Luke's Birth Story

BACKSTORY

All of my kids' births have been very quick. Carter's was just about 4 hours from the very first twinge of is-this-a-contraction? to his birth. I made it to the hospital about 45 mins before he was born. Drake and Rhett were both inductions and I ended up going from a 3 to delivery in a bit over an hour for both of them. With Rhett, even though the Dr was there to break my water...he missed the delivery completely because he stepped away for 10ish minutes. Richard and the nurses had to deliver Rhett. So for those wondering if we were surprised about a car birth- the answer is no, not really haha. 

But for the full story we need to backtrack a bit. This was my third OB (the first two retired) and once we started moving towards the end of the third trimester, I warned my Dr about my fast labors and he asked if I'd be open to a 39 week induction. I prefer to not be induced for obvious reasons. However, once I found out I was GBS+ at 37 weeks (I'd been positive before) I assumed that would seal the deal for an induction. All being GBS+ really means for deliveries is that the Drs want 4 hours of IV antibiotics in your system before baby is born. For most deliveries that's no big deal. But in my case, without an induction to control things...there would be absolutely no time for me to get those antibiotics. So, at my next appointment at 38 weeks, I talked to the nurse and she said Clovis Community is really strict about any type of early induction but that I should talk to my Dr about it further at my next appointment. 

Now here's where it gets really fun. Before my next appointment with the Dr, Richard tests positive for Covid. And it's not just the sniffles...dude is SICK. Like 103+ temperature, can't even get out of bed for days, sick. Obviously this turns our world completely upside down. I shoo him off into our bedroom for 5 days and I take care of him, our 3 wild boys and sleep on the couch at 38+ weeks pregnant. I took off a Friday from work throughout all this, but couldn't take off any more because my maternity leave coverage plans changed last minute and I only had a few days to shift gears and train someone new on how to do my job. All this to say, the urgency I previously had about pushing for an induction quickly got put on the back burner. Heaven help and bless all the friends I vented to during this time.

After Richard got better and I was able to resume my appointments, I spoke to my Dr and he said he'd leave it up to me whether I still want an induction. I sleep on it and decide the following day it's better to be safe then sorry and I request an induction with the office scheduler. She puts in the order and calls me back saying Clovis Community won't agree to it because it wasn't a serious enough medical need (like preeclampsia or gestational diabetes) to warrant induction. At this point I am obviously very frustrated from the emotional rollercoaster but am kind of stuck and just hope baby boy ends up being overdue so they'll allow the induction. 

On Wednesday's 39 week appointment, I met with a nurse and admit I was a bit whiny. She advises me to not imagine worst case scenarios, and that every birth is different, and that things could very well go slower this time. I try very hard to stifle my attitude and listen to her when she tells me to follow the 5-1-1 (contractions every 5 minutes, lasting for one minute, for at least an hour) before going to the hospital. She also checks me and I'm only dilated to a 1 and 0% effaced so once again, I'm hoping that means that baby boy will be overdue.  

The night before I end up going into labor I'm kind of a basket case. I've had tons of Dr appointments, the boys have had baseball practices almost every night that week, Rhett had begged me to take him all over the zoo that day, and I was just so uncomfortable, tired and just desperately wanted our house to be spotless before the baby's arrival. Once we put the kids to bed, I hit rock bottom and ended up sobbing while taking all my frustrations out on our walls and baseboards with a box of magic erasers.  

LUKE'S BIRTHDAY

Fast forward to about 5:30am the next (Friday) morning, I wake up to a checking-in text from my sister-in-law Nicki in Texas. I tell her I woke up to some cramping but that I wasn't going to take it very seriously. I'm thinking I probably just over did it lifting Rhett and walking around at the zoo. I told her about my baseboard freak out session the night before and we text back and forth making fun of each other (she's newly postpartum too). While we were texting, I started timing the cramping on my phone (which is sporadic) and got up to take a shower and figured I'd get a jump start on getting ready for the day since the boys were still sleeping. Nicki sends a text that makes me laugh out loud at 6:45am and it ended up corresponding with the first contraction that actually hurt and I'm thinking uh-oh...time to take things seriously now. I wake up Richard and ask him to give his Dad a call to be on standby around 7am. This is all about the time when Carter, Drake and Rhett start waking up. It's a school day, so of course it's absolute chaos trying to get everyone ready and I just remember Carter and Drake fighting over a sweatshirt and I am ooover it and accept that I'm in labor at this point. I ask Richard to take over getting the kids ready and out the door so I can really focus on timing these contractions to see where we're at. This is around 7:15am and Curtis says he'll head over. I ask Richard to take Rhett with him to drop off as well because things were starting to get difficult but at this point I'm still walking around and talking through things just fine.

However, once Richard and the kids are out the door and I'm left alone in the quiet, things start to pick up very fast. I remember the nurses 5-1-1 suggestion and I start to panic text Richard at 7:27am "Hurry 2.5 mins apart" and he's home within a few minutes. He finds me no longer walking around but hunched over in pain and starts to move fast. He packs up the car and I forget that I still have a bunch of Easter eggs and St Patricks Day stuff for the kids in the front passenger seat we have to hide haha. Richard finds spots in the garage to stash it while I scootch the seat as far back as it can go because there's no way I'm going to be sitting up at this point and I'm planning to be on my knees in praying position on the way to the hospital. I'm in the car now after having to basically be shoved in haha and Richard is waiting outside of the car in the garage for Grandpa Curtis to arrive. Grandpa pulls in and sees the panic in Richard's eyes and hustles inside to watch Rhett. 

We peel out at 7:35am and Richard's like okay, are we going to the fire station or are we going to the hospital? (We had talked previously about the fire station as a just-in-case option since there's one around the corner from our house and Clovis Community is 30 mins away.) We're approaching the first light so I tell him to go to the hospital so he has to swerve across 3 lanes of traffic laying on his horn at everyone to make the turn haha. But as soon as I make that decision, I knew it was the wrong one because I feel the urge to push. Richard was on the phone already with Clovis Community's triage to make sure they'd be ready for our arrival but once we pass one more light on Herndon - I tell him to pull over. I've had all my kids epidural free at this point (I attempted with Drake but there wasn't enough time for it to kick in) so I'm very aware of how my body feels when it's time. He asks 2x "what do you mean pull over???" but he knows when I'm being serious and tells the triage people on the phone that we're not going to make it. (Side note about me: Richard says I freak out at all the wrong things, like a balloon arch gone wrong but stay strangely calm in actual stressful, life and death situations.) They tell him to hang up and call 911. 

He calls 911 at 7:39am while pulling over on the SW corner of Herndon/Blythe (2 lights from our house, 4 mins from home) and says to send an ambulance. He parks while he's still on the phone and starts laying the 3rd row seats down thinking he'll carry me back to the trunk to deliver. However, I start screaming in the front passenger seat so he runs back to me and I'm full on pushing, there's no stopping it. If you know, you know. Sorry this is way TMI, but the situation on hand was that I was still fully dressed so Richard is having to remove my sweats and pull my underwear to the side and after one more involuntary push (so 2 total) he guides Luke out and puts him right onto my chest at 7:40am. The wild part is that he was still on the phone with 911 during all of this...he just put the phone down on the dash to catch Luke and then picked the phone right back up for what to do next. The dispatcher gives him instructions while I tell him I packed an emergency bag in the trunk if this were to happen. The emergency bag had a clean, waterproof mattress pad (too late for that) a receiving blanket, and a leftover hospital hat I had from the older kids. We got Luke covered up with the blanket and tried our best to wipe stuff out of his eyes and mouth and nose. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation - be sure to pack a bulb syringe. On the phone, 911 asked Richard to find a "clean string to tie the cord" and he was like....I don't have a string? Lol. So we just left it alone and intact. 

The ambulance arrived about 5 minutes later - but during these 5 minutes, when it was just the 3 of us...the car felt sacred. Luke was doing great, and despite the chaotic situation we were just in...there was an almost a tangible feeling of peace. My biggest concern was the cold and that the morning sun was blaring into Luke's eyes as you can see in the photo Richard took haha. I obviously have to give a major shout out to Richard. We've since listened to the 911 recording and you can definitely hear the worry in his voice before Luke is born but not less than 2 minutes after he is born he is cool as a cucumber, reassuring me and laughing and saying "well that was pretty wild" hahaha. It was definitely quite the bonding experience for our marriage.

Once the ambulance got there, they cut and clamped the cord and loaded Luke and I onto a gurney. Richard stayed behind to clean up the car and drive it over to the hospital. I have no answers for how this happened, but the car wasn't even that dirty?? Richard said he was able to clean up mostly everything with some baby wipes (I've since used my little green machine on it). I don't know if my water conveniently broke in the shower or what but there was no tearing, no blood, no umbilical cord problems, no gush of water. It was obviously painful and stressful, but physically speaking, it was my easiest delivery yet. Props to Dr. Richard. 

The paramedics main concern was getting Luke warmer and making him cry more. It was a 30 minute ride and they got an IV in me (had to be my hand...the worst) took vital signs on both of us and asked a ton of questions while relaying info to the hospital. They were able to clear up his mouth and nose so I could nurse him, but he was still gagging quite a bit so I kept him upright on my chest. I was still having a lot of contractions for my placenta and they said if I wanted to push I could...but that it might be better to wait 'til I was at the hospital just in case there was an emergency with it. I was able to hold off and was brought in through the ER (past SO many other filled gurneys!!!) right into a delivery room where there were about 10 nurses waiting on standby. Once they realized everything was going just fine, all but about 3 or so left and they got me hooked up to fluids and checked vitals again. Dr Mason came in shortly after and I gave him the ol' "I told you so" and he delivered the placenta. So at least he earned part of his pay ;) 

Richard was still not there and he had my bags so I borrowed a nurses cell phone to leave him a voicemail to tell him what room I was in. He got there shortly after and was able to watch Luke while he was taken from me for the very first time to get his first little inspection. Overall, he was perfect. He had some issues resulting from not getting properly suctioned out when he was born - very gaggy and gassy which made it hard for him to nurse but he's doing much better now. We also had to stay at the hospital for 48 hours for monitoring since I obviously got no antibiotics. But after enduring watching Luke get labs done (soooo sad) the blood cultures came back clear and he had no sign of any infection. 

We've have had the name Luke Richard picked out for awhile - but now that he's here, it has so much more significance. Of course it's only appropriate that his middle name is Richard since Dad is the one that brought him safely into this world. And Luke means "light giving" and from the literal rays of sunshine that poured onto him from the moment he was born to his super sweet countenance that we've enjoyed this past week...he is truly the light at the end of so many tunnels in our lives and we're so incredibly grateful that he's here and he's ours.

Rhett's Birth Story

Rhett's birth story began on May 18th at my 38 week doctor's appointment. My old doctor, Dr Thomas, retired so this was my first time being in the home stretch with my new doctor, Dr Swanson. I had explained to him my history of quick labors and he did a cervix check and told me I was at a two. He then said, "okay, lets talk" and explained since I was GBS+ this time around, he would be most comfortable scheduling me for an induction for that Sunday, May 23rd since he would be out of town the following week.

I had absolutely no previous plans for induction and was immediately turned off by the idea. I was induced with Drake, and while it was fine, I definitely preferred going into labor myself like I did with Carter. However, I did know it was a risk not choosing induction. For those unfamiliar with GBS, it's a naturally occurring bacteria we all have in our bodies that comes and goes at any given time. At 37ish weeks pregnant every woman gets tested for it and if you're positive at the time, you'll need to be given antibiotics through your IV during labor because it could potentially be harmful to the baby. Usually about 1 in 4 labors require this so it's not a big deal. However, the antibiotics take 4 hours to get one dose in and my labors (start to finish) don't last that long. I left the office kind of grumpy, declined to schedule at that time and decided to think about it. 

I went home and called two of my good friends: one is an anesthesiologist and one is a long time OB nurse who was there when Drake was born. I sort of expected them to laugh and say oh he probably just wants his paycheck since he'll be out of town during your due date, but they actually agreed with him saying I should prioritize guaranteeing a round of antibiotics. After those conversations, a pro/con list, praying about it and sleeping on it... I woke up and reluctantly agreed to schedule the induction. We were set for 6:30am on the 23rd.

Fast forward to Sunday at 5:30am, I get a call from St. Agnes that they don't have any beds available and that they'd call me when one frees up, but for sure not before 8am. So 8am comes and goes... and finally at around 11am, Richard gets antsy and calls the hospital. They said there are still two scheduled inductions ahead of me and that there are still no spare beds. We are obviously pretty disheartened with the news and decide to pick up the kids from my mother-in-laws house at 12pm (they spent the night previously) once church is over and just carry on like any other day.

It feels good to have the kids home, but Richard and I are still kind of wallowing. Around 5pm Richard calls the hospital again and they admit my induction probably won't be happening that day. Maybe first thing Monday. I'm obviously bummed and even more so because Dr Swanson was headed out of town on Monday so I would most likely just be delivering with some doctor I've never met. Richard and I joke and say that they'll probably call us at 2am knowing our luck, and prepare my sweet mother-in-law for that possibility since we were going to just have the kids stay home with us that night. 

Sure enough, at 1:25am I get a call from St. Agnes that there's a bed available and to come on in. I get some last minute stuff done around the house, give the boys a big kiss, Grandma comes over and we head on in. Richard is not allowed in until I'm situated in a room, so he waits in the car. Once I'm registered and in the L&D room at 3am, I tell him he might as well just sleep in the car while I get started on the 4 hour antibiotics because the couch is tiny and looks super uncomfortable.



I'm hooked up to a heartrate and contraction monitor and the nurse asks if I'm feeling any of the sporadic contractions I'm having and as per usual, I'm not. Between the check-in paperwork, IV hookup, and general nervousness, I'm able to drift off for about 45 minutes before they start the pitocin around 6:00am. At the start of pitocin I'm at a 3.
 


There's a nurse shift at 7am and my two new nurses Jovie and Suzie introduce themselves. They are super energetic and fun and inform me that Dr. Swanson is in fact still planning on coming to deliver baby which is all good news! My old nurse had been upping up my pitocin dosage since I still wasn't feeling the contractions. They check me again, and now I'm at a 4-ish which is actually more progress than I had when I was induced with Drake. One nurse asked if I would be okay with upping the dose again and the other jumped in and answered saying, "Crank her up she's here to have a baby!" Haha.

At around 8:15am Dr. Swanson comes in dressed in a super colorful Hawaiian shirt (he was off to visit his son in FL) to break my water and asks if I want an epidural. At that point, I was still undecided because I wasn't in any pain and didn't want to stall things. He thinks I'm crazy, but knows I've gone unmedicated before so doesn't push too hard. He breaks my water, and after about 5 minutes I really start feeling things and figure I better go ahead and just order it. Richard calls the nurses and they say there are two emergency c-sections so the anesthesiologist is going to be busy for a little bit and ask if I can hang with my pain level for about an hour. Richard says the baby will probably come before then and I'm thinking...crap, I blew it again. My nurse leaves at around 8:30am to see if there's anything she can figure out for an epidural. 

Things continue to pick up FAST and at about 10 minutes later I am super struggling. Richard calls the nurse again to see if  she has any news about the epidural. She comes in, checks me and I'm now at an 8. I went from a 4 with no pain...to an 8 and shaking in about 15 minutes. She freaks out an goes out of the room to call Dr. Swanson's phone and he's not answering. I'm now gripping the railings and Richard's hand, shaking pretty hard and realize I'm going to have to do this dang thing au naturale again. My body then starts pushing involuntarily and Richard calls the nurses and just says "umm...baby's coming" in thee most chill, nonchalant voice possible. It was both calming and frustrating lol.

They rush in as he's crowning and beg me not to push. Of course I try, but it's to no avail and baby Rhett is half way out. Richard notices the cord is wrapped around his neck...twice. He gets right in there and unwraps the first loop while the nurses put on gloves and help with the second loop and guide the rest of him out. The nurses are dying over the fact that they just did that and Suzie said it was her first baby delivery which she seemed proud of! Lol. 

Rhett came out kind of purple and looked so, so small to me. In fact, the first words out of my mouth were "oh no he's so small." They put him on my chest, Richard assured me he wasn't small and got him crying and my worries started to go away. I held him while the on-call Dr. came in to give me stitches and finished things off. I was still shaking pretty bad but was so happy that our sweet baby we waited so long for was here and safe. He nursed really well right away and after about an hour and a half of me hogging him they took his stats and he was 8lbs 6oz. Obviously not small, I had just forgotten how tiny newborns were.





Dr. Swanson came in after everything was said and done and just said, "Uh, wow!" and tells Richard he's lucky this didn't happen at home. I'm glad he ended up urging an induction because with me not feeling contractions until it's too late, who knows if we would have made it to the hospital otherwise. His birth story is definitely not one I would have hand picked, but it will undoubtedly be memorable.

So far Rhett has been probably our easiest newborn *knock on wood* and we are so thrilled to have his cute little squishy face around for the rest of forever :)

Drake's Birth Story

Drake's birth story requires a bit of a background story. I had 4 ultrasounds this pregnancy. The first was just a quick 5 minute look at around 10 weeks to verify and date the pregnancy. He measured according to what I had thought based off our calculations and was given a due date of November 6th. However, based off of the 3 more high tech ultrasounds done later on, the due date was bumped up to November 2nd. I was not convinced. However, Carter was born 25 mins before his due date, so I tried to put my thoughts aside and trust the doctor and the ultrasound techs since they were basically dead on the first time!

Fast forward to my 39 week appointment...I was 0cm dilated and 70% effaced, which was a bit of a bummer but not much of a surprise. In my pregnancy's so far, I've always had a surefire sign when I start to dilate because I will experience one day where the pressure is so strong that I will basically be bed ridden. It has always just lasted one day, but it is very intense.

Sure enough, at my (almost) 40 week appointment on November 1st, I was 3cm dilated and 80% effaced which gave me a bit of hope! Things were progressing! (I also credit some of this to going trick-or-treating with Carter all night the night before, much to the dismay of my husband!) The doctor said things were looking in the right direction but scheduled for me to have a non-stress test anyways that upcoming Friday and scheduled me for an induction the following Monday. My baby boy passed the non-stress test with flying colors and thus began our waiting game. At this point, I was so big and so uncomfortable so it felt good knowing that there would be an end in sight.

I spent the weekend cleaning, getting my first pedicure (thanks Richard!!) and cuddling Carter like it was my job. I was pretty emotional about his days as my only baby coming to a close, but was anxious to meet this new little life. I also had mixed feelings about the possibility of being induced. I had heard that contractions were much more intense with pitocin and although I am a total Type-A planner/control freak... I was hoping labor would come about naturally and spontaneously so I wouldn't have a chance to over think things. The only thing that made me feel better about the situation was that since I was GBS+ this time around, an induction meant that I'd be able to get a full dose of antibiotics that would help protect the baby so I figured it would be for the best.

I went to bed Sunday night with not even one contraction to speak of but with plenty of time to cuddle Carter as my only baby for the last time. I will say, it was nice to be able to have "closure" in that regard. I woke up on Monday, November 7th still very much pregnant so after getting ready and dropping off Carter at my Mom & Dads, Richard and I drove downtown for my appointment at the OBGYN office at 8:45am. After a quick check-up (I was still just 3cm), we were sent across the street to triage! My good friend's Mom (Julie) is a L&D nurse downtown and basically runs the show there so I was SO thrilled when I saw her and found out she'd be my main nurse! Having her there really put my mind at ease and I knew I'd be taken care of. 

It was soo surreal just strolling on into the room where I'd have my baby. Everything was such an incredible blur last time that I honestly couldn't even tell you what my delivery room looked like. This time, I got changed into my gown and got comfortable while Julie got me set up with the monitors, my fluids, pitocin and antibiotics. She started me off with a very small amount of pitocin to see how I'd take it and also so that I could for sure get my 1st round of antibiotics in. She noticed that I was having small contractions every 10 minutes or so which made me feel a bit better about evicting this baby :) 

By 11:00am I was all set up and it was time to wait. We spent most of the time checking my contractions on the monitor (which was really fun actually!) watching episodes of The Office and filling out my election ballot haha.

The contractions quickly started getting much closer together, but there wasn't any pain to accompany them. Everything just felt tight like the Braxton Hicks I'd been having throughout the last couple of months. Once I got through my antibiotics, Julie said Dr Thomas would come in to break my water to get things rolling a bit. They broke on their own at some point with Carter, so this was my first experience having it done for me. He came around 2:30pm and ohhh man, was it gross. I'll spare you the details on what that was like.

Right after (or before?) my water was broken, he checked my progress and was still only at a 3!!! At this point I had been in the hospital for 3.5 hours (which was basically my whole labor time with Carter) with no progress so I got a little discouraged. To be fair, I wasn't experiencing any pain yet, so I'm not sure what I was expecting. But after hearing that, I was convinced that I'd be there all night so I started actually considering an epidural if things started to get uncomfortable.

After my water broke, things did finally start to pick up, but it was definitely still manageable. I did eventually have to focus through the contractions enough that I put down my annoying ballot and requested to watch more of The Office to distract myself instead. At around 3:15pm I started really squirming through the contractions and wanted nothing more than to get off my back. Richard encouraged me to just get the epidural already since we would probably be there for a while longer and I gave myself until 3:30pm to decide (like it was going to get any less painful? Lol, I'm stubborn) At 3:30pm I decided that enough was enough and Richard put in the order for me.

The anesthesiologist was there in about 10 minutes and I started getting really nervous since I absolutely hate needles. Sitting up and staying still was very difficult when contractions were right on top of each other. In fact, as she was getting my back prepped, I kept saying that I felt a ton of pressure and while I didn't want to admit it, my body was pushing. The anesthesiologist asked Julie if she should just stop but I said to just continue because there's no way I could be anywhere near the point of pushing yet, right?! Wrong again! I really need to start trusting my body because after the epidural was done at like 3:50pm, Julie checked me and sure enough it was go time! 3 or 4 other nurses came in and started hustling around getting everything prepped and Dr Thomas came in shortly after and at 4:09pm after 3 pushes our baby boy was born! I still felt everything so I don't think the epidural had adequate time to really kick in. But my legs were nice and tingly for the next hour and a half and helped me not to feel the stitches.  Dr Thomas told Richard that he should just be prepared to deliver our next baby in the car ;)

I have to say, I really was so happy with the after birth experience with the downtown hospital and with Julie. I got to hold Drake immediately after he was born and do skin to skin with him for over an hour and a half before he was weighed and measured. It's also standard for them to delay cord clamping and bathing now which I didn't really care about before hand but I could really tell a difference with Drake and I will make sure it happens with any subsequent births. He was ready to nurse as soon as I held him and latched on right away without a problem and nursed for over an hour. Poor Richard was begging to hold him but I just couldn't get myself to let him go! 

My parents brought Carter down to the hospital shortly afterwards and we had some alone time as a family of 4 which was nice. Carter was so sweet and wanted to give baby brother Richard's visitor sticker and feed him some of my chips :) No jealousy at all and honestly not much interest either which was just what I was hoping for!

Drake and I stayed at the hospital for another two days and Richard bounced back and forth with us in the hospital during the day and went home to spend the nights with Carter. Our days were filled with lots and lots of cuddles (and CNN, if we're being honest).

Now that we're home, our days together at home as a family of 4 have been wonderful (and a little crazy). I love my boys.

Carter's Birth Story

Saturday started off like any other day. Both of us had worked the day before and the plan was to cross off any last minute things off our to-do list since I was technically due the next day. We had been moved into our apartment for exactly one week and my stress levels about not being "ready" were finally leveling off. Richard woke up around noon (he works graves, he's not just lazy haha) and we returned some totes that we borrowed back to my work and then went grocery shopping. Richard let me splurge on a big chocolate bundt cake and some strawberries as a "happy due-date to me" treat since I was just sure at this point that I'd be overdue.

After we got home and unpacked the groceries we just kind of hung around the apartment and I decided that I still felt up for going to the General Women's Meeting later that evening. I opted out of the dinner, but joined my Mom for the broadcast at 6:00pm. During the conference, I was pretty sure that I was starting to feel a few contractions. They felt different from the prior braxton hicks because they were accompanied by some dull cramping. I considered timing them on an app on my phone but didn't want my Mom (or others sitting next to me) to freak out so I just decided to watch the clock a bit just to get an idea of how consistently they were coming. 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes. My doctor told me to go to the hospital when the contractions were 5-7 minutes apart.

...Oops?

At this point you'd think I would have started to take things seriously but I was still totally in denial about it possibly being labor because I just wasn't in any pain. The cramping continued throughout the broadcast and at 7:28pm I texted Richard a heads up that I was having some mild contractions just so he would be aware since he was scheduled to work that night. He asked if he should call his boss and I told him no because I know first time labors could last days and I didn't want to jump the gun, especially because I wasn't in pain, just uncomfortable.

I said goodbye to my Mom and had an emotional thought of, "Maybe this is the last time I'll see her before the baby is born" but still decided not to say anything. Turns out she had a feeling something was up anyways. Moms always know. On my way home from the conference, I called Richard to tell him that I was going to head to Target to buy some spray on tan (priorities, I know haha). He thinks I'm crazy and tells me to come home. Since I am the most stubborn person alive, I proceed to head to Target but then I come to my senses, flip a u-turn and take my pasty-white self home. I figure if I can't be tan, then I should at least do my hair since I was on day 3 hair at this point. I hop in the shower and the warm water feels amazing and basically stomps out any of the contractions that I had going. All my previous thoughts of it being a false alarm are validated, and I proceed to blow dry my hair.

At this point, it's about 9:00pm, my hair is dry and the contractions start to creep back. I am in a dilemma because when my hair is just blow dried, not straightened, it is an absolute mane and NOT cute. I knew if this was really labor I was going to have tons of pictures taken and I really didn't want to look like a hot mess in all of them. How vain am I really, you ask?

Well...

My contractions are about 3 minutes apart and at this point I am doubled over on the bed but I am determined to fix my hair. Standing up is impossible, sitting down is even worse...the only thing that helped relieve the pain was being on my knees folded over at a 90 degree angle with my head and chest flat on the bed. In between contractions, I get about 5 chunks of hair done at a time and then proceed to run back and forth to the bed.

At this time, Richard is scavenging around the apartment putting together the rest of the hospital bag with a big dorky smile on his face and I am coming to my senses and realizing that this is really it...we are going to the hospital! He tries to ask questions on whether to bring certain things or not and I put my finger to my lips and just keep whispering "shh, don't talk to me" lol. My pain coping mechanism was apparently silence and darkness.

After he got everything together, he convinces me to give up on my hair and make-up, I slip on my comfiest maternity dress, grab the body pillow and waddle out to the car. I don't remember much of the car ride because my eyes were sealed the whole time but I do remember Richard trying to coach me through breathing because I had a tendency to hold my breath during contractions. Since my eyes were closed, he would tell me how close we were getting to the hospital which I really appreciated. I also remember him calling the hospital ahead of time (10:19pm) and asking for a wheelchair to be brought out because his "wife was in labor". It was so weird to actually hear that since at this point I was still kind of in denial. I had no idea what my pain tolerance was because I've never broken a bone, sprained an ankle, been stung by a bee or anything. For all I knew I could just be wimping out through some intense braxton hicks.

Around 10:30pm we pulled into the emergency room and I hide behind the body pillow as I sign paperwork and am wheeled past everyone into triage. I got changed into a gown, was checked for progress, and was told I was at 6 centimeters. A 6! Hearing that number was absolute music to my ears because that meant this was the real deal and I wasn't going to be sent home. I was then asked if I had a birth plan and I said all I really wanted was to hold my baby right after he was born and to get an epidural haha. I asked how long the wait would be for an epidural and they explained that I had to get a full bag of fluid administered before it could be ordered. After about 10 minutes of getting the IV and monitors all set up, we were moved to our labor and delivery room.

When we got into the room, Richard asked if he could call my Mom and I finally agreed since we no longer risked a false alarm. This call was made at 11:08pm and very shortly afterwards I felt like I needed to push. I felt sooo silly telling my nurse this because I had just been checked 10 minutes prior, but she took me seriously and checked again and told me I was at an 8 or 9! Say...what?! At this point I start to panic a bit and ask if I could get the epidural. She was very sweet but firm when she said, "Oh honey, I don't think there's time for an epidural." I immediately look at Richard and his face was calm and reassuring, which helped me to stay calm even though I felt like I could cry. We didn't take any classes and only watched like half of our childbirth DVD. When I was pregnant I'd read birth stories of moms who prepared for all 9 months of their pregnancy to deliver naturally and here I was with nothing but my body's instincts up my sleeve.

After being checked, my nurse hurried to call my Doctor who was about 30 minutes away. She called in about 3 other nurses and assured me that they could deliver the baby if he didn't make it in time. They told me I could do short practice pushes if I wanted because telling a woman to not push is clearly impossible. The nurses instructed me to push when I felt the urge and helped remind me (along with Richard) to breathe. Breathing through contractions was definitely the hardest part but everyone was very reassuring and told me I was doing a great job which ended up being so important for me. What was weird was that the contractions that were once on top of each other seemed to really slow down once I started pushing. I felt like I could actually take a few minutes rest between each push...which I did take advantage of because I knew pushing could still potentially take hours.

Wrong again.

Once the Doctor got there... he suited up, I pushed three times and at 11:35pm our baby boy was born! I was sooo surprised. I wasn't really told if he was crowning or if I was at a 10 or anything so I still thought delivery was far away. I just couldn't believe that everything was over that I couldn't really wrap around my head that my baby boy was now laying on my chest! He shocked me with a full head of dark hair and had the cutest pair of lips I've ever seen. After soaking him up for a few minutes, Richard followed him over to the table to get checked while I delivered the placenta and got stitched up.

The rest of the hospital stay was a glorious, hazy blur. Watching Richard become a Father was probably my favorite experience to date. Seeing him hold his son just seemed so natural. Like he's always been with us. My recovery was a breeze which I heard is often the case with unmedicated births. I hardly slept in fear that I would miss out on him doing anything cute. Turns out EVERYTHING my baby did was cute to me ;) Laying him in his bassinet was also not an option, I only wanted him in my arms.

Carter's birth was a total whirlwind. I thought Richard and I would be at the hospital for maybe 5 or 6 hours, document with some pictures, maybe play some Words with Friends after I got my epidural, chat with the nurses, watch my contractions on the monitor...you know, the usual. Instead, he was born less than an hour after we were checked into the hospital. Even though it's not what I had imagined, I absolutely wouldn't change a thing. We are so, so in love.

Carter Michael Rindlisbacher
Saturday, March 28th 11:35pm
7lbs, 11.5 ounces & 20.5 inches