The birth story~ Part I

I feel like this birth story started long before the actual day of birth. First off, Baby Jack came as a surprise to us. We knew our family wasn't complete yet but considering the other boys took much longer to come than we wanted I figured it would be another few years before I got pregnant again. When I found out I was pregnant I cried. I was excited but very nervous. Since our insurance doesn't cover maternity care we had saved to pay for the care and delivery of Crate and I wasn't sure if the pocket book could handle another cash payment for a baby. When I found out I was pregnant it was about a week or so before Christmas. I was planning on telling Pops the news on Christmas but I broke my silence a few days before...I had to explain the sickness. When I told him I wasn't sure what his reaction was going to be. I was relieved to see him excited and he assured me all will be well and I didn't need to worry about the cost. I think deep down we both new the Lord knew our limits and our situation and if we did our part in preparing for this little guy he would make up the rest. And He did.

Fast forward about nine months. All is well with the pregnancy. I am healthy, still exercising daily and starting to have random contractions. I figured this baby was going to be the one that throws me off and comes early. Not so. Contractions continue for the next five in a half weeks. Sometimes they're really strong and I think it's time to get going and other times they are there just to tease me. Either way I felt my body getting tired from weeks of contractions.

Fast forward a bit more. My 40 week mark arrives. By this time I have been dilated to a three for the last three weeks. I go to my appointment and nothing more has happened. He asks me when I want to be induced. I tell him I don't and I say..."When I see you next time it'll be in the hospital." 41 weeks rolls around and I go to my appointment again at the doctors office not the hospital. This time he tells me he'll let me go another week but once I hit 42 weeks I need to be induced. I agree and this time he tells me, "No more appointments here...next time I'll meet you at the hospital."

During these last few weeks I got a lot of mixed comments. Some people would say things to the effect of "Good for you for holding out, hang in there." And others would say something like "why torture yourself any longer. Schedule your induction today." I was torn. I knew I wanted to avoid an induction at all costs but then I would think "am I just postponing the inevitable...should I just get it over with?"

I knew I had to get things cleared up for my own sake before this baby came and maybe get things cleared up for his sake too. After talking with Ashlee (ashleemiller.com) I was confident all was well. I knew this baby would come at the time that was best for him and I and I knew he wanted to come to our family and I knew my body would be ready for his arrival.

Friday night comes (9.9.11) Buster and Boss happen to be spending the night at their cousins house for a birthday party so it was just Pops, Crate and I. We got a sitter for Crate and went out for dinner and then to Costco for groceries. My contractions started and were consistently 10 minutes apart but not painful enough that I needed to worry. We get home, put everything away and they continue to come still 10 minutes apart. I mentioned to Pops that night that it would be cool to have the baby tomorrow cause then his birth date would be 9.10.11. He replies back it would be cool if I had the baby tomorrow cause then he would have a good excuse not to go to the stake youth activity. :) We go to bed and that's that.

Now it's Saturday morning 9.10.11. 3:17am my eyes pop open and I think to myself...did I just pee my pants? I jump up out of bed realize that my water may have just broken. It wasn't a gush like it was with Crate and it wasn't a constant heavy leak so I really didn't know what was going on. I took care of things and laid back down but couldn't fall asleep. I was to excited thinking this might be the day. I figured I better get some things taken care of if it was the big day.

From 4am to 7am I cleaned every nook and cranny of this house. I did four loads of laundry, swept and mopped the floor, paid the bills online. Ordered Buster some new tennis shoes online because I was planning on getting him some that afternoon. I registered myself with the hospitals online forms. Prepared lunches for Monday for the boys and then feel asleep on the couch from 7am to 7:30am until I heard Crate. I got him out of bed and went in to tell Pops what was going on. He was already getting ready for the youth activity. I asked him to go for a walk with me before he left to try and determine if things would progress or if he could go to the activity. We walked about 2 miles at a very slow pace and by this time the contractions were closer together a bit more intense so we decided he'd better hang around.
After the walk I called my mom to come get Crate in the next few hours and I showered and got ready for the hospital.

11am we leave for the hospital. Again, I was apprehensive to go since I wasn't in horrible pain but I needed to get medication four hours prior to delivering so I wanted to make sure I was there in enough time. I just didn't want them to send me home.

We park in the parking garage and I told Pops I was taking the stairs not the elevator down. He didn't like that idea but I wanted to keep things going. We arrived in triage, I explain to the nurse what's going on. I told her that something was leaking from me but I wasn't sure if it was a broken bag of water or not. She does a test and confirms that it is amniotic fluid and proceeds to see how dilated I am. She says "your a solid 5 almost 6" and I blurted out "I Love You!" I was so excited to be that far along. I was thankful my body was progressing at a rate that was a bit uncomfortable for me but totally doable.

I get checked in, change into a gown and start walking the halls. Pops runs to get lunch and I continue to walk coming back into the room every 45 mins so they could monitor the baby's heart beat for a few minutes. Pops does his favorite thing (not) and walks the halls with me. At about 3:30pm the nurse checks me and I'm at a 7. At this point the only major feeling I have going on is excitement. I felt like I didn't care how much pain I was in I was just excited to meet the new baby. And the beauty of it was that I was progressing but still feeling pretty good. Pops has some work stuff to take care of so I hop in the shower and relax in there for the next 45 minutes. I get out and want to start walking again but the nurse informs me that the doctor on call would like to start me on pitocin since my water has been broken for 12+ hours. After the shower I knew things were starting to pick up so I ask her to hold off on starting the drip for a few more minutes.

Then things started getting intense.