Announcing
Brigham Wayne Evan
August 15, 2017, 2:54am
7lbs, 15.2oz
20.5in
Before I went to bed on Sunday night (the 13th) I was feeling really anxious about my upcoming labor and delivery. I figured we were still about two weeks away because my body is famous for not being ready until well past my due date (which was the 18th), but I couldn't shake my anxiety. Even with baby #6, child birth scared me! So I said a really long prayer about everything I was worried about: the pain, deciding whether or not to be induced, whether I should have an epidural, worry about hemorrhaging again, who my delivery doctor would be, baby's health, my health, etc. I decided that I would ask Jim for a
Priesthood blessing the next day for comfort and to heal ease my worry.
About 3:30am that night (now the 14th) I felt the baby kick down low. That was how Laurel broke my water two years ago. I thought it'd be too good to be true for it to happen twice, plus this kick hadn't been super hard like Laurel's had been. So I rolled over and went back to sleep. Then about 15 minutes later, I woke again to go to the bathroom and discovered that he HAD broken my water. Yippee! I woke Jim, who was rather grumpy about being disturbed (ha ha!), and called a friend to head over for the kids. As I packed up to go, I had
one strong contraction and thought things were getting going like when Laurel was born. If I'd only known...
Jim gave me that blessing I wanted while we were still at home. I felt a very real peace that everything would be okay, and also that it would be okay if I chose medical interventions to assist with labor and delivery. Then, after waking the older kids to tell them we were heading to the hospital (mistake...apparently they didn't go back to sleep) and waiting for our friend to arrive, we drove to the hospital expecting to have a baby in a few hours. NINE hours after my water broke, and after trying every natural method to get labor going I decided that my body just wasn't ready. I'd had zero contractions, was at zero dilation, and zero effacement. I was already quite tired to boot. I sure wished I'd just stayed home and slept the night through before going to the hospital!
Here's my last pregnancy picture ever (I think).
Because I wasn't willing to risk infection while waiting for my body to go into labor (knowing my own body, I'm convinced it would have been DAYS) and because I'm not completely opposed to medical intervention (I just like to avoid it when possible) we decided to try a medication that could get labor started. I was still hoping to avoid a full induction at this point. The medication did start things, but very slowly. After six more hours, I'd made a little progress, but contractions were slowing down and getting weaker. So, after an extremely long and boring day in the hospital (why didn't we bring our new board game?) and already being quite exhausted I decided to start pitocin and have that baby! Around 6pm (almost 15 hours in) I was hooked up and, now bedridden, tried to rest.
A couple of hours later my contractions were
finally becoming painful, and being a big chicken, I asked for an epidural. I was adamant that they give me a smaller dose than they thought necessary, though, because I couldn't feel
anything when my last two babies had been delivered. The epidural worked, sort of. Part of my right side across my belly and back never numbed in the slightest. However, since the rest of my lower body was numb, the contraction pain I felt in those areas was manageable. It did keep me awake for my entire labor, though. I didn't let them increase it because I wanted to feel when it was time to push!
Around midnight, I was getting rather emotional over my long labor, and was discouraged over my slow progression. At that point, I was at a five or a six. I was averaging two hours for every centimeter (from the time we'd chosen intervention), and my contractions kept trying to drop off. In my crazy exhausted brain, I didn't think I could mentally handle another 8-10 hours of labor if I kept going at that rate. So I asked Jim for another blessing which helped calm my mind. Thankfully, it was only a couple of hours later that my nurse checked me (she was hoping for the baby to come before her 3am shift change) and it was time! (Side note: My labor nurse was AWESOME! She was such a nice gal, and I was grateful to visit with her for HOURS through the night when I couldn't rest.)
My very sleepy doctor came in (my favorite doctor was on call...yes!) and Brigham joined us after two and a half pushes. The weaker epidural made it much easier to push this time. I was also very grateful that I didn't hemorrhage this time. The medical staff had been super prepared and super worried about that (as had I) because I've hemorrhage with four previous births and typically that increases with subsequent deliveries.
They laid Brigham on my chest immediately after delivery and all was finally right in my world. I instantly went from emotional wreck to content happy Momma. In all, it was a 23.5 hour labor: twice as long as my previous longest and more than three times longer than my shortest! Baby was healthy and I was healthy. Finally!
After being prodded and checked for post delivery health every few minutes for several hours, I was at an extreme point of exhaustion. At 7am, the last straw was when a nurse wanted to draw my blood (she wasn't actually supposed to and also didn't believe me that the IV in my arm wasn't a pic line...); I burst into tears and emotionally told Jim we had to get out of the hospital immediately or I'd never get any sleep. After that, everyone left us alone for a few hours and I finally had a nap.
This little guy has a special name. We've used family names for all of our kids' names, and since we're pretty sure this is our last baby, he received an extra name. Wayne comes from my Dad and my great-grandpa who I grew up nearby. Evan comes from Jim's grandpa who he was very close with.
Audrey brought the kids to visit that afternoon. Everyone was excited to meet their baby brother.
Those eyes!
