The story

Here we have asleep:

And here we have awake!













Alright, for any of you out there who like to read about women's birthing stories, you may continue reading. For any who don't....you should probably leave this page now.

Wednesday, August 14th:

Had my 38 week appointment. The RN very casually asked "Would you like me to strip your membranes?"

After having her explain exactly what that meant and what it would do, and after her making sure I had nowhere to be that night, we decided in the affirmative.

Later on in the evening I was getting fairly crampy. I was trying to decide if labor was actually starting or not. It was hard to tell. For about an hour I had consistent contractions about 10 minutes apart, and then they'd slow down to half an hour or more....Very irregular.

We went to bed. I slept okay, but I could feel crampiness most of the night. I wouldn't call it labor though. Maybe pre-labor?

Thursday, August 15th:

6:00 am: I woke up slowly and felt something.....wet.

I decided I better get up and to the bathroom. It became very obvious that my water had just broken. I was able to get to the toilet fairly quickly, which was good. But it was fairly cold in our apartment and I needed to get fully dressed to get warm but couldn't leave the toilet for more than a second or more water would come out. So there I sat...shivering....waiting.

After about 10-20 minutes I got dressed. Jarom had just come home from work, I told him he'd better get ready.

I wasn't sure if I needed to immediately get to the hospital, or wait until contractions came and got close together still. So we tried looking up some information online. We got opinions to do both, or either. Not the most helpful.

So I called the hospital. They told me I should come in, but needn't rush. I could get ready and stuff first.

6:45 am: We were in the car on our way, and contractions had officially started. They were already about 3-4 minutes apart.

7:00 am: Nurse is checking me in and trying to decide if my water REALLY did break. Most women can't tell for sure, or don't even have it happen. I had absolutely no doubts, but she had to prove it first to admit me. That was easy enough, when she reached in and a flood of water came out. I had my ticket in. Though my contractions had slowed down to about 8 minutes apart. Weird.

So there I lay for a few hours, waiting for time to pass and contractions to come quicker. They got to about 5 minutes apart, and I was dilated to 2? Or maybe 3? Something like that.

9-10:00ish: She started me on Pitocin to get labor going full steam. I asked for the IV medicine (oxytocin? Or oxycotton? Oxy something)

She got me hooked up to both. I could tell instantly the Pitocin was working. The medicine? Not in the slightest.

Oh wait, it did make me light-headed and dizzy for a short time. And of course during this time is when she made me stand up to change some stuff on the bed. Luckily Jarom was there to hold onto me, I could feel myself swaying. I'm pretty sure I would have just toppled over without him supporting me. ha.

Now I laid there for several hours, not appreciating the level of pain. I don't have a lot of memories from this point, I tried to sleep through a lot of it.

She came back in and said the baby's heart-rate was dropping with each contraction, so she took me off the Pitocin. His heart-rate returned to normal. She wanted to let him rest for awhile before starting it again. I felt much better as well. My contractions slowed down in speed and magnitude. And I was at a 4.

A couple more hours went by and she decided to start my on Pitocin again. She really wanted the doctor to come in for his opinion about the whole heart-rate thing, but he was in surgery and she was waiting for him to get back to her.

1:00 pm: I told her I wanted an epidural before she put me back on the Pitocin. So we got that all set up and I was feeling great! I couldn't feel a thing! For about an hour.

Then my left side started wearing off. I pushed the button to increase the medicine, twice, just like he told me to. My left side just continued to get more and more awake and painful. I asked for the second dose.

2:15ish: I get my second dose, just as a super long and painful contraction sets in. Finally that subsides, but at the same time, baby's heart rate drops dangerously low. And stays low. And won't return. After 8 minutes it's still low.

The nurses are really worried, and trying to hide it. They keep trying my doctor. He's still busy. They keep trying another doctor. They're hoping she'll get here quick. They decide I've got to have a c-section unless something changes. They check me, I'm dilated to an 8.

2:18ish: They wheel my down to the OR to prep for surgery, leaving Jarom behind all alone. Once we get there, baby's heart rate has returned to normal. They relax slightly. They remember about Jarom and go tell him that I'm okay. The doctor arrives. Finally.

She decides to go ahead and try to push him out while his heart-rate is good. I am now dilated to a "plus 2" which I didn't even know was possible. Apparently it is.

2:20 pm: Jarom arrives all scrubbed up. Doctor tells me she'll have me push first, if he doesn't come fast she'll use forceps to pull him down most of the way, then have me push him the rest of the way out. She holds up the forceps for me to see and shows me how they will protect his head, but not be so great on my innards.  I tell her not to worry, I will push with everything I have and get him out.

2:21 pm: I push once, but don't really know that I did anything. It's hard to push when you can't feel your body.

2:22 pm: I push again, I can tell it's much more effective. She tells me she will do an episiotomy because we just don't have the time to wait for him to come any other way.

2:23 pm: I take a big breath and push as hard as I can. As she cuts me, he comes flying out. That is not an exaggeration. She gasped at the speed and literally had to catch him or he would have fallen to the floor. Not 10 seconds later the placenta came out as well.

And I was done. I had been shivering from getting the epidural earlier, and now I think my body was responding to the stresses placed on it, probably some shock, because I was shivering quite uncontrollably for awhile. I didn't really feel cold. But I couldn't stop shaking. They weren't concerned. Throughout I kept asking for a warm blanket. They kept saying "Oh yeah we'll get that." They kept forgetting. I kept shivering.

Grayson had a little trouble breathing clearly at first. He had had a bowel movement before my water broke and probably swallowed some of that. His breathing was a bit ragged. But after about 15 minutes or so they had him all cleaned up and cleared up and he hasn't had a problem since!

I have to say it was quite amazing, with all of the scares and potential dangers that happened there at the end, I never did panic. I never felt scared or anxious or worried. I was perfectly calm and just knew that they would do whatever it took to get him here. When the possibility of c-section arose I remember thinking "Oh man, that's too bad. I was really hoping not to have to do that." But that was the extent of the "worry" And I have to attribute my calmness to the priesthood blessing that I had Jarom give me that morning.


Since then every day has gotten better and better. We were having problems breast-feeding at first. I never realized how difficult it could be. But everyday we both get better and more comfortable with it. And last night was by far the best night's rest I've had. So hopefully it continues to progress from here! I feel so blessed, not only for the fact that I'm now a mother. But also for my amazing pregnancy, my fairly easy labor, my quick recovery, my amazingly calm baby, my supportive and awesome husband, and just everything about this has been amazing for me!