Life has been crazy, to say the VERY least. The adjustment to having four children has not been an easy one. Worth it in every way? Absolutely! But like most good things it has been very hard. Every minute of every day is consumed with family demands, which has left very little blogging time, but I need to get this written down because my memory is slippery these days!
At the moment Jack is at school, Jayci and her friend Claire are playing dressups in her room, Xander is reading books (well, sort of. I keep getting interrupted by the sounds of ripping pages), and Evelyn is snoozing in her swing. I'm taking the few minutes I have to start on her birth story before the lunch grind begins.
With Jayci and Xander I started to labor very early. Contractions began about a week before they were born, and then by the time I went into active labor, things progressed extremely fast and they were out within a couple of hours.
Evelyn followed suit, and her labor was almost a photocopy (aside from Xander's and the fact that I chose to go natural with him. In that regard, it was night and day!). I started contracting early and contracted for over a week, which made for a long, super uncomfortable end to my pregnancy. On the morning of March 9 I woke up to contractions that were intense enough to know that baby girl was officially on her way. It was about 5 AM so I tried to go back to sleep, but they were uncomfortable enough to prevent that, so I started timing them (about every 7 minutes) and decided to just get up and shower. I knew I couldn't leave my house the way it was without giving myself anxiety, and also knew I'd freak everyone out with my furry legs. After a good long shower and shave, Jess, the kids, and I cleaned the house. Our parents had been put on alert since contractions weren't increasing too much but were still uncomfortable/borderline painful.
Around lunch time my mom came and took the kids to let us relax and peacefully labor. I was anxious to get things rolling and didn't want to rest. To take our minds off of the slow progression, we decided to take the opportunity to go out to lunch, something we knew wouldn't happen without kids for awhile after the baby came. We enjoyed delicious Milagros, taking "breathers" for contractions. People probably thought I was nuts when every few minutes I'd drop everything, close my eyes and sway in my chair. Makes me laugh just thinking about how ridiculous I looked. My grubby, holey, sweat pants (that I made in high school, nonetheless!) were the cherry on top of the glorious labor-look!
After lunch we went to Costco in search of a new television. We found one, purchased it, and came home to set it up and try to pass the slow progression, eventually laying down for naps. Like always, Jess was out cold within minutes. I think I dozed a bit here and there but that was about the time I started to go into active labor. My contractions started to increase and intensify, becoming too painful to lay through anymore. After a few sets I decided it was time to go. They were coming 2-3 minutes apart and the pain scale was quickly rising.
I woke Jess and we packed the van and headed out. Being stuck in a car during very active labor is hard, and even though we live only 10 minutes from the hospital it felt long. As to American Fork Hospital's standard protocol we had to wait in the exam room for an hour to make sure my labor was progressing enough to be admitted. I was surprised I was only dilated to four when I got there, and after the longest hour ever, I was only five, but that was enough to be admitted and call the anesthesiologist since I chose an epidural this time around.
That waiting hour felt long but by the time I got admitted, bedded, and prepped for the epidural I was already to an 8. The epidural had barely kicked into full effect when I started to feel a lot of pressure. The nurses were surprised at the fast progression and immediately called the doctor, who happened to be in the middle of a birth at Timpanogos Hospital. Lovely. So Doctor Lamoreaux was called at his home since he lives closest to the hospital. Meanwhile I was told to just cross my legs and wait. That's definitely one thing I liked about Xander's birth with the midwife. She was there the whole entire labor and delivery. At the hospital with a doctor, the nurses do most of the work and the docs come in to catch and stitch. However, I didn't really mind. All was calm, nothing was going wrong, it just was a waiting game.
Dr. Lamoreaux arrived within minutes. It was a bit strange to see him there, ready for a delivery, in his jeans and button down plaid shirt! Since things were as calm as they were he decided to give Dr. Melendez a few more minutes since he was the on-call doc. Earlier I had had a strong impression to invite Aunt Jenny (Jess's sister) to the birth and she arrived just after Dr. Lamoreaux.
Just as Dr. Lamoreaux was about to suit up, Dr. Melendez arrived. Both doctors are my favorites at the practice so I didn't really have a preference to who did the delivery. It actually was entertaining to have them both there! Dr. Melendez pretty much ran in to catch. I delivered her head through one contraction and she was out in the next. It was such a calm, easy delivery! If I knew I could handle them well later on I'd have a dozen! ;) There really is something so special about giving birth. Yes, it can be hard and painful at times, but in my case (and I feel very fortunate and count my blessings because I know it isn't the case for all) I have had pretty smooth deliveries where the spirit is strong. It is so beautiful!
After clean-up, Jess was able to go down with Evenly to clean her up and wait for me in my recovery room, leaving the nurse to help me. My legs were still quite numb when one nurse tried to help me into a wheelchair. I warned her that I was still pretty numb and she assured me it was ok, she was there. She had me put my arms around her in a hug and she'd help lift me to my feet. I kept warning her, she kept assuring me, and sure enough, we about toppled to the floor. I think she just didn't realize how tall I am!
Visitors! Jack and Jayci just loved and adored her. Xander was confused and didn't want much to do with her.
Obviously we didn't have a name picked out. My awesome neighbor, who also happened to be my nurse, made us some cards to help the decision. In the end, neither card is right. :)
Preparing to come home:
So much stuff! Jess had already taken a load down.
Welcome to our family precious girl!
2 comments:
She is SOOOO precious! Congratulations again :)
Finally got a chance to get on here and this most beautiful birth story. You're amazing Jill, congrats on another beautiful baby!!!
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