This is how it all went down the day our lives changed forever and my capacity to love grew exponentially.
(It's kind of long, I wrote it while I was still in the hospital so I wouldn't forget details...)
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I woke up at about 1:40 am on Saturday May 25th with
contractions that felt like cramps (rather than the ones I had been feeling
that were just tightness). I stayed
awake to time them for an hour with this really nifty app that we bought- The
Contraction Master. They didn’t really
change in intensity, and I was really tired, so I went back to sleep at 2:40
and slept through two hours of the same contractions.
I know
I had contractions during that time because I dreamt that I went to the
hospital with contractions—without Steven.
I rode with some random nurse lady.
When they decided that I was in labor, they decided to let me call my
husband and he could come. It took
forever to get a hold of him as it was the middle of the night and his phone
was on silent. He finally answered and I
felt so bad for leaving him like that.
That’s when I woke up. It was
weird and I was like, “um, I think I’ll be asking my husband to be the one to
take me to the hospital…”
We had planned to go to Lehi on that day to finalize the apartment application processes (well, start it AND
finish it). I woke Steven up around 4:30
(I just couldn’t sleep anymore) and told him that I didn’t think we were going
to Lehi that day. In reality, I could
have suffered through a drive all the way down there, but I am extremely glad we didn’t try to go. The contractions were getting stronger
than they had been at first.
At
about 5, I couldn’t stay in bed any longer.
Like many previous mornings, I had a neck ache and I just wanted to get
up. So I got up and took my thyroid
medicine because I was STARVING and I took a shower. When we were ready, and after I had a bowl of
cereal, Steven and I decided to go for a walk. (I
also called my mom about 7 and let her know to be on standby. I wanted her at the hospital when this baby
got here.) We had a buy one get one free
at Jamba Juice, and I REALLY wanted one, so that’s the direction we
headed. We made it to Jamba and back in
one piece (that’s about 7 blocks each way-quite the walk!) I had a couple of really strong contractions
on the way back and I had to stop walking.
They were still quite regular at this time, but they weren’t really
getting much more intense.
When we
got home, I was so exhausted. So, after
a few minutes of computer time, I went and laid down. I slept for 2 hours and I don’t think I had
very many contractions during that time, but I may have and just been so tired
I didn’t feel them. I woke up about 11. The contractions seemed to have lowered in
intensity and become farther apart. I
wondered if we were really going to have a baby today. Logically, I knew that I wasn’t going to be
pregnant forever, but my body just felt so huge and uncomfortable, and I sort
of wondered if I would just be pregnant forever.
Since
we couldn’t make it to Lehi on our own, we transferred the money to my parents
account and asked them to buy a money order and take it to the apartment so
that we could at least reserve the one that was available. Then we filled out the applications and got a
cashier’s check to pay the application fee and put that in the mail so that
they would have our deposit (from my dad taking it to them) and by Tuesday
they’d have the application. When we
were done at the post office (I really hope that one stamp was enough for
that!) we went to the hospital. It was
about 3:30 pm and I was praying we didn’t get sent home. The contractions had come back and were
painful and I just wanted to get it over with (and meet my baby!).
When we
got all checked into the hospital, they checked me and I was at a
3. Yay, since on Monday at the Dr.
office I was only a 1 (still…)! They
told me that the protocol was to wait an hour and check again and call the
doctor on call and ask what they wanted me to do. After an hour, the contractions had not
intensified, but they were generally about 5 minutes apart. And I was still at a 3. I got a little worried because I did NOT want
to go home. I wanted to stay and have
this baby! Luckily, Dr. Fowers was on my
side. Well, actually Group B Strep was
on my side. I’m pretty sure that the
fact that I had tested positive for GBS was a deciding factor in what Dr.
Fowers said to do with me. Because of
GBS I needed to have doses of antibiotics so that the risk of the baby getting
it would decrease, so they let me stay!
I was so happy, and then it became REAL.
I was having a baby, and soon.
They started me on an IV, with fluid, antibiotics, and Pitocin. That was fun.
Not. I got poked 5 times. 5 times!
To finally get the IV in a place that it would run well and not hurt
me. Ugh.
I don’t hate needles, but I
don’t know anyone who likes them. Some of
the failed pokes hurt when the blood pressure cuff would inflate (which was
often…).
Mom got
to the hospital around 6:30. I was glad
to see her.
Some guys who I’m assuming were
members of some ward around here came in offering blessings. I had them come in and help Steven give me
one. That was comforting (even though I
was not really worried about anything, it was nice to have those words of
comfort spoken to me from my Heavenly Father.)
With
the Pitocin running, my contractions got stronger and by 7:30 I was ready to be
numb. The contractions hurt. It was like a bad cramp on a period or the
worst stomach cramps of diarrhea you’ve ever had. I know that they would only get worse and
they told me that it would be quick since the anesthesiologist was just in the
other room giving one. That was an
interesting experience. Ever since I
found out just how the Epidural was
given, I had been a little unsure of my desire for it… of course that was
before I felt the pain. Now I just
wanted it to go away. The worst part
(like everyone says) was the numbing shot, and honestly, it wasn’t that
bad. No, I lie. The worst part was the contraction that
decided to happen while I was trying to stay still and be curled up in a ball
(haha, curled up around THAT belly?! You
want me to do what Mr.
Anesthesiologist?... ok, I’ll try…).
With
that my body from the top of my belly to my toes started to go numb. And we all settled down for what would be a
pretty long, and uneventful night. I had
to remind myself that if I was not numb, I would be feeling my contractions,
and that was enough to help me laugh at how weird it was to be numb. I could feel my legs, but they just felt
tingly and cold. And at first there was
a spot on my lower right belly that wasn’t numb, and it felt like a knife was
going in there every time I had a contraction.
But I remedied that by pushing the nifty button they gave me—it was
extra epidural anesthesia on top of that which was going in automatically.
They
checked me every hour all night. I was
progressing. Slowly in my opinion, but
apparently average for what they see with first time moms. 1 cm per hour. Ugh.
“Try and get some sleep, you’re going to need energy to push.” That was hard advice to follow. I couldn’t adjust myself, and the blood
pressure cuff was a permanent resident on my arm (remember I said it hurt my
failed IVs?). I think I only slept for
about 2 hours total.
I was
dilated to a 10 by 3 am, but they have first time moms with an epidural wait an
hour after that to let the contractions do more work without pushing. At about 4, my awesome nurse Elise came in
and set me up to start pushing. She said
that Dr. Fowers would come when the baby crowned, but until then I’d push 3
times per contraction and with each push I’d need to take a deep breath and
push like I was constipated. Steven and
my mom held my feet and I held on to my thighs or some handles on the bed. They have a mirror so you can watch what’s
going on if you want to, so I did.
After Elise got all set up for me to push, I… well, pushed. 3 times, 1 contraction. Elise got all excited and was like, well,
I’ll go call Dr. Fowers. He was already
crowning! I was not going to have to
push for the average 2-3 hours, and
that was just fine with me. After she
called him, I kept pushing to get the baby to stay down further in the birth canal,
and when Dr. Fowers got there, it only took a few more pushes to get my sweet
baby out of me.
He was
born at 4:43 am on Sunday May 26th, he weighed 8 lbs 2 oz, and was 21 inches long. And he was perfect. Chubby (swollen?).
Screaming. Pink. And mine.
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So that's what happened. Now, five weeks later, I can't imagine my life without Bennett. Sure, my sleep gets interrupted a few times a night (at least it's less times than I had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night while I was still pregnant...) But I wouldn't trade those mid-night snuggles for anything.
