if I'm pushing correctly and now he wants me to push a certain way." In the process of pushing, my nurse took my temperature and I was running a fever close to or over 101, I'm not sure. They started watching the baby closer cause I guess running a fever while delivering can be hard on the baby. My fever wasn't going down and the pressure to get our baby here was on. I remember I was super exhausted and felt like I couldn't do it anymore, but then a sudden wave of energy came to me and I began pushing much harder, and more frequently. I know the Dr., the nurse and Craig were all encouraging me, but I couldn't hear them; I just tuned into my own thoughts and listened to my body. When I did that, Smith was born.

 The Dr. showed him to us and then Craig cut the cord, which was warped around his neck twice. After that, about 12 nurses came in and started working on Smith since he had the cord wrapped around his neck and wasn't getting the oxygen he needed. I remember sitting in the bed staring at my baby and feeling so helpless while the nurses worked so quickly on him. The Dr. was kind enough to tell me everything that was going on and assured me that everything was fine. Finally, one of the nurses came over with Smith and let me hold him for just a few moments, then they had to take him down to Level 2 nursery, or NICU. His oxygen levels weren't as stable as they would have liked and he needed to be on antibiotics since I ran a fever during delivery.

The nurses brought me down to the nursery to see him. It broke my heart to see him connected to a bunch of monitors and him hooked up to oxygen. I can't begin to explain the love, fear, excitement and pain I felt for my baby. I wanted to hold him and make everything better, but I couldn't. I wasn't allowed to hold my own baby, or even have him in my room with me.

Having a baby in NICU is hard. You can't have your baby come to your room like you normally do, you can't have more than 4 people to see him at a time and that includes the parents, and you can't hold you baby and snuggle them they way you want to. It was hard to walk around the halls seeing women enjoying their babies with their families and I couldn't enjoy that same experience.

We spent three nights in the hospital and Smith spent four nights. We were hoping he could come home with us, but the hospital wanted him to stay one more night so he could have his last round of antibiotics and to make sure his oxygen levels were stable. We left around 11:00PM Saturday night and we went and said goodbye to Smith and I couldn't stop the tears from coming. I didn't want to leave him, but I knew it was best for him. The nurses gave me their number so I could call him in the middle of night, if needed. We went home empty handed, and I cried even more. I didn't sleep that night, and at 6:00 the next morning, I was waking up my husband and telling him to call the nursery to see if we could take him home.

After the Dr gave him his final check and a clean bill of health, we were on our way home. I was so happy to finally have my baby and to finally be going home as a family. Labor and delivery was the most wonderful this I've ever done and I feel like a super woman for even doing it. It really is an amazing experience that my husband and I will never forget. I wish I could put into words the feeling of love you have for your baby. You hear mom's talk about it all the time, but you never really know what they are talking about until you are holding your own baby. Smith has brought Craig and me so much joy, love and respect for each other.