Based on the timing of my other kids' births, I assumed this baby would, too, be early, but I really didn't think he was going to be almost three weeks early. My body had been contracting since 14 weeks (yes, 14 weeks), but I knew that, that's just normal for me. Aside from Morning Sickness that kicked my tail until 18 weeks and then mildly greeted me every evening throughout my pregnancy, I felt great this time around. I worked out religiously, until 34 weeks with cardio and weights and somehow, slid by without gestational diabetes, this time...although, still mindful about keeping my protein intake up and my carb intake a bit lower. Yes, I had the typical aches and pains, but honestly, the gift of carrying a little life inside of me always FAR, FAR exceeds those!
Wednesday evening, I took the kids to Michael's (craft store) because Hailey had a project to decorate a "book box" for school. We got what we needed and I grabbed the kids a bite to eat on the way home. Justin called on his way home from work and after not being able to decide what he should grab for dinner for us (NOTHING sounded good to me), we decided I would just make something for us at home. After we dined on a-fancy "breakfast tacos," it was time for baths and get to creating Hailey's book-box. The weeks surrounding Grant's birth, I was in "must get everything done early" mode when it came to Hailey's school...I just was determined to not have any looming/last-minute school projects while I was in the hospital. While the kids were in the bath, I was in the hall, folding laundry and Justin came out to me and informed me that "he hoped the baby would stay put through the long weekend because it would be nice to "relax" a bit." Ha! Imagine how well a very-pregnant mother would take that opinion and you'll have a nice vision of me;) Oddly enough, I didn't see the humor that he was trying to deliver!
While living at the apartment, the kids and I had the routine of me holding Michael in my arms on Hailey's bed, while we prayed and he fell asleep and then the last couple weeks of the pregnancy, Justin would come in and move him from my arms to his crib. I'm thankful that I will always remember the prayer we prayed that night! I kissed the kids "goodnight" and then headed in to take a bath (my nightly ritual at the end of my pregnancy). I put on my instrumental worship music, lit some candles and soaked in the tub, while I prayed (and cried) over the impending arrival of the miracle inside me. I clearly remember feeling SOO connected to God during that time; I will never forget it. It was as if He was truly preparing my heart to accept this miracle, He was about to put into my arms.
Completely relaxed and cozy, I hopped (well, not really "hopped," more like "fell") into bed with a mini bowl of vanilla ice cream, drizzled with hot fudge and watched some Country music special I had DVR'd. I finally decided to "retire" for the evening around 11pm, fully expecting to wake-up in the morning...pregnant;)
Well, that was until at 3:27am when I woke up and as I went to turn from my left to right side, I felt a huge gush!!! Surprise! I frantically started calling "J, J, JJJ, my water is breaking, my water is breaking!!" Crazy how fast we both jumped out of bath and ran into the bathroom to "make a plan." I think back to this moment and LAUGH!! We must've looked HILARIOUS!!!! Both of us awoken from a deep, in-the-middle-of-the-night slumber and one of us doped up on NyQuil (ahem, JP!). I'm going back and forth from, "Call my mom! This is not good! No, call your mom (she was going to come watch the kids and given what happened after my water broke with Michael, we were FREAKED that this baby was coming FAST! Ha- if only we knew!)! This is not good. No, call the doctor! This baby better not be born in this apartment! This cannot be good." Poor Justin, apparently, I become a basket case in this type of situation! You would've NEVER known that this was NOT our first rodeo;) All I could think of was "please baby boy, wait until we get to the hospital. Please!" Visions (and nightmares) of Michael's birth kept re-playing over and over in these few moments.
Anyone that knows me well, knows I MUST shower before heading into the hospital. I know, I went from completely freaking out to NEEDING a quick shower...crazy lady, I am! While I was showering Justin made all the calls and snuck a shower in, too. Thankfully, my doctor insisted to Justin that since I was not having contractions, we "had time." Heidi arrived super-duper fast and before we knew it, we were off!
When we pulled up to the hospital, my mom was waiting for us and my dad and sis were just a few minutes behind. We entered through the ER and were taken up to Triage and "see if my water had broken." Umm, I didn't want to be rude here, but I was pretty sure the ginormous gush was indeed, amniotic fluid;)
Once they confirmed it was (duh!), I was moved to a Labor and Delivery room. I was told I was only 1cm (ummm, as in NINE more to go!?!?) and I was utterly shocked by this, but was still certain that things were going to move along very quickly because this was my third and my body was a "pro" at this birthing thing, by now. I was hooked up to an IV, which I had the "pleasant" experience of the first one blowing my vein and so, I received the second "pleasure" of having another one put in my other wrist. Oh joy. After that, my parents and sis joined us and settled in for what would be a LONG day! We all started making our "guesses" at what time this baby boy would make his debut. Let's just say that at this time it was probably around 6am and the latest any of us guessed was 11:30AM (Justin's guess). I think at this point, I was eager to "get things going," so I started making my first of what would be LOTS of laps around the L&D floor. A few contractions here and there, but pretty much the same that I'd been feeling for weeks.
My doctor stopped by around 6:30/7AM and my family went down to grab some breakfast, since the coffee on the L&D floor wasn't fulfilling their appetites;) He confirmed that there had been no change since we checked in a couple hours prior, so back to walking laps I went. He told me my options at this point, but was amazing at reassuring me we did NOT need to intervene to get labor going at this point. The decision was totally up to Justin and I. Being as I MUCH prefer to let my body "take the lead," we decided to hold off on any pitocin and try some other natural ways to bring on some contractions. No joke, I must've walked a couple miles through the halls that day. Although, I continued to have contractions, they were still what I had been experiencing for weeks and although some of them were strong, they weren't enough to help me make any progress. We FaceTimed the kiddos and got to give them a "virtual tour" of our room. They were having a ball with Grandma and were SO excited that today was "the day!"
My doctor checked in frequently throughout the day and was joking that it was really nice of me to let him get in some office hours, but he'd really rather come deliver this baby:) Lunchtime came and went, and still...no change. My family stepped out and grabbed some lunch down the street and I was certain that we'd be calling them to "hurry back," but nope, they got to enjoy their lunch. While they were gone, Justin turned on some music and it hit us both that today was this baby's BIRTHday...we were blessed to have a similar moment together, on the day I gave birth to Hailey and whew, is it ever emotional! Surreal, to say the very least!
After everyone got back from lunch, it was around 2pm and my doctor, nurse and I had all agreed that by 3:30pm, if things still hadn't changed and my body had not "gotten the message" to start labor, then we probably needed to start thinking about pitocin. Knowing there was still a long road ahead, none of us were wanting to get put in a situation where the clock was nearing 24hours after my water had broken and still no baby (too many risks start setting in at that 24hr mark). It was clear that my water had "spontaneously" broken and not broke because my body was ready, therefore, I felt 100% comfortable starting the pitocin. The plan was to wait until 3:30pm, but by 2:30pm, I was "done" (a little bummed at my body, to be honest) and had the "bring it on" attitude and ready to get this boy here! :)
Pitocin was started at 3PM and let's just say after a couple contractions, I was OVER IT. Bring on the epidural please, this mama is tired. Being as there is no trophy on my shelf for giving birth to Michael "naturally," I wanted this to be as pleasant as an experience as possible:) Live and learn!
The next couple hours were BLISSFUL...holy heck, those dang epidurals are God's gift to laboring women! I peacefully, rested and enjoyed listening to the conversation of everyone around me:) My doctor came back around 5PM and I had only progressed to a 3cm. Aside from feeling a teensy-bit bad for all of our support team, my kids who were DYING to meet their brother and Grandma Heidi, who had been stuck in our apartment alllll day with the kids, I was totally fine with trying to catch a little more rest before it was time to have this little guy.
Our last piece to our "welcoming committee" showed up, my cousin Sara. The next couple hours were a mix of my doctor coming in and out, my family heading down for another caffeine fix, Justin and my doctor watching the football game that was on and chatting with eachother (and no, I have NO clue who was playing...I can't stand football, but could've cared less what they were watching, as I was in my "happy place" and resting comfortably with epidural in place!).
Everytime, my doctor would step out, we made a joke that he was going to go downstairs and grab some coffee bc often times, that is the "magic trick" that the second he steps out, a laboring mom often progresses FAST and he has to run upstairs to catch a baby;) Not even this little trick could lure our baby boy out, though! Stubborn dude!
Around 7:30PM, between the exhaustion and probably due to the fact that I was on the brink of delivering this baby, I turned on my iPod to a song that got me through an emotional time in the pregnancy. All I did was give my dad one look and he knew to come over to me (my sweet dad and I can become to emotional puddles when we are together and music is something that gets to us both...love that man!), anyway, the two of us, huddled together, listened to "baby boy's song" and needless to say, we were both extremely overcome with emotion...in the best possible way:) Hands down, one of the most memorable moments of my life:)
Three-quarters of the way through the song, Justin and Dr. James walked in and Dr. James looked at me and said, "It's time to have a baby. You're ready aren't ya!?" He had told Justin this in the hall and Justin had told him that I still had a little ways to go and how did he know that? His hilarious and "sure" response was basically that he just knew...that man is the "baby whisperer," I tell ya! Sure enough, it was "go time!"
My dad kissed me on my forehead and he and Sara stepped across the street for some dinner at Ruby's. Little did they know, they'd only be served a glass of wine before my mom would be calling them, telling them it was already time to come back and meet this baby:)
Justin, my mom and my sis stayed in with us, to be there when we welcomed this sweet baby into the world. Having my mom and sister with us has always been super important to me. I can just imagine what a wonderful gift that is as a grandma to be present when one of your "baby's-baby's" enters the world! I'm so grateful that my mom was able to capture so many treasured pictures of these special moments! I will literally cherish them forever!
After 10-15 minutes, our precious Grant Finley was HERE, exactly when God intended him to be, 8:05PM. Let me just say, when Dr. James pulled him out, I took one look at him and fell in LOVE instantly! First, second, or third time...holy smokes it's the BEST feeling ever to see this sweet miracle in his or her first seconds of life!!!
Justin immediately text his mom and told her to bring those kiddos down to meet their new brother! I'll never forget seeing them standing at the door to our room and walk in to meet Grant...priceless! They were both made to be a big brother and sister:)
Although, I honestly would've NEVER guessed that this would've been such a long day and yes, it was exhasuting, it was far beyond as perfect of a day as I could've asked for to welcome Grant. Everyone from having Heidi be with the kids, to my family that was there with us the entire day, to the BEST (seriously, the BEST) nurse and doctor, I couldn't have imagined a better "team" to help us through the day!
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