Momma's Love & Laughter: June 2011

How fast one year goes by. I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that my baby boy is going to be 1 tomorrow. At 3:53 PM to be exact ;)

And today is the day I went into labor... Although the nurse at the hospital might argue you on that one.. But trust me.... I was.

It all started at 1 AM.. I woke up from a dead sleep, feeling a sharp twinge in my stomach, and a feeling that my water had broke... I waited a few minutes to get my bearings and sort of assess the situation. I was not about to wake up John, simply because I did not make it to the restroom in time. After about 10 minutes of the same feelings I decided to wake John up. I told him I thought my water broke and we needed to get ready. He woke up faster than I have ever seen him wake up. However, rather than rush out of the house in a panic, we took our time. This was not our first rodeo.

Oh the joy of the second baby. YOU HAVE A BETTER IDEA OF WHAT TO EXPECT. Can anybody out there agree with me? Even though we read the books.... and feel that we know "what to expect when we're expecting" You never know until you go through it.

When I went into labor with Taylor, my sister drove 90 mph to get me to the hospital, and guess what... We still had 10 hours to spare!

But anyways. I will have to share that story later. Continuing with the birthday boy.

I took a shower, put on some make up, packed my bag {no.. my bag was not packed.. yes, it was only 5 days before my due date..but back to previous comment, I knew I had time} packed Taylor Rachelle's bags to go to her Mimi & Bapaw's house for the next couple of days, called my grandma to come watch Taylor until the morning {she had been telling me for a month that she was on call to help with Tay because A) our apartment was only 2 minutes away from her house and B) I guess she had a feeling already that I would go into labor in the middle of the night} called my mom, called John's mom, texted my sister, texted Kim, Richard & Audris. So now that we were all packed, everybody notified, 2 hours later, we were heading to the hospital.

Meanwhile, during all of the hustle and bustle, I was trying to time my contractions. But they were completely irregular. 2 minutes apart one set, 10 minutes apart the next, 1 minute, 8 minutes.. and so on. Still, I knew I was in labor.

We arrived at the hospital around 3:30, I told the receptionist that my water had broken and I was in labor. She had me sign in, led me to a room, and we waited for a nurse to come in. Those of you who have been in labor before, might know the quick test they do to see if your water has actually broken, and for those of you who do not, I will spare you the details, other than the fact that there is a Q-Tip looking test stick that is supposed to turn blue.... mine did not.

My heart sank, and my first thought was, OMG. Did I just notify the entire world that I had simply wet the bed? No. It couldn't be. I was having contractions. I told the nurse she had to be mistaken. She was wrong. The test was wrong. I knew what labor felt like and I WAS IN IT. Well.. the nurse did the best she could to calm my hormones, but I wasn't satisfied until she agreed to try the test again. No.Blue.What.So.Ever.

She calmly told me that I was in false labor. That since my contractions were irregular, I should try to drink lots of water, and go walk a little while to see if they stop. It is now 4:30 in the morning lady, you want me to go walk and drink water?!?! I told her, what if I was really in labor.. Did she simply want me to walk the baby out?! She told me that if I was in true labor, the contractions would get stronger and closer together, water would not help, and that I should come back to the hospital. Textbook.

But in case you can't tell where this is going, nothing about this labor and delivery went by the book.

Now the part I dreaded.. Walking outside and facing my mom, in laws, sister in law, and Richard & Audris {who by the way beat me to the hospital - they were ready for the arrival of Twoler ;)} So...the dreaded news.. I'm sorry all of you got up in the middle of the night, but I'm supposedly not in labor.... They were all very understanding of course {that or just not willing to get in the path of a hormonal pregnant woman - we will never know ;) } And when I told them my "directions" someone suggested we get breakfast! Great idea, I was starving, and if I was going to be having a baby later on, I might as well get a good meal in. So, we headed to Jim's, at 5 AM, we were the first and only ones in for breakfast :) After a nice breakfast, interrupted by a few contractions, we decided well, why don't we go "walk". But what is open at 6:30 in the morning? My first option, Target, did not open until 8, so Wal-Mart it was. I needed a new broom anyways.

I did not really want to draw attention to ourselves, but with a giant belly, and 8 people all walking into WalMart this early in the morning, we were bound to raise a few eyebrows... And we did! All the employees simply stared at us, as we made our laps around the store. Finally, we started sharing our bit of news, "She's in labor and we're trying to pass the time!"

Even bigger eyebrow raises and shocked expressions... Don't worry people, I'm not trying to have my baby here in the lawn and garden section. Which is where we parked it for the next 2 hours. I was tired, still having contractions, and we resorted to waiting until my doctor's office opened, to see what he wanted me to do. So we sat and we waited, rested, and timed contractions. Richard was my official timer, Mom the back up timer who got after Richard if he missed my start and end signal hand raise hehe, Sherry my gauge as to how painful the contraction was - I will never forget her telling me she was happy to see me wincing and pain in my face, that we needed it to meet her newest grandson ;), poor Audris got sick and was resting in the chair, Opa fell asleep, and John and Samantha my support group :)

But as much as we were ready for this baby, it was not looking promising... my contractions were not by the book. They were all over the place, and never, ever started on a normal pattern. The words of that nurse hung in my head, and I really started to doubt if I was truly in labor. 9 AM rolled around and I called the OBGYN office. I told them what was going on, and they said that I should come in, and Dr. Farhart could check and see what I should do.
As I walked out the door, I felt as if every WalMart employee watched me go. They probably did.

I went up with John to the doctor's while the family waited down in the hospital. Based on the description of my symptoms, and the fact that I had been having contractions for 8 hours, the staff took me right in, and I was seen quickly.

Dr. Farhart delivered the news... Laughter. My heart sank even further than it had been all morning. I dreaded what he was about to say. Laughter could only mean one thing, I was not in labor.

Through the laughter, Dr. Farhart told me, I cannot believe you are just sitting here, telling me you think you are in labor, and you are currently 8 cm dialated! Let's go have a baby!

OMG. FINALLY!

I.was.so.relieved.

But then relief turned to panic, when it dawned on me that I might miss my window to get an epidural. {another thing about baby number 2... yes, yes, yes, I WILL be getting an epidural!}

Miss confident all morning that I had plentyyyyy of time before I had to get to the hospital, suddenly felt the extreme need to get down there and make sure I could get drugs! Ha ha.

I got in to my room, set up to monitors, had a quick double thought that maybe I could make it without an epidural, after all, I made it to an 8 what was 2 more centimeters?, but that thought quickly passed, when I thought about pushing that baby out without anything to dull it. Hmmm, epidural please?! And I was ready. Waiting to meet that sweet boy.
And waiting.....waiting.....waiting.....

I stalled at an 8.
SO close....yet so far. So ensues some more waiting...

10:30...Tiff and Kim arrived..{because of all the urgency in the doctor's office, I was sure I would have this baby within the next couple hours!}

11:30 passed...

Kyle came to keep John company ;)

(notice Opa waiting it out over there, hehe)

12:30 passed...

My dad came during lunch break...

1:30 passed...

Dad went back to work :(

2:30....

I was glad I had that epidural.....

3:30... YES! We have made it to a 10!

Time.To.Push!!!!!!!

Everyone scurried around, getting everything set for baby, and amidst all the shuffle I had my eyes set on that sweet little hat, ready underneath the baby incubator {not sure the technical name hehe}

and I could not wait to meet my son!