Corban's Delivery Story

I'm trying to document some things that I'd like to be able to remember when I'm old and gray. Some of my goals involve typing up all of my childrens' delivery stories and I thought I'd share. So lets start with square one:

Corban’s Delivery:

December 12: I had school; it was a final testing day. Jack flew to Colorado to go do  some training for Carrabba’s Italian Grill. I took my test then told Mrs. Evans that I was going to start my leave from school after my test. She questioned why I’d start it so early if I wasn’t due for another two weeks (Dec. 28). I told her I just felt like I needed to. I had a Dr. appointment either that Monday or Tuesday and I was dilated slightly, and slightly effaced. Dr. Gourley had told me to not have the baby that weekend because he was going out of town. I went up to my mom’s house to stay while jack was out of town. I just lounged around until I had to go get jack from the airport on the evening of Wednesday December 13. While I was driving to go pick him up from the airport (6 or 7 pm) I remember feeling some pretty strong Braxton hicks’ contractions and having to breathe through them. I picked him up and as he was talking and telling me about the trip I remember kind of losing my temper and crying a little telling him that I was just really really uncomfortable. He was so sweet and attentive and asked many times what he could do to help. We went back to my folk’s house for some dinner (chicken and cheese enchiladas yum!). Then they told us that they wanted to give us our Christmas present early. We sat down on the couch in the family room and they gave us a new digital camera as ours had disappeared in October. My mom just said she felt like I might be needing it sooner rather than later. We packed up and drove home. I remember as we were driving I just tried to relax but I was stressing because I felt like I didn’t have the necessary things at home. We stopped at Wal-Mart on our way home and walked around for a while. We grabbed some things that we didn’t have yet for the baby and some groceries. I remember the cashier asking me when I was due. I responded something like: now. Then she proceeded to ask me whether I was planning to breastfeed or not. She started telling me about how she tried to breastfeed her baby but the baby was allergic to her breast milk and became jaundiced because of it so she had to stop. While she was talking I felt like screaming: I don’t care about what you did, I’m in labor lady. Give us our change and let us leave! It was as if she was holding our change hostage. I kept taking steps away from the check stand to try and give her a hint. We got to the car and I remember thinking how silly she was. I remember feeling like I’m probably not in actual labor; it’s just Braxton hick’s contractions. When we got home (around midnight) I took a nice hot shower which helped a lot. I went to lay out on the couch for a few hours in and out of sleep so that I could watch movies/TV and jack could sleep so he could go to work the next day. Sometime between 3 and 4 I tried getting into bed with jack but couldn’t sleep. I put the yoga ball on the bed under a sheet so I could just rock back and fourth on my knees while lying on the ball. That relieved so much pressure on my back. I did that until about 6 am. I finally woke jack up to tell him I needed his help. He timed a few contractions and we decided we could probably go to the hospital. First we had to pack our bag though! (After all he was 2 weeks early- we didn’t have anything packed)  Jack packed what I told him to and we went out to the car. We called my mom and jack’s mom to let them know that we were going to the hospital. I remember it was snowing softly, and just beautiful. The car ride to the hospital was not fun at all. Every little bump in the road, every stop, and every acceleration was accentuating the discomfort I was feeling. We arrived at the hospital around 7 am. (Timpanogos Regional Hospital) They were so nice, kind, and calm while admitting us to the room. The contractions were manageable outside of the car. I got dressed in my hospital gown and the nurse came in to ask some questions. They checked and I was at 5 cm. I was so proud of myself right then! I had made it to 5 cm without pain meds! I was half way there! They asked if I wanted an epidural and I said yes, sometime soon. They gave me the epidural around 8/8:30. I remember that the anesthesiologist was FABULOUS! He described every little thing I was going to feel just before I’d feel it. He was so precise, it didn’t hurt it was just a series of sensations, but because he described them so accurately I was able to feel confident about his abilities and I wasn’t scared at all. As soon as it was in place I felt numb from the top of my stomach all the way down. It was nice. I’d watch the monitor and see that I was having a contraction but wouldn’t feel a thing. I was able to rest for a few hours. Take a nap even! My Dr. had gone out of town for a conference so I was being delivered by a totally different Dr. He came in and introduced himself, he was funny and relaxed. He asked if I’d like my water broken to get things going a little faster. I said sure. They broke my water and left to let me rest a while longer. They came back around 11 am, woke me up and asked if I’d like to have a baby. I said sure. They kind of explained that jack and a nurse would help hold my knees closer to my chest and they’d coach me through pushing. The most helpful thing the Dr told me was to push like I was in the bathroom. He said not to push like it was different, or something I’d never done, He said “I want you to push like you’re on the toilet.” I thought that was odd, but he’s the Dr. so I trusted the advice. He told me on the next contraction he was going to tell me to push. As he told me to push I just gave it all my might. I kept telling myself that it’s alright if this process takes a while, most first time moms take several hours of pushing, so I was working as hard as I could but also telling myself mentally that it was okay to stop and breathe. I pushed really hard that first contraction then I paused to breathe for a min. Then he said okay here’s the next one lets try that again, so I did it again with the same force because he hadn’t given me specifics but he’d said “good! Good!” He may have mentioned that they head was out the first push but I honestly can’t remember. I do remember that after that second push I felt kind of a sensation like you’d assume a balloon has when you push all the air out of it, in my abdomen and realized I had just had a baby! He pulled him up for me to see (upside down by his feet…); while a nurse grabbed a towel to wipe him down and suction him out (he had meconium staining when they broke the water). I remember hearing his little tiny cry and being super happy and totally shocked that I was done already. The Dr. was equally impressed at how fast it was but also kind of shocked at the amount of blood that came out with him (on his shoe and pants, Jack recalls the Dr.’s quote as being “uh whoa, that’s a lot of blood”) so he went to work suturing me up while I watched my sweet baby boy. I don’t remember the delivery of the placenta; I didn’t see it I was a little preoccupied with my new baby. As the Dr. finished up he told me to drop my Dr and come to his practice because he wanted more deliveries to go that smoothly. Corban was a happy healthy baby at 7 lbs. 6 oz., 20 in long.  Born, December 14, 2006 around noon. I remember the nurses coming in to ask if I felt ready to eat lunch, something to the effect of HECK YES came out. I was starving, I remember Jack mentioning that I should maybe slow down a bit and I felt kind of irritated by that ha ha. All in all it was a wonderful first labor and delivery. The hospital staff were very kind, and very attentive. I stayed in the hospital for a few days because Corban had pooped in the amniotic sac during labor so they wanted to make sure his respiration was good and healthy. I remember the best part of the day going home was observing jack’s change in driving habits with our newest little passenger. He was driving 15 mph UNDER the speed limit, taking turns EXTRA wide. He was so nervous about his little head flopping around even though I was sitting right next to him making sure he was safe. Corban slept the whole way home snuggly warm in his seat- the cutest part was that he kept cooing the whole time. It was the sweetest little noise I’d ever heard.