Birth Story

Saturday May 30: Spent the day doing some last minute things around the house, laundry, cleaning, playing with Colt. Colt and I had went for an hour long walk that morning and then spent some time outside playing in his pool. I was having contractions all day but nothing too bad and not consistent at all. That evening I started having diarrhea and was really uncomfortable.

Sunday May 31: Woke up periodically throughout the night having contractions. Around 4 am Colt came in our room for some reason so I pulled him into bed with us. I never went back to sleep, my contractions were coming every 7 minutes for the next 2 hours and they hurt!! I finally gave up and got out of bed around 6 with Colt. I took him on another hour long walk and the contractions slowed down a bit to about every 10-15 minutes. I also still had diarrhea and some bleeding going on. I woke Dave up around 7 and I told him I was going to school to get lesson plans done for the week because I think I am going to have this baby within the next two days. Dave called his mom to let her know what was going on and I called my parents (who were on there way back from Boise) to tell them what was happening. The contractions stayed pretty slow around 15-20 minutes for the next couple hours, Dave took Colt out to lunch so I could nap for an hour which was so nice! That afternoon around 2:30 I told Dave I was going to go to Wal-Mart and walk around for an hour or so, it was soooo hot outside but I wanted to see if I could get them moving along any quicker. While at Wal-Mart they started coming about 7 minutes apart and after an hour Dave called me and told me I should come home because I would be pretty embarrassed if my water broke at Wal-Mart. He also mentioned that I should maybe just call my doctor and let her know what was going on (this was his mom's idea which I am so glad she told us to do that as you will see later). Around 3:30 I called my doctor and told her what was going on, she told me I should probably just go to the hospital and get checked even though I was pretty comfortable and the contractions were not real close yet. When I got home from Wal-Mart my parents had just gotten home from Boise and Dave's mom was on her way as well. We left Colt with my parents and headed for the hospital, we arrived at 4:20 and the whirlwind began.......

The nurse got me hooked up, the contractions were starting to get much more intense and painful and I was having to breath through them. She checked me and said I was at 3cm and 80% effaced. I was laying on my side listening to the baby's heartbeat when I felt this pop and realized my water had broke. After that I got up and I walked around the halls for awhile but was really having to breath through each contraction, I finally went back to my room and sat on the exercise ball for awhile. The contractions were really starting to come quicker but I still had a 3-4 minute break between each one. It was so different than when I was in labor with Colt because with him I was on pitocin and had like only a 30 second break between contractions, also I did not have back labor this time which made it easier too. I mentioned to the nurse that I wanted to think about getting an epidural and so she called the doctor but he was in a surgery for at least another hour, she gave me something light to calm me down which really helped me stay calm in between each contraction. She also checked me again about 6:00 and said I was 4cm and 90% effaced. At this point I was in the worst pain I could imagine, with each contraction I felt like I had to poop, I told the nurse this and she just said it was just the baby moving down . I was sweating profusely and Dave was putting ice cold wash cloths over my face and neck to try and keep me calm. He kept reminding me to just breathe and stay calm which I was doing but I felt like I was going to die. I just kept praying over and over each time a contraction would hit and just when I thought I would die it would subside. About 6:35 the nurse says she wants to check me again as I am getting ready to turn onto my back I feel this contraction that feels unlike any of the other ones, I kept saying over and over "this feels really weird, this one feels different" sure enough she checks me and says "you are complete, I am calling the doctor (who was still at home!) just breathe." The next contraction comes and I don't remember much after that. I remember saying "its coming, its coming" and then hearing the nurse get on the phone to the ER to send a dr. up asap. My eyes were closed the entire time and Dave said I was kind of turning my legs back and forth and he kept trying to just grab them and hold them apart. I felt the baby coming out and they kept telling me to just breathe (yeah right) and then I hear the doctor run in, feel the baby's head pop out and then he says to me "push" and I feel the baby slide out right onto the bed. It was like complete relief just comes over you and you forget all the pain you were in. I was still kind of in shock over how everything had gone, the dr. was literally in his nice shirt and khakis and had time to just throw a pair of gloves on (oh and did I mention that I know him, I opened up my eyes after I pushed the baby out and said "OH! Hi Tony." Kind of surreal). I kept asking if it was a boy or girl and it finally registered to me that we had another boy! They put him up on my stomach and he was just screaming away, then they took him away to just give him a little oxygen since he had come out SOOOO fast! My dr. showed up about that time and felt bad that she had missed it. At that point I was just so relieved that is was over and I had my new son with me that I did not really even care.

Who would have thought after having to be induced with Colt, 12 hours of labor and 2 hours of pushing that my second son would be born almost 3 weeks early after only 1 push! I never could have imagined that it would have happened like it did but I am so glad it did. It was kind of cool to get to experience natural childbirth though I am not sure if I would want to do it again or not. The after parts are a bit more difficult (and painful) when you are not numb and I lost quite a bit of blood because he was born so fast. We ended up having to stay at the hospital an extra day because I passed out the night I had him from losing so much blood. Luckily Dave was there to grab me and get me back into bed. All I remember is waking up and looking at Dave and him saying "you just passed out." Most people hemoglobin levels are about 12, after I had Jax mine went all the way down to a 7. I had to stay in bed and lay flat for about 18 hours after he was born because I felt so dizzy and lightheaded. I am still not back to 100%, I have to take it easy and I get kind of tired just walking up the stairs. Its a weird feeling, my doctor put me on some iron pills to get my levels moving back up quicker but she says it will take a month for my body to produce enough blood to make it all back up. A transfusion is not neccesary unless things don't improve but she thought that my body would be able to make them up on its own.

All right last thing before I close this story. I have to give serious brags about my husband because he WAS AMAZING!! I don't know how he manages to stay so calm but he always does it, I never have to tell him what I want or need in labor he just seems to know these things. He saw that I was sweating and hot so he went and got a big bucket and had the nurse fill it with ice water and then got enough wash cloths to keep me cool the entire time. He was constantly changing them out and making them colder, coaching me through each contraction and then at the end when things were going crazy he is still able to stay calm about the entire thing. Even when I was bleeding alot and the doctor was trying to get it to stop he was checking on Jax, taking him out to see Colt and then making sure I am taken care of. He really is amazing.