BIRTH STORY: Attikus Hawkins

The day prior to going into labor Jay and I were working on the house, like every day since we bought the thing back in April. I remember sealing our master bedroom tile outside on our 3-season porch. I was doing a lot of up and down and remember feeling pretty uncomfortable, but at the time was just thinking "duh, I'm 9 months pregnant wearing a gas mask rolling sealer onto our heavy ass shower tile" so I didn't really think anything of it. After a long day of work we headed to our blaine home to put Oliver down for bed and go to bed ourselves. 

My sister Zoey was staying with us and we were laying in our bed and I said to her "I can't believe at this time (38.5wks gestation) I went into labor with Oliver.. I don't think this baby is coming out for a while!" Well we went to bed and about 2 hours later at midnight, I wake up to that same hot, wet, feel like you peed the bed feeling with mild cramping and thought to myself "Oh shit, this is really happening!" I ran to the bathroom where more of my water broke in the toilet and yelled out to jay "It's Time!" 

The immediate Oh shit, this is happening feeling is such an adrenaline rush. It's the most intense feeling of happiness, excitement, overwhelming joy mixed with anxiety, nervousness, and feeling like you are scared out of your mind at how this is gonna go. It's a feeling almost as good as pushing that child out!

Naturally we got ready, packed our bags and called our parents to let them know they're gonna be grandparents again soon! I swear both times I've hesitated/doubted myself that I was in labor because the contractions were so subtle and I wasn't in any pain, yet BOTH times my water clearly broke and I was most definitely in labor. So with our hearts pounding with excitement to meet this sweet baby boy of ours we headed off to the hospital.

Once we got to the hospital, around 2am, I was placed in triage where they checked my fluid to make sure I was actually in labor and sure enough I was. We then walked to the labor room where contractions were still pretty low in intensity and frequency. They started me on pitocin to get things rolling at about 5am and eventually breathing through those insanely intense contractions just wasn't cutting it for me and I got my epidural.. in my opinion the best thing a woman could get during child birth!

I was only dilated to a 4 so we were hoping that with the relaxation of the epidural I would dilate more which is exactly what happened. At about 9am the epidural was in but only half my body was numb so some maneuvering had to be done to get my whole bottom half numb. After that was done, around 930am I felt complete calmness, relaxation and was ready to push. The overwhelming sensation of having to push was there and at 1020am our sweet baby Attikus was born. I can't explain that immediate euphoria you experience during birth. It's the most amazing feeling and I would do it over and over again just to experience that again.

Childbirth is such an incredible blessing. It's beautiful. Raw, and the most amazing feeling in the world to experience. 

Attikus Hawkins Wagamon weighed 8 pounds 3.6 ounces and was 21 inches long. He was so chunky, had almost no hair and the most beautiful squishy face. He has brought so much joy and happiness to our lives and we are so blessed to have welcomed this sweet boy into our lives and making our family complete!

Photos by: Samantha Cater Photography