Tuesday, June 18th- 4:00 a.m.- I woke up with a terrible, terrible headache. I couldn't find Tylenol anywhere in the house, so I put some clothes on and drove over to Walgreen's to get some. Unfortunately, the Tylenol wasn't doing much, so I took my blood pressure to see if that is what was causing it, and of course, it was high. My discharge instructions from the last time I was at the hospital told me that if I had a headache that didn't go away with Tylenol to call my doctor. I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for 4:30 that day, but I felt so weird that I called anyway- around 10:00 a.m. Whoever answered the phone let me know that since it was Tuesday, Dr. Tutt and his nurse, Brooke, wouldn't be in the office until 2:00 p.m. So, I left a message. It almost seemed pointless, since my appointment was only a couple hours after that, but around 2:45 I got a call from Brooke telling me that Dr. Tutt wanted me to skip my appointment and head over to L&D triage to be monitored ASAP.
So, I called Nathan and let him know what was going on. He got off work at 3:00 anyway, so that wasn't a big deal. When he got home, we loaded the hospital bag and pillows and such into the car-- just in case. We got to the hospital not long after 4:00- signed all the forms and stuff and they got into a triage room. After leaving a urine sample, they got me all hooked up to the monitors and took some blood. We hung out there for about an hour and a half to two hours while they ran the labs and kept an eye on me and the baby-- and then gave me discharge instructions and sent me home. I was pretty disappointed because I was hoping at my would-have-been appointment that they would check my cervix, and do an ultrasound to check on my aging placenta, and give me some sort of idea when I might be having this baby- and they didn't do any of those things at the hospital.
On the drive home I started having contractions that were a bit uncomfortable compared to braxton hix I had been having for the past few weeks- but they weren't lasting too long and weren't very close together. Nathan decided to swing into Taco Bell to grab something quick for dinner. While we were waiting in the drive-thru, I said to Nathan "I am pretty sure that I am in early labor right now and I am going to have the baby in the next day or so." I don't remember what he said exactly but he basically told me I wasn't in labor and that I was crazy and then I think I snapped at him and said something along the lines of "Don't tell me what my body is feeling!"
So, we went home and went about our business. Nathan started working on an order from Color Me Mine in the garage and I relaxed and watched a bit of tv, until I started feeling restless and decided to do some running around. I went over to my parents house and picked up a couple things that we had left there. My mom noticed the pillows and stuff in the car and I told her we bring them to every appointment now, just in case, and I just hadn't gotten around to taking it out yet. Then I headed over to Walmart to do some grocery shopping, because I figured Nathan was probably right and I wouldn't be going into labor anytime soon and I needed to get some stuff for lunches. For some reason, it didn't cross my mind that I was having real contractions while I was walking down the frozen food aisles- even though I had to stop walking until they were over. So, I went home and put the groceries away, and got ready for bed like I would normally. We snuggled into bed around 9:00 and put Frasier on Netflix. Nathan fell asleep pretty quick, like he usually does and I tried dozing off but I kept having this pain in my back/bottom with contractions that kept waking me up. Around 10:00 p.m. it dawned on me that I should probably start timing these things. So I got my phone out and pulled up my Sprout pregnancy app that has a contraction timer on it.
I watched Frasier and timed contractions for about an hour and half. They were consistently a minute or more long and between 3-6 minutes apart. I sat for a while and debated whether or not I should wake Nathan up yet. I knew the contractions were close enough together that I needed to at least go in to be checked (according to my discharge instructions from the hospital earlier that day.) I gave it another half hour, and I could tell the contractions were getting stronger and stronger, so I quietly woke Nathan up around midnight and said "I think we need to go to the hospital." I told him how long and how far apart my contractions were and how long I had been timing them. I also told him that I knew I was probably nowhere near close to delivering the baby so we didn't have to rush. I sat on the edge of the bed and Nathan rubbed my back a bit while we finished watching the episode of Frasier that was on the tv- while Nathan woke up a bit more. Then we got dressed and loaded up the car and headed to the hospital. I remember thinking on the drive how crazy this all was. I was in labor. This whole pregnancy thing was actually about to result in an infant after all, and holy smokes were my contractions starting to hurt!
We got to the hospital a little bit before 1:00 a.m.- early, early Thursday morning. We had to sit in the waiting room for a few minutes because there were a couple of people who came in just before us. We went through the whole process of signing the paperwork in the registration office and getting the wristbands and all that and they finally stuck us in triage room #3.
You will have to forgive me, as the timeline and sequence of events gets a little blurry for me here- as I was in quite a bit of pain as my contractions got stronger and stronger. I remember changing into the hospital gown, and leaving another urine sample. They put the monitoring straps around my belly to measure the baby's heart rate and my contractions- which meant I was basically supposed to stay in one position in bed- every time I would roll over or something, they had to come in and re-adjust the monitor. This was incredibly frustrating to me because my body was telling me that I should be up moving around and swaying my hips or something to help with the pain of the contractions.A nurse came in to check my cervix- and with the pain I was feeling I thought I had to be pretty close to like 3 centimeters....Nope! 1 lousy centimeter! They told me they would keep me there for at least an hour to how I progress. At some point, another nurse came in and did an ultra sound to see if the baby was even in a good position for delivery. I don't think they ever really told me for sure if he was or not, but I do remember seeing his little face on the screen and smiling and feeling so happy....you know, in between the terrible, awful pain of the contractions. I remember feeling like I had to pee a lot- I think I went like 3-4 times in about hour- hour and a half.
One of the nurses came in a one point and told me that if I didn't progress they would find out what pain medication they could send me home with- and I remember thinking there was no way I could go home and go through this. The pain was getting worse and worse with every contraction and my "breathing through it" was getting louder and louder. I found out that I was having "back labor" and oh my goodness, it was awful. After what felt like a decade, they came in to check me again and I was at 2 centimeters. Though I was happy I was progressing, I felt really sad and worried too, because I know they usually won't admit you until you are at like a 3 or 4. So, they called the doctor that was on call from my practice and a little while later an angel nurse came in delivering the heavenly news- that I was going to have my baby today! Dr. Layton had given the ok to admit me.
They told me they were getting my room ready and I asked "How long after I get into the room can I have an epidural?" I expected that I might have to wait until I progressed another centimeter or so, but they said I could have it as soon as I got there! That was such great news! I was in so much pain and was so tired, I just wanted to be able to rest.
So we walked down the hall to what would be my room for the day. While we were walking the nurse told us that lots of ladies were going into labor that night, and that they were having to cancel all the inductions. I kinda felt bad for the ladies whose inductions were being postponed-- but then I got another contractions and I didn't feel so bad for them anymore. Nathan told me that once my epidural was done that he would go out to the car and get the bags. Luckily, it didn't take very long for the anesthesiologist to get there. Before going into labor, I thought that I might hesitate or be a little nervous when it came to getting the epidural-- and I admit the horrible complications that could happen did briefly cross my mind-- but in general I wasn't scared about it at all. I totally trusted the trained medical professionals that surrounded me and the common sense part of my brain told me- this procedure is performed literally thousands of times a day, most of which go off without a hitch; and that's exactly how it worked out for me.
Everything was fine- and the pain that accompanied my contractions decreased pretty quickly. I could still move my legs fairly well- but they felt all tingly like they were asleep. I could still sort of tell when I was having a contraction too- from the tightening, but they didn't hurt. It was glorious! And of course, then they put a catheter in, since I got the epidural. After that, my super nice night nurse (who reminded me of friend, Kassi's, mom) got me all settled into position with a birthing peanut between my legs- which was supposed help the baby to move down and help my dilated faster. I thought it would feel awkward, but it was actually super comfortable and I fell asleep extremely fast. You know what else was more comfortable than expected? The couch. Nathan also fell asleep extremely fast. Going into labor in the middle of the night can be pretty exhausting.After I fell asleep- the nurse came in and had me roll to other side and helped me re-position everything about every hour or so, but it really didn't disturb me much; I was able to fall asleep again fairly quickly.
I think around 9ish my OB, Dr. Tutt, popped in and checked me. I hadn't progressed much- which was a bit disappointing. While he was there he also mentioned that he was a bit concerned about how high the baby still was- and that babies that are up that high sometimes don't like to come out on their own, implying that a c-section might be in my future. I did not like that news at all, but I just kept telling myself that whatever happens is meant to be, and I will be fine.
Again, the sequence of events and time table is a bit fuzzy for me because I was in and out of sleep all day. I am pretty sure that around the time Dr. Tutt came I was awake for about an hour and I chit chatted with Nathan and maybe watched some tv. I remember that the tv was on- but I can't remember anything I watched. I also think they started me on Pitocin around that time too- because my contractions had slowed down a bit.
After switching back and forth a couple times from laying on the left to laying on the right, I started feeling pain on my right side. I pushed my little epidural booster button and waited a little while, but it didn't really work- so I called the nurse to let her know. She told me they could give me a little more of a boost through the epidural, and I agreed. I felt relief fairly quickly but a few hours later the boost resulted in the weirdest sensation of my life. I could feel nothing from the bottom of my rib cage down. NOTHING! I was absolutely and completely numb. I could not move my legs on my own anymore and honestly wasn't sure what position my legs were even in. The strangest thing was- even though I couldn't feel them-I still felt like my knees needed to be bent more to be comfortable- and since I couldn't move them myself, I had to ask Nathan and the nurse to bend my knees up more for me.
One of the times that I woke-up, I suddenly had the need for Nathan to come over and sit with me and hold my hand. (Since I had been sleeping, he had been over on the couch watching tv and iFunny on his phone.) Of course, he did just what I asked. We talked for a bit about how crazy it was that we were going to be parents today and surreal it all felt- when all of a sudden a felt a small pop and then wetness down around my legs and my bum. I stopped talking- shocked momentarily- and looked at Nathan and said "My water just broke!" I called the nurse and she came in to check on everything. They were a bit worried because the baby had been sitting up do high, they though he might get tangled in the cord or that the rush of fluid may have made some of the cord come out- but luckily nothing went wrong, and my water breaking actually caused Xander's head to move right where it needed to be- ready to head down the birth canal!
So, I called Nathan and let him know what was going on. He got off work at 3:00 anyway, so that wasn't a big deal. When he got home, we loaded the hospital bag and pillows and such into the car-- just in case. We got to the hospital not long after 4:00- signed all the forms and stuff and they got into a triage room. After leaving a urine sample, they got me all hooked up to the monitors and took some blood. We hung out there for about an hour and a half to two hours while they ran the labs and kept an eye on me and the baby-- and then gave me discharge instructions and sent me home. I was pretty disappointed because I was hoping at my would-have-been appointment that they would check my cervix, and do an ultrasound to check on my aging placenta, and give me some sort of idea when I might be having this baby- and they didn't do any of those things at the hospital.
On the drive home I started having contractions that were a bit uncomfortable compared to braxton hix I had been having for the past few weeks- but they weren't lasting too long and weren't very close together. Nathan decided to swing into Taco Bell to grab something quick for dinner. While we were waiting in the drive-thru, I said to Nathan "I am pretty sure that I am in early labor right now and I am going to have the baby in the next day or so." I don't remember what he said exactly but he basically told me I wasn't in labor and that I was crazy and then I think I snapped at him and said something along the lines of "Don't tell me what my body is feeling!"
So, we went home and went about our business. Nathan started working on an order from Color Me Mine in the garage and I relaxed and watched a bit of tv, until I started feeling restless and decided to do some running around. I went over to my parents house and picked up a couple things that we had left there. My mom noticed the pillows and stuff in the car and I told her we bring them to every appointment now, just in case, and I just hadn't gotten around to taking it out yet. Then I headed over to Walmart to do some grocery shopping, because I figured Nathan was probably right and I wouldn't be going into labor anytime soon and I needed to get some stuff for lunches. For some reason, it didn't cross my mind that I was having real contractions while I was walking down the frozen food aisles- even though I had to stop walking until they were over. So, I went home and put the groceries away, and got ready for bed like I would normally. We snuggled into bed around 9:00 and put Frasier on Netflix. Nathan fell asleep pretty quick, like he usually does and I tried dozing off but I kept having this pain in my back/bottom with contractions that kept waking me up. Around 10:00 p.m. it dawned on me that I should probably start timing these things. So I got my phone out and pulled up my Sprout pregnancy app that has a contraction timer on it.
I watched Frasier and timed contractions for about an hour and half. They were consistently a minute or more long and between 3-6 minutes apart. I sat for a while and debated whether or not I should wake Nathan up yet. I knew the contractions were close enough together that I needed to at least go in to be checked (according to my discharge instructions from the hospital earlier that day.) I gave it another half hour, and I could tell the contractions were getting stronger and stronger, so I quietly woke Nathan up around midnight and said "I think we need to go to the hospital." I told him how long and how far apart my contractions were and how long I had been timing them. I also told him that I knew I was probably nowhere near close to delivering the baby so we didn't have to rush. I sat on the edge of the bed and Nathan rubbed my back a bit while we finished watching the episode of Frasier that was on the tv- while Nathan woke up a bit more. Then we got dressed and loaded up the car and headed to the hospital. I remember thinking on the drive how crazy this all was. I was in labor. This whole pregnancy thing was actually about to result in an infant after all, and holy smokes were my contractions starting to hurt!
We got to the hospital a little bit before 1:00 a.m.- early, early Thursday morning. We had to sit in the waiting room for a few minutes because there were a couple of people who came in just before us. We went through the whole process of signing the paperwork in the registration office and getting the wristbands and all that and they finally stuck us in triage room #3.
You will have to forgive me, as the timeline and sequence of events gets a little blurry for me here- as I was in quite a bit of pain as my contractions got stronger and stronger. I remember changing into the hospital gown, and leaving another urine sample. They put the monitoring straps around my belly to measure the baby's heart rate and my contractions- which meant I was basically supposed to stay in one position in bed- every time I would roll over or something, they had to come in and re-adjust the monitor. This was incredibly frustrating to me because my body was telling me that I should be up moving around and swaying my hips or something to help with the pain of the contractions.A nurse came in to check my cervix- and with the pain I was feeling I thought I had to be pretty close to like 3 centimeters....Nope! 1 lousy centimeter! They told me they would keep me there for at least an hour to how I progress. At some point, another nurse came in and did an ultra sound to see if the baby was even in a good position for delivery. I don't think they ever really told me for sure if he was or not, but I do remember seeing his little face on the screen and smiling and feeling so happy....you know, in between the terrible, awful pain of the contractions. I remember feeling like I had to pee a lot- I think I went like 3-4 times in about hour- hour and a half.
One of the nurses came in a one point and told me that if I didn't progress they would find out what pain medication they could send me home with- and I remember thinking there was no way I could go home and go through this. The pain was getting worse and worse with every contraction and my "breathing through it" was getting louder and louder. I found out that I was having "back labor" and oh my goodness, it was awful. After what felt like a decade, they came in to check me again and I was at 2 centimeters. Though I was happy I was progressing, I felt really sad and worried too, because I know they usually won't admit you until you are at like a 3 or 4. So, they called the doctor that was on call from my practice and a little while later an angel nurse came in delivering the heavenly news- that I was going to have my baby today! Dr. Layton had given the ok to admit me.
They told me they were getting my room ready and I asked "How long after I get into the room can I have an epidural?" I expected that I might have to wait until I progressed another centimeter or so, but they said I could have it as soon as I got there! That was such great news! I was in so much pain and was so tired, I just wanted to be able to rest.
So we walked down the hall to what would be my room for the day. While we were walking the nurse told us that lots of ladies were going into labor that night, and that they were having to cancel all the inductions. I kinda felt bad for the ladies whose inductions were being postponed-- but then I got another contractions and I didn't feel so bad for them anymore. Nathan told me that once my epidural was done that he would go out to the car and get the bags. Luckily, it didn't take very long for the anesthesiologist to get there. Before going into labor, I thought that I might hesitate or be a little nervous when it came to getting the epidural-- and I admit the horrible complications that could happen did briefly cross my mind-- but in general I wasn't scared about it at all. I totally trusted the trained medical professionals that surrounded me and the common sense part of my brain told me- this procedure is performed literally thousands of times a day, most of which go off without a hitch; and that's exactly how it worked out for me.
Everything was fine- and the pain that accompanied my contractions decreased pretty quickly. I could still move my legs fairly well- but they felt all tingly like they were asleep. I could still sort of tell when I was having a contraction too- from the tightening, but they didn't hurt. It was glorious! And of course, then they put a catheter in, since I got the epidural. After that, my super nice night nurse (who reminded me of friend, Kassi's, mom) got me all settled into position with a birthing peanut between my legs- which was supposed help the baby to move down and help my dilated faster. I thought it would feel awkward, but it was actually super comfortable and I fell asleep extremely fast. You know what else was more comfortable than expected? The couch. Nathan also fell asleep extremely fast. Going into labor in the middle of the night can be pretty exhausting.After I fell asleep- the nurse came in and had me roll to other side and helped me re-position everything about every hour or so, but it really didn't disturb me much; I was able to fall asleep again fairly quickly.
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| Me, at some point after the epidural |
I think around 9ish my OB, Dr. Tutt, popped in and checked me. I hadn't progressed much- which was a bit disappointing. While he was there he also mentioned that he was a bit concerned about how high the baby still was- and that babies that are up that high sometimes don't like to come out on their own, implying that a c-section might be in my future. I did not like that news at all, but I just kept telling myself that whatever happens is meant to be, and I will be fine.
Again, the sequence of events and time table is a bit fuzzy for me because I was in and out of sleep all day. I am pretty sure that around the time Dr. Tutt came I was awake for about an hour and I chit chatted with Nathan and maybe watched some tv. I remember that the tv was on- but I can't remember anything I watched. I also think they started me on Pitocin around that time too- because my contractions had slowed down a bit.
After switching back and forth a couple times from laying on the left to laying on the right, I started feeling pain on my right side. I pushed my little epidural booster button and waited a little while, but it didn't really work- so I called the nurse to let her know. She told me they could give me a little more of a boost through the epidural, and I agreed. I felt relief fairly quickly but a few hours later the boost resulted in the weirdest sensation of my life. I could feel nothing from the bottom of my rib cage down. NOTHING! I was absolutely and completely numb. I could not move my legs on my own anymore and honestly wasn't sure what position my legs were even in. The strangest thing was- even though I couldn't feel them-I still felt like my knees needed to be bent more to be comfortable- and since I couldn't move them myself, I had to ask Nathan and the nurse to bend my knees up more for me.
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| numb legs |
One of the times that I woke-up, I suddenly had the need for Nathan to come over and sit with me and hold my hand. (Since I had been sleeping, he had been over on the couch watching tv and iFunny on his phone.) Of course, he did just what I asked. We talked for a bit about how crazy it was that we were going to be parents today and surreal it all felt- when all of a sudden a felt a small pop and then wetness down around my legs and my bum. I stopped talking- shocked momentarily- and looked at Nathan and said "My water just broke!" I called the nurse and she came in to check on everything. They were a bit worried because the baby had been sitting up do high, they though he might get tangled in the cord or that the rush of fluid may have made some of the cord come out- but luckily nothing went wrong, and my water breaking actually caused Xander's head to move right where it needed to be- ready to head down the birth canal!
The nurse explained to me that from here on out, the average woman usually progresses at about a centimeter per hour and that I was currently at about 4-1/2. Of course, she also told us that it is different for everyone- some women go faster, some it can take much longer. She also told me that first time moms often have almost an hour of pushing. So I looked at the clock (it was around 1) and figured with a slowly as I had progressed so far I probably wouldn't be having this kid until like 8:00 or later. I was ok with that, but also a little impatient because no one knew we were at the hospital and I was getting anxious to tell people. I kinda wanted to shout it from the rooftops that we were having this baby!
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| one of the last pictures taken of me pregnant! |
The nurse helped me turn on to my side and adjust the peanut again, so I was all comfy. She told me she would come back in an hour or so to help me flip to try and help thing progress as quickly as possible- and I fell asleep again. Around 3:00 she came back and said she wanted to do a quick check before rolling me over to see if I had made any progress. I was still half way sleeping during this process but I do remember what she said next- "Well, you have no cervix left- the baby's head is right there!" And then Nathan asked if that meant it was time and she said that we were ready have a baby. Both Nathan and I were like- wow, that was fast!
She pulled the stirrups out from under the bed and got my legs all set up. It was weird because I was so numb. She told me we were going to do a couple practice pushes, since I couldn't really feel much below my chest. We waited for a contraction and then I just bared down and imagined where the baby needed to come out,and pushed as hard as I could. We did three, 10 count pushes- and the nurse said "That was very good! Don't do that again until the doctor gets here I am going to go call him now."
Over the next 10-15 minutes nurses were in and out of the room, preparing it for delivery. I asked Nathan to turn on one of the relaxation channels on the tv; I chose one that showed a bunch of beach scenes. It was really nice and calming, and even showed some dogs playing in the waves which made me think of my pups at home, which was also comforting. Then there was this weird close up shot of a little white dog starring into that camera- it was an awkwardly long shot and it was kinda creeping me out! Anyway, Nathan and I had a good laugh about it while everything was going on around us.
At about 3:20, Dr. Tutt came in and checked out the situation and confirmed once again that it was time. While he was putting the surgical gown on over his work clothes and getting all ready to deliver, I did another round or two of pushes with nurse. He was still getting in position when another contraction came and the nurse told me to push, he looked up and was like "Oh, wow- there's a head right there!" I did my 3 pushes and the nurse told me how close I was and Nathan told me he could see the baby's head was out. Dr. Tutt said- "Let's do one more push right now just for the heck of it." So I did. There was a big gush of fluid and at 3:40 pm my baby was born!
It was crazy surreal. It was like- bam! Here's a baby. I remember Dr. Tutt holding up the baby and next thing I knew he was partially wrapped and laying on my chest. He wasn't really crying, which concerned me a little. He was making little grunts but not really crying. While I was holding him, one of the nurses was rubbing his legs and feet trying to get him to cry more- which he did eventually. Nathan took a few pictures and the nurse took him and got him all cleaned up and measured while they got me all stitched up and clean. I remember asking if he had hair and the nurse told us that "he has a lot of hair for a white boy." Which I thought was hilarious. He was a whopping 8 lbs 11oz and 22" long.
While they were giving Xander his first little sponge bath, I called my dad. The call started out something like this-
Me: Hey, what are you doing right now?
Dad: Working. What can I do for you?
Me: Oh nothing, I just had a baby.
Dad: What!? No way!
Me: Yeah, like 10 minutes ago.
Dad: No way!!
He totally didn't believe me. Then Nathan shot him a text with a picture of Xander laying spread eagle in the bassinet thing where they cleaned him up. Naturally my dad was super excited we had, had the baby and even more excited that he had proof it really was a boy. He even shouted to someone across the office that he was grandpa again. It was cute. I told him the short version of the story and then he asked if I had told my mom yet. I told him, no, that he was the first to know. He asked that I didn't tell her- he wanted to tell her and then they would come to the hospital together. (He told her by showing her the picture message of the baby- and she was like "Who is that?" Haha! He said something like- that's your grandson, Tarin had the baby!)
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| The picture Nathan sent my dad |
Nathan called his mom and kinda got the same reaction. No one believed us at first when we called because we literally didn't tell a single person that we were at the hospital- and it all happened so fast that day that no one had any reason to believe that anything out of the ordinary was happening; after all, I wasn't due for another week! After Nathan called his mom, the news spread like wild fire on his side of the family. After that,Nathan sent out a birth announcement text to all the close friends and family and we started scheduling visitors for the evening. Everyone was so excited to meet him.
Then, we got a little time alone with the little guy and i got to nurse him for the first time. From the time he got here he his just been the greatest baby. He didn't cry hardly at all. He slept and ate well- and he made the cutest little baby noises. And of course, he was just as cute as could be! We are so blessed to have him in our family! We love him so, so much. I'm also so very grateful for such a quick and easy delivery. I know my experience isn't typical and I know many women have quite the opposite. I just feel tremendously blessed and so proud to introduce everyone to our son! Welcome to the world Xander Paul Lunt!
