The Dad Life: pt. 1
The Dad Life, The Journey Begins
By: D.J. Shuttleworth
On July 13, 2018 my life changed forever. My beautiful girlfriend, Lauren, gave birth to our daughter Henley Marguerite Shuttleworth. When people tell you having a child will change your life, you really can not appreciate it until it happens. Henley being born was the biggest blessing in my life and the most life changing moment I have ever been through.
On July 13, after not much sleep, we wake up around 4:30 A.M. to get ready to go to the hospital. Our hospital was about 45 minutes away because of where we used to live. We left around 5 and arrived at the hospital at 6 A.M. At about 6:45 the doctor broke her water and by 8 A.M. they started the pitocin to induce Lauren into labor. This is where the miracle starts to happen.
After being induced, contractions started pretty shortly after. It when from very mild contractions, to mild contraction, to intense contractions, to unbearable pain over the course of the next 9.5 hours. Around 10 A.M. was about the time when contractions started to get intense. Lauren is very tough and the pain she was going through was hard to watch. She couldn’t get comfy and anytime she did the contractions would become very powerful for about 10-20 seconds and the rest for about 1 minute. During the 1 minute rest, her eyes would close and she would be basically blacking out from what I could tell. My girl is such a trooper though, she really wanted a natural birth, meaning no epidural.
Around 12:30 P.M. the contractions were overbearing, at this time we decided it would be best for Lauren to get a shot of stadol (basically a birth-safe morphine) to decrease the pain of the contractions. Finally, Lauren felt some relief for about an hour then the contractions came back even stronger. At about 2:30/3 P.M. the pain was unbearable, we were told she could get another shot of stadol at 3:30, but we had to wait until then because there had to be a 3 hour window in between shots.
At 3:30 P.M. Lauren received another shot of stadol, this time it did not take the edge off, it really did not do anything from what she said. Somewhere between 4:15-4:30 the pain became so great that Lauren asked for an epidural. In my head I did not want her to get one, but after seeing her in pain for so long throughout the day I thought it was about time as well. The nurse that was in the room started talking to Lauren though. She said she had 3 kids and did all the births naturally. She said, “You came in here not wanting to get an epidural, stand up and get out of bed.” Her and I helped Lauren up out of bed around that time and now it really started to begin.
At around 5 P.M. Lauren was ready and began to start pushing for the birth of our child. I won’t give you all the gory details, but to be completely honest, it was not gross at all. It was a fascinating experience, a true miracle to watch. At 5:48 P.M. our angel had finally arrived. Henley Marguerite Shuttleworth, 7.115lbs, 19.5 inches long and she was perfect.
What a day it was, a long day, but the best day of our lives. After witnessing a natural birth, women are true miracle makers. It was an incredible experience and I can’t even put into words how proud and happy I was. Lauren was amazing to go through that experience without an epidural because they are so common these days. A true beast! See how having a child changes your life in blogs to come!