I guess I need to give a little background first. When I had Kyla, I was induced two days before my due date - I was in pretty hard labor for 11 hours before I was even dilated to a 2 and a half and could get an epidural. Kyla came almost 6 hours after that. I had no idea how it would be to go into labor naturally, but I was hoping to find out with this baby. It didn't look like it was going to happen: with two weeks to go I was not progressed at all. With one week to go my doctor told me I "might be a one." (That is a 1 out of 10 for those of you who don't know about the whole progression business.) Basically, my doctor was trying to make me feel better since my sister-in-law, who was due a week after me, had already been at a two for over a week. When I went in for my appointment this last Wednesday (two days before my due date) my doctor was out of town so I had to see a different doctor (Gagnon). He told me he didn't even think I was a one and was pretty confident I would make it until my doctor got back into town five days later and that I would make it to my induction date a week later (I know I said I wanted to go into labor naturally, but not bad enough to go more than four days late). He did add the caveat that he had seen women as non-progressed as me, go into labor the next day...
So I left the doctor's office Wednesday morning and called my mom to complain that "life was not fair" and I was "never going to have this baby" and "he was just going to sit in there and get so fat (ouch)," etc. I was basically feeling sorry for myself all day long. I went to mutual that evening - the girls were having a slumber party and we heart attacked the bishops house. After wards, I had a visiting teaching appointment since I was trying to get things taken care of before the baby came. I started feeling contractions throughout most of the visit, but I didn't think much of it since I had been having slight contractions for 2-3 weeks and they had obviously not meant a thing! These contractions were a little worse than normal - they actually made me feel uncomfortable. I went home and went to bed.
I woke up around 4:15 am because I kept feeling pain. I was tired so I kept trying to fall back to sleep, but each time I would fall asleep, pain would wake me up again. I finally woke Brandon up and told him, "We may actually have this baby sometime today." I didn't really believe it. I thought I was in false labor. Brandon was really supportive (he had been waiting for this sort of thing) and got a warm bath ready for me - supposedly warm baths will stop false labor. Then he went back to sleep. I kept having contractions during the bath and I couldn't stop thinking about how I needed to clean my bathrooms and my shower and I was cursing myself for putting off the last minute cleaning and laundry I needed to do. I was debating whether I could clean my shower and bathroom between contractions and decided to start timing my contractions at 5:30 am. They were 3-4 minutes apart. I didn't really know what that meant. I started to pack my hospital bag and get ready, just in case. I went back to lay in bed at 6:00 am and my contractions slowed to 6-7 minutes apart. I figured that meant it wasn't time to go to the hospital. Brandon woke up around 6:30 am when I could no longer make it through a contraction without breathing hard, whimpering, and almost throwing up. He tried to talk me into going to the hospital. I told him I didn't want to be sent home and I would try and hold out until 8:00 am so that I could go to my doctor's office first. I figured it had taken me 11 hours to get to a 2 and a half with Kyla, so an hour and a half of contractions was not going to have progressed me that much. At 6:45 am, he stopped letting me make decisions. He called the hospital. The hospital told him he better bring me in. I didn't want him to wake Kyla up, so I kept trying to stall. I finally woke her up when I had a really bad contraction (oops.) I still thought it wasn't time. Brandon left to drop off Kyla - that was when I realized it was passed time. I couldn't even move, I was in so much pain. Brandon got back and asked if I could walk down the stairs and out to the car. I said I didn't think I could. But I had to, so I did.
This next part was just like in the movies. We left our house at 7:20 am. We live 25 minutes from the hospital. It was perfect timing to hit early morning traffic. Therefore, Brandon had to practice lots of creative driving. We were driving into the turning lane to cut ahead of long lines of cars, passing cars when there was no passing lane, and running red lights. One truck caught up to us and honked and flipped us off. Brandon slammed on the breaks, put the car in to park, and was about to get out to, I don't know, tell the guy I was having a baby!!!??? I told him "JUST DRIVE!!!!" We hit a light and there was a cop in the turning lane next to us, Brandon jumped out of the car to ask him to escort us to the hospital (with lights and everything so that we could get there faster). He said he could not help us, but he would call a medic. I told Brandon, "PLEASE, just get back in the car and DRIVE!" The cop pulled up next to us at the next light and motioned for us to pull into the median. He said we should wait there for an ambulance. In the midst of another contraction - I yelled at Brandon "GET BACK IN THE CAR AND GET ME TO THE HOSPITAL NOW!" Brandon looked apologetically at the flustered police man and got in the car and drove. When we hit the huge line of cars to get on to the freeway, we drove to the very front and merged in - I am so grateful to the nice man who let us in, not knowing that I was about to have a baby and probably thinking we were just some jerks trying to cut in line. Brandon called the hospital to have a wheelchair waiting for me. I felt pretty embarrassed; I figured I must be a huge wimp since I didn't think I could even walk myself up to labor and delivery. I was just hoping I was progressed to a 3 or 4 so they wouldn't send me home... Brandon parked the car while I was wheeled directly into a room where I was immediately converged on by three nurses. The first thing I did was beg, not ask, I was begging, for an epidural. By the time I changed into a gown and got on the bed I could tell the nurses didn't think I would get an epidural. That is when I started to panic. They were saying things like, "We'll get you one as soon as we can." "We'll do the best we can." Etc. They checked me - I was a NINE. They sent someone immediately for the doctor. When I heard that, I became hysterical. I just kept asking for an epidural, but by that time I was crying because I realized I wasn't going to get one, no matter how many times I asked. But I continued asking anyway. They just kept telling me, "You are going to have this baby, right now!" So I tried a different approach - I asked for any sort of drug or anything for the pain. This is the closest I have ever felt to hysterical. I became a little more logical between contractions, but continued to ask for pain relief of any kind.
When they told me to start pushing, I told them I couldn't. I really didn't think I could. It is amazing what kind of things you are capable of doing. I pushed through two and a half contractions and Kash was here (compared to 53 minutes with Kyla.) Kash was born less than 15 minutes after getting to the hospital. This is almost exactly like my birth story. I was born 13 minutes after my mom got to the hospital. I guess what goes around, comes around.
Since I had the baby so fast, they didn't have time to hook me up to IV's or anything. They used local anesthetics and they used a needle so big that Brandon couldn't even watch. Good thing I couldn't see anything either. Like I said in my last post, when it was all over - I was in shock. I really couldn't believe what had just happened, but I was really glad it was over and I had my sweet baby boy in my arms. Luckily, Doctor Gagnon (the doctor I had seen the day before) had just arrived at the hospital ten minutes before I got there because he was scheduled for surgery. So he just popped in and delivered my baby as well. There were many small miracles just like that one, including the fact that even though I was at a nine when I got to the hospital, my water had not broken. The nurses told Brandon that if my water had broken - he would most likely have had to deliver me himself in the car while on his cell phone with 911. So many things worked out just in time, I am grateful for tender mercies. I am grateful for miracles - especially the miracle of a new baby.
So I left the doctor's office Wednesday morning and called my mom to complain that "life was not fair" and I was "never going to have this baby" and "he was just going to sit in there and get so fat (ouch)," etc. I was basically feeling sorry for myself all day long. I went to mutual that evening - the girls were having a slumber party and we heart attacked the bishops house. After wards, I had a visiting teaching appointment since I was trying to get things taken care of before the baby came. I started feeling contractions throughout most of the visit, but I didn't think much of it since I had been having slight contractions for 2-3 weeks and they had obviously not meant a thing! These contractions were a little worse than normal - they actually made me feel uncomfortable. I went home and went to bed.
I woke up around 4:15 am because I kept feeling pain. I was tired so I kept trying to fall back to sleep, but each time I would fall asleep, pain would wake me up again. I finally woke Brandon up and told him, "We may actually have this baby sometime today." I didn't really believe it. I thought I was in false labor. Brandon was really supportive (he had been waiting for this sort of thing) and got a warm bath ready for me - supposedly warm baths will stop false labor. Then he went back to sleep. I kept having contractions during the bath and I couldn't stop thinking about how I needed to clean my bathrooms and my shower and I was cursing myself for putting off the last minute cleaning and laundry I needed to do. I was debating whether I could clean my shower and bathroom between contractions and decided to start timing my contractions at 5:30 am. They were 3-4 minutes apart. I didn't really know what that meant. I started to pack my hospital bag and get ready, just in case. I went back to lay in bed at 6:00 am and my contractions slowed to 6-7 minutes apart. I figured that meant it wasn't time to go to the hospital. Brandon woke up around 6:30 am when I could no longer make it through a contraction without breathing hard, whimpering, and almost throwing up. He tried to talk me into going to the hospital. I told him I didn't want to be sent home and I would try and hold out until 8:00 am so that I could go to my doctor's office first. I figured it had taken me 11 hours to get to a 2 and a half with Kyla, so an hour and a half of contractions was not going to have progressed me that much. At 6:45 am, he stopped letting me make decisions. He called the hospital. The hospital told him he better bring me in. I didn't want him to wake Kyla up, so I kept trying to stall. I finally woke her up when I had a really bad contraction (oops.) I still thought it wasn't time. Brandon left to drop off Kyla - that was when I realized it was passed time. I couldn't even move, I was in so much pain. Brandon got back and asked if I could walk down the stairs and out to the car. I said I didn't think I could. But I had to, so I did.
This next part was just like in the movies. We left our house at 7:20 am. We live 25 minutes from the hospital. It was perfect timing to hit early morning traffic. Therefore, Brandon had to practice lots of creative driving. We were driving into the turning lane to cut ahead of long lines of cars, passing cars when there was no passing lane, and running red lights. One truck caught up to us and honked and flipped us off. Brandon slammed on the breaks, put the car in to park, and was about to get out to, I don't know, tell the guy I was having a baby!!!??? I told him "JUST DRIVE!!!!" We hit a light and there was a cop in the turning lane next to us, Brandon jumped out of the car to ask him to escort us to the hospital (with lights and everything so that we could get there faster). He said he could not help us, but he would call a medic. I told Brandon, "PLEASE, just get back in the car and DRIVE!" The cop pulled up next to us at the next light and motioned for us to pull into the median. He said we should wait there for an ambulance. In the midst of another contraction - I yelled at Brandon "GET BACK IN THE CAR AND GET ME TO THE HOSPITAL NOW!" Brandon looked apologetically at the flustered police man and got in the car and drove. When we hit the huge line of cars to get on to the freeway, we drove to the very front and merged in - I am so grateful to the nice man who let us in, not knowing that I was about to have a baby and probably thinking we were just some jerks trying to cut in line. Brandon called the hospital to have a wheelchair waiting for me. I felt pretty embarrassed; I figured I must be a huge wimp since I didn't think I could even walk myself up to labor and delivery. I was just hoping I was progressed to a 3 or 4 so they wouldn't send me home... Brandon parked the car while I was wheeled directly into a room where I was immediately converged on by three nurses. The first thing I did was beg, not ask, I was begging, for an epidural. By the time I changed into a gown and got on the bed I could tell the nurses didn't think I would get an epidural. That is when I started to panic. They were saying things like, "We'll get you one as soon as we can." "We'll do the best we can." Etc. They checked me - I was a NINE. They sent someone immediately for the doctor. When I heard that, I became hysterical. I just kept asking for an epidural, but by that time I was crying because I realized I wasn't going to get one, no matter how many times I asked. But I continued asking anyway. They just kept telling me, "You are going to have this baby, right now!" So I tried a different approach - I asked for any sort of drug or anything for the pain. This is the closest I have ever felt to hysterical. I became a little more logical between contractions, but continued to ask for pain relief of any kind.
When they told me to start pushing, I told them I couldn't. I really didn't think I could. It is amazing what kind of things you are capable of doing. I pushed through two and a half contractions and Kash was here (compared to 53 minutes with Kyla.) Kash was born less than 15 minutes after getting to the hospital. This is almost exactly like my birth story. I was born 13 minutes after my mom got to the hospital. I guess what goes around, comes around.
Since I had the baby so fast, they didn't have time to hook me up to IV's or anything. They used local anesthetics and they used a needle so big that Brandon couldn't even watch. Good thing I couldn't see anything either. Like I said in my last post, when it was all over - I was in shock. I really couldn't believe what had just happened, but I was really glad it was over and I had my sweet baby boy in my arms. Luckily, Doctor Gagnon (the doctor I had seen the day before) had just arrived at the hospital ten minutes before I got there because he was scheduled for surgery. So he just popped in and delivered my baby as well. There were many small miracles just like that one, including the fact that even though I was at a nine when I got to the hospital, my water had not broken. The nurses told Brandon that if my water had broken - he would most likely have had to deliver me himself in the car while on his cell phone with 911. So many things worked out just in time, I am grateful for tender mercies. I am grateful for miracles - especially the miracle of a new baby.
20 comments:
Each of your birth stories have made me cry like a baby. I can just picture Brandon driving in out of cars and the urgency you both must have felt (and the police man-I would think there was SOMETHING he could have done even if he couldn't use lights). Anyway, I'm so proud of you for everything you did...unfortunately I must say that neither of your birth stories really make me all that excited to give birth to my little baby. But sometimes it's the crazy stories that make the best memories...as long as little Kash is okay, I guess that's all that matters! Still way to go Mommy! What a miracle!
Sharee, I'm so glad that everything worked out. You had me in tears at the end - because of JOY. There is nothing as special as having a little baby brought into this world. What a miracle. I'm so glad that things worked out the way they did.
I'm so scared to have a second one because they say it's a lot easier (most of the time). I'm afraid of being far away from the hospital and going in too late - or having rush hour traffic (scary)!!! I guess this is a lesson to us all. Listen to our bodies and not our thoughts (if that makes any sense).
He's adorable!! And Kyla is SO big.
CRAZIEST. STORY. EVER. At least the craziest story I know is true. Congrats again! I'm so glad Kash is here! (I hope I spelled his name right)
Holy Cow! Your story nearly brought me to tears! I am so grateful that you made it to the hospital and way to go without the epidural! Second babies definitely come faster. I can't wait to hear about your third (I know no one wants to talk about more babies after just having one, but I bet it comes quick!) I'm sorry you had to endure so many awful contractions without relief, but I bet you feel pretty tough now! :) Congrats again. He sure is adorable!
WOAH that is a long story. Sorry it was so crazy! Kash is absolutely beautiful!
Your story made me cry! I am so glad Brandon didn't have to be your doctor because I can only imagine how hysterical I would be if it was Brett down there (sorry Brett)...I am so glad everything went well and so sorry you didn't get an epidural! I can't wait to see your little man!
Sharee, I am completely bawling. This is the sweetest, most beautiful, and adventerous labor story! I cannot wait for baby Boston and Kash to meet. I will call you this weekend and figure out a time we can stop by. I can't wait to hear more details in person. He is a dream baby! We are so excited for you!!!
Congrats to your cute little family. Kash is every bit as cute as his big sister! I'm so proud of you (and Brandon too). This was nothing short of heroic! Thank goodness for miracles and for gentle reminders that God is with us.
-Call me if you need any help. We'd love get in some good play time with that sweet Kyla.
Congratulations!! Wow! What great blessings and miracles all wrapped into one!
You crazy girl. I can't believe you! When I had Emilie and went into labor I at least had my mom there to tell me to go to the hospital. I wish you would have called me when the contractions started. I guess you won't make that mistake again! We love you guys so much. We can't wait to see the little guy.
A-you all look fabulous and
B-seriously, makeup just after delivery. You look sensational for just giving birth. I looked like a truck ran over me for two days, and only slightly better for the next month. Love you.
Congratulations Sharee! Kash is a handsome little guy. Hope you are all doing well. Let me know if you need anything.
wow, that is amazing ! I am so glad you made it to the hospital!! How crazy! I can't believe how close you were to having Kash in the car!! He is so cute! congratulations!
Can I hold him yet?? I'm so happy for you guys.
PS- Don't EVER do that again!! I know we were all talking about how miserable it would be to be sent home but I can only imagine delivering in traffic would be worse. :) Love you Sharee and I am glad that even with how stubborn you are, you made it to the hospital. LOL
Congrats Sharee on a job well done! WOW, I was left speechless when I read your birth story. My heart was pumping, but I am SO happy you made it to the hospital and you and Kash are doing well and are healthy! He is so cute, and I can't wait to meet him in person.
PLEASE call me if you need ANYTHING!!! I'm more than willing to help in anyway!
WOW!!! That's incredible! He is so cute and I'm so happy for you!! Love you!
AH Sharee! That's crazy-though secretly I hope that exact thing happens to me-minus the traffic! That's amazing! You're AMAZING! :) and congrats! :)
Wow Sharee! That sounds like it was quite a stressful and very painful birth. I can't imagine not having an epidural. But way to go!! I am so glad you made it to the hospital in time to deliver. It would be scary having to have your husband deliver the baby on the side of the road. I am excited to see more and more pics of little Kash. He looks so adorable. As a sidenote, are you pottytraining Kyla just a few weeks after having a baby? If so, you are amazing!!! I plan on doing nothing (except taking care of children) for while after having my baby. :)
That is so crazy...Eric kept hoping that's what would happen with Weston, but it was much less exciting. Now you can say you had a baby naturally! I'm impressed whether you wanted to or not!
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