A Baby Story

The Prologue: 

I much preferred being induced at  3:00 p.m. verses the agonizing wait and stress of 4:00 a.m. The day before my induction I was a total mess. I was full of emotions and I really couldn't focus on much of anything. Thankfully my dear friend Missy Lowe came by right when I was about to burst out in tears. I was so overwhelmed and I was very thankful to have a friend just to take my mind off on the unimportant things and regroup. Jakob was able to come home early and we spent our anniversary dancing in the kitchen with Ethnie. It was perfect and just what I needed. I honestly couldn't have asked for a more peaceful and perfect evening. Mom and Dad were gracious enough to spend the night at our place so we wouldn't have to transfer Ethnie at 2:30 in the morning. I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people. Words cannot do my gratitude justice.

(39.5" around the morning of our delivery)

 

At 2:30 in the morning we got a phone call from the hospital telling us that things were rather busy and not to come in at 4:00. I was so alert and ready and then to hear that we had been delayed totally threw me for a loop. It took me forever to fall back to sleep and once I did I couldn't stop dreaming about being forgotten about and ending up being two weeks over due. Thankfully at 5:30 a.m. we got the phone call to come in whenever we were ready. I bustled about throwing in some last minute items and we were off.

(Jakob's chair. It reclines but it sure does look uncomfortable!)

Chapter 2: And So It Begins

We arrived at the hospital and were directed to room 247. Our initial nurse was named Stacey. She was sweet and sincere and I felt very comfortable with her. I wasn't very fond of where they put my IV in and she made a comment about how "distinguished my blood valves were." It was 8:40 a.m by the time we got my meds flowing.

(Right after they started my Pitocin. Here we go!)

At 10:25 a.m. I was contracting every 3 - 5 minutes. They weren't painful just stronger than the Braxton Hicks. I was very contentious of switching from side to side since last time my tail bone was killing me by the end of delivery from laying on my back the entire time. Duke was super wiggly! They had a hard time keeping the heart rate monitor on him because he'd roll around so much. It didn't bother me one bit. I saw it more as him reassuring me that he'd be here soon and that I wasn't alone.

 (Shortly after delivery, I had the shakes pretty bad and I was freezing.)

I was super sleepy but since I was being checked on so often it was hard to get any rest. I was also getting the heebie jebies from being tethered to so many poles. (At one point I had 6 things attached to me in some way.) I was nervous, but Jakob and Dad gave me a blessing before saying that all would be well and I knew it would be. I felt so bad for poor Jakob he looked so board. We ended up finding Gold Rush, the same T.V. show he watched when Ethnie was delivered. He was oddly excited about it.

 (Duke's First Picture)

Chapter 3: A Waiting Game

At 11:45 a.m. the contractions still weren't painful but they were strong. I was still only at a 2 and I was starting to get a bit discouraged. Everyone was telling me that I would go much faster with the second delivery and here I was stuck at a 2. At 1:00 p.m. we started to discuss breaking my water. I was rather nervous since last time I had already had my epidural before they broke my water. The anesthesiologist was busy with a c-section however and was unable to be there before hand. At 1:30 p.m. Stacy checked me again... still at a 2 but the contractions were getting stronger and I was starting to get uncomfortable. They gave me a shot of "happy juice" and I instantly felt better. I love drugs.

Dr. Lee came in and broke my water at 1:50 p.m. I was very grateful that I hadn't had the epidural yet. It was a neat experience to feel my water break. He told me I was FINALLY at a 3. The first sign of progress in 6 hours. I was hoping thinks would really pick up now.... I was wrong.

At 1:50 Dr. Hansen came in to give me my epidural. He was wonderful. I didn't start sobbing this time which was quite a relief. It was actually a very pleasant experience. I felt the initial poke to numb me a bit and then nothing but pressure. I over think these things. He was fabulous and I was very grateful for his calming beside manner. 

At 3:45 p.m. they once again came in to check me. I was still a 3-4 and they decided to put internal monitoring in. At this point I was so ready to deliver. I was getting quite discouraged and I really just wanted to have my baby in my arms.

 (Daddy getting some shut eye after delivery.)

 Chapter 4: Labor!!

5:00 p.m. I was FINALLY a solid 4 which means I was officially in "labor." It had been 8 1/2 hours since we arrived and I sent Jakob to go and get some dinner. I was totally starving and all of the commercials of food were driving me crazy. I was totally craving some DQ chicken strips, fries, and a sundae , but I had to settle for ice chips. Bummer.

 (First Time Daddy held Duke.)

At 6:30 they checked me again and I was a 6-7.  More progress. Shift changed happened at 7:00 p.m. and our new nurse Hannah was just darling. She was super sweet and made me feel so comfortable and calm. I told her that I was staring to feel some sharp pain in my abdomen when I was contracting, which I thought was odd since I could hardly feel my toes. They sent in the anesthesiologist and he gave me an extra shot of something which made me NUMB. It was uncomfortably numb. I could still tell that they were moving my right leg around but my left was entirely gone. It could have been amputated for all I knew. I was enjoying being pain free but I didn't enjoy losing all sensation to my legs.

Chapter 5: Another Miracle

At around 7:45 I told Hannah I felt funny, I wasn't sure what is was since I had little to no feeling but she decided to check me. I was ready to push. She called Dr. Martin and he suggested that we do some practice pushes and Hannah told him there was no need. Twenty minutes later Dr. Martin arrived. He looked tired, poor guy. I just love him. Jakob took his position behind my head. I think he preferred the view from back there. We were joking with everyone, delivering babies is quite fun when you can't feel anything. Dr. Martin instructed me to push... so I did, or so I thought. I looked at Hannah afterwards and asked if I did okay because I honestly couldn't feel a thing. She informed me that he was crowning and I had done a good job. I pushed again and Dr. Martin told me to stop. He told me to reach down and I pulled Duke onto my belly at 8:24 p.m.

 (First Time I Held Duke.)

 Chapter 6:

As I sit here now I am filled with the same emotions as I was then. Here was this little boy, so prefect in every way. As tears filled my eyes, I knew how special he was from the moment I first saw him and I knew that he was a precious son of our Heavenly Father. Once again I could feel this over powering love from our Father in Heaven and I could just imagine him saying, here he is, I love him so, take care of him for me. I was so thankful for the knowledge of eternal families and I was so happy to have this precious little boy in our family. I tried to freeze that moment into my mind, to memorize every little feature that was so pure and innocent. He is perfect!

 (8 lbs 0oz)

They whisked him away after a few minutes to get him all cleaned up. I couldn't help but think how similar he looked to Ethnie. It made me miss her a little more. I was longing to have our little family together but was enjoying these first moments alone with our darling son. He had so much hair! I could hardly believe it. They made a little mohawk out of it and I fell in love with him all over again. I was amazed by how alert Duke was after delivery. He didn't hardly cry, he was just looking around. It was so nice to be able to look into his eyes for so long. We had a lot of skin on skin which I never did with Ethnie and it truly was an incredible bonding experience. This little man is enchanting.

A few months ago Dr. Martin was joking about his "membership program." "Buy five and get the 6th one free." He joked. I couldn't resist making myself a little punch card for after Duke's delivery. All of the nurses thought it was quite cute and Dr. Martin sure got a laugh out of it. Like I said before, our deliveries are fun.

Once everything slowed down we were able to just enjoy some alone time with little Duke before they moved us into our recovery room. I was still very numb and was not enjoying the lack of feeling and mobility.  They moved us into our room at 2:00 a.m. and we were all rather excited to get some sleep. 

It was a wonderful experience and once again we had the best team to deliver Duke I could have asked for. Jakob and I feel so blessed to have this little man in our family. Words can not do our love and joy justice. I am so thankful for the ability I have to be a mother and for the love and comfort I feel from our Father in Heaven, not only for me, but for Duke and Ethnie too. This is what life is all about and I am so incredibly grateful!