Happy BIRTHDAY Kyler!

The story of Kyler's Birth...

My actual "due date" was Oct 17, 2010. Knowing that my mom had all of her babies at least 3 weeks early I had a feeling I wouldn't make it until then. I just wanted to make it until October. We were really hoping for the 10th so that his birthday would be on 10-10-10 but that didn't happen. On our 'sealing anniversary' (May 16) Jake bought me a beautiful necklace with the October birth stone. After that I just prayed he would be born in October.

I had a doctor's appointment on Thurs, Sept 30 and found out I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced. This didn't surprise me because I woke up feeling different. I knew I wasn't in labor but I could tell something was changing. The doctor said I could have the baby anytime now, even that night. That worried me because it was not Oct yet! What if I didn't make it until midnight? Not to mention, that is my best friend, Jennifer's, birthday. That day has already been claimed! So I went home and laid on the couch all day. I felt like I had the flu or something anyway, not to mention the stress of knowing I could have a baby at any minute, so I enjoyed the day off.

Well, the day went by and between naps I made sure I had everything ready for the hospital. I wasn't really having contractions, and when I did I hardly noticed and they were, at the closest, 10 min apart. Jennifer came over to keep me company and help me get things ready. (I think she did it more for her sanity...she was a little anxious). After Jake got home we decided to go get something to eat. It was 9:00 and we decided if it were going to happen sometime during the night we might as well eat while we can. We went to Village Inn (because IHOP couldn't find a minute to serve us) and had some ok food. We went home, went to bed, woke up the next morning...nothing happened.

Friday came and my contractions were still very very minimal. Jennifer and my mom came over (for both of their sanity) and we went to the mall to walk around. It was October now and I was so ready to have him. By that evening I was having almost no contractions.

Saturday Jake and I decided to walk some more and get things going. I was getting so impatient and stressed because everyone kept asking about me. I'm glad they were concerned for me but things were going so slowly I wasn't in the best mood. I went to work for a few hours and spent the evening having dinner at my aunt and uncles to visit family that had come from Cali for conference. It was really nice and got my mind off all the stress I was having. By the end of the day I had decided I was going in reverse. I wasn't having any contractions so he must have changed his mind.

Sunday was a nice relaxing day. After Jake went to work at 4 I decided to do some of the exercises I had learned in my birthing class. I had done a few the days before but now I was anxious for the baby to come so I really put some effort into it. Around 6:00 my contractions started again. YAY! I didn't say anything to anyone because I didn't want to jinx it. I just kept swaying my hips on my birthing ball (basically a work-out ball I got from my class) and praying they didn't stop. Around 7 I remember thinking "hey, that felt like a real contraction!" They were about 8 min apart and around 7:30 I finally told Jake I was having real contractions. By 8:00 they were getting uncomfortable. They were still about 8 min apart but sometimes only 5. I decided to take a bath, something I learned in my class, to relax. After being in the tub 15 min I decided it was too uncomfortable and Jake should come home so I wouldn't feel so anxious. So much for that idea...When I told him he should come home he said he couldn't for another 45 min. *Hello! I'm in labor and stressing out! Come home now!!!*

By this time it was around 9:00 and they were 5-7 min apart and painful. I was doing ok but really wanted Jake there for support. He finally came home around 9:30 and we started packing things in the car and getting ready. We finally left the house around 10:45. My contractions were 3-5 min apart and were painful but still manageable.

We got to the hospital at 11 and of course they admitted me (I was almost dilated to a 5- yeah, after almost 4 days I had dilated almost one cm).

I planned on having a completely natural birth and my doctor told me I didn't have to be hooked up to an IV but that I had to have a saline lock just in case. I HATE needles so I wasn't happy about this but didn't have much choice. That was the only thing that made me cry, sadly the nurse poking my hand was worse than my contractions.

Well, the night went on with the nurse checking me every hour or so and my contractions getting closer together and more intense. I was having back labor (which they say is worse than normal labor but I really have nothing to compare so who knows) most likely because the baby was face up (portiere) rather than face down, how he should be. Because of this I wasn't progressing even though the pain kept getting worse.

Jake was so good to rub my back every time I had a contraction (which was about every minute, lasting a minute). I was doing really well...but here's where I was not so happy...

I had asked in my "birth plan" to be on the monitors as little as possible so I could be free to move around (also the reason I had no IV). Well, I had a Monitor Nazi Nurse (excuse the language, but she was). If I moved even a tiny bit and it messed up the monitors she would be in my room in .02 seconds to fix it. I couldn't lay certain ways or the monitor would freak out. I decided I wanted to walk the halls to get things going. Plus, because I was having back labor it helped for Jake to lift my belly (something we learned in class). Well, the nurse came in and instead of taking the monitors off, hooked me up to an IV pull so the monitors could still be attached. Ok, I could deal with that...Well, we get about 10 feet down the hall from the nurses station and I swear the nurse is on a dead run to us. "You have to come back! The monitor isn't picking up the signal, you're too far away from your room!" So we were limited to about 20 feet of hallway in front of my room and the nurses station. After about 10 min I decided it was ridiculous and I was tired of her sitting there watching me walk. It was stressing me out. So we went back to the room. I tried sitting on my birthing ball (another thing from class) only to find her back in there telling us "the monitor's don't like it when you sit like that." Ok, so how about a bath. The rooms at Orem Community Hospital all have jetted tubs. And the monitors could go in the water!! Finally, something they won't freak out to. I get in the tub and the nurse comes to remind me "not to get your saline lock wet". So I'm stuck with trying to find a comfortable position while holding my hand out of the water. By this time I had had it. I got back in bed, limited to laying on my left side (monitors didn't like me laying on my right).

Around 5 am the nurse checked me and said I was just barely 6 cm. After no sleep and no progress and not being able to do anything I was done. I had been in labor over 12 hours (at least labor with contractions) and was just worn out. When she told me I hadn't made any progress I think it was the last straw for me. I didn't know how much longer I had to do this and I couldn't even do it the way I wanted. I decided to get the epidural.

Of course right when i decided to get the epidural it was shift change and i got a new nurse. She was super nice and probably wouldn't have been so crazy about the monitors. But it was too late now, I'd made up my mind. I was just too discouraged to keep going.

Being afraid of needles I was not looking forward to getting one in my back. However, I had an awesome anetheseaologist and I didn't feel a thing. From the moment he started the epidural I didn't feel anymore contractions. I could finally relax and get some sleep...0r so I thought. Hospitals are probably the worst place for trying to sleep. People are constantly in and out of your room. No rest for the weary. It was a little after 7am and I was told to rest a little and then my doctor would be in to break my water. He came in I think a little before 8am and broke my water and hooked me up to pitocin because I was still only at a 7. So in one hour I had broke three of my own rules: 1)epidural 2)water broken for me 3)pitocin. I was pretty sad about it but I have to admit it was pretty nice to just relax and not feel anything. I was so exhausted.

At 10:00 the nurse came in to check me and said I was at a 10 so she wanted me to sleep until about 11 and then I would start pushing. Of course I didn't sleep, even though I tried, and at 10:45 she came in to get me ready for the doctor.

I guess she thought I'd have to push for a long time so I was going to push for a little while before the doctor came. I pushed twice and she told me to stop! Then we waited for the doctor. I guess his head was just sitting there and finally the nurse got on my call button and told someone to "tell the doctor to get in here now!" He came and she was all upset saying she was about ready to deliver this baby by herself. It was pretty funny. The doctor got all ready and I pushed I think 3 more time and he was out.

The second I saw him I couldn't stop crying. It was amazing. The doctor kept saying congratulations and all I could do was cry. Jake cut the cord and then they started weighing and measuring and cleaning him up.

Kyler was born on October 4, 2010 at 11:12 am. He weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 20 inches long. He is absolutely perfect! I don't think the pregnancy and birth of my first child could have gone any better. I still don't know what I was so scared of. I almost can't wait to do it again (even though I'm sure the next one will be completely different.)

First time holding my precious baby boy.
Jake is so happy to finally be able to hold his little boy.

Poor Jake was so good to sleep here for the 3 nights we were in the hospital. I am so lucky to be married to such a wonderful guy. The perfect husband and now the perfect father.