the story...

Sorry that I haven't been taking care of the blog I have been a little preoccupied if you know what I mean. What you might not know is that our family got NAILED with the stomach flu. This was the first time our whole family has ever gotten sick at the same time with anything and also the first time we have all gotten the stomach flu. Nick even got this one and this bug hung on for a week... Usually these things only last 24hrs but not this one. It wasn't fun and I hope it doesn't' rear its ugly head again.

So I am back on the blog and I figured I would start with my labor story. Some of you don't care or don't want to hear it so you can just skip reading if you want. Honestly though it is very mild as far as these things go.

So I was 9 days late and scheduled for non stress testing and a Dr. apt (two weeks ago May 18th.) I had been having sporadic contractions every night for like a week but they never got more painful or closer together. I woke up around 5:30 am on Tuesday morning and was having a lot of contractions and they were painful. They were coming every 2-3 minutes but they were only lasting 30 seconds or so. I wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen but I told Nick he better stay home just in case, if for no other reason then leaving a contracting women home with a 3 year old and 1 1/2 year old might be dangerous to their health, patience and contractions not really gonna happen. Anyway... my sister was going to watch my kids for my Dr apt and I called and told her not to worry about it cause Nick was home then I realized driving during contractions probably not in my best interest. The contractions had leveled out at this point and were coming about every 10 minutes and lasting longer. They were painful but having had two kids I knew they were gonna get a lot worse before they actually got the baby out. When I went to my non stress test, which the nurse told me I should still do even though I knew I was in labor..., she asked me how far apart my contractions were and I smiled and told her I hadn't been keeping track because I knew they weren't close yet... Kind of made me laugh... anyway... we went to the Dr. and I was at 4 c and 90% effaced (if that doesn't mean anything to you, you probably don't want it to!lol) I was so thankful to be making progress because the contractions were painful so it was nice to know they were working. My Dr. was going to schedule me to be induced, which I really didn't want to have to do, for that Friday (she had offered to induce me a week before my due date but I wasn't inclined to go that route if possible but she wasn't going to let me go more then two weeks if she had anything to do with it so I am so thankful I went into labor. I am sure it isn't a big deal to be induced I just didn't have any desire to have to have medicine to start my labor that just sounded worse to me if there wasn't a good medical reason to do it.) So anyway... she agreed that I was going to have the baby probably that night. Ironically enough we switched insurance back in Jan so i got a new Dr and usually she would deliver my baby but she was going on vacation that night so she wasn't going to deliver me... That didn't bug me since I am use to Kaiser where rarely does your obgyn deliver you... anyway... So we went home and Rach and I watched a movie and I rested and walked and breathed, it is funny to be in labor and kinda watch the people around you. When I would breath through a contraction Rach would kinda look at me sideways checking me out to see if I needed her to rush and get Nick or something. She is a great sister! So anyway... after Allies nap Rach took our kids up to Grandma's and Nick and I were deciding whether to go the Hospital which is conveniently located 5 min away. We had Wills and Allie about 40 minutes away so this was really nice! So when I wasn't having a contraction I would tell Nick we could wait, because I didn't want to get to the hospital and still have hours and hours of labor left when I could be home and more comfy, Nick didn't want to deliver a baby, so right after a contraction I would say ok we can go then change my mind later but finally after 20 minutes we drove 10 minutes the opposite direction of the hospital to Nick's work to get his computer and school stuff he needed and that car ride made me very thankful we were headed to the hospital. Driving during hard contractions is painful!! So when we got to the hospital we parked and were walking in, we actually made out of the middle of the street before another contraction hit, with Allie I stopped in the middle of the street and Nick tried to get me to move for a car and I yelled at him, lol, there is no moving a women having a serious contraction that car can WAIT! So we got checked in and I was at 7 (and so thankful to have made some serious progress!) we checked in around 5:30 and Keira was born at 7:30. My mom, who has been at all three of my births showed up at 7:00. Nick was doing a great job helping me, I am a major verbal processor and Nick isn't so, after politely (that is a joke) informing him that he needed to be seriously encouraging me and specifically what he should be saying he was doing a good job although he didn't understand why it was helpful. To be honest though it was a relief to see my mom. Not because I didn't need Nick or he wasn't doing a great job but there was just something about seeing her walk in that gave me an added boost of strength to fight a few more contractions, having two encourager's was helpful. Plus my mom is a very peaceful person so she doesn't add stress she relieves it. They kept telling my that baby was really close but I didn't' want to believe them because I didn't want to start thinking we were almost done and then have to face hours more of those contractions. However we were close and my water bag broke and my nurse, who I didn't really care for and she didn't communicate very well with me, wanted me to start trying to push. The position she was trying to have me push from though was ridiculous and I kept telling her I can't push like this but she didn't really get what I was saying... and it was all happening really fast and she was trying to find out if the baby was going to come out so she wanted to check me and it was a little crazy... anyway... I started pushing and after two or three extremely painful long hard pushes the baby came out. It was fast. There were all of a sudden like 10 people in my room. There was some lady ( i think another nurse) who was next to me during my last hard push and really helped the baby be able to come out, she was able to get me in the right position. Anyway... Keira came out so fast that the Dr. who was across the hall didn't even make it over and my nurse technically delivered the baby. The Dr. walked in right after. So even if my Dr. would have been delivering me she wouldn't have made it. Keira came out so fast that she got bruising on her face and her eyes got smooshed (or something) and there is blood around her pupils (makes me sad when I look at it) the pediatrician said it will clear up but it could take a month... the bruising cleared really quickly but the blood still hasn't gone away... A few thing I am specifically thankful for, I didn't have a c-section, that may sound so random because there was never a reason I should have had to but I just had all these weird fears around 7 months pregnant that I was going to have to have one. I think there have just been a lot of people close to me that have recently had to have one. I prayed about that a lot and God did give me a peace about it but anyway... I am also thankful I didn't have to get an epidural because seriously the shot in the spin freaks me out!!! I did ask for some medicine at some point and the lady was like nope it is to late... I also didn't have the blood pressure cuff on the whole time, sounds simple and silly but it bugs me... and lastly and most importantly I am sooooo glad it is all over!!!! Labor is painful and hard work and something I think about constantly for 9 months of pregnancy.

To sum up my thoughts, Labor is crazy! You never really know what to expect, well some seriously intense pain, but other then that so much could go wrong and you can't really control any of it or like my labor it could go as smoothly as these things can. I am so thankful to realize I am not in control but a God who not only created my baby but sustains her life and mine every second is sovreingly guiding our lives. With out that realization I would be a lot more stressed about the whole process. I had to remind myself of that a lot when I was pregnant and just remember that I was not in control. We serve an Awesome GOD! I am so thankful and humbled that He gave me a healthy beautiful baby. It is very cool to be used of God to bring a living being into the world. Keira is a great baby so far and we are really enjoying her. And like Nick said unless my labor could be pain free it pretty much went as well as it could have.

So if you made it this far I am sorry I didn't put up a picture if I get the chance I will try to get them up tomorrow but I have to go to bed cause this momma is tired...