If you don't want to be here for the long haul, turn back now. Exit the page, 'cause this is going to be a novel of a post.
Wednesday, October 8th 2014
At that time, eleven months ago, Dallin was working eight to noon at one job, and then two to eleven at his second job (we really felt like we never saw each other). 10 pm rolled around and I was dying to crawl into bed. I was so physically and mentally exhausted, and I knew that Dallin was as well. I was awake waiting for him to call me to go give him a ride home from work.
I was standing next to our bed folding laundry when I peed my pants. Literally soaked them, weird things happen to you when you're pregnant. I stared down at myself in complete disbelief. I hadn't felt like I needed to pee. But as I was standing there staring at myself completely confused, I felt another huge gush. I was absolutely terrified, seriously let me use caps here, I was TERRIFIED as I realized that was not pee. My water had broken.
I called Dallin in hysterics, trembling something fierce. I told him my water broken and that I didn't know what to do. He freaked out, obviously. He called our friend Matt, who thankfully was available to pick him up from work (thanks Bennions!). He got home ridiculously fast and we both had a mini panic session.
I was not prepared to have this baby, I hadn't even unpacked the bassinet, hadn't washed or sorted clothes, hadn't set up the dresser, hadn't even packed a hospital bag. My due date was Halloween, I thought I had three more weeks to do all that nesting stuff. I have mentioned in my "abortion" post (the one just below this one) that Dallin and I had planned on waiting a little while to have kids, so even emotionally I was not ready for this.
While I called our doctor and our mothers, Dallin packed up stuff to take to the hospital with us. I am grateful that guy is all mine. After everything was packed we were like "Well... ready or not!"
We headed up to the hospital, emergency room entrance, it's past 11 pm by now. They got us all checked in and called up to Labor and Delivery to have someone come down and get us. They wheeled me up in a wheelchair and I felt so pampered. We got into our room, I changed into the hospital gown and then got all cozy in my hospital bed. The nurses (one of which was totally a former classmate of mine!) gave me an IV. Honestly I think I had been more scared of getting that stupid IV, than of actually delivering a baby! But it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be..
After we got all settled in, our friends Damon and Jamie came up to visit us. Dallin and Damon gave me a Priesthood blessing, to help calm me down and to bless me and Hyrum that all would go well through the delivery. They brought Dallin food and goodies, and then visited with us for an hour or two. They even ran to our house for us to grab our SD card for our camera, that we had forgotten. It was so good to have good friends there to help take our minds off the stress we were feeling.
As I had not started having contractions yet, the nurses gave me pitocin to help jump start labor. After the Chlarson's left Dallin and I decided to sleep while we could. We both got some good sleep. At 6 am the shift changed and we got a new nurse, the nurse was my moms age and was very sweet and motherly to me. At 7 am I started having contractions. They didn't come gradually, because of the pitocin they came in full force. Ow. I laid in bed trembling, and crying in so much pain. Dallin was asleep through the first few contractions, but then I couldn't handle the pain by myself, so I woke him up. He held my hands and coached me through the next contractions. When the nurse came to check on me she asked if I wanted the epidural, I said yes please (I have no regrets there). A short while later the guy came to give me the epidural, he had me sit on the edge of the bed, and Dallin sat in a chair in front of me to keep me calm. Because you can't move while receiving the epidural, I was so scared that I was going to have a contraction at the wrong time and that I wouldn't be able to keep from doubling over. Apparently the needle for an epidural is quite long, and when they asked if I wanted to see it, I declined, but remember Dallin is in front of me facing the guy delivering it. When they pulled the needle out Dallin's mouth dropped open, literally. Totally not reassuring! I had to look at it after that. But anyway, he managed to stick me with the epidural in between contractions, and all went well.
Once that kicked in I started feeling real good, real good, and Dallin and I went back to sleep. We kept waking up periodically as the nurses kept coming in to check my dilatation.
[Unfortunately, I wrote most of this blog post months ago.. and am just coming back to finish it up, eleven months later - the rest is really hazy so it will be a lot less detailed, maybe that's a good thing though. Ha.]
Around 10:26 am, I was eating ice chips (so unsatisfying!) and dilated to a 5.
12:28 pm, nurse can feel babies head. Dilated to a 6, and 90% effaced.
1:37 pm, dilated to a 10, we could see his head, what an exciting/crazy feeling.
I must have been pushing at this point, cause I remember I pushed for two hours straight. I had the nurse put a mirror in front of me, so I could watch. For a long time we could see Hyrum's head and I was pushing so so so hard, but he just wouldn't budge. That was such a distressing feeling.
But finally at 3:02 pm Hyrum was born. He was 5 lbs 2 oz, and PERFECT with huge blue eyes. Dallin and I were in awe at birth. It was seriously AWESOME, I remember saying I couldn't wait to do that again. And I meant it. It was an amazing experience that I am glad I got to go through with Dallin. We went into the hospital feeling terrified and unprepared, but it turned out to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I love reflecting on it. And I LOVE hearing other people's birth stories.
Here - you read so much, enjoy some pictures now.
