Ryah's Birth Story

February 8, 2021. 4:41am. 

There it was, the painful contraction. I woke up in the middle of the night from the pain in my back and everything suddenly feeling extremely tight. I couldn't handle it so I stood up and… water? Did my water just break? It must have, I’ve never felt this before. As I got my thoughts together I realized, it was really happening. A few minutes later I looked over at Devon and thought, it’s time. I woke him up and said “babe, I think my water broke we have to go” he shot right up out of bed and started getting ready. Everything felt surprisingly calm and his eyes were full of excitement. I took a warm shower as he got our things together, we got ourselves dressed (my planned outfit was in the laundry - oops), and headed to the car. My parents drove to the hospital as well to send us off even though they weren’t allowed in due to COVID-19 restrictions.

We were at registration by 5:40am but unfortunately Devon couldn’t join me until my room was ready so he headed back to the car to wait. I got hooked up to the monitors and the routine checks began. Here’s what we learned, my water didn’t actually break so even though I was four days overdue at this point, they still gave me the option to go home and wait or stay and get induced. At this point it was almost 7:00am so I called Devon and we went back and forth, deciding what to do but I was leaning towards heading home and waiting for baby girl to come naturally. I remember thinking “baby, give me a sign, what do we do?” and she gave me a sign, a scary one. Her heart rate dropped… from 130 to 70 in the matter of seconds. As three nurses ran in I didn’t realize what happened until one said “she just made the decision for you,” they were all calm and after her heart beat went back to normal they explained what happened. I wasn’t going anywhere. I thank God everyday that we had a sign to get to the hospital anyway that night.

I called Devon again and said, it looks like we’re meeting our daughter today. She’s coming. Finally at 7:15am I was headed to my own room and by 7:30am Devon was in there with me! At this point I was still 4cm dilated, the same as when we got to the hospital. 

At around 8:30am we started the pitocin to get my contractions going. They got stronger, quick. At around 10:00am the doctor came in to break my water and from there it felt like everything just sped up. The contractions got so strong so quick I asked for the epidural at about 11:00am but because they use a diluted amount it felt like it didn’t help at all - we didn’t realize how fast my body was dilating. Within less than an hour I was already past 6cm dilated. The anesthesiologist came in to give me a stronger dose at around 12:15pm but I actually wish he hadn’t. Here’s why.

I was numb and at 1pm, everything changed. Baby’s heartbeat dropped again. The nurses turned me left, right, then back, and nothing. Nothing was changing so we had to move QUICK. Within minutes the room filled with more nurses and my doctor still hadn’t arrived (no one expected me to deliver this quick). I got asked a couple of times “this is your first baby?” yes it is! From here everything felt different and fast. I remember just looking over at Devon for reassurance that everything would be okay and he gave me just that. One of the nurses looked me right in the eyes and said “alright Polina, we’re gonna need you to push, we need to get this baby out,” and from there I knew stress wouldn’t get me anywhere, I had to focus.

About ten minutes later, my doctor arrived, everything felt like a bit of a blur. Devon helped throughout the entire process which was such a special experience. One of the main things I remember is feeling absolutely exhausted… they’re not kidding when they say labor is a lot of work and pressure on the body. 

Ryah was born at 1:39pm on February 8, 2021. The feeling of seeing your baby for the first time is something that words can’t describe. I remember Devon saying “look at your baby” as they took her to the heated table for a full cheek up. He was able to cut the cord before they took her but everything moved so quick, we weren’t able to capture it in a photo. That’s okay, the memory is forever with us. 

The next few minutes I just soaked it all in as I watched Devon with her while the nurses did her check up. We could hear Ryah crying, I could see him holding her hand, I remember hearing him ask “can I touch her?” and the nurses responded “of course, she’s your daughter,” such a funny and special memory. He was so in love. So was I, and I impatiently waited to feel her in my arms and know everything is okay.

Devon’s first time holding his daughter, Ryah Capri Weidner.

The first moment that they laid Ryah on my chest I wanted to squeeze her, hard. All I wanted was to feel her close to me and realize we did it. I knew better obviously, I couldn’t squeeze too tight but I could love on her and that’s exactly what I did. Devon came over and we just looked at her, stared at those ocean eyes as he said, and really embraced this moment. He looked at me and said he fell in love all over again. I’ll never forget this day. 

Let’s just say, God has a plan even when we don’t know it.