Friday, June 24, 2016

Tanner's Birth Story

So, this is mostly for my records, but for some reason people always seem to want to hear the details of other peoples birth stories (myself included).  So, here are the details.  If you don't want too much information, don't read.


Tanner's Due Date was July 1st.
I'd had a lot more sporadic contractions this pregnancy than ever before.  

Saturday May 27
We went on our annual Memorial Day hike at Devil's Den.  It ended up being a little longer than planned and I started having quite a few contractions towards the end of it, but later that day they eased up and went away.

Monday May 30
James had to leave to go to Denver for a conference for work.  I was busy that morning trying to get a lot done before he left.  I had several contractions that morning, but figured it was just because I had been doing too much.  The day went on and they weren't consistent, but they never went away.  That night I woke up several times (maybe 6-7) with the pain of contractions.

Tuesday May 31
At 4:30 I was up with a contraction and couldn't go back to sleep.  So I got up to get stuff done.  The contractions were definitely more intense and since everyone was still asleep I was actually able to track them.  They were more frequent (5-7 minutes) but then there would be sporadic jumps (15-20 minutes).  Once the kids woke up it was almost impossible to keep track.  I was definitely still having them and they were more intense than the past few days, but didn't seem too frequent.  I knew I was in early labor and figured I should get stuff ready for the baby, but with past experience figured I had at least a couple of days, maybe even weeks before his arrival.  I mentioned this to James on the phone and he kind of freaked out because I was in labor and he was in Denver.  Apparently he called my parents and my mom was ready to hop on a plane the next morning.  I assured them I was fine and we still had several days before we needed to do that.  So, on to the day.  We did a bunch of stuff:

     * fire station tour with friends - I had several contractions while we were there but was very distracted so they didn't seem too intense
    *   Library - to stock up on new books for the kids
    *  Target - picking up some things for the business and I needed to pay for the binkies I had accidentally stolen the week before. By this time the kids were tired and I was pretty ornery with them.

We went home for lunch and I tried to rest, but the contractions were still going strong.  I was having them 3-5 minutes apart for a while then there'd be a 15 minute gap, then close together again.  So we continued running errands:
   * Park - to let the kids get wiggles out.  But my contractions were getting more intense.  This is where I started to worry because this might mean the baby was really coming sooner than I thought.  At this point I called James and told him to look into flight info - just to see what the options would be if he needed to come in the next day or two.
   * Sam's - I got more business supplies and stocked up on a bunch of staples before the instant savings ran out (you know toilet paper, cheese, etc...).  It was a rough trip.  I was in pain.  I had planned on getting gas that we needed, but I wanted to get home to take it easy and slow things down. I think I cried on the way home (you know being alone, in pain, and having no clue what I should do).  I did manage to stop by the business to drop off the supplies we'd gotten that day, but no gas.

When we got home Hannah got dinner ready while I laid on the couch.  She put the tablecloth on, set the table, and got everyone cereal.  I laughed out loud when I heard her say, "Now, you have to have a healthy bowl of cereal before you can have a yummy bowl."

Meanwhile, I was on the couch having intense contractions.  They were still 3-5 minutes apart then sporadic jumps of 15 minutes apart, so I knew I was still a ways from the real thing, but I was really worried about waking up in the middle of the night in labor with no one there to watch the kids.  I called James and he was looking at flights home for the next day.  I decided to ask a friend to come watch the kids at our house while I went to the hospital to get checked....just in case.  I got kids bathed and ready for bed then I took a bath to see if that would slow the contractions down.  It helped ease the pain, but they didn't seem to slow down.  Apparently James had called someone in our Relief Society from church to ask them to check on me.  She called my phone, but I didn't hear so she came to our house.  The doorbell is broken and she must have knocked on the door, but the washing machine was running (with baby clothes/blankets) and I had running water for the kids bath so we never heard it. 

After I got out of the tub and was grabbing some things for the hospital bag (trying to remember what in the heck I might possibly need) and TJ was running around with his bath towel as a cape.  He informed me he needed to poop and didn't quite make it to the toilet....instead he had some major diarrhea on the carpet.  Lovely.   Apparently the entire carton of blackberries he snuck after lunch had caught up to him.  I got that cleaned up as quickly as possible, got kids ready for bed, and put a movie on.  Meredith, the saintly friend who came to watch kids, arrived and I grabbed some stuff for the hospital and headed out the door.  I was trying so hard to keep composed through the contractions, but had a major one as I walked out the door and ducked down behind the counter on my hands and knees to make it through without yelping out in pain.

I had 3 major contractions on the way to the hospital and there are pretty narrow roads all the way there.   I was able to breathe and drive through two of them, but one was very intense I couldn't keep driving.  Luckily I made it to the CVS parking lot to pull off through most of it.  There is a gas station across from the parking lot and I thought about getting gas, but decided the hospital was more important.  At this point I was beginning to think this was the real deal and I was in trouble!  I've never had an epidural before and hadn't really planned on one with this delivery (I've had been thinking about what I could buy with the $600 + if I didn't get one), but in the car I decided I was going to go in and get one right away since I was going to be doing this alone. 

Once I got to the hospital I had to stop and sit through a couple of contractions before actually getting through the front doors.

7:30 ish PM

I made it to triage.  At this point I was having intense contractions about 2 minutes apart.  They watched me trying to walk through the contractions and hold my composure while they verified all my info and didn't bother hooking me up to machines.  They knew this was my 4th and just watching me they figured I was probably in real labor so they went ahead and checked me....I was dilated to 8 cm.  She said something to me along the lines of, "You didn't want an epidural do you?"  I had to laugh at the irony of me finally deciding to have one and then not really having much chance to get one.

You're supposed to have cell phones turned off, but I asked if I could call my husband to let him know.  I talked to him for a minute while they walked me back to a delivery room.  He was just about to get on a plane in Denver and would make it back to Fayetteville in about 6 hours.  He had notified our friends that I was in labor and one asked if she could come to the hospital with me.  I never would have asked anyone to come, I would rather have been alone and I probably would have said no way to most people, but she's one of the few I would be okay having her there. 

As we got into the room I asked if I could text my friend that was watching my other 3 kids to let her know I was having the baby and she would end up spending the night.  The nurse just looked at me and said, "we're not doing anything by the book here so you do whatever you need to."  I really liked that nurse, by the way.  It took me about 10 minutes to finally text Meredith with contractions and getting hooked up to IVs, etc......at least I think I actually hit the send button at some point.  The nurses all got a kick out of the fact that I had gotten my kids ready for bed before driving myself to the hospital.  They kept bringing that up.

Kelly, the saintly friend that came to the hospital, arrived at some point and it was nice to have someone to help distract me.  My contractions kept getting more intense.  I wanted to wait so James could be there, but knew it wouldn't last 5 hours, so I asked the Dr to break my water.  In past deliveries it has still been several hours until much happened, but this time things went quickly.

I had a few contractions and I remember grabbing Kelly's hand, saying I couldn't do this, someone telling me I could, and someone rubbing the intense pain in my back. 


There were only a few intense contractions until I felt the need to push.  I was lying on my side and started pushing.  They told me to stop pushing while they got the Dr and got ready.  I had one major push, took a deep breath and finished the push.  He was born at 8:41 pm.  5 lbs 6 oz.  18.5” long.

It was so much shorter with soo much less pushing than the others that it was physically a much easier delivery then the previous 3.  But emotionally it was pretty rough.  I never would have made it had it been any longer.  I feel bad James wasn’t there, but grateful that Kelly was (even if she’s seen parts of me I wouldn’t want to see).  I feel so grateful for all of our friends who were so willing to offer any help.  We also have new friends from church (we switched wards when we moved) that we don’t know very well, but that were so kind.  Someone came to the hospital to make sure I was okay since I hadn't been answering my phone, our new bishop even called the hospital while I was in labor,  so many were so willing to help out watching kids, etc....and I'm so appreciative to the friends who did help.  It was a nice feeling to know I had people I could call if I needed to.  It's nice to have friends.

Once he was born I had lots of emotions...I felt so grateful (to be done with labor, to have him healthy for a 35 week baby, to have a husband that was coming, to have good friends, helpful nurses, etc...) and my heart just felt full.

Wednesday
1:30 AM James got to the hospital.  We went to the NICU for him to meet the baby.  We decided to name him Tanner.


** As I re-read this I realized it should have been obvious that I was in labor, but it wasn't.  I was partially in denial, because I wasn't ready to have the baby, but I really didn't think he would come for a while longer.

 

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

James' Birthday



James had his birthday and he turned the big 3-9.  His last year to live up the 30’s before he officially becomes old.  We celebrated with a homemade triple chocolate cheesecake.  It’s a friends recipe and it was delicious…..even for the non-dark chocolate lover that I am.



He didn’t have any presents to open.  My gift to him was a babysitter for the kids while we went shopping for him.  We got the babysitter and shopping but we didn’t actually buy anything.  So, it was a partial win.

The kids had fun putting up balloons for him.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Memorial Day Hike

This has been a tradition for 7 years now (thanks Shelly and Jens for starting it).  James was going to be out of town for work on Memorial Day so we did it the Saturday before.  We went to Devil’s Den, a state park not too far away.  James found a hike we thought would be a little bit of a challenge for TJ but easy enough that the kids could do it.

Start of the trail.

TJ started off pretty pokey by picking up every stick.  Finally we took a picture of his stick and convinced him to leave it.  Then he started picking up rocks but he did move faster after that.

Every large rock we passed they wanted their picture taken with…..luckily that didn’t last long.

Here are Hannah’s awesome shoes.  I think it’s time for them to be retired.

Here we are having a break.  I look huge.

The view from the overlook was pretty.

Some walking sticks the girls found along the way.

This was our beautiful view.  It reminds me of Virginia.  It’s definitely not the Rocky Mountains, but the green rolling hills are so pretty.

TJ walked almost the entire way and could have kept going, but we wanted to speed things up so James carried him the last few minutes.

At the end we sat and threw rocks into the river.  It was such a nice day and we all enjoyed our time together.  With an extra detour it ended up being close to 5 miles – and the kids did it without complaining.


Sunday, June 12, 2016

May Little Things



We finished TJ’s bed.  James built it and I stained it.  I think the stain turned out okay, but the pillow not so much.


Here they are playing ‘car.’  Sofia saw this empty box at Aldi and wanted me to bring it home.  I love that they put on helmets.

Fishing at the park.  I wonder why they didn’t catch anything.

We went to watch Hannah do a fun run at her school.  We had to pass a little time.  TJ ate.  Sofia caught/tortured more ladybugs.




Sofia helped me make the chocolate ganache for James’ birthday cake.  She specifically helped lick the bowl.  It was remarkably clean when she was finished.

Here are my two helpers in the kitchen.  I think the measuring cups were airplanes.

We went to story time at Imagine.  I love TJ’s concentration on the craft afterwards.

Here’s TJ throwing a fit over who knows what…..he didn’t get oatmeal? Not enough raisins? Had to wear a bib?!

They could spend hours playing in the sand.


TJ had a rough day….this was him falling asleep for a nap on the living room floor at 10:30 am.
 

We had to kill some time at an awards assembly for Hannah’s last day of school.

She was very excited about her awards.

Our Memorial Day hike at the trail head and with James at a lookout.


 Some fun scooping the oats from one bucket to another.

Making some egg sandwiches for the freezer.  They kinda look gross in the photo, but they're actually good.

Taking a tour of the fire station with some friends.

We had a baby.