Paris's Birth Story

Here we go. The full details of Paris's birth story. Read on at your own risk since I tend to be very detailed! And, it may be TMI for some that don't love all the gory details of birth.

Sunday night, May 3, I started having fairly regular and uncomfortable contractions. I would not call them painful, but they were definitely uncomfortable. I walked around some, laid down, and sat and they didn't go away, so I started thinking they were maybe the real deal. Having never gone into labor on my own though, it was really easy to second guess myself. I finally decided it was worth going to the hospital to get checked out because I feared that if it was the real thing, I would have the baby fast (as per my other births) and I definitely did not want Josh and Janelle to miss their daughter's birth. Turns out, the joke was on me as this labor was nothing like any of my others! But, we will get to that.

Devin and I arrived at the hospital at around midnight. I was still having regular contractions, but they were not that uncomfortable. We got checked into a room and the nurse checked me and I was 6 cm dilated and 90% effaced. She also kept mentioning that I had a "bulgy bag of waters". I was super stoked at hearing these numbers because I was pretty sure there was no way they would send me home at that point. I asked her if this meant I was staying and she said she would have to call my doctor to confirm, but it was highly unlikely they would send me home. Sure enough, they called him and things were a go!

This is my "yay-- we are here and get to stay and this is going to go fast" face. Again, joke was on me...

 I had called Josh and Janelle on the way to the hospital and let them know we were heading in, but told them not to start coming until I knew they were keeping me. After we got confirmation that I was staying, I called them again and they headed up. They had to drop their son off with family and gather some things, so I think they arrived close to 2 am. I had just been walking the halls trying to keep things moving along until they arrived. I didn't want to get an epidural or have them break my water until I was sure they were there. After they arrived, they checked me again and I was 7 cm. The nurse and I then chatted about the next steps. I didn't want to get an epidural until I was in pain and I really wasn't in pain yet. I wanted to be able to get up and walk around, take myself to the bathroom, etc. The nurse told me that they could have the on call doc break my water and move things right along, but if I opted for that, I would probably want to have the epidural first since it would probably make things move quickly. (I had been induced with Lizzie and only had my water broken, no pitocin and things moved fast, so I also thought the same would happen). I agreed with the plan and we moved forward with the epidural first and then the on call doctor broke my water. This was probably around 3 am. I expected that things would progress quickly from there. Instead, the opposite happened and everything stalled.

The night nurse continued to check me every half hour or so and I was at 8 cm every single time. It started to get old to hear the same thing over and over. None of use knew what the heck was going on or why I was not progressing. We finally all decided to get a little bit of sleep and see what happened. Josh and Janelle went to their own room next door and slept for a while and Devin slept on the couch in my room. I didn't sleep at all. I was just anxious for things to proceed. The night nurse had told me she was sure we would have the baby by the end of her shift. Well, that didn't happen. The day nurse then came on and started the same process, checking me every half hour and continuing to tell me I was at an 8. She looked as confused as I felt every time. We decided to start some pitocin to see if we could move things along. She told me my doctor had a scheduled c-section at 7:30 AM and it would be great if we could have the baby before then. I agreed. We upped the pit every 15 minutes as allowed with still no progress. It was crazy. We are talking hours and hours of sitting at 8 cm.


This is the hey, I have been making no progress for hours and hours face...

Finally, the nurse checked me again and told me I was at a 9. She also said that she all the sudden felt what she called a "forebag" of water. I had no idea what this meant, but have since learned from my handy midwife cousins that it essentially means that after they broke my water, a portion of it resealed itself and in my case, likely blocked the progress of my cervix dilating or the baby moving down. Lucky me. The nurse mentioned that we would need to wait for the doctor to break my water again and at that point, it was 7:30 on the dot, so he was headed into his c-section. She told me we would just wait for him to be done and go from there. They turned the pit down just in case and let me just hang out. She told me to let her know if I started feeling pressure to push, but otherwise we would just wait. Another hour or so went by. Josh, Janelle, and Devin were all awake by now and back in my room hanging out with me.

The nurse came to check me again and as she did, I had a contraction and the combination of the contraction and the checking broke the forebag of water. It was a huge gush this time, instead of the trickle it had been the first time it was broken. It was so strange. Almost immediately after the water broke the 2nd time, I started having the intense urge to push. I told the nurse that I needed to start pushing and she told me to wait 10 minutes as that is how long the doctor expected to be finishing up the c-section. I tried my hardest, but I will tell you that when you need to push, you need to push. I couldn't wait. I told her I didn't care who delivered the baby, just to get someone in there because I needed to push right then. There is always a laborist on at the hospital, so the nurse called the laborist to come assist. I was a little bummed that my doctor would not be delivering at that point, but I really didn't care too much as I just needed someone to help me get the baby out.

The doctor arrived and it was the weirdest thing. She stood by my bed, not gowned up, not gloved, and said "I'll just be here if you need anything!". I was thinking, "Umm, yes, I need you to deliver this baby!" It was soo strange. I told her I needed to start pushing. At this point, Janelle and I have talked about it and decided that it was absolutely a tender mercy given what came next, this doctor (who I did not know at all) said, "Actually, why don't I run down and switch Dr. Rynearson (my doctor) out of the c-section. I will finish up the stitching and he can come deliver you." I agreed that this would be great and held off a few more minutes of pushing while she ran to switch him and he ran into the room.

When he arrived, I immediately started pushing. It quickly became apparent that something was wrong, though I did not know until later what. I could tell on Dr. Rynearson's face and on the nurse's face that something was up. They kept looking at the monitors and got more direct in their commands for me to push. I was doing my best, but apparently not good enough. The doctor told me he was giving me one more time to push and then he was going to use a vacuum to assist in pulling Paris out. I pushed as best I could, but she didn't come. He pulled out the vacuum and attempted once to get her out that way, but it popped off her head. He tried a second time and was able to get her further down the birth canal, but not all the way out before it popped off again.  At this point, they told me I had to get her out on this last push. They tried the vacuum one more time and this time it stuck on her head and pulled her all the way down the birth canal. Paris's head then got stuck on my pubic bone and her shoulder also got stuck on the way out. It felt like he was up to his elbow yanking her out. I was in so much pain. I am not sure if the epidural was not working well or if it was just that painful, but it was awful. The worst pain I have been in during birth, hands down. I was apparently not regulating myself well either, so they stuck me on oxygen at the last part to keep my breathing normal. 

Finally, Paris came all the way out. She was screaming bloody murder, which put me at ease right away. They put her on my belly and waited one minute and then Janelle was able to cut her cord. After she was out, the feeling in the room was indescribable. There was such a feeling of peace and such a strong spirit. I looked at Josh and Janelle meeting their baby for the first time and everything felt so worth it. It was incredible. They were both crying and watching them caused my tears to flow even harder. I was crying so hysterically that I could barely breathe. I always get emotional after delivering my babies, but this was like emotions on steroids. I could not stop crying. I was so, so happy to see this all come to fruition and to see the miracle happen for Josh and Janelle after so many years of heartache. I think I was also feeling extra emotional because I was relieved that Paris was doing well and relieved that it was all over. I also had this odd sense of pride. I remember thinking, "I did that! I grew that baby from a tiny cell that we couldn't even see with the naked eye when it went in into a full sized baby!" Science, technology, the human body, and God are all really incredible things. When Janelle and I talked later, she used the word "sacred" to describe the emotions in the room. I think this perfectly describes the feeling.

I watched as they took Paris to weigh her on the other side of the room and Josh and Janelle followed along. She was born at 9:06 AM and weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces. She was born at 37.3 weeks gestation, so imagine if she had gone 3 more weeks! I think I just grow big babies. Genetically, she should be smaller than my kiddos because Josh and Janelle are smaller than Devin and I, but what can I say, I like to eat :)

Josh and Janelle then took Paris to their room so they could do skin to skin time and bond with her. In the meantime, my pain and agony were not over. I apparently had all the luck this day and had a piece of retained placenta. They had gotten the larger portion of my placenta out, but a portion remained. Dr. Rynearson was pounding on my belly, pushing things, shoving things, had his arm up to his elbow up you-know-where...so many fun things. And again, I was feeling all of this. I don't think this helped me calm down any, but eventually he did emerge with the piece of retained placenta and all seemed well.

These are the only two pictures Devin took. Really good photography, huh? Janelle is great at taking pictures, and luckily she has many more good ones. 

 The next morning, when my doctor came to round on me, I asked him the details of what had happened in the birth. Here's my layman's interpretation. He said that Paris had a very short umbilical cord (and I did see it after her birth, it was super super short), so when she started to descend in the birth canal, it essentially cut off her supply of oxygen. He said she went into bradycardia (her heart rate was too slow) for a prolonged time frame. This is what he and the nurse were watching on the monitors. He said it was a 6-7 minute window that her sats were half of what they should have been and that's why he jumped into emergency mode and did everything he could to get her out right then and there. He commented that he knew that Josh and Janelle have been through so much and he did not want to take any chances on a bad outcome for them. He told me he could tell my epidural wasn't really working and he was sorry for all the pain he caused getting her out, but he felt it was necessary. I don't blame him at all and I am so grateful for his skills and competence in getting Paris here safely. Both Janelle and I later had separate feelings that it was truly divine intervention that the laborist had the idea to go switch him out of the c-section so he was the one to attend the birth. I am sure she is great, but it was such a relief to have the doctor who knows me well, who knows Josh and Janelle's story, and who we trusted be there to deliver Paris. He also ran cord blood gasses on Paris after her birth to be sure all was well and he let me know that her numbers were perfect, so that was good news.

I forgot to mention a part of the story that I will mention now. When I was stuck at an 8 for all those hours, I started to feel some sense of panic that I would for some reason end up in a c-section if things didn't start to progress. I absolutely did not want this. I could feel my anxiety rising, so I asked Devin to give me a blessing. Josh and Janelle were in their room sleeping, but Devin did give me a blessing and blessed me that I would be able to have a vaginal birth and that the birth would be guided and that Paris would arrive safely. This blessing gave me such peace and I have no doubt, helped in Paris's birth as that is exactly what happened.

Cutest family with their new little one. I love this picture. They just look so incredibly happy.

After Paris was born, I ate breakfast, took a long nap (I hadn't slept at all all night), and showered. I then felt ready to have Josh and Janelle bring Paris back over so I could officially meet her. It was around 3 in the afternoon and they spent an hour or an hour and a half with us. It was so surreal to hold this perfect little baby who so recently had been my belly buddy. I spent some time with her and Devin did as well before we passed her back to her parents. I wanted to be really respectful of Josh and Janelle's time with Paris after her birth and their bonding process, so I did not spend a lot of time holding her and didn't spend any one on one time with her. We had a video call that evening with my kids so they could see her and I held her again then. I also very briefly held her to say goodbye the next morning when I was being discharged. 

I kept a journal for Paris throughout my pregnancy with her. I made a final entry in the journal the night of her birth and gave it to her parents (they didn't know about it) the next morning, along with a crocheted baby elephant we had made for Paris. Keeping the journal was therapeutic for me during the pregnancy, but I also hope that if Paris has questions some day about what her pregnancy was like, or how I felt during the process, what I craved, what I looked like while pregnant with her, etc. she will have access to those answers as part of her story. Being able to do that for her was really meaningful for me. 

"meeting" Paris for the first time

This is maybe my favorite picture ever. It just shows the love for this sweet baby. I hope she always knows what a miracle she is!

There aren't really words to describe my emotions through this whole process and what it has been like for me to be able to be involved in getting Paris here. So, I'll just echo what I said on social media when we announced her birth and repeat that it has been one of my greatest honors and joys in life to be able to assist in bringing this baby to earth and to the arms of her parents. 

Welcome Lizzie Dawn!

So, just forget that I have months of other things to report on the blog. We are just going to skip to the most noteworthy event of the summer-- the arrival of our sweet Lizzie Dawn.

Lizze Dawn Perry
7/18/2016
1:13 PM
6 lbs 5 ounces, 19 inches

Here is her birth story...read at your own risk! It will get long and it will have a lot of details. You know me...

Everything had gone really well with Lizzie's pregnancy. Of course I had the normal complaints-- the heart burn, the weight gain, the lack of being able to breathe well, and going to the bathroom 100 times per day. But really, after the nausea quit (around 20 weeks- ugh), things were pretty easy.

I was to the point of going to the doctor weekly and that was getting exciting because it meant her arrival was near! I had already had a conversation with the doctor about inducing me at 39 weeks and he was game as long as my body was ready. So, I had in my mind that Lizzie's birthday would be August 4.

 About a week and a half before Lizzie was born, I started having the craziest itching problem. It was all the time, but horrible at night in particular. My whole body itched and I could not get relief. I took Benadryl, Claritin, tried lotion...you name it, nothing worked. I was not sleeping hardly at all because it was so horrible at night. I want to crawl out of my skin right now just thinking about it! Anyway, two Sundays before she was born, I was at work at the hospital. I was working with my friend Kim, one of the case managers in the office. She knew I had been itching and that day it was just really bad. She and some of the nurses on the floor encouraged me to call the on call doctor that day to just see what they could do for me. I finally gave in and called, hoping that the on call doc could prescribe me something to help. I felt bad bugging someone on a Sunday afternoon, but the doctor who answered was very friendly. He told me that I needed to get labs drawn stat, because I was showing symptoms of a weird pregnancy related disease called Cholestasis. He asked me when I had a follow up with my regular doctor and I told him that I had an appointment the next day. He was satisfied with that and told me just to follow up then.

The next day at my appointment, my doctor had received the memo from his partner about my call. He reviewed the symptoms of Cholestasis with me and I really only had one-- the major itching. He was pretty convinced that I did not have it because I had never had it before in pregnancy, there was no family history of it, and I had no other symptoms. But, he said he would call me the next day and let me know the results of the regular lab draws. If my liver enzymes were elevated, there was a higher chance that I had it. The labs that showed my bile levels would take 3-4 more days after that, and that was the result that told if I for sure had it or not. He did tell me that the major issue with Cholestasis is that it can lead to fetal demise, and this most commonly occurs after 36 weeks in pregnancy. No big deal, right? I was 35 weeks and 4 days at that point. So, he said if I did in fact have it, I would likely be induced ASAP. He was pretty calm about the whole thing, though, so I followed suit and thought that I likely didn't have it. This was also the first visit where he checked my cervix. I was dilated 3 cm and 70% effaced. I was excited about this, but not overly so, because that's how I was with Hallie and Jace too for weeks and I never went into labor on my own.

On Tuesday, I waited all day for my doctor to call. I was nervous about the lab results and it was all I could think about. We were supposed to be leaving the next day for a girl's trip to St. George and I was wondering if I was going to be going or not. He finally called me at 9:30 pm on Tuesday night, after his clinic hours ended (he stays late on Tuesdays). He let me know that the regular labs did show that my liver enzymes were elevated. Thus, a stronger indication that I had Cholestasis. He prescribed me some medication to help reduce the bile levels in case I did have it as well as some prescription meds to help with the itching. I told him that I was supposed to be leaving to go to St. George the next day and asked him if I should stay home. He told me to go ahead and go. He still did not sound too worried about anything. Plus, he said that the definitive labs would not be back for a few more days, so I might as well go and enjoy. Side note: Isn't it odd that this crazy disease that can be life threatening to my child takes DAYS for the lab results to come back?? Yes, I think so too.

Anyway, I went to St. George and enjoyed myself immensely, other than the continued crazy sleep deprivation. Honestly, it was so bad. I wish this horrible disease on no one. I expected a call from my doctor by the latest Thursday. When I hadn't heard from him by the afternoon, I called and left a message with his nurse. When I didn't hear back, I finally called the on call doctor again, because I was going crazy wondering what was happening. I knew that if I was going to have the baby soon, I needed to make plans for childcare, get the last minute baby items purchased, etc. The on call doctor that night was again very friendly and she looked in the system to see if the results had come back yet and they had not. So, that's why my doctor didn't call. However, I totally still would have appreciated him at least calling and saying that he didn't have the results yet, since he said he would call by Thursday. Anyway, that's beside the point. (I am making it sound like I did not like my doctor at all, when really quite the opposite is true. I really, really liked him and would recommend him to anyone. He is super friendly and always takes his time with you. I asked the nurses on the labor and delivery floor at the hospital where I work who they enjoy working with, because it's important to me that the doctor is nice to everyone in general, not just to his patients because he has to be, and they all told me that he is one of their favorites. So anyway, if you need a good OBGYN in Ogden area, here is his info)

So back to the saga. The doctor called me Friday around noon while we were out having a blast at the Sand Hollow Lake. He let me know that the bile results finally came back. Normal levels are 10 and below and mine was 47. He said that from there, he needed to consult with a perinatologist because I was pre-term. Once he had the go ahead from him, he wanted me to come in for an induction, he said likely Monday. I asked him if he was sure I didn't need to come back ASAP. I was quite worried at this point for the life of my baby, you know. I know the risk was probably pretty remote, but hey, why take the risk if there is a risk? I would much rather have a baby in the NICU for a little while than a baby that doesn't make it. Anyway, he just told me to go in for a non-stress test on Saturday as soon as I returned to town and monitor baby's movements in between. As long as those things were fine, we could wait until Monday. Shortly after I talked to him, the hospital called and told me I was scheduled for Monday morning at 6:30 AM. I called Devin to let him know and he started making plans for the kids as well as running around like a crazy person gathering the rest of the items we needed. I called my boss and told her and she immediately went to work to get my shifts covered for the next 3 weeks that I was still on the schedule.

I did the non-stress test on Saturday as soon as we got back and Lizzie passed with flying colors, so my panic level reduced quite a bit after that. Saturday and Sunday, we got the nursery ready, I went and did a home study that needed to get done before hand, and we prepared the kids for what was going to happen. Devin's sister Shawna came Sunday night so she could be with the kids all day Monday while we were at the hospital. She's a saint.

Monday morning came too soon as I again did not sleep much. I rolled into the hospital looking quite the sight. I am telling you. Ugh. Anyway, who cares at that point, right? I am not really sure why they had us come in at 6;30 because I basically hung around in my awesome hospital gown until 8:45 when my doctor came in to break my water. They did not want to start pitocin until he arrived. They checked me before he broke my water and I was 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced, so the doctor decided to see what would happen without pitocin first. He went to work upstairs and Devin and I hung out. I was pretty sure the non-pit thing wasn't going to go well as I had needed pitocin with both of my other deliveries. Both Hallie and Jace were delivered 4 hours or so after I started pit, so I was thinking that if I was going without, we were going to be at this all day.

Anyway, the nurse checked me again at around 10 and I was 6 cm dilated. I had enjoyed getting up and going to the bathroom and being able to wander around the room, so I hadn't asked for an epidural yet. The contractions were not painful to that point. Then all the sudden, they were on top of each other and just horrific. I felt them mostly in my back and I am pretty sure that's what death feels like. :) I know many of you love the natural birth and it makes you feel amazing and womanly and all that, but I have never had any desire for that. I believe in epidurals. I paged my nurse at around 12 to get me the epidural. She called the anesthesiologist and he said he would be right up. Well, right up turned into a half hour or more, meanwhile, I am dying, remember? The nurse and Devin were doing all sorts of weird contortions on me and doing counter pressure and all that good stuff, but it just wasn't good enough. The nurse checked me and I was 8 cm. Many of you may say at this point, well why didn't you just go for it and do it natural? Again, I say--- no desire.

Finally, the anesthesiologist waltzes on in in the middle of a contraction and tells me that he is very sorry for being tardy, but it's Tomato Basil day at the hospital and he just had to stop in and have some. I KNOW it's Tomato Basil day at the hospital because I work there, but I also know that Tomato Basil is NOT worth all the pain he just put me through! Plus, he smelled like it and went on to describe just how tasty it is all the while shoving a huge needle in my back. So friendly since I was you know, eating ice chips. Ugh, that man.

Finally with the blessed epidural in place, I relaxed a little. I could still feel the pressure of the contractions but thankfully the pain was greatly reduced. The doctor came in around 12:30 and said he was on his way to the other hospital in town to start another patient. I was alarmed because I know that I go quickly once I am ready to push and I was sure I was going to be pushing soon. He told me he would hurry his fastest and be right back. Sure enough, right around 1, the nurse came in and checked me and she and Devin could see Lizzie's head. She called the doctor and he was pulling into a parking spot. He ran in, gowned up, and they lifted my dead legs into the awesome stirrups. No pride at this point, you know? He told me that if I would listen to him, he'd tell me when and how to push and I would not tear. I pushed through two contractions and she was out and yay, I did not tear. She was born at 1:13 pm. I was kind of shocked that we kept to the four hour ish labor, even without the pitocin.

After she was born, they laid Lizzie on me and immediately the doctor and a nurse in the room said, "She looks just like you Kim!" This is an alarming thing to hear when your child first appears, especially when you are looking and feeling like death. However, I looked at her and thought she was beautiful, so it was okay. The tears of course started flowing. It's such an intense and immediate love when these little people come into the world. They took Lizzie quickly from me because they needed to evaluate her and make sure she did not need any interventions. She was screaming at the top of her lungs and spent about her first half hour doing that, so I was pretty sure she was fine. She did end up being fine and not needing any additional help or NICU time, for which we were extremely grateful. She was born at 36.4 weeks gestation, so pretty close to "full-term" but not quite.

We spent the rest of the day at the hospital bonding with our sweet girl and introducing her to her siblings. They were all thrilled to meet her, except Flor, but that's a story for another day. Mishell was dead on with her guesses for how big Lizzie would be-- 6 pounds 5 ounces and 19 inches. She was also closest in her guess as to what time she would be born. Jace, luckily was the furthest away on all counts. He guessed she would be 10 lbs, 9 ounces (HAHAHA) and would be born at 6 something PM. No thanks, buddy.

Tuesday we had a lot of visitors. It was so fun to see a lot of people, especially because I work at the hospital where I delivered, so we got a lot of visits from my co-workers. Lizzie continued to do well, so the pediatrician on call and my doctor cleared us to go home that afternoon. My recovery with Lizzie has been by far my best yet. I am sure it is due to her being much smaller than my other babies and my not tearing in the birth process. I have felt really great. It also helped that the itching went away within a day or so. WAHOO. Relief!

Lizzie has been such a good baby. The first few nights were rough, but since then, she has only been waking up twice to eat, once around 1 am and the other time around 4 am, so we can't complain. I will share more pictures of her later, but as she grows, I think she looks more and more like Devin. She looks nothing like Hallie or Jace. She has dark coloring and dark eyes that I am sure will turn brown. It will be fun to see what she develops into and how she is alike and different from the other kids.

We love our Lizzie and are grateful that she arrived safe and healthy. It was nerve wracking to think of all the different possible scenarios, but we have had the best possible outcome and we are incredibly grateful.

Now for a few pictures of her birthday and hospital stay (I took a billion of course):

One of the first things we noticed when she came out is that she has major dimples on both sides. This is a Devin feature. :)

The tongue sticking out is an absolute Lizzie trait already. She always has her tongue hanging out.

So teeny tiny. We are still trying to figure out this whole tiny baby thing. We have never had one so little, or even close. When we took her to the pediatrician three days after her birth, she was down to 5 pounds 15 ounces. Totally normal, but it doesn't mean it doesn't freak me out a little!

Jace Christopher

We welcomed our little boy, Jace Christopher, into the world on March 1, 2011 at 4:22 pm. Warning- Long post and lots of pictures to follow!

Leading up to Jace's birth, I had a big decision to make. Remember how I wanted to go overdue in the beginning so that we could get our extra hospital policy insurance money? Well, I said ask me in 9 months how I am feeling to see if that is still true. I had had a few hard weeks at the end of the pregnancy. My body is weird I have decided. I had constant contractions from 36 weeks on and was dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced at 36 weeks, then dilated to a 4 from 37 weeks on (sorry if that is TMI for some). I knew my body was getting ready for "labor", but it felt like I was in labor already for 3 weeks.

Devin and I weighed the options carefully- to induce or not to induce. My doctor was fine inducing me at 39 weeks and each day that seemed better and better. The only thing is- I felt guilty that we would miss out on the insurance money. But in the end, there are a lot of reasons I chose to be induced on the 1st (right on the 39 week mark): I dilated from a 5-10 with Hallie in about a half hour and the thought of doing that with a 20 minute drive to the hospital just did not sound appealing, my doctor was going out of town for a bit after the first and someone else would have to deliver me, I wasn't sleeping at night because of the contractions and pelvic pain, and I was just done with the constant limbo game. I couldn't concentrate on anything other than "should I pay attention to these contractions, or should I pretend nothing is happening?" It was maddening, I tell you. Also, for the induction, we could plan for childcare for Hallie instead of possibly trying to find someone in the night or whenever I went into labor. Ultimately, it came down to the fact that I didn't think I would make it to the 11th anyway, so either way we would be missing out on the insurance money. So- we decided the Thursday before that I would be induced on the 1st. We called the doctor and everything was set.

39 week picture. Right before we left for the hospital.

39 week picture- when we arrived at the hospital.

JACE'S BIRTH STORY:
This may be too much information for some- but I like hearing other's birth stories and this is good for recording purposes for me, too. So here are all the gory details. Proceed at your own risk.

The doctor wanted me to come into the hospital about noon on Tuesday. His practice is in Pleasant Grove and the hospital is in Orem (I delivered at Timpanogos this time...which I LOVED. I had Hallie at American Fork and it wasn't as good of an experience). So because of the distance, he wanted me later in the day, I think hoping that I would deliver after hours so he could still see his patient load for the day. So, Devin and I arrived at noon, ready to go. Things proceeded kind of slowly at first- we had to wait to get the pitocin going because my nurse was in an emergency C-Section. I started the pit around 1 and the nurse checked me for the first time. I was at 5 cm. She told me if I wanted an epidural to get it right away since I was at a risk to go pretty fast once they got the pit going. I agreed that the epidural was a great idea and got it right away.

The epidural was the most painful part for me- I am not sure why, but I don't remember it hurting with Hallie at all, but this time I felt it for sure. It was probably because with Hallie I was feeling really painful contractions and this time I was not. Anyway- the epidural was really "dense" as my doctor put it. I couldn't feel a thing! With Hallie, I remember the unmistakable urge to PUSH when the time came. This time, not a thing.

Getting ahead of myself. The doctor came and broke my water around 2:30 and I was at 7 cm. The nurse kept saying that she thought things were going to go really fast once my water was broken because with each contraction, she could see his head pushing down really far. The doctor decided to hang around so that he wouldn't miss anything. I felt really bad when I was still at a 7 an hour later. Oh well...makes up for Hallie's birth (says Devin) when he ran in for the last push.

After being told I was at a 7 for the 3rd time, I started to get really worried that I was going to be in labor forever, after all. About five minutes after the nurse told me I was a 7, the doctor came in to check me and said I was at a 9. I told him that couldn't be because the nurse just checked and I was at a 7. He said "It's all relative!" Ha! What does that mean? Right after that, the nurse came back in and said "He says you are at a 9. I want to check myself!" So she checked me and said, "oh wow...you are complete. He is right there and you are ready to push." Wahoo.

The first few pushes, I started laughing hysterically because I couldn't feel a thing. I am not sure why I thought that was funny, but I thought it was funny and therefore, those pushes were not the most productive. The nurse kept telling me that I was not supposed to be laughing. Finally, I buckled down and gave a few hard pushes. I pushed for maybe five minutes and Jace was delivered at 4:22 pm. He came out with the cord wrapped around his neck, so even before they delivered his body, Devin cut the cord and then they pulled the rest of him out. That was scary for a few minutes as he was not breathing as well as he should have been. They cleared him out quickly though and he was fine.

He weighed in at 8 pounds even (which is totally what I was predicting) and was 20.5 inches long. I looked at him and said to Devin right away, "He looks like Hallie!" He has the same round face, big cheeks, and lack of hair. :) Today, I think he looks a little bit more like Devin, but we will see how he changes as he gets older.






This picture, above, particularly looks like Hallie to me. Look at my sidebar for a picture of her right after birth and see what I mean. I was totally surprised to see him look like her, because I expected a darker baby with dark hair for some reason. He has very blonde, peach fuzz hair. He is blonder than Hallie- she had dark hair at birth.

Che and Landon are such champs. They had Hallie the whole day- see the other post for info on that- and then came to see us at the hospital. They are so supportive of us and we love them.
They brought their baby Hudson along- who is 10 weeks old- and we had a great time comparing he and Jace. They are nearly the same size! But, Hudson was 6 weeks early, so ya know. They are going to be best buddies, we are just sure.

I stayed in the hospital over night and all day Wednesday. I was supposed to go home Thursday morning (today), but by Wednesday night I had had enough of that place and asked the doctor to discharge us. He was happy to comply. What a good doctor we have. We really do love him.
All dressed and ready to go home!
Someone else's turn in that awful bed...I am telling you, I cannot sleep for the life of me in those beds. I think I slept from 5 am to 8 am the night I was there, that's it. ROUGH!
Today has been a great day. Devin has been home with me all day and has been awesome to help with everything. He has kept Hallie entertained for the most part, which is nice. Jace is a pretty good baby so far. He sleeps a ton (what newborn doesn't!) and LOVES the binky. This is totally weird for us as Hallie never did take a binky very well. He has to be sucking on it at all times or else he gets mad. Heaven help us. I wonder what we are going to do when we have a 3 year old who still wants a binky? Just kidding- we won't let it get to that!
We gave Jace his first bath today. Hallie loved helping by dumping water on him. He didn't like it so much.
See his cute blonde peach fuzz? I think he looks more like Devin today, or at least Devin as a baby.
These are the gorgeous flowers Devin brought me in the hospital. What a sweet husband I have. I think I scared him Wednesday morning after that horrible night. I called him (he had a test so was in class) and told him that I woke up bawling. I was kind of weepy after I had Hallie and I did the same thing with Jace. I just was crying for no reason that I could pin point. The new nurse for the day came in and her student who was shadowing her- a male- and there I sat just bawling for no reason. The poor student looked rather alarmed. I told him I would make a good case study to write about. Crazy women after child birth. ha ha.
Devin and his kiddos. I am so grateful for him. He is such a great husband and father and I love how much he is involved and dotes on me and his babies.
We had a few more visitors today- Devin's sister Kirston and her kids came and brought us the most DELISH dinner. Kirston is a saint. Not only is she pregnant herself, but she has 3 kids to take care of. That didn't stop her from taking Hallie over night for us on Tuesday and then bringing us a four course meal today. She is so amazing. This is Ryder (Hallie's age) holding Jace. He was so cute with him.
Well, there you have it. Way more details than you ever wanted to know! We are grateful for our healthy baby and for the happiness he brings us already. He is so cute and such a joy to have. I love just sitting and holding him. I can sense his sweet spirit and am excited to see what his future holds.

We named Jace after my brother-in-law Chris, who you all know passed away from a brain tumor two years ago this April. Chris and Jace share a birthday as well, so that makes it extra special. Though Jace won't know Chris in this life, we hope that he emulates some of the same characteristics that Chris had that made him a courageous and incredibly strong individual.

More to come!

The Story

(Can you believe something so big fit in there? I can't. This is right before we went to the hospital Tuesday morning)

Well for those of you who want to know the story of Hallie's birth, here we go. It is quite the tale...just kidding. I actually had been having contractions consistently since Saturday morning. I finally made Devin take me to Labor and Delivery Sunday night, where they checked me and told me that I was dilated to a 3. They monitored me for an hour and said that if I dilated any more they would keep me, but if not, they would send me home. I knew I wouldn't dilate anymore in the hour because my contractions were not strong enough. At that point, they were barely painful, but it was obnoxious that they were coming 2 minutes apart but nothing was progressing. When they came with the news that they were sending me home, they told me they were calling my doctor just to update him. I asked the nurse to talk to him myself. She looked a little shocked at the request, but let me talk to him. At that point, I was so frustrated not knowing what was going on and not knowing how much longer I would just have to deal with constant contractions, I was near tears. When I talked to him, he asked what had been happening and I relayed the information. I am sure he could sense my frustration, because he said that we would watch and see what happened Monday and then if nothing progressed on my own, he would induce me on Tuesday. I felt happy enough with this information, but he must have felt especially bad for me as when I went to leave, the ladies at the desk called me over and told me that he had put me on the induction schedule for Tuesday already.

(Since Hallie was born on election day, we made sure to get a number of pictures with her and the "I voted" sticker. She stayed in the nursery her first night and still had the sticker on the next morning when she came back to me!)

I went home on pain meds, Percocet. Let me just tell you, me and pain meds=not a good combo!! Whenever I have had serious pain drugs before, I am ALWAYS loopy, as my sister and Devin can attest. Well, that night was no exception. I was seriously giddy all night laughing hysterically at everything. Devin revoked my phone priveledges at one point because I kept calling back and forth between my mom and sister and dying laughing about nothing. Needless to say, I went to bed happy and slept like a rock.

Let me just interject here and tell you of the Lord's tender mercies. I had been praying that Hallie would come because I was so uncomfortable and ready to have her. I didn't care when, I just wanted a baby. However, looking back, I have to say that the timing was exactly right and the Lord knew that. Not only was she born a week early, helping to put me out of my misery, but she was also born 2 days after we got Devin's insurance information in the mail for Smith's. We were unsure that we would be able to get everything ready and on track for his insurance before she came, since we qualified November 1st (yeah good timing huh!), but everything came and we were ready to go for the big day. So since we already have another health insurance policy and a seperate hospital policy, we were then triple covered. This will definitely be helpful as I quit one job and won't be working at the other for a while. On top of that, I had been working on a very important case at LDS that had just come up with one of my adoptive couples having a placement of a baby. Well, to make a long story short, it all happened within the week before Hallie was born, but it was not just an open and closed placement. There were a ton of legal issues and problems that could have arisen, but didn't. The couple was waiting to formally sign the paperwork for placement until a DNA test came back that was supposed to come back on Wednesday the 5th at the earliest. However, I went to work Monday the 3rd and we received word that everything had come back early and we were clear and ready to go! I was ecstatic to be able to do the placement with my couple and have everything ready to go before taking maternity leave and having to pass the case on to someone else (I am sure they would have been happy to do it, but I was so happy to be part of the process of helping this couple). So everything was ready to go just the day before Hallie was born.

(Oh no, we already have a thumb sucker!)

Monday night I got the call to be at the hospital at 7 am. I was happy to hear the early hour, since sometimes I know that people who are induced are called and told they have to wait because people who are in active labor come in before they get to their time. Anyway, we walked into American Fork hospital on time and I was the only one there in labor and delivery! (I bet that is rare in these parts!). I got started on the pitocin around 7:30 am and my doctor came in to break my water around 8 am. He told me, "Don't try to be brave and experience labor...as soon as you are uncomfortable, get the epidural!" I didn't listen. I waited until I was past uncomfortable...my pain went from a 1 to a 10 in the matter of 15 minutes as the contractions took full reign. I thought I was going to die. I didn't know whether I should stand, sit, slouch, or just curl into the fetal position. My nurse had buzzed the anasthesiologist by this point, but he was taking his sweet time getting there (at least that is how it seemed to me!). When he finally arrived, my nurse had checked me and I was dilated to a 5. After he got done with the epidural, which was amazing by the way, the nurse left the room and came back 15 minutes later to check me and I was dilated to an 8. Meanwhile, she was running in and out having me lay on my side, put on oxygen, and moving the baby's heart monitor from my abdomen to the baby's head as well as the contraction monitor from my abdomen to inside also. I was worried because she wasn't really direct with me about what was going on...turns out later I was told that the baby's heart rate was dropping dangerously low each time I had a contraction so they wanted to monitor them more closely. They were in contact with my doctor who also had them pump fluid back into my uterus to see if that would help.

(Devin was supposed to be keeping Hallie awake since we had a horrible night last night...she is all backwards thinking she needs to sleep all day long and stay up all night!)

At 11:30 am, I felt as if I needed to start pushing and I could not resist the urge. I buzzed the nurse who came in and said that if I needed to, I could push lightly. I waited 10 minutes later and I could just not do it "lightly", so I buzzed her again and told her I needed to push harder. She said okay and her and Devin started helping me push through the contractions. She told me we would call the doctor when we could see a portion of her head but that most first time moms push for at least 2-3 hours, so she wasn't too worried about it. She walked out of the room to get everything ready for the baby, when she came back in, apparently I had pushed past where the doctor should have been there because she frantically called the desk and told them to page him and have him come as soon as possible. Well, once you start pushing, you can't stop. Long story short, the doctor ran in in his khaki pants and button up shirt just in time for my last push to catch the baby! Wahoo! Hallie was born at 12:09 pm. The first thing I did was look down to check to make sure she was a girl...and she was! I had been worried about that as some of you know!

(Hallie is all girl and loves pink. Well, okay, maybe her mom likes to put her in pink, but hey! We decided to put on the tutu that Ashley gave her today to see how she looks! Ohhhhh fun!!)

We love our baby girl. She has been such a joy to have already and I can't express how much love I have for this little human. I was also worried about having an ugly baby as you know, but I can honestly say that I think she is gorgeous (of course I think that, I am her mother). In her short 4 days of life, she has already grown and changed so much, I can't even believe it. I can't wait to see her grow and change and hopefully I can be the kind of mother to her that she deserves.

(Too much pink!?)

*Sorry for the long post and possibly too many details, but I do want to record this because who knows when I will get to the journal. So sad that I am more dedicated to my blog than to my journal, huh?*