Guard's Birth Story

What a test in patience!  I was so anxious and excited to meet our new little guy, but he had different plans.
At my 38 week check-up, I was dilated to .5.  At my 39 week check I was measuring at a two.  Of course, my doctor said, "I think it will be sometime this week."  Shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.  I was so focused on getting to May without delivering, that once May was here, I just assumed the baby knew that he was welcome to come any time.
Didn't happen that week.  At my 40 week check I was dilated to, still, a two.  I didn't cry in the doctor's office, but I was glaring daggers at Dr. Saunders.  I asked him to strip my membranes and he told me he had done that last week.  I couldn't believe it; that had worked with all my other kids.  At that point, I asked Dr. Saunders to schedule an induction.  This was a Tuesday - the soonest I could get in was Friday.  Fine.  Of course, I'll have the baby on my own before Friday.
I was still delusional.  Friday morning I'm still pregnant.  By their instructions, I called the hospital at 8am to see if they were ready for me.  "Not yet, " they told me; call back at 9am.  Wait, wait, wait.  At 8:45, the hospital called us and asked if we could come now.  Um, YES.  The boys were already at school, we asked our neighbor to check on Coal in a few hours, we loaded up the car and dropped Kate off at Grandpa and Grandma Fowlers.
As much as I had whined about being 41 weeks pregnant, I was apprehensive, nervous, okay scared, while we were driving to the hospital.  I felt like everything would be and go okay, but I was still worried.  I tried to act like everything was fine, but Greg knew how I felt.  He reached over, took my hand and said a prayer with me.  I felt at peace after that.
We pulled into the Women's Center at Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem, at about 9:30am.  Greg carried in our bags, I carried in my pillow (I hate hospital pillows).  We checked in and our nurse, Deb, took us right back to our room.  She gave me a gown to change into and told me she would be back shortly to start my IV.  It was real now and everything was moving quickly.

The IV wasn't as bad as it could have been.  I only had to be poked twice.  They started me on Pitocen and now it was just a waiting game.  Dr. Saunders came to check on me at about 11am and broke my water.  After that, the contractions really picked up.  I waited about 45 minutes before I got my epidural.  I feel like I have to experience some sort of labor to deserve an epidural.  That went well and I felt a lot better after that.  I told Greg if he wanted to grab some lunch in the cafeteria, now would be the time.  He told me he would be quick, and he was, but still a lot happened while he was gone.
My contractions were coming pretty hard and fast by now.  I was praying that the baby would be able to weather them okay.  With my other babies, once the contractions start coming hard and consistent, the baby's heart rate always drops and has a hard time recovering.  I was obsessively listening to the baby's heart beat and could tell that it was dropping rapidly.  About the time I was ready to call the nurse, she came in and explained what was happening.  I knew what was happening and was panicked.  I rolled over onto my side, put on the oxygen, closed my eyes and starting praying earnestly.

 When Greg came back, he was a bit surprised to see what was going on.  He also  knew what was happening, but it didn't expect it to happen so soon.  He pulled a chair over to the bed and held my hand.  He turned down the volume on the baby monitor because he knew I was going crazy every time the heart rate slowed down.  He kept me updated by looking at the monitor (which I couldn't see).  He would always tell me that the baby's heart rate was still in an acceptable zone (I'm still not sure if he was telling me the truth or just making me feel better).
At 1pm, they turned off the Petocin to give the baby a chance to recover.  My contractions completely stopped for about 20 minutes and then started back up on their own.
At about 2pm, I started to feel nauseous.  This was surprising to me because that usually happens when I am ready to deliver.  Our nurse brought me a little bag in case I got sick and she checked to see how far along I was.  She, Greg and I were all surprised that I was dilated to a 9.  She called Dr. Saunders and started wheeling in carts to get ready for the delivery.  I couldn't believe I was ready to deliver; my labors are usually slower than this.  I wasn't complaining because I knew the baby needed to be born, but I was shocked at how fast it went (total labor and delivery time was 4 hours).
They prepped me for delivery and was just finishing up when Dr. Saunders arrived.  The nurse told me I could start pushing if I wanted to with the next contraction.  Dr. Saunders was still putting on his gloves when I gave my first push.  He looked over and said, "Whoa, wait for me to get ready, there's his head!"  Two more pushes and he was out at 2:44 pm.   He cried and screamed and I was so relieved.  He had the cord wrapped around his neck twice and around his body once, but it didn't effect him.  They let me hold for a few minutes before they took him to clean him up and take his vitals.
When he was born, the nurses all said what a big baby he was.  They were guessing he weighed about 8 lbs. 10 ozs.  I couldn't believe he was so big!  Turns out, he weighed 8 lbs, 3 ozs and was 20.5 inches long.  He was by far our biggest baby, but he still seemed so small when I held him.

 His little hands and feet were so wrinkled and pruny and he hardly had any varnix on him.  He had been in the tub too long and was definitely ready to be born.  He Apgar score was 8,9. The only problem was his temperature.  He had a hard time warming up and getting his temperature back to normal after he was born.  I tried holding him close to me, but it was still dropping.  They put him back in his bed and turned on the warming lamps.  I think he rather liked that and he seemed to calm down.

(You can see in these pictures how long they left his umbilical cord.  His nurse shorten it later that night.)
After his temperature came up, they gave him his first bath.  At Timpanogos Hospital, they bathe the babies right in the delivery room so the moms can be involved.  That was really neat.  I've never seen any of my other babies have their first baths because I was stuck in bed recovering from delivery and an epidural.

 He didn't really enjoy his bath, except for when they washed his hair.  Speaking of hair, he has some!  All of our other babies were bald as bowling balls, but he has some right along the base of his head.  We call it his Grandpa hair.  It is dark brown, but we will see if he keeps it and what color it ends up being.  Back to his bath - he calmed right down when they rinsed his hair in warm water.  Funny little guy!

 After his bath, his temperature dropped again, so back under the warming lamps.  I can't believe how big he looks, but still so small at the same time.  I adore those chubby cheeks!

After he warmed up again, they moved us to our room.  They wheeled me down in my bed and Greg wheeled the baby down in his bed.  Greg was talking to the baby the whole time and the nurses thought that was so cute.  I'm not sure what they were saying to each other, but it calmed him down after such a traumatic few hours.
The nurses helped get us settled and then left us as I was feeding him.  I'm getting teary remembering how amazing it was to be there with Greg and the baby, just quiet and the three of us.  We waited and prayed for this little guy for quite a while.  To finally have him here, safe and healthy, was almost overwhelming.  Isn't it wonderful how you can fall in love so quickly and completely?
We are overwhelmed with love for our new son.  He is incredible.  How blessed we feel to have him in our family.