I have no idea what I even did the previous evening but it was my last as a mom of one. At 4 am on August 26th my labor began. I only had back labor with Lainey so I was nervous that I may not know when the real contractions started vs having the Braxton hicks. Lainey had actually just snuck into our bed to snuggle when the first contraction made its appearance. As she snuggled in under the covers next to Daddy (he just snoozed away) I snuck out of our bed and into hers. I laid there for about 10 minutes and then decided yep this is for real. I proceeded to clean stuff up around the house- dishes, laundry, etc. I figured staying occupied would help. My pain tolerance is about zip so every time a contraction would come I felt like I was dying. Around 6:30 am I decided to start timing and writing down each contraction. Another worry I had was when do I know it's time to go to the hospital. Even though this was not my first rodeo I was still very anxious about certain things. Their was absolutely no reason to believe things would go exactly the same as with Lainey. The contractions were consistently 10 minutes apart. After timing them for about an hour or so I contacted Sylvia my midwife. We discussed a few things and then determined when I should head to hospital. We live over an hour away from the hospital so did not want until last minute to go that direction. Better to be safe and go earlier than too late. Rhett woke up and after learning what was going on he decided to get a few chores on the farm taken care of. I contacted my Mom aka Grandma Gina and soon she made her way over. When we left our house Lainey was still sleeping. Our firstborn, the one that made us parents, soon to be big sister, just sleeping the morning away. The drive wasn't horrible and around 10 am we arrived in Shiloh at Memorial East hospital.
So many emotions and questions running through ones mind. Is today the day this baby is going to make his arrival, I wonder how dilated I am, will they keep me oh gosh they better keep me......I was praying that I would be further along than a 1 like I had been at Drs appointment previous day. The contractions were still about 10 min apart and occasionally 7 minute stretches passed as well. After getting checked in to a room, several questions, the nurse seeing how dilated I was (at a 3 & 80% effaced), and Sylvia being updated with my status it was determined I would be staying! Thank the lord because if they would've said you need to go home and come back when contractions are closer together I would've been so upset. I was able to eat lunch- a grilled cheese and some bland ass chicken noodle soup. I was so thankful for this because I had not eaten since 6 am a peanut butter sandwich. When having the back labor for two days at home with my first pregnancy I literally did not eat for a long time. Food was the last thing on my radar. This time though I guess with the long enough stretch of time between contractions I was totally able to eat. Sylvia made the comment, "You would not want to run a marathon without eating first." I completely agree too. That grilled cheese held me over until about 930 that evening. At 1 pm I was dilated to a 4 and had a bulging sac of water. My membranes were then stripped. I was totally ready for that epidural so that process started around 130. That was almost the worst part of entire labor process. Sitting in that hunched over position is so uncomfortable when you have big boobs and my hair was down so it was draped over my face. I kind of felt like cousin it. By 2:30 the epidural was in full effect and Sylvia broke my water. At 3:00 dilated to a 5 and at 5:30 dilated to a 7. I just laid in bed in my epidural glory texting all my people with updates on my progress. My epidural with Lainey pretty much sucked compared to this one. This time I was so numb I was afraid I wouldn't even be able to push at all. I like being informed of what's going on so the entire time I was on fetal monitor or when they took my vitals I was constantly asking how everything was. I'm not particularly prob the greatest patient. I am used to being on the opposite side working in the medical field. The next time Sylvia checked me she said oh your crowning. Holy crap!!! I had no clue that things had progressed to that point. Rhett was the official photographer this time around. He was able to capture the moment of me reaching over and helping to pull out our sweet baby boy. After about 6 pushes our son entered this world at 6:12 pm on August 26th 2016. He immediately was placed on my chest for mommy snuggles. Our perfect beautiful baby boy.
I got to cut the umbilical cord which was great because Rhett got to for Lainey. I was so anxious to know his weight and height. Rhett announced it to me 6 lbs 15 oz which just so happened to be exactly what Lainey weighed at birth.
-My amazing midwife Sylvia-
My Mom said Lainey was extremely excited all day about her little brother coming. Rhett went out to get her from the waiting room as I eagerly anticipated her coming in. I made it a point that I was not holding the baby when she came in. When she came in the room I was able to hold her immediately and she hopped up into my lap. As I introduced her to the tiny little human that was now such a huge part of her life-that moment was utterly priceless. The look on her face was so precious. Sorry Mom that we didn't allow you to be in the room to get a picture. The first wonderful memory of our now family of 4.
Eventually everyone left and I was happy to see a nice hot hot shower. The first evening was a bit rough. I pretty much had zero sleep. Before I fed the baby every single time (for the first 12 hours of his life) they had to prick his little heel to check his blood sugar. It had to do with my blood type/his blood type and the combination of it. They also checked his bilirubin all 3 days we were there which equaled more sticks. I was ready to go home pronto. Plus they want you to document how long you nurse and which side blah blah blah. Being at home is just so much better for both Mom & baby. Saturday we had more visitors Aunt Erin, friends Allie & Alicia, Uncle Alex, Grandpa Phegley, and my Mom/Lainey/Jaimee came back too. Rhett took a little time to leave the hospital while I tried to nap and baby got circumcised. I don't even remember when we officially decided on name but it was some point on Saturday. Years ago long before kids were even on our radar we discovered the name Everett. We had traveled to Tennessee to purchase a sprayer. The man we purchased it from was named Brandon Everett. Also the Grandpa (with his southern drawl) asked us if Rhett's name was short for Everett. Ever since it is a name that we both liked. It means strong & brave. I also like that it is similar to Rhett but yet not a jr. I think it's absolutely perfect for our little guy. Choosing a name is hard but once we decided for both kids the names just seemed so right.
Comparison Lainey & Everett
A lot of people have said they think he looks like her.
Sunday we were allowed to go home. Yay!! We got out of there around noon which put us at hospital almost exactly 48 hours. Other than a nagging headache physically I felt really good. This labor & birth was much easier than with Lainey. We were all ready to get home and get settled in.
I know I shared the newborn pictures we took on facebook already but I had to make a video too. When I first heard this song it made me cry and I immediately liked it. I honestly had no idea what godspeed meant so I googled it.
Godspeed may refer to:
- An expression of good wishes or good luck to a departing person or a person beginning a journey.
Birth Session Video Link
