Here is my story of how our second precious boy came into our world.
My due date was Saturday, June 18th. In the month of May, I was tired and stressed from working through the last month of school. I am somewhat of a perfectionist and control-freak when it comes to my classroom so I wanted to be there for the last month but the possibility of me having the baby early led me to prepare everything for that last month way in advance. It was nice to have almost everything ready, but I think I put too much pressure on myself; not to mention that the last month of school is crazy busy - field day, field trip, report cards, awards day, several celebrations, end of year assessments, my final evaluation, cleaning my room, etc. I was wiped out.
However, the first two weeks of summer vacation were so perfect. Parker and I had so much fun going to the pool almost every day, playing at the park, having picnics, playing at home, eating ice cream, and just relaxing. I felt like a new person! I was definitely ready to have the baby but didn't feel stressed about it.
The week before I was due, I was starting to get a lot more uncomfortable. I hate not being able to get around easily or not having a lot of energy. So, needless to say, I wanted to have the baby soon. At my appointment 2 days before my due date, I was dilated to 2 cm. Before she checked me, she asked if I wanted her to try to move things along. Like, break my water or something. I said no, because even though I wanted to have the baby, I really wanted him to come when he was ready. Well, when she checked my cervix, she checked pretty hard! I think she actually stripped my membranes (which is just separating your water from your uterus). It was pretty uncomfortable/painful but quick. The rest of that night I had cramps but it made me hopeful that baby B would be here soon.
Friday the 17th started out normal. Then by dinner time I was starting to have contractions. They weren't very strong and they were about 15 minutes apart. So I went on with our night like normal. They got a little stronger as the evening went on. My sister, Clint, and I watched a movie to pass some time. They continued although the time of them never really got too close. Clint decided to go to bed to get some sleep in case we had to go in sometime during the night. Well, about midnight the contractions stopped completely. So I went to bed. I woke up 2-3 times with a few more contractions. I was back to feeling crampy or just uncomfortable.
Saturday - due date - and as the morning went on I kept hoping for some contractions because I thought it would be great to have another baby on their due date. My sister and I went to Metropolis to do a bunch of walking. I had a handful of contractions but mostly I was uncomfortable. Then we went to have Mexican for lunch and by then, I was wore out and felt terrible. That evening we watched another movie and I had contractions but they were off and on and nothing noteworthy. I had several that night that were pretty strong but again, nothing in succession.
Sunday. Now I was past my due date! It was also Father's Day. Two reasons to have a baby! I was feeling fine for the beginning of the morning. Then at about 10 am contractions started up. They were about 10 minutes apart and were strong enough to make me somewhat uncomfortable. Lindsay and my dad took Parker to the park while Clint and I relaxed at home. We went for a walk around the neighborhood to try to keep the contractions going. I also like to stand or walk when in labor so this was helpful. Once Parker got home, Lindsay kept him busy playing and then put him down for his nap. All the while my contractions were slowly getting stronger, but no closer together. By late afternoon, I was having really intense contractions but they were sometimes 5 minutes apart, sometimes 13 minutes apart. With Parker, I had very quick/rapid contractions without much time in between. They were never so painful that I cried (which I would score about an 8 or 9 on a scale to 10). However, this time they were much more intense - definitely an 8 or 9 but there was much more time in between. I was somewhat frustrated because I was in some pain but I knew you needed them close together to go in to the hospital. With Parker I started contractions at 6 am and had him at 5:58 pm - so about 12 hours of labor. This time, I started at 10 am and as time wore on, Clint was getting nervous that I would wait too long to go in. So about 4:30 we called. The on call doctor said she would like to see them closer together but if I wanted to go in, that was a good call too. We waited another hour or so and then I was ready. I didn't want to cause too much confusion for Parker and I knew I could focus a little more away from home.
We got to the hospital about 6pm. On the way there, I only had a few contractions and once we were there and I got changed, I only had a few more contractions. I was a little upset that it seemed things were slowing down. They had me in a bed while they checked things out so I was a little impatient to get up to maybe get things started again. I was partly worried they were going to send me back home. The nurse checked my cervix and I was now 4.5 cm. The doctor said I was staying! Once we were admitted and all hooked up, I got out of bed. My contractions started up again and were all over the place. Some were extremely painful and long and others were short and manageable. I measured 6 cm at about 9 pm. My nurse asked about wanting an epidural and I didn't think I wanted one yet because I didn't want to get stuck in a bed and/or slow my labor down. Well about 9:30 I started rethinking my decision because contractions were very hard at this point! So about 5 minutes later, after realizing that it would take a while for the anesthesiologist to get to my room and get it all set up, I told the nurse I was ready for it.
The anesthesiologist showed up a little after 10 pm...like I expected! He got everything set up and taped up my entire back it felt like! At least it wasn't moving! Earlier in the evening I had mentioned that I had to be put on oxygen from low blood pressure and Parker's low heart rate after getting an epidural with Parker. My nurse told me that you had to have one bag of fluid in you in order to get an epidural, and since I had told her that, she made sure I had 3 bags. Right before the anesthesiologist showed up, she pushed the third bag through me kind of quickly, which in turn made me freezing! That then sent me into a fit of shivers! So once the epidural was ready to be started I was shivering like crazy! The nurse helped hold me still but the epidural was pretty painful this time. Last time, it wasn't too bad but like many other things, this was much more intense. After the anesthesiologist was finished, I settled into my bed hoping to get a little rest because I was completely wore out. My nurse said I was now 8 cm.
The nurse turned out our lights and said to get some rest. I was a little wired at this point for some reason and I could still feel when I was contracting. It wasn't painful - it just felt like when you get the wind knocked out of you, minus me losing my breath. Very strange feeling. Well, not long after leaving, the nurse came back in and started checking my blood pressure. She had a very serious look on her face which made Clint and I start to wonder. I had an idea of what was happening so I asked her if my BP dropped and she said yep and then called the nurses in. 4 nurses came in and they started doing several things to bring my blood pressure and Beckham's heart rate up. My blood pressure first dropped to 98/50 something. I'm not sure what Beckham's heart rate was at that time. They rolled me on my side which is supposed to help the baby and they gave me oxygen and ephedrine. Neither of us responded too quickly but eventually they got us both to a good spot. Around this time I started feeling a lot of pressure. I had a feeling things were coming to a head (hehe). I told my nurse that I had the feeling that I had to go to the bathroom which I knew meant that I felt the need to push! I didn't have this feeling with Parker because my epidural really blocked most feelings out. This time, the pain was there and it wasn't going away! The nurse said to hold on and she went to get the doctor. The doctor showed up and said to get this party started (or something along those lines). I pushed through 4 separate contractions, with 2 or 3 pushes each time and that 4th time, out he came! Later the nurse told me that it took 9 minutes of pushing to get him here. Of course it felt like longer but I'm glad that's all it took because the pain was no joke!
The nurses put him right on my chest and Clint snipped the cord and that was that! Our precious baby Beckham was here and we were in love!
Beckham was born Monday, June 20th at 12:59 am. He was 7 pounds 6 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long.
Well I started this particular blog post while school was still in session! I tried making all the photo collages before Beckham was born but they were taking forever! Then finally I found the site picmonkey.com which made collages for you! So now I don't want to waste anymore time writing about our escapades...so you can make up your own adventures for us as you look through our pictures and videos :)
