Baby Isaac’s Birth Story

Our little man is officially one week old today, and to celebrate we wanted to share his birth story!  This was such a special experience for us and we are excited to have recorded this for our little guy to look back on and read throughout his life!

Isaac Thomas Bowcut was born on Wednesday, April 11^th, 2018 at 8:54pm. He was 8 pounds 3 ounces and measured 20 inches long. At the time of his birth, he was technically about 3 weeks early, but because of his size and other indicators, the doctors actually believe his due date may have been off and he was likely born close to full-term. Everything with the birth went incredibly well, and here are some details about the birth from his mom’s perspective.

“My pregnancy with Baby Isaac was pretty much ideal. From the beginning, everything went almost exactly according to schedule and there were no complications at all. I experienced some nausea throughout the pregnancy, but fortunately never any “morning sickness” in the traditional sense that most women do. It was such an honor to be pregnant and it was something that I had longed for all my life, so even the side effects I did experience paled in comparison to how blessed I felt to be pregnant and expecting our baby boy! Toward the end of the pregnancy, I did start to get a little uncomfortable as I was pretty big (see our maternity pictures!), but I honestly loved every minute and actually miss it now. It’s really neat to look back on the pictures and see my belly, now knowing who was inside. There were moments (lots of them) being tired, having back aches, struggling to sleep, and feeling nauseas, but overall the pregnancy was amazing and I almost felt guilty with how wonderful things went. My blood pressure was always good, protein and blood sugar were at great levels, weight gain was normal, and the baby’s heart rate and size always indicated he was healthy and strong. I recognize there are so many things that can – and do – go wrong with pregnancies, so I felt incredibly blessed that mine was pretty much textbook and everything went so well! Being pregnant was a dream come true and such a special time for me!

While Isaac was born on Wednesday, April 11^th, his birth story began in the early morning hours of Friday, April 6^th.   I woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, and I felt a gush of water come out. At first I thought I’d wet my pants (which was quite embarrassing) but then I realized I still had to go to the bathroom and there was nothing wet on the bed. Even still, I thought that maybe I’d still just wet the bed, so I changed and went back to bed. Friday was a busy day as I had a work conference, and then Tom and I went to the Provo temple for an endowment session after work.  It was a rainy night, but it made for a really cool picture and the air was so crisp and clear!

After the temple, we went to Olive Garden for dinner and while we were there, I drank a TON of water (like, 6 full big glasses). As we were leaving, I joked that I may wet my pants on the car drive home and then admitted that I think it had happened the night before. As I described what happened to Tom, he asked if there was any chance that could have been my water breaking. I honestly wasn’t sure, since this is my first baby and I’m not sure what to expect! So, we called the doctor and they said that it was better to be safe than sorry and so we should come to the hospital. We drove to the hospital and got there about 10:30pm. They got us hooked up to monitors to track the baby’s heart rate and potential contractions, and everything looked good. They did a test for amniotic fluid, and the first quick test was negative but the second test was positive. So, they decided to do a more intense test because if my water had broken, they would need to induce me. That test came back negative, so the doctor said that it wasn’t my actual water that had broken, but rather the fore bag. (Who even knew that was a thing?!) The doctor said that had my actual water broken, I “would know.” At the time I wasn’t sure what she meant, but a few days later I would learn.  While this wasn’t the actual beginning of labor, it was quite nice for us to have a little trial run of getting from home to the hospital and seeing the labor and delivery unit of the hospital so we’d know what to expect when the real labor started!

The next day (Saturday) we accomplished so much and were able to wrap up all the little loose ends we wanted to before the baby came. We finished the nursery, assembled the stroller and car seat, went to Costco to stock up on food and other supplies, and pretty much wore ourselves out! It felt really good though and it was nice to be able to feel like we were finally ready for the baby to arrive. The next day, Sunday, we walked to church because it was a really nice day, and as we were walking in, I felt like something happened and so I went to the restroom during the opening hymn. Turns out I lost my mucus plug at that time, so I had a slight indication that my body was starting to prepare for the baby to arrive at some point. At my doctor appointment the next day (Monday), we were told I was about 2 centimeters dilated, so there was even more of an indication that my body was preparing for baby to come. We had no indication though that it would happen so soon! Tuesday I think I got food poisoning, so I came home early from work and was sick the rest of the day. It was ROUGH. I actually ended up going to Chantelle’s house before I came home because I wasn’t sure I would make it all the way home without lying down for a little bit. I’m not sure at this point if this had anything to do with the labor that would soon start (and which I didn’t know at the time), but either way, Tuesday was a rough day. Wednesday morning though, I woke up feeling SO much better and even said to Tom as I left for work that it was going to be a good day and my body was back to normal! Tom was scheduled to take an overnight trip from Wednesday to Thursday, and I told him there was no indication that baby would be coming, so he was good to go. I could tell he was nervous to leave me, but honestly, I was feeling great and didn’t think anything at all would happen over the next 36 hours! Plus, I had a busy few days with work – I was supposed to teach a workshop on Thursday and then speak at an event on Thursday night, so there was no way I was thinking we’d have the baby! I suppose Baby Isaac – and Heavenly Father – had different plans though. 

Another interesting thing about Baby Isaac’s birth story relates to our family’s temple sealing. Tom and I were married civilly in February 2017, and we intended to be sealed a year later in the temple. We started the process in November and everything was on track, but then with the passing of President Thomas S. Monson in January and a new First Presidency being called, everything was a little behind schedule and so we decided to just wait until after the baby was born to get sealed. Well, on Saturday, April 7^th, we received a letter in the mail from the First Presidency saying that our sealing clearance had been approved! Things changed for us a bit that night, and we realized that it would be really neat to have our son born under the covenant. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to pull it off, but we were sure going to try. We met with our bishop on Sunday to get our living ordinance recommends, and then we scheduled an appointment with the stake president for Tuesday night. When we called the temple on Tuesday morning (as they were closed Monday) they said they absolutely had times available the following Saturday (April 14^th) to fit us in, and we were so excited! However, we had to have our bishop process one more step before that, and he was going to take care of that on Wednesday morning. Baby B’s due date was not for about three more weeks, so we figured we’d have plenty of time and we’d be able to be sealed and have him born in the covenant. It was actually a really emotional process for us in very positive ways and we were so excited to have this blessing happen for us, after having waited and wanted it since we first got married. Well, our bishop finished the final step on Wednesday morning, and just as he texted me telling me we were good to go for the Salt Lake temple on Saturday, all the plans started changing!

Wednesday I got to work early, and I had a bit to catch up on from missing the day before. I jumped right in and was feeling so productive! About 9:15 I decided to take a quick break to run to the post office to mail our thank you cards for our baby gifts, and about halfway down the hall, I felt a gush of water. This was similar to what I’d felt on Friday morning, but a bit more intense. I decided to go to the restroom to check things out, and I could feel myself dripping as I did. I got to the restroom, went into the stall, and water just kept coming out! It was so crazy. I was texting with Tom at the time, and I mentioned to him that I think my water had broken. It’s interesting the timing, as he was scheduled to get on a plane in just a few hours!

I was able to get the initial gushing to stop, so I went back to my office, gave the thank you notes to Kelsie to mail, and decided to go home. Kelsie was initially driving behind me to make sure I was okay, but after I talked to the doctor, they said that as long as I wasn’t having contractions, I could wait a few hours before coming in and so Kelsie went back to work. I drove home, leaking all the way, but made it safe and sound! When I came inside, I was still leaking so I went into the bathroom and actually just got in the shower so the leaking would just go down the drain! My water was all over the bathroom floor, so Tom was wonderful and just grabbed the mop and cleaned it up! I was feeling really great, minus the leaking, and there was no indication that contractions would be starting anytime soon. The doctor said to give it four hours and then if my body didn’t start contractions on its own, we should come to the hospital and they’d induce me. So, I took a shower, dried and curled my hair, Tom and I had lunch, we straightened the house, and then I actually even laid down for a bit! It was actually super relaxing as we waited for the four hours to pass by, and sure enough my body wasn’t in any hurry to start contractions so we went to the hospital. We arrived about 1:15pm and took a few pictures outside before heading in for the official labor and delivery to begin!

Once we got inside, they took us into the labor room and it was actually quite nice and big! It was crazy to think that’s where our little baby would be born! I got changed into the gown and they started the IV with the Pitocin right away.

Things were still going pretty well, so I opted not to get the epidural right away. However, after a while the contractions started kicking in and wow, were they painful! They got especially bad when they started coming about a minute apart, so we decided to do the epidural. I was having contractions as they were giving it to me, and that was actually the only point where I was crying because the pain was so intense. The epidural kicked in before too long on my left side, but it wasn’t affecting my right side and so I was still feeling a great deal of pain. I explained this to the nurse and they adjusted my position so gravity could work on the right side. Sure enough it worked, and within about an hour or so I wasn’t hardly feeling any pain. I could sense the contractions and the pressure of them, but thankfully about 95% of the pain was gone. It was pretty miraculous and I was so glad I decided to do it! A few of my family members arrived to visit (Chantelle and Austin, Danielle and Ryan, and mom and dad) and it was fun to have them there. I wasn’t able to eat anything but clear liquids, and I was starting to get hungry as the night went on. Thankfully I had some chicken broth, which helped a lot, as well as lots of apple juice. Tom was so incredibly wonderful to help me out and get things for me and rub my feet and back. As the contractions were getting worse, he was so thoughtful and conscious of the pain and wanting to help as much as he could. He was seriously the greatest birthing partner I think any woman could ask for and I can’t believe how lucky I am to have experienced this with him!

The nurses kept checking me and indicated that dilating to 4 or 5 centimeters took the longest amount of time, and typically women dilate at about ½ to 1 centimeter each hour. When we arrived at the hospital, I was 2 centimeters dilated (at 1:30pm) and then about 5:00 or 6:00, they checked and I was dilated to 4. The nurse then guessed it would be about midnight or early in the morning hours when I delivered, so we settled in for the rest of the dilating to take some time. Contractions were looking good and the baby’s heart rate was great, so everything was on schedule and we were doing well!   About 7:00pm the nurse did another check, and it turns out I was dilated to 8 centimeters. I honestly couldn’t believe it, and in fact she checked a few times to make sure since it seemed I’d dilated way faster than normal. Sure enough, I was dilated to an 8 and so they called the doctor. Josi Jensen was the midwife on call, which was actually awesome and quite a great coincidence as she’d been the midwife on call on Friday night when we’d come in, and we had a great experience with her. I actually think it was a tender mercy that we’d met her on Friday so it wasn’t a new doctor who delivered the baby, and she was so wonderful and friendly on both occasions! She came in about 7:30 and we were chatting – she was super friendly with my family as well and it turns out she’s actually quite amazing – she’s only 29, she’s delivered about 500 babies in her career, her husband is in the military and has done a few tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, and she has three kids. Seriously, she is amazing and I was so impressed with her! Well anyway, she was great and said that she would check me every hour, and when our initial visit was done (about 8:00pm) I joked that it would be great to have the baby before the Jazz game tipped off at 8:30pm. She joked back and said she’d check me early then (as my next check wasn’t going to be until after 8:30) and sure enough, I was dilated to a 10! She made a comment like, “Well you’re ready,” and I couldn’t believe it! I don’t think any of us could! I’d had my family leave the room for her to do the check, so then Tom went out and told them they couldn’t come back in because we were going to start pushing. It was such a whirlwind of emotions and I couldn’t believe the moment was finally here! I was a little nervous because I couldn’t feel much below my waist and wasn’t sure how I’d have enough strength to push the baby, but they brought in a mirror so I could see what was going on and that helped a lot. We started pushing a little after 8:00, and Tom held my right leg while another nurse held my left leg. They would have me start by taking a deep breath when my contraction was starting, and then I would do three good pushes per contraction. While I couldn’t necessarily feel all the pain of the contractions, I absolutely could feel the pressure and enough pain to know when they were starting. The actual pushing and delivery was EXHAUSTING to say the least! I was giving it as much effort as I could with each push, so in between I would fall back completely exhausted and not sure how I’d get the strength to do it again.

After about 20 minutes or so, we could start to see the baby’s head! The first thing the doctor and nurse noticed was how much hair the baby had – it was crazy and I don’t think we were expecting it to be so dark! Because of the mirror, both Tom and I could see the baby crowning and he actually stayed right there in the birth canal for quite a while! Thankfully I wasn’t tearing too much and so the whole process wasn’t as graphic as we’d expected, and it was actually really neat to see things in the mirror and watch the process! Then, after about 20 more minutes or so, at 8:54pm, Baby Isaac decided to pop his head out, which quickly led to us being able to pull the rest of him out. I actually reached down and pulled him out myself, and it was such an amazingly incredible experience! I couldn’t believe our little man was finally here and it was just surreal in every way. I thought I would be an emotional wreck, but I was actually so much happier than I expected and so I shed a few tears but mostly was just overcome with such immense joy. He laid on my chest for a few minutes and then Tom cut the cord and they took him away to wipe him down. This was the only time he really cried, and it was just for a second, and then they brought him back and I was able to do skin-to-skin time with him for a bit. It was such a surreal experience and I couldn’t believe that I was holding my baby boy who had grown inside me and was the product of our love! It was a beautiful moment and one that I’ll remember forever. It was wonderful as well to have Tom right there experiencing it with me – he also seemed so incredibly happy and it was just a dream come true.

After finishing the delivery, my family members came in and were able to meet Baby Isaac (including Jonathan who had arrived as well) and that was a cool experience! It’s fun to finally have a little grandson in the family!

Then everyone left and they took us down to our hospital room on the floor below and we were able to settle in a bit. By this time it was getting late and we were certainly feeling exhausted from everything that had happened! The nurses took Baby Isaac for a little while to do some tests, and everything came back normal which was great! Then another nurse came in and gave him a little sponge bath, which he didn’t love at first but didn’t cry too much. He honestly seems like such a chill baby and we felt so lucky that he was here safe and healthy! We then settled in for the night with Baby Isaac in a little bassinet next to my bed and Tom on the little couch that folds out. We weren’t able to get much sleep as the nurses had to keep coming in and doing checks, but with each check that was normal it gave us hope and comfort for sure. Since we were up so much of the night, they asked if we’d like them to take the baby to the nursery for some of his tests and keep him there for a couple hours so we could get a quick nap. We definitely took them up on this so about 8:30am they took Baby Isaac to the nursery and we were able to rest.

When we woke up, I was NOT expecting what I was feeling. Because everything with the labor and delivery had gone so well with relatively low pain, I don’t think I anticipated the pain that was coming and what the recovery would look like. While I hadn’t torn on the outside with the delivery, I had torn on the inside a bit and it made for a significant amount of pain. Not wanting to take more pain medication than absolutely necessary, initially I wasn’t taking any but midway through the day, I asked the nurse for some in order to take the edge off. It definitely did, but wow, it was still so incredibly painful and I honestly thought at times that I wouldn’t be able to handle it! Thankfully I didn’t have to do much but lay there and recover, so that certainly helped. The baby was so good and so calm, and it was special to be able to sit with him and just feel so blessed. The midwife on call that day (Stevie) came in and did a check to make sure things looked good with me, and then she gave me some discharge instructions and prescriptions. Even though there was so much pain and I was sure something was wrong with my body, she said everything looked great and that was reassuring. We also met with our pediatrician that morning for an initial check on Isaac. We decided to go with Alpine Pediatrics, who have an office very close to our home and who were recommended by many of the moms in our ward. They were awesome and though I can’t remember the name of either of the doctors we ended up seeing in the hospital, I was very impressed with how friendly and great they were! The doctor that morning also said that Isaac looked great, so that was reassuring, too!

Chantelle and Emma came to visit in the morning, and then Tom went home to take a shower and grab a few things. Bahar came to visit as Chantelle and Emma were leaving, and it was fun to see her as well! She brought Baby Isaac a super soft Minky Couture blanket, and it was really sweet of her! Danielle and Ryan came by in the afternoon, and I’m super grateful for all my family’s support (especially my sisters). My parents came to visit later in the evening and brought Baby Isaac a few cute outfits, a blanket, a balloon, and a little birthday cake! It was adorable and really sweet of them! Overall the day was a good one (minus the pain) and we learned that Isaac was indeed very healthy – he passed his hearing test, he had no sign of heart problems, and his other tests were great too! (We know they took a lot of tests, most of them during the middle of the night, but we can’t remember what they all were!) So, Thursday night was another full of lots of tests and interruptions, but again, it was great to know that the baby was doing well and to feel the support of the nurses and midwives.

Friday we were scheduled to go home, and since everything was looking good and the baby was healthy, we were right on track. It’s interesting because they have all these videos for you to watch about parenting and nursing and children, so we watched all those and then the nurses had to go over some key points with us. While most of it was stuff we already knew, there were some new things we learned and which were helpful. That morning I also met with a lactation specialist, and she was very helpful. She indicated that Isaac seemed to be latching and eating well, which was reassuring. She also provided some handouts on breastfeeding, which will be good to have in the future. We then had to wait for the pediatrician to clear Isaac, and he came in about 9:30am and said things looked great. Isaac’s bilirubin test from the middle of the night came back borderline high, so the doctor asked us to come back to the hospital on Saturday morning to do one more check of his blood and see if things were okay or if they had gotten worse. Other than that though, Isaac was happy and healthy and after checks of him and me, we were discharged to go home around noon. We got Isaac dressed in the cute outfit we’d gotten him, had the nurses check and make sure all was well with his car seat, and then we headed home. It was surreal to walk out of the hospital with our little guy and head home! 

Isaac, we are so excited to have you in our family and everything about your coming into the world was just a dream come true. You are truly our miracle baby and we look forward to the amazing life we will have as a family together and the blessing you will be to your mom, dad, and any siblings who are to come! We love you so much already and can’t wait to see what the future holds for you and us!”