Baby Day!

Well here it is almost 2:30 am and I can't sleep. I thought I'd take advantage of the time and write about our day yesterday. What a day.

February 5th started as an early morning as the girls both made their way to our bedroom about 5:00 with a very cheerful "Good Morning Mama!" I quickly put that out of their minds and reminded them that, no it's not morning yet and lets get a quick drink and jump back into bed for a few hours. So I got up and walked them back downstairs and tucked them both back in. Luckily they went back to bed with no fuss. At this point, I had been up 2 or 3 other times for bathroom breaks and felt like each time I got up, I had a contraction that seemed a little harder and longer than the ones I'd had the past few days. I didn't worry about it much because as soon as I was back in bed the contraction stopped and I was able to fall asleep with no problem. I ended up sleeping in until about 8:00 thanks to Josh and felt like I had gotten a good night's sleep for a pregnant girl.

We had planned on going up to Josh's parents house that morning and Josh and his dad were going to change the brakes on the van. I was having contractions on and off and I thought to myself "am I going into labor?" But the contractions were far enough apart that we decided to make our way up north anyway and see how the day progressed. At the last minute, I grabbed the bag I had packed for the hospital just in case.

We left our house about 11:00 and on the way up my contractions continued, but were about 20 minutes apart still. They were getting more painful though and I remember one of them made me cry. It's funny cause in the moment of the contraction I thought, "oh man this hurts so bad!" and then once it was over I was good and could function normally. Anyway, we got to Roy which is about a 45 minute drive from our house (and our hospital which we can get to very quickly from the house.) We pulled up just as I was having another contraction and I remember saying to Josh, "we might not be here long." But Josh's sweet mom had made lunch for us and we sat down to good food and conversation. I ate and then laid on the couch for about an hour while everyone chatted and my contractions started getting to be about 7 minutes apart. We laid the girls down for naps around one and shortly after I told Josh that we should probably start heading down south just so we could be close to the hospital in case we needed to get there quickly. In my mind, I wasn't really in labor - I'm not sure why I didn't think I was, but I just thought we had plenty of time. So we left the kids with Josh's dad and had his mom ride down with us since she was going to be at the hospital anyway when we had the baby. I was happy to be on our way back down closer to home - still thinking "I'm not in labor, just having some contractions."

At this point I figured we were probably going to go straight to the hospital and I would have them at least check me. We called my mom and sister-in-law Steph and told them that we were on our way and would keep them updated on my status once we got to the hospital. The ride down south quickly turned into a "hurry up and get there" drive. Just after we left Roy, Jeanie started timing my contractions and they started out about 5 minutes and then became 2-3 minutes in no time at all. With every one, I told Josh to drive just a little faster. He started at about 80 and by the time we hit 4500 south he was easily going 100 mph and weaving in and out of traffic as carefully as he could. I remember turning to Jeanie between one of the contractions and saying, "If I were really dilated by now and in labor, wouldn't my water break?" I think I was trying to convince myself that we were going to make it. All I could think was that I couldn't have a baby without an epidural so we had to get there in time for that at least. My contractions were really strong and Jeanie kept telling me to breathe and let out the breath slowly. I was in pain during the contractions but then had a moment of relief between. Josh called the hospital and let them know that we were on our way and told them how fast the contractions were coming. They said they would get ready for us. Just a couple minutes later as we were passing 7200 south, my water did break. Contractions were now about a minute and a half apart. I think this was the first time that I really realized, "I'm in labor and going to have a baby soon." We pulled off the 90th south exit and I became frantic, telling Josh to hurry and get there and hoping we made it to the hospital in time. Josh called the hospital again and told them my water broke and they might want to have a wheelchair down at the entrance for us. Jeanie called my mom and Steph again and told them to come to the hospital right away. Between exiting the freeway and getting to the hospital I luckily only had one hard contraction. After that one was over I thought to myself, "we are going to have this baby in the car. Next contraction, I am going to have to get undressed and start pushing." Thank goodness that wasn't really the case. Between Josh's expert driving - still weaving in and out of traffic, running red lights when possible, stopping for the trax train to pass, honking, flashing lights for people to get out of our way, etc., we made it to the hospital at 2:02 pm.

By the time we pulled up front, I was officially freaking out. I couldn't handle the pain and I barely made it out of the car and into the wheelchair. The elevator ride to the second floor took about a year and as the nurse wheeled me into the Women's Center I said to her, "I can't do this without an epidural." Once again reminding myself that we were going to make it as long as I could get out of pain. She called to the other nurses to get the anesthesiologist in there right away and I had a little relief come over me hearing that. She wheeled me into room 209 and there were 3 other nurses waiting for me. From this point on, it was something of a blur to me. I remember screaming a lot because of the pain and saying, "I can't do this. I can't do this." My contractions were so hard and long. They were trying to get me undressed and into a robe. Got me on the bed somehow and were trying to start an IV. Checked me and I was at an 8. I kept telling them, "I need an epidural. I need an epidural. I can't do this." Our sweet nurses were very calm during my freaking out and the head nurse, Bobbye, told me that the anesthesiologist they had here was the fastest one they had at doing epidurals and could do it quickly if he needed to. I'm sure that she was thinking I was a crazy woman and there was no way there would be time for an epidural - but she calmed me down by making me think that at least there was still hope. Talk about one track mind - all I could think about was getting out of pain, not about the fact that I was minutes from having a baby. I do remember them saying that they had called Dr. Smith and he would be here in 5 minutes. Nurses were running in and out setting up for delivery and the nursery nurse came in and prepped for baby. So many people in and out, but everyone was very calm - except me.

I had two contractions while I was on the bed and I was officially a madwoman during both of them. I don't remember much of what happened except that I was screaming so loud and couldn't stop crying. In my mind I knew I was being crazy, but I couldn't help myself. I was in too much pain to think about anything else. Josh and his mom were both right by my side and trying to soothe me through but I just remember looking at them and saying again, "I can't do this." During the second contraction (which was only a minute after the first) I came to grips with the fact that I was having this baby naturally whether I liked it or not. I couldn't help myself from pushing and the nurses could see that. Sherri, Wendy and Bobbye (my nurses) said, "Okay, let's go." The grabbed my legs and I held on for the next contraction. A minute later there it came and they told me to push. After so many hard and fast contractions it was actually a relief to be able to push. After one push, Baby Liev was here! Literally just like that. He made his way into the world at 2:10 pm, just 8 minutes after we got to the hospital. Longest 8 minutes of my life, but I was so glad to have him there after a fast and crazy labor. Dr. Smith walked into the room about 3 minutes later. My mom and Steph walked in just after him. Everyone had missed the birth and the nurses said to my mom, "we almost missed it too!"

I held onto my sweet baby for a few minutes before they took him and cleaned him up and Josh was standing just above me saying, "you did it!" Baby Liev is a perfect little thing weighing in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 21 inches long.

Just a couple pics of our sweet little guy.

Our nurse Bobbye (she was the one who really delivered the baby today - not Dr. Smith.)

The girls love him already. Their visit to the hospital is another story in itself. I will update again when I have a minute.