My Birth Story with Baby Camille

Ahhhh! My baby is HERE! Meet Camille Bailee Williams. Born on February 5th at 11:29am weighing just 5lbs and 13 ounces. It’s still so surreal that I have yet another daughter to love on and raise. I’m so grateful to have my healthy baby girl at home with us now. I know these days women sharing their “birth story” is a common thing. On one hand I love women coming together and sharing something so personal and intimate but on the other hand I feel that it opens doors for judgement and shame. There’s just so many ways a birth story can go and so many women deal with theirs not going the way they wish it would’ve gone. I thought I’d share my story in hope that it helps women be proud of however theirs went and know that at the end of the day the choice is THEIRS!

I’m going to be very transparent in this blog, although mom-shaming is REAL these days, thanks to the internet and social media! We get judged on whether we breastfeed or not, or whether or not we have an unmedicated birth, or whether or not we only feed our kids organic food. The list goes on and on. I’m a do your best and do what works for you type of mama. Can I get an Amen? Ha!

I’ll be the first to admit, I have no desire for an unmedicated birth. I knew going in to it with all three of my deliveries that I wanted an epidural. Even with natural births, homebirths, and water births becoming more and more popular. It’s just not for ME! Give me all the drugs lol (I’m picturing a lot of gasps or eye rolling at that comment), oh well! BUT more power to the women that give birth naturally. Seriously, you guys are BEAST, I mean that in a complimentary way.

I am very fortunate that all three of my births were vaginal births though. Although I’m here for the drugs, C-sections scare the living daylights out of me. I’ve never had surgery in my life, so that’s probably why. Carrington came on her own at 39 weeks, but with Channing and Camille I had an elective induction at 39 weeks…(here goes all the gasps and eye rolls again, I imagine). With Channing I was just outright miserable. With Camille I ultimately decided on being induced due to the convenience of being able to have a date and time that labor will take place. With me having no local help outside of my husband and having a school aged child, it just worked best for ME! I kept thinking worse case scenario…what if I go into labor and my husband is working all the way across town (he has field job that can have him up to an hour away from where we live), or what if I go in to labor while the kids are at school and daycare and my husband would have to stress with not only making it back to our side of town, but then have to pick up both girls from two different locations all before even making it to me at the hospital. Then we would be forced to have both girls in the delivery room with us, which I felt is too much for a toddler and a 6 year old. Although my mom and grandmother come to help out for a few days with each child I have, they live two hours away. That’s without random Houston traffic and accidents. So that’s ultimately why I decided on being induced. My family was able to come the night before, take care of bringing the girls to school and daycare and picking them up, my husband was able to take off in advance, and it made it so much more of a seamless process.

Now on to the actual delivery day…My husband and I had to check in the hospital at 5:30am that Tuesday morning. They like to get the process started as early as possible, in hopes that the baby will arrive that same day. I woke up around 4:30am feeling excited but yet nervous. No matter how many times you’ve given birth, it can still be such a nerve-racking experience. A healthy baby and healthy mommy coming home is no small feat. Especially being an African-American woman and seeing all the latest headlines about childbirth being the most dangerous for us due to us dying at three times the rate of other women during child birth. To help with my nerves I just listened to worship music while getting ready and prayed as well. Of course me being me, I put on a little makeup and our bags were already packed days before.

Once we got settled in our hospital room, I had to change in the hospital gown, do some paperwork, get hooked up to the IV, then they started the meds to get the labor started. By the time they actually started administering the Pitocin it was around 7am. With this being my 3^rd delivery a lot of people told me that baby girl would probably come quickly. I was praying for a quick and complication free delivery leading up to the induction, I just didn’t know how quick she would actually come. The doctor broke my water at 9am and Camille made her entrance just two hours later with just about 4 pushes. My labor progressed so fast that by the time I requested the epidural and it kicked in, I was pushing Camille out. So I basically endured all of labor with no pain meds anyway, unintentionally. Contractions are even stronger when you’re induced, so it was very INTENSE! Now that I’m home and feeling much better, thinking back to that moment I can’t believe I endured that. Us women are truly some strong beings!

They placed my little 5lb peanut on my chest afterwards and at that moment the past 9 months along with the intense labor was all worth it. She is perfect and such a blessing from God.

The next two days in the hospital were filled with more pain, no sleep, breastfeeding struggles, but lots of love and gratefulness as well. Camille pretty much refused to latch for the first day. We literally could not get her to wake up, the girl loves her sleep. So once again, I was forced to pump. I was pumping with a manual pump and syringe feeding her. Due to the anesthesiologist trying everything in his power to get the epidural to kick in before pushing I had extreme back pain over the next few days. He kept administering stronger and stronger meds during labor but nothing was working. My labor was just moving too fast for the meds to keep up.

The two days in the hospital flew by so fast and next thing I knew, me and baby Camille were discharged and heading home the following Thursday. Today as I finish up this blog she is exactly a week old. My baby is already growing up too fast, next thing I know she’ll be in college haha. I had my mom and grandmother here for the first week being home. They tended to all 3 girls, cooked, and cleaned. All I pretty much had to worry about was pumping and catching up on some sleep. It was such a blessing to have that kind of help. I really believe having help those first few days helps with dealing with the “baby blues” and postpartum depression. It allows you to ease into newborn life instead of being throw in to it. So if you can have help over, GET IT! Now that my family has left my husband has started his two week paternity leave. Once his two weeks are up mama will be on her own! At least during the work day, but I’m up for the challenge. I was built for this!

Breastfeeding has still been a struggle. After resorting to pumping in the hospital, I’ve still been pumping since coming home. I exclusively pumped with my last one for almost a full year so it’s second nature. However, I would really love to be able to nurse as well. I plan on visiting a lactation consultant soon to see if she can provide some assistance with trying to get Camille to nurse. But for now, I’m grateful that she’s still able to get breastmilk exclusively. 7 days postpartum and I already have breastmilk in the freezer because I produce so much milk. I can’t complain.

I’m handling being a mother of three much better than I thought I would so far. Even my husband randomly told me “you look so happy.” I was thinking do I not always look happy? Lol. He stated he was just nervous about me being overwhelmed. But God graces us for what He’s called us to do. I get emotional just looking at all three of my girls. God is so so good. Channing and Carrington have been handling being big sisters so well. They’ve exceeded my expectations on how they are dealing with a new baby being home, especially Channing. She’s obsessed with Camille. Big brother will meet baby Channing soon. We are anxiously waiting for them to be able to meet as well!

Thank you guys for being so sweet throughout the entire journey of bringing my 3^rd daughter into this world. Social media gets a bad rep but I have the sweetest and most supportive online family. Please continue to keep me and my family in your prayers as we continue to navigate becoming a family of 6!

As Always…I Love You All,

Courtney N. Williams