As you can see Rylynn enjoyed this activity! It is a little sad that my 4 1/2 year old can button a three month outfit around her. She thought it was hilarious!
My Mom also brought a present for Rylynn and Carter since the baby was going to get all the presents and she didn't want them to feel left out. Carter got a Davey Crockett coon-skin cap from Nana which he loves! Rylynn got a little horse she named Lolly that goes in a purse. Thanks Nana!
Anyway, so on the 5th I was really annoyed that I was still pregnant so my mom and I began trying all the "send you into labor" tricks we had ever heard of. We went to Olive Garden and I had eggplant Parmigiana which is supposed to work, ate twizzlers, tried acupressure points, essential oils, raspberry leaf tea, and walking around a lot and wearing myself out. None of them worked! I did not try castor oil because I have heard it just gives you the runs and no baby:) So on the 6th, I had an especially depressing day paying bills and not giving birth so my Mom and I decided to go see Harry Potter to take my mind off it. I had a lot of pressure during the movie and when we got home but nothing regular so I went to bed. That night I was up every two hours going to the bathroom and having contractions. Finally I got up for the last time at 4:45 and just laid there thinking about going into labor and the baby and other random things. I finally started to doze off at 5:45 when all of a sudden I felt like a balloon popped inside me and water started leaking out of me! I ran to the bathroom and it just poured into the toilet. I sat there in shock because my water has never broken and I have always thought it never would since my Mom's never did in all her pregnancies. So I ran in and woke up my mom and told her and she asked what it felt like and after I described it she said that was exactly what had happened to my sister in law when hers broke so it must be it. I woke up Garrett and he popped right up and we headed out the door. I was still a little confused though since I really wasn't having strong contractions and they were still far apart. It was so weird to me since with both my other kids I have been in strong labor for hours before my water would even look like it might break and it still never did. Anyway, we got to the hospital and they checked me and I was only at a 2 and 80% effaced. Our nurse was really awesome though and she told me I could walk the halls and do everything that a normal laboring mother would be able to do. This was really nice since a lot of the nurses make you have internal monitoring the whole time during a VBAC. So Garrett and I walked the halls for about an hour and when I came back I had progressed to 4cm. This was happy news but then everything got a little stressful.
I was totally confused when we first got to the hospital because the nurses told me the names of some doctors who I had never heard of or met and that they would be on call that day. I then asked if any one from my actual group of midwives/doctors would be there (in a bit of a panic). I told them I wanted my midwife to come over if possible so they came back and told me that she was working at the office that day and would try to stop by around noon and that the one doctor who I did not like in my groups office was going to be on call and handling my delivery. I was NOT happy considering this guy in the one appt I had had with him just in case he might be on call when I went into labor compared having a VBAC to a 1 in 80 plane crash where everybody dies. Yeah I was not a big fan of him. Not to mention that I have NEVER gone to a male gynecologist and had no desire to start now (all the other docs and midwives in the group are female). So then they mentioned to me that not only would I have the pleasure of dealing with that guy, but there was also a male resident that was going to be helping him. I told them that I really don't like male doctors and would prefer that the resident didn't come in.
So a few minutes later the resident comes walking in and pulls the old "hey I'm LDS too what ward are you guys in" line to soften me up. Don't get me wrong he was a nice guy but seriously I just don't like guy doctors. Anyway so then he starts going over my chart and tells me that my surgeon only did one layer of stiches on my uterus after Carter's c-section and that puts me at higher risk of rupturing and then goes on to tell me how scary it is to rupture as if I had never considering the risks of c-section before that moment in the hospital. SO ANNOYED! Then at the end of all that he was like "oh and they told me you don't really like male doctors? but I was wondering if it would be okay if I came in anyway!!!!!" So I am totally put on the spot and I was like okay. So he leaves the room and my least favorite doctor comes waltzing in with the resident at his side and starts giving me the run down on the risks of VBAC and I kid you not starts telling the airplane analogy again! I stopped him at the beginning and said, I have already heard this! So he pauses for a minute and then continues to tell the story I guess for Garrett's sake. Then he tells me that I have to be at six cm within 2 hours and then after that if I stall in my labor at all he will give me another c-section because he refuses to use any Pitocin of any kind on VBACs because it makes it more stressful for HIM. Then he finishes his speech by saying these are the "rules of engagement" as if it is his body and his labor. He was just so "I am in charge here" about it.
So as soon as he left the room I immediately started bawling and freaking out. Garrett was really mad too and went into guy mode and tried to tell me that everything would be fine and that he was just a jerk and not to think about him. While I was having my break down our awesome nurse came in and asked me what was wrong. So we told her and she said that she would call my midwife and have her come see me and that she would tell the resident not to come in anymore. She also suggested that I get in the jacuzzi tub and try not to worry about all that. So I got in the labor tub and turned on my ipod and I guess while I was in there the doctor stopped by and told Garrett that he was just going to be around the hospital if we needed him. Garrett said his tune had totally changed and it was clear that our nurse talked to him. So the labor tub was great and I was able to do some of my hypnobirthing which helped a lot.
Unfortunately since my water had broken I was "on the clock" as far as the hospital was concerned and I couldn't eat anything. This was a new experience for me since I am used to laboring at home and eating and doing whatever I want before I come into the hospital. So I was really hungary by that time and pretty weak since I hadn't really slept the night before. Plus with all the added stress of the VBAC/doctor situation and having a hernia that I developed a few months ago, I decided to get an epidural. I was a little worried it might slow down my progress so I wasn't sure if I should wait a little longer. Just then my midwife came in and was so positive and said she thought the epidural was a good idea considering all that I was dealing with and she said that she would check me after they put it in. So the nurse anesthetists did an awesome job on the epidural and only gave me enough so that I wouldn't feel the pain, but so I could feel when I was contracting so I could push which is what I got with Rylynn and it was perfect because I still felt like I was in control of my body. Then my midwife checked me and I was still at 4cm but she stripped my membranes a ton because she knew that the Dr was completely opposed to pitocin and she wanted to help me out a little bit. Just as a side note, every other Dr and midwife in this group told me they would use a little pitocin if my labor stalled at all but this is the one Dr in the group who refused. Anyway, then she told me to sit up in this froggy position so that the baby's head would push down and speed up the labor. It was so comforting to see and talk to her and I felt a lot better about everything after she left.
A little while after she left at 2:45p the nurse checked me and I was at 6cm. Then the nurse had me lay on my side for awhile and then switch to my other side to make sure the epidural was balanced. Unfortunately it was way too comfortable so I fell asleep. While I was asleep my contractions slowed way down and spread out and got much less intense so I wasn't progressing at all. The Dr and my nurse came in at 3:30p and woke me up. The Dr said that I was not progressing and that if I didn't make significant progress by 4:45p he would do another c-section. I do have to say though that although he gave me another ultimatum, he did preface it by telling me that he really wanted me to have a successful VBAC and he was much less in your face about it which I appreciated a lot. He went on to say that real progress in his mind was at least dialated to 7cm, fully effaced, and a +1 station and I only had 1 hour and 15 minutes to do it in!
As soon as he left Garrett and I panicked again. I had not even been in labor 12 hours yet and with Carter I labored at home for 12 hours before we even went to the hospital and I was only at 6cm after that long with him. So immediately Garrett called my mom and frantically told her the situation and asked her to pray as hard as she could. She got off the phone with him and called everyone in my family and asked them to pray as well. Garrett and I were praying too and he gave me two blessings within about 20 minutes of each other. I immediately sat right up in that froggy position that my midwife had put me in and Garrett started talking to our baby and telling him to come out for his mommy. That may sound odd, but literally every time he would talk to him I would start a huge contraction. It was amazing. He totally responded to his Daddy's voice. I started breathing through my contractions to bear down a little and we just kept staring at the monitor to see how big and how often the contractions were coming. I could still feel them all but we were just in crazy mode. We kept frantically looking at the clock too and praying the whole time. When there were five minutes left our nurse came in and said that she was going to wait until the last possible minute to check me and then she went out. Garrett and I decided that I needed to have at least 3 more really good contractions in the last 5 minutes so he started talking to baby again and we just did everything that we could do for those last five minutes. My last of three contractions ended right as the nurse came in to check me. At that point we were just hoping that I might be at 7cm or 8cm and we felt like we had done all that we could do and that it was in the Lord's hands at that point. So the nurse laid me back and checked me announced that I was 9cm, almost competeley effaced, and almost+1 station. She cheered for us and said that she was going to write down that we were already +1 just to help us out. We seriously loved this lady.
At that moment Garrett and I just looked at each other and started crying because we were so amazed at the miracle we had just witnessed. I am NOT a fast laborer at all, Rylynn took 30 hours with a little shot of pitocin at the end to get me to 10cm, and there was no way that I would have progressed that fast without the hand of the Lord in that last hour and 15 minutes. We were so humbled and felt so loved by all those who were praying for us in that moment.
Then the Dr came in and even he was excited! He told us great job and congratulated us and told us that he had no problem going forward with the VBAC now that I had progressed so much. He told me that I wasn't going to be able to push though because he wanted me to labor down so that there would be the least amount of pressure on my scar when I finally did have to push. So I stayed sitting up and it felt like I was at a ten within the next 10 minutes and that the baby was falling out on the bed! He said it would feel like that and that I just had to wait for the baby to come down with contractions instead of pushing. So then he came back in and we put my legs up and the nurse said you can feel your baby's head if you want and I reached down and could already feel it. I pushed 5 times and he was out. Garrett cut the cord and they put him right to my chest. I could not believe how thankful I was to see that beautiful little perfect boy.
This experience made me love and appreciate my husband so much and realize how thankful I am to have a righteous husband who holds the priesthood and can go to the Lord in any situation with clean hands and a clean heart on my behalf and on our family's.
I love you so much honey!
We were able to come home on Sunday afternoon and when we got to our front door, we were greeted by these beautiful pictures by Rylynn. I don't know if you can read it but she made my mom make a sign that says "nobody is allowed to touch these pictures" just to make sure the neighbors didn't steal them:)
We have all fallen in love with this darling boy and I forgot just how much I adore having a newborn. They are so sweet and helpless, I cannot get enough of them.
Swaddle me blankets are my favorite things ever! They didn't have these when I had my other kids and now I don't have to re-wrap my little burrito every five seconds.
Rylynn thinks she is Beckett's second mommy. She loves changing his diaper, getting him dressed, giving him baths, and holding him on the boppy. She has been such a great helper to me.
Carter has been great with him too. He is so gentle and doesn't seem to be jealous in the least bit. He loves to kiss him and "hug" him which for Carter means that he lays his head on him. He loves calling him "mine brudder" and tells us that he is not Rylynn's brudder. Oh well, at least he loves him.
So it is back to the world of mustard poop and waking up every four hours at night and engorged boobs and it is all worth it! The recovery has been amazing and every day I am so thankful that I didn't have to have another c-section. Most of all we are so thankful for our little baby Beckett who we just adore.
