The birth story...DUN DUN DUN!!!

Ok.  I'm gonna level with you. I absolutely LOVE hearing birth stories. I don't know why, but they are so intriguing to me.

However, if you are one of those people who roll your eyes when mother's give every.little.detail of their births, you may want to skip this post.  And when you're done doing that, punch yourself in the face. From me. just kidding. kinda. 


I wrote this letter to Jordan on January 9, 2011 and I feel like it pretty much covers everything, so here goes:

Wheeeeeeelllll (g-pa fife style)

What a week we have had.  

I am sitting here, enjoying a hot cup of tea, staring at a brand new BEAUTIFUL baby boy and soaking in life.  How wonderful it truly is.  I can't get over the amazing power of our bodies (and the Lord!)  I think because he is my third boy, I have really realized how time flies. I can't believe that he is my little piece of clay to mold to the best of my ability.Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the weight that carries.  It's a daunting task, but I am more than happy to be the one to do it.  I cannot wait for you to meet him.  

Now, that's enough of the hormones talking....lets get to the gory details!  :)

I had a doctor's appointment on Dec 28th and the doctor refused to schedule another appointment for two reasons.  1) I was 40 weeks pregnant and most mothers barely make it there and 2) he was convinced that I would deliver before the week was out.  How right he was. 

The next day, the nurse called me and wanted to schedule a worst-case-scenario induction on January 5th.  (That is to say the doctor was completely out of his mind and we needed to get this growing baby OUT NOW!) I have to admit, I was getting really anxious.  I wasn't officially due until December 31st, so I had no reason to be anxious, but you hear all of these stories of mothers who deliver 3 weeks early and you start to imagine yourself as one of them.  Ya right.  When Friday (my due date) came around, I decided I was just going to put the induction in my head as D-Day and TRY not to think more about it.  Ya right (X2). 

We had a beautiful New Years Eve, spent at home with our boys.  We lit fireworks at midnight, drank apple cider in champagne flutes, and said the one thing we were thankful for that happened in the year past.  Mine was, of course, the pregnancy.  Mikey thought the cider was disgusting while Hunter drank and said "yummy beer".  Nice.  We put the boys to bed and enjoyed an hour of us time then went to bed ourselves around 1 A.M.  

I remember waking up with a contraction and looking at the clock, which read 3:47 AM.  It was pretty strong, but nothing crazy, so I got up and went to the bathroom and laid back down.  I was so convinced that they were just the 'practice contractions' and I didn't want to get my hopes up.  On top of that, with Hunter's birth being so long and arduous I wanted to labor as much at home as possible.  For the rest of the morning I would get to that in-between-sleep phase where just when I started to drift off, I would have another contraction. I did not once think "this is it!" until about 8:45 AM.  I got up to use the bathroom (AGAIN!) and the contraction was so bad I couldn't walk or focus on anything else.  Then, about 10 minutes later, I had another one just like it.  At that point, I woke Mike up and said "I think we are having a baby today".   

Mike jumped out of bed and said "what!? ok! should I call my mom or Melissa?"  I told him not to call anyone yet and just to time my contractions.  Again, I absolutely did not want to spend two days in the hospital like last time. I got in the shower and immediately my contractions got more intense and closer together.  Mike could hear my pain and asked again if he should call anyone.  I said no again.  Thankfully he did not listen.  He called Melissa, no answer.  He called Mom, no answer.  He called his mom and she answered!  She headed right over.  I got out of the shower and got dressed.  By this point my contractions were three minutes apart.  There must have been a look on my face because Mike knew we had to get to go right away! I didn't have anything packed for us (I felt like it would jinx us), so I just told Mike over and over to grab the camera.  I didn't care about anything else!  What can I say, I'm my mother's daughter.  

We loaded up the boys because Mikey's mom and Pauline weren't here yet. Oh ya, we had Mikey too and had to get him picked up.  As we were pulling out, Mikey's mom pulled up and grabbed him. I'm sure you can imagine the chaos.  

We sped to the hospital, a drive I barely remember but felt like forever, and Mike dropped me off at the door.  There were no waiting doctors with wheel-chairs like the movies, but oh how I wished there would have been.  I remember looking at the clock in the car and it was 9:23 AM.  Mike parked and rushed with Hunter inside.  When we reached the second floor, the nurse asked me to sign in but Mike had to do it for me.  Man, contractions suck.  Standard procedure for the hospital is to take the patient to triage, weigh them, check them and then determine whether to admit them or not.   The nurse took one look at me and said "lets just go straight to this room right here".  Room 15 by the way.  It took me about 4 contractions to get dressed in my gown and a urine sample was out of the question.  I got on the bed and let the nurse put on the bracelets and give me my IV to the best of my ability.   

After the nurse was done with that, she checked me to see how dilated I was.  I was expecting a 3,4 maybe 5 at the most because again, with Hunter I stayed at a 2 for like 30 hours.  When she looked at me and said "ok, I think you're about a 7" I just about cried.  Mike said "Did you hear that!? Did you hear that!?" It was music to my ears.  Then another contraction hit and it was all I could think about.  The nurse asked what our plan was as far as an epidural went and Mike told her we didn't want one.  I was still clear-headed enough to agree with him and continue on.  The contractions were getting worse and the nurse offered the birthing ball to me.  The birthing ball is just a gym ball that they cover with a sheet.  I sat on that and two contractions later stood up because I had to push.  Now, when you hear laboring mothers say they have to push, you better listen.  There is absolutely no stopping it.  They called in the doctor, who was thankfully right next door and she checked me.  My water wasn't broken and she said I was still a 7 and that I needed to not push because it would just wear me out.  That's when I begged for an epidural.  

Mike wouldn't let me do it.  We had made a pact previously that when I asked for an epidural he would say no, we would wait 30 minutes and reassess. I wanted to kill him, but I knew that was our deal.  The doctor asked if we wanted her to break my water and Mike said yes because Mom had to have her water broken for all 5 of us.  I could've kissed him for his attention to detail and the fact that he remembered that, but I was writhing in pain.  She broke my water and I HAD to push. Literally, in five minutes I was ready to go and fully dilated.  

Kristi said it best when she described her natural birth as "intense".  I didn't know until after that I had ripped out my IV, broke my glasses and gave Mike the craziest Indian burn he has ever had.  Intense seems pretty fitting, no? That, and hosh-e-la-roof! (for you Fife's out there.)

At 10:07 AM Max Emerson Thomas made his debut.  The nurses whisked him away because I didn't get the antibiotics and because there was meconium in the water which can be very dangerous for the baby.  If you don't know what meconium is, look it up....  It happens. Mike cut the cord and then Max peed all over the nurse.  What a little turd.  :)  Then she said 8lbs 10oz and 20 inches long!  I couldn't believe it because I was convinced that he was going to be smaller than Hunter (8lbs 8oz).  His head was circumference was 14 3/4 inches which is apparently is pretty big because the nurse kept commenting on it. Thank the Thomas side for that one!  

When I finally got to see him, he was beautiful. I just stared at him.
I was so happy  I was able to do it without an epidural and now I can cross that one off the bucket list! :) I always wanted to experience labor and delivery in it's true form.

So, now we are soaking up our newborn and trying to enjoy every last minute.  Yes, we are getting no sleep and I feel like I was in a car accident because I am sore everywhere, but that will pass.  

Jordan, I hope you had a great week and I hope you know how much I love you. I can't wait for you to meet our little guy because he is awesome.  

Love, 

Dana

Well, there you have it.  Every.last.detail.  Oh, and B.T.W. for you new mom's out there, if you "feel like you were in a car accident because you are sore all over" you may or may not have a breast infection.  Found out the hard way on that one.  Just sayin' s all.