There is so much to post and I'm feeling so far behind that I am just going to have to focus on her birth story in this post. Well, my due date was March 21st but I assumed I would be going a few weeks early since I had with my other two. I thought it would be between 37 to 38 weeks. Nearing the end, I was starting to get pretty anxious about going into labor. First, I was worried that I wouldn't be sure when I was going into labor since that's what happened with Savannah. With this pregnancy I starting having Braxton Hicks around 26 weeks and they never stopped until I had the baby. It was the same way with Savannah. They get a lot stronger toward the end as well. So I was worried that I would be in labor and not know it and then at the last minute realize this is the real thing and then not be able to make it to the hospital in time....just like with Savannah but the difference is when I had Savannah I lived 5 minutes from the hospital and that's why we were barely able to make it. But now, I live 35 minutes from the hospital so if the same thing happened, well then, Jared would be delivering the baby on the side of the road. Terrible. BUT if I was over cautious and went to the hospital when I thought I might be in labor and I wasn't, then it is super annoying because if it's in the middle of the night I have woken people up to come over to the house to watch the kids, driven all the way to the hospital and then feel stupid saying "Thanks for coming over and getting no sleep tonight, but I just overreacted and I'm not in labor:(". Haha. So I just started to think of all the things that could go wrong and it started to freak me out a little. Well, on the morning of February 24th, a Sunday, the second I stood out of bed I thought "I am really uncomfortable...like drastically more than yesterday". But I am in the primary presidency and it was my turn to teach sharing time so we all still got ready and went to church. The whole time I was sitting there waiting to teach my lesson I was having what I thought were Braxton Hicks the whole time, but they were annoyingly painful. I even said a prayer that they would go away so I could focus on teaching my lesson:)! So stayed through church but the second we got home I told Jared I was laying down because I was having steady Braxton Hicks all morning and that I just wanted to lay down. Then I started timing them to see if they were consistent or if they would go away with laying down. Jared took care of the kids for the afternoon, made me lunch and brought it to me in bed, and I just laid there for about an hour and a half. They wouldn't go away. So I called the on call doctor at my ob/gyn's office and asked what they thought I should do. I was only 36 weeks so they said it probably wasn't labor but if it got to the point where I was hunched over in pain then go to the hospital. The problem with that is that I NEVER hunch over in pain until the very very end!! So anyways, I decided to take a bath and see if they would go away then. I took a nice hot bath and they did start to feel a little better. So I thought "OK this isn't labor then because the contractions wouldn't subside." We were supposed to go over to my parents for dinner with the whole family. Jared had some work to do so after much debate about whether or not I was really in labor and if he should go in case I was, he decided to stay at home to catch up on a few things. I picked up my sister and drove our families to my parents. As we were finishing up eating, the pain started coming back. At this point I was really uncomfortable (but still thinking it might just be Braxton Hicks!), so we stayed a little while longer and then we headed home. We got home around 9:00 pm and I walked in the door and told Jared I was going to go straight to bed. He got the kids in bed and I fell asleep. I woke up around midnight because of the pain. I laid there for a little while and tried to ignore it and go back to sleep but every time I fell back asleep I would wake up because of pain. I decided to try the bath thing again to see if they went away. They didn't and I started timing them and noticing they were coming every 5 minutes. At this point, it was around 2:30 a.m.. I woke up Jared and said "I think we should probably go to the hospital." I called my sister, Melanie, who was knowingly "on call". She drove right over to stay with the kids since they were asleep. I packed a quick hospital bag and we left. On the car ride there we chit chatted and I even commented how much better this was than the last time since the overall feeling was so relaxed! We would talk and then I would say "yup, here is another one and it's been exactly five minutes" then I would just be quiet waiting for it to pass. We got to the hospital around 3:30. Jared dropped me off at the entrance while he parked. Unfortunately that entrance was closed, but he left to park so quickly that he didn't notice that I couldn't get in so my poor little pregnant waddling body had to walk to the next entrance. Fortunately, it wasn't far at all:) We registered and then the nurses came to check me to see if I really was in labor. When they checked me I was a 6 1/2 to 7! I couldn't believe it! First of all, it WAS labor which means I had been in labor forever since these had not been Braxton Hicks and also because I couldn't believe in a matter of hours it would all be over and I would be holding her in my arms! It was so surreal! They wheeled me back to our room and we called my sister to let her know we would be staying:) Everything from there went really quickly. They came in and gave me the epidural. Since I had Savannah natural, I was neutral going into this one. I thought that I might as well get the epidural if I had the choice and enough time, but I was okay with going natural if I had the time. FYI, if I have another one I have my mind made up I am going natural again. By the time the epidural kicked in, I had her about 20 minutes later. Not even worth it and no thanks to another needle in my back. But anyways, they checked me and said I was about a 9 1/2 but that she was still pretty high up. They left the room and within 2 or 3 minutes I felt crazy pressure and then my water broke. We called the nurse back and the baby had moved all the way down. She told the nurses to call the doctor right away and then before we knew it the baby was already coming out and she was born minutes before the doctor got there. AGAIN. No doctors were there for Savannah and no doctor for Charlotte. That's just how we roll:) They handed her to me and it was of course, the most wonderful moment. I LOVE this moment. It is one of the moments that makes me thing I should have 10 kids. Each of those moments has been the best moment of my life. Totally indescribable and irreplaceable. One of the first things we noticed was how much hair she had! I didn't remember my other ones having so much hair. Tons of dark brown hair. She was born at 5:58 and weighed 5 lbs. 13 oz. and 19 inches long. Weight exactly the same as Savannah's but Savannah was two inches longer. She is such an angel and has the sweetest temperament. They were big on "kangaroo method" or something like that at this hospital which meant that they wanted you to have as much time skin to skin with your new baby. So they laid her on my chest and we just sat there for about 20 minutes. Oh the love!! My heart was overflowing!! She just snuggled right up to me and was perfectly content. It's amazing that even though they are now on the outside, she for sure knew that I was still her mother. She knew that I was the same person that had been carrying her around this whole time. Well, they wheeled us up to the post delivery room and there we were for three days. I missed my other kids so badly and by the time the three days were over, I was ready to get out of there. Kuddos out to my parents, sister and husband who made sure that the older two kids were totally taken care of the whole time. As a side note, the first time that I went to use the bathroom after I had Charlotte, the nurse went with me just to make sure that everything was okay and sure enough, yup, I fainted. Right there in the bathroom in the nurses arms. One of the last things I remember is her pulling on the emergency call cord and then I guess Jared came in because I was out and he carried me to the bed. I was full on dreaming. It was weird and I kind of felt stupid. I am not sure why it happened but it didn't happen again, thank heavens. Anyways, she is a gem and a true joy to our family. So in love...Introducing Charlotte Isabelle:
As a side note, when Logan and Savannah first came in the room to meet her for the first time they were both SO shy about touching or holding her. I'm pretty sure the first day they didn't get closer than like a foot away from her. But it didn't take long at all for them to warm up. The picture of Logan included with all three of them must be on Jared's phone. I may add those later.
1 comment:
love hearing other people's birth stories :) I got a little teary eyed reading this, just thinking about our new baby getting here in just a few more short months :)
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