From the Jar

My friend Clancy got a "journal jar" in high school and has finally decided to pull out one of the different journaling topics every Wednesday and blog about it. I am going join Clancy in answering these questions and journaling a bit every Wednesday. I invite each of you to do so as well, if you so desire.

WARNING: This is very long and mostly for my own sake!

First topic (actually last week's):

Tell about the birth of your children. If you haven't yet had children, tell what you know about your own birth.

Hazel:

Hazel was born 10 days before her due date. Nels and I had gone on a walk the night before and when we came back to our little apartment we sat down at the computer to do . . . I don't remember. :) As we were sitting there, I noticed that I'd started to have some very small "contractions" about 5 - 6 minutes apart. (I put this in quotes because I wasn't even sure that's what was happening.) Being 12 days before my due date, I didn't want to get overly excited, so I didn't say anything to Nels that night and we went to bed.

The next morning I noticed that I was still having them and decided that I should probably say something to Nels before he headed off to school for the day. (He was kind of annoyed that I didn't tell him the night before.) He called me at about noon - still coming 5 minutes apart - so he came home. Called the doctor and went into his office at about 3. He told us I was definitely in labor and to wait 2-3 hours and head to the hospital.

Got there at 6, just as my contractions were starting to be a little painful, and the midwife came in to break my water about 5 minutes after we got into the room. This was kind of scary, considering I had no idea what was going on! I really wasn't sure if I wanted an epidural or not, so I decided to wait. Nels and I walked around the floor for several hours. Looking back, I'm glad that I didn't choose to have an epidural the second I walked in the door. I had wanted to really have the chance to "experience" labor and KNOW that I needed it when I did. By about 11 I definitely had decided that I was ready and had dilated to about a 7 or 8. As the anesthesiologist went through risk factors, I started to think that maybe this wasn't such a good idea --- I really HATE the thought of needles going into sensitive areas of my body --- then another contraction came and I didn't care if I could die or be paralyzed anymore.

My parents showed up just about the time they were giving me the epidural. I was then able to relax and visit for a few hours with my parents and Melyni (Nels' youngest sister who was also living in Rexburg at the time). Hazel Alice was born at 2:41 AM after pushing for about 45 minutes or so. She was so beautiful and perfect. She was SO alert. As I held her she just sat quietly looking around with big, wide eyes. Staring at me and her daddy.

I was so thankful that my parents had been able to come! My mom was in Nursing school at the time at the University of Utah and shortly after Hazel was born, they got back in the car and headed back home so my mom could make it to class the next morning! :)

Lilie:

Lilie was also born early. 13 days. Two weeks before my due date, I took Hazel for a walk across town to the park. I honestly was NOT trying to go into labor. With a 17 month old, I remembered all to well what it was like to have a new baby and I WAS NOT ready. As we sat down to dinner that evening, my back started to ache. Nels told me to go take a bath while he got Hazel ready for bed, so, of course, I did. While laying in the bath, I had a revelation and started timing the distance between "aches". Five minutes.

We had moved into the trailer where we were living 6 months before and had been using the extra bedroom as storage. I had been planning to clean it out that weekend. Needless to say, we started cleaning it up as quickly as we could. Went to sleep that night and didn't sleep well at all. I had first been frustrated that I was having contractions - as I didn't feel prepared - but once we started, I definitely didn't want them to stop! (8 1/2 months of pregnancy will do that to a person!) By the next morning, my fear was realized and my contractions had all but stopped. I would have an occasional one every hour or so. I was so frustrated! Throughout the day they fluctuated between being about 10 minutes apart and 2 hours. Finally around 10 or so, they started to be more regular and we headed to the hospital. I was SO WORRIED that they were going to stop again and send me home - which they almost did until they realized that I was dilated to a 5 and the doctor was merciful.

We got all checked in by about 11, got the epidural at about 2 and fell asleep for about 2 hours. I woke up and told the nurse that I thought she probably should check me. She said that I was doing good and she'd check the next time she came in. --- I called her back in within 10 minutes and told her that she REALLY needed to check me. She did and got frantic, "Oh my! The baby's RIGHT THERE!" DUH! That's why I told you earlier. Doctors and nurses rushed around like crazy to get ready. Two pushes later, Lilie Jane entered the world at 4:45 am. The doctor laughed as she was being born, saying that she was the first baby he'd delivered that he could have braided her hair before she was even born! She had SO much pretty, blonde, wild hair!

Elsie:

This is so weird. I was sure that I had chronicled Elsie's birth in my blog after she was born . . . I could swear I did. Regardless, I can't find it and am recording it now!

Elsie Marie was born one week before her due date. I know I should be grateful that all three of my children were born early, but with Elsie, she teased me for more than a month before - so it didn't FEEL like she was early. For the last two months of my pregnancy I would regularly have contractions every 5 - 10 minutes apart that would last for about an hour or two and then disappear. I honestly felt like I was losing my mind! At my appointments I was never dilated to more than a 2. (At about 32 weeks I had woke up having hard contractions ever 3 - 5 minute. They eventually went away after about 3 hours. Several weeks later the same thing happened again and we actually ended up going to the hospital to make sure everything was okay, only to have the contractions stop the moment I stepped through the doors.)

Finally, two days after Hazel's 4th birthday, I had a checkup and that sweet doctor stripped my membranes. I started having some nice, strong, consistent contractions within an hour. I took the girls over to the park and walked and walked and walked about 3 miles. The entire time I was walking I had nice, painful contractions 3 - 5 minutes apart. We called Nels and we went out to dinner at Bajio - still having good contractions. Called Melyni and Alma at about 7:30. Drove to back to Rexburg. During the drive, they slowed down a little bit, so before we checked in, we went to the park and walked for another 45 minutes or so. Finally checked in, got hooked up to their stupid little monitor and they slowed down again. The nurse sat and looked at me like I was an idiot. Lovely. About the time she was starting to lose faith in me, I started back up and they FINALLY got me into a room at about 10.

I got an epidural at about 11 or so. At 12 I started to feel like my epidural wasn't working very well. They came in and turned it up a few minutes later. It didn't help. By 12:30 I told the nurse that I was in a lot of pain. I'm pretty sure by that point it wasn't working at all and Elsie was coming, NOW! After crawling up the bed and battling with the desire to push and have it over with and the fear of the pain, I braved up and Elsie was born at 12:55.

Such a sweet little thing. The only time I heard her cry during her entire birth was when they gave her a bath. From the very beginning she was so calm.