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Eagle Mountain, Utah, United States
My name is Lauren, and I live in the bubble. I am wife to Marshall, the biggest BYU fan in the world; and mother to Carly, our big girl, and Wes, our wild man, and Calvin, our new addition. I graduated BYU with a degree in Social Work, and I went forth to serve at LDS Family Services. I like scrapbooking and going out to eat at nice restaurants. I am fascinated by new cleaning products at the grocery store, so I have to shop in wide circles around the perimeter to avoid the temptation to buy. I love chocolate.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Welcome Calvin!

Calvin Steve Andrews. 11/9/11 @ 3:31pm. 8lbs 6oz. 19 inches long.  Welcome to our #3!




If you want the full story, keep reading!

I am usually induced.  We had an induction scheduled for this pregnancy too.  Living so far from family, I like being able to plan when grandmas will be here to help with childcare, not have to worry about Marshall rushing home from work, etc.  So we scheduled this newest addition to join our family right at 39 weeks.

Occasionally when considering my birth plan, I feel regret that I don't have enough nerve to let labor start on its own.  That I would never have that moment of "Grab the bags; let's go!"  Such a romantic vision of the traditional experience that women have gone through for ages.  But I'm too much of a control freak to set aside convenience for experience.

7pm on Tuesday my contractions started about 10 minutes apart.  Not painful, just noticeable. I start timing.

9pm- Still consistently spaced after 2 hours, starting to feel a little crampy.  Maybe 8 mins apart.  I call Marshall at work, and tell him that he doesn't need to come home or anything- just that I might possibly maybe be starting labor.

11pm- I call Marshall and let him know that they are still consistent and now more painful.  He tells me to lay down and not do anything else for a while and see if they slow down or go away.

12pm- I call Marsh and let him know that after laying down, they are now 7 or so minutes apart, and still painful.  For a 3rd birth, doctors like you to come to the hospital when you are 4-5 mins apart.  But Marshall was up in Salt Lake, and had to get approval to leave.  And then drive an hour home.  And we weren't sure how far I'd be by then.  So started getting ready to leave, and I called Russ to see if he could come over and stay with the kids.

1am- Marshall and I meet at the hospital.  He went to the hospital straight from work, and I drove myself there to meet him.  The contractions weren't so painful yet that I couldn't drive or talk through them.  The nurses hook me up to the monitors for an hour.

2am- Sure enough, my contractions are 7 minutes apart, but after an hour I'm still at 3cm with no change.  The contractions have changed though.  They are painful!  The kinda painful where you have to stop walking and bend over and hold onto the wall for a minute and concentrate in order to get through them in dignity.  But the nurses send me home.  Come back when they are 4-5 minutes apart, they tell me.  We walk out to the parking lot, me stopping every few minutes to concentrate, and we decide that I'm in no condition to drive myself home.  So we leave one car and head home.  Russ decides to stay over on our couch because who knows if/when we'll need to go back in.

I sleep the whole night in 7 minute blocks.  In the morning, the contractions are sooo painful!  Painful enough that I squirm in agony and have to moan through them.  But they're still only 7 minutes apart.

10am- After a while they are painful enough that I have to get up and walk, move, crawl, anything during them to try to find relief.

11am- Once I'm up and on my feet, they shoot to 4 minutes apart.  I tell Marshall that we're going back to the hospital.

11:30am- Since we only had one car, we had to take Russ and the kids with us to the hospital so they could have a car with car seats to get around for the day.  I am thoroughly traumatizing my kids by moaning loudly through my contractions.  THIS conversation ensues.  Love my kids!

12pm- at the hospital again.  They check me, and I'm at a 5!  They'll keep me!  Woohoo!!  I immediately ask for my epidural, thankyouverymuch, but I'm informed that I have to get an IV first, and then wait for my midwife to get there and check me herself, and then a couple bags of fluid in through the IV before they can call the anesthesiologist.

12:30pm- my IV is in, but the fluid is not emptying very fast out of that bag.  My contractions are too much to manage at this point.  I am sobbing through each one.  The nurse is trying to get me to breath through them, but I never took breathing classes!  I just get induced and get my epidural first before I feel any of the contractions!  The midwife isn't there yet, but they call her and she can probably hear me in the background, and she gives them the go-ahead to just do the epidural already.

1pm- anesthesiologist is present.  1 bag of fluid is in.

1:30pm- He places the epidural 3 times before he gets it in right.  I don't even care though as soon as I feel that warm dulling in my legs.  So happy!  I'm such a better patient when I'm not in pain.  I apologize to everyone present for the sobbing display they all just witnessed.  Everyone else is worried though, because my blood pressure is something ridiculous like 50 something over 30 something.  Obviously not correct, because I'm still conscious.  But they keep taking the blood pressure over and over again, make me roll to different sides, and keep asking me very seriously "you don't feel light headed??"  It rises slowly and finally gets to 85/60, and they call it good.  Apparently that's why you need 2 bags of fluid first.  Who knew?

2pm- Jennifer, our midwife arrives.  She comes in and checks me and I'm at 6cm, and my contractions have spaced back out to 6 minutes.  She breaks my water, and offers to give me some pitocin if I just want to get the show on the road.  I love me some pitocin, so I jump at the offer.

2:30pm- Pitocin is started.  Jennifer and I sit and chat for a while.

2:50pm- Jennifer talks to us about our birth plan, and Marshall starts getting prepped to help deliver the baby.  I love that she is so cool with letting Marshall be hands on with the medical stuff.  Some of the nurses have already scolded him to stop looking through cabinets, stop giving suggestions, and stop reading monitors.  Jennifer actually asks Marsh if he's ever checked cervical dilation and teaches him how!  Marshall gets to check and determine that I am now 9cm!

3:10pm- I can tell from the pressure that I'm complete and ready to push.  They start getting the room ready for delivery.

3:20pm- I'm told to start pushing when I feel ready, and so I do.  Only the midwife and the delivery nurse are present.  The team for the baby hasn't arrived yet.  I take a practice push, and he crowns!  Jennifer has me do a couple very small pushes and keep telling me to slow down and not push so hard.  She delivers the head and then lets Marshall step in and deliver the rest of baby Calvin.  I hear the nurse on the phone telling the pediatric team "the head is out!  Come in now!"

3:31pm- Calvin is born!  Marshall puts the baby up on my chest, where we rub him off, say hi, and Marshall cuts the cord!







Calvin is so cute!  He reminds me a lot of how Carly looked.  I think they have the same nose.

Russell brings the kids by to visit.  Wes easily recognizes that this is the baby we've been talking about for so long.  He can identify him by name and gives kisses if we ask him too.  But he's not all that impressed.  Carly, on the other hand, is just smitten.  She crawls up next to me on the bed and just stares at him.  She is so quiet and so gentle, and wants nothing more than to hold him.  She pays attention to every move he makes, every noise, and wants to know everything about him.





Marshall goes home with Carly and Wes for the night, while I get to snuggle Calvin all night in the hospital.

Today Londa, Kiernan and Kalen arrived from California and came by to meet the newest Andrews.





Friday afternoon we get discharged and should be home!

Having now actually gone into labor on my own, I have to say that the romantic idea is overrated.  Seriously, contractions are no fun.  And I suck at pain.  Getting sent home is no fun when you are in so much pain.  I'm glad I have had the 2 experiences to compare.  But I have to say that the excitement of surprise labor is so not worth it!  I think I'll stick to my controlled, calm inductions in the future if I can help it!

4 comments:

KarenOjai said...

Yeah Lauren! Welcome Calvin!! I can hardly wait to hold you in 1week, 1 day, 8 hrs, 25 minutes!!!!!

Maranda said...

Congratulations! I love it. All of it! I love the pictures and the story. I'm sorry you were in so much pain, but I'm glad you told your story because I think I'm the same as you. I thoroughly loved being induced and getting an epidural before feeling contractions. I'm happy to know that I don't have to feel bad about wanting that again. I'm happy he's here safe and everyone is happy and healthy. I still need to find out where you get your cute birthing shirts!

Kim said...

I love all the pictures! Welcome Calvin!! nothing better than a brand new baby. I want one! Okay...maybe not right now...:) Anyway, he is super cute. Can't wait to see him at an upcoming APBP meeting!

Megan C. said...

What a sweet baby! Congrats! And I totally agree that getting induced is the way to go. I went into labor naturally the first time and it was so painful and I was a mess by the end, despite the epidural. The second time was a breeze since I got induced, plus it helps with baby sitter planning. Enjoy your sweet little one!

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