ONE HAPPY FAMILY!!

On Saturday February 9th I woke up with contractions. They weren’t at all painful but they were noticeable and pretty consistent. I told Luke that today could be our LUCKY day. We busied ourselves with projects that hadn’t been accomplished that I hoped to get done before the baby came. We emptied and organized the linen closet. Cleaned out the girls closet, organized bedrooms. Around noon Luke took Micali to basketball camp and Grandpa Peless showed up with his snow blower to dig us out of the 6-8 inches of new snow.

The contractions were still coming. I knew from two weeks before that I was at least dilated to a 4. I also knew that I was Group B Strep positive and that I would need an IV when I got to the hospital. I also knew that Eli and Abigail came pretty quickly. Luke had even ordered a delivery kit just to be on the safe side and not have to deliver a baby in his truck with out any supplies. That actually arrived after we headed to the hospital. Having all this in mind I didn’t want to wait around too long.

Grandpa finished the snow and came inside. I told him I thought he should wait around, we may be headed to the hospital. He encouraged me once again to pack a bag. We hadn’t even washed any baby clothes or gathered any baby things. Luke came home from basketball and we decided since we had Grandpa at the house already that we should probably at least head to the hospital---20 minutes away and see if anything was really happening.

We got to the hospital around 3:30. This is a bigger hospital than I had previously been to. They sent us to triage and hooked me up to monitors. Baby looked great but I wasn’t anymore dilated. They sent us out to walk the halls to see if it was actual labor or if the contractions that were every 2-3 minutes would go away.

After a couple hours the Dr. came in to check again. I was a little more dilated and she gave us the option of being admitted and her breaking my water to get things going or heading home. With my other deliveries breaking the water had helped in jump starting things and going home seemed like it could be a little scary as far as making it back in time.

We chose being admitted. They started me on my IV with antibiotic for the Group B Strep and two hours later around 9:00 they broke my water. I was hooked up to monitors off and on but the nurse was nice and let me out of bed to walk around and take a shower. It felt nice and helped ease the pain of the contractions. By 11:00 the contractions were pretty strong but not as often.

Luke called a friend to bring him some dinner and we weren’t sure he would be able to finish it before we met our sweet little guy. Then all contractions stopped. I told the nurse I wanted to take a nap. She laughingly told me to go for it. I woke up a couple hours later when she was messing with my IV. I was really confused but thought it felt good to get some sleep since it was now the middle of the night. Luke drifted off to sleep and I didn’t hear much from him until morning. After the little nap I had I was ready to get things moving. I rocked on a birthing ball, paced back and forth a million times in the room---nothing was happening. Well like one contraction every half an hour or so.

The nurse asked if I wanted to try Pitocin but with it being the middle of the night and being exhausted and a husband passed out for the night I declined. I ended up taking another nap from about 5-7 that morning.

At the shift change around 7:30 the Dr. came in to tell me about the risks involved with having my water being broken, having the antibiotic, etc. etc. Basically he was now the one ready to get things moving. I agreed to the lowest dose of Pitocin they give. Around 8:00 I was hooked up to it. They usually want to crank up the dosage every half an hour but, I had heard from lots of people how horrible contractions are with this MEAN drug so I asked her to hold off. Around 10 the contractions really started picking up. I was handling them like a pro---breathing, holding Luke’s hand, I had done this all before. I asked to be checked around 11:00 I was feeling like it was getting close. The Dr. came in and quickly burst my bubble. I was only at a 7 and had been at a 6 at 11:00 the night before. He then told me I still had lots of work to do (AHH I wanted to kick him) . I made it through a couple more contractions, got up and brushed my teeth then when I got back in bed I lost it.

I started crying and begging for pain meds. If I was only at a 7 I wasn’t going to make it. I hadn’t eaten a thing in over 24 hours. I was willing to try anything they would give me for the pain. They put something called Nubain or Nuvain or something in my IV but it didn’t do a thing---in like the 10 seconds I allowed for it too and then started begging for an epidural. I cried through the now NONSTOP contractions and begged for more drugs. The guy who does the epidural came in and started telling me all the risks and wanted me to sign papers. I asked if Luke could. He did. The the nurse started telling me after the contraction eased up I would need to sit up. Well they weren’t stopping so I just sat up on the side of the bed. I felt a big gush of fluids and told Luke—”He is coming out” (this part makes me laugh now because I was just a crying blubbering mess and I have always been very in control—Luke must have been freaking out wondering who I was and what I had done with his wife. He says he just felt really bad for me and wanted to help me however he could to make it stop hurting) nobody seemed to be listening so I told them again “He is coming out” They quickly laid me back down on the bed and grabbed the Dr. from the hall to make sure I hadn’t dialated to far to get the epidural—they still weren’t listening to me. He took one look, yelled across the room for another glove, and barely caught William. He seriously just came right out in about a half of a push.That whole sterilized table of things had been waiting there for hours and all the Dr. even used was a glove thrown to him across the room from a nurse.

He came at 11:25. ONLY 25 minutes after I asked to be checked and had ONLY dilated to a 7. It was less than 25 minutes that I was a crying mess thinking I had lost my mind and would be in labor for days to come. It was instant relief and soon the most important things were able to happen, holding my sweet baby, drinking anything in sight, and FOOD---eating lots of food.

I was instantly so excited to not be pregnant. I was up and showered within the hour. They took out my IV which was my first ever and oh so annoying. That night I slept soundly on my belly for two four hour stretches while the nurses spoiled William for me.

William is perfect. Now it has been 3 weeks since this sweet little man joined our family. What a wonderful time it has been. It has been such a special time in the family. He is a very loved little brother.

I have been SUPER blessed with lots of help and meals. Luke was able to take a whole week off, my mom flew up for a week, and Luke’s parents came and helped during the day for a week. This is the first time it has worked out so well to have all the extra helpers around.

They each allowed me to take it easy and enjoy the newness of sweet William. I have spent many hours just looking into his eyes and being amazed at the miracle he is. Such a little but perfect body. It has also been so fun to see his siblings interact so carefully with him. Each of them so sincere as they tell him how special he is.

We love our “Baby Will”

(3 weeks)

Well if anyone reads this blog and doesn’t have facebook or other means of keeping in contact with us it could come as a surprise that we are even expecting another baby. The news hasn’t made it on the blog. I am due February 23rd and have about 10 weeks to go. We are all excited to welcome a new baby to the family.

Back in October we found out it would be a little man joining the family. I wanted to be selfish and keep it a surprise. Everyone else in the family really thought we needed to know if it was a brother or sister. Also the girls started calling him little Will right away and Eli really wanted to call him Little Bill so, I thought if it was a little girl we might need to start figuring out a new name.

We couldn’t take the kids with us to the ultrasound appointment so we decided to do things a little different this time. When we went in for the ultrasound we just asked them to write it down in a card and seal it up. Luke wasn’t sure I would follow through with not having them tell me. He kept wanting to look at the card. But, it was fun keeping the surprise until later that night when we were with the kids. Micali was sure she should be the first to know so we let her read the card. She looked at the card looked at us and spelled B-O-Y! Then said I knew it was a boy.

Eli is so excited he will finally have a little brother to share a room with. He loves that the cradle is in his room waiting for the arrival and often fills it with toys so the baby will have something to play with when he comes home.