Scott's birth story

Hi everyone!

Thank you Matt for putting up the previous post. It sure is nice to have access to a computer and the internet while we are in the hospital!!

If I had to sum up my whole experience in one word it would be: INTENSE

But luckily I get more than one word to tell my story. :)

Matt and I got to the hospital at 9:00am on Saturday. We walked right up to labor and delivery and into our room. We got ourselves situated and then the process began. Up until this point I hadn't noticed any contractions, but once the nurse put the monitor on me she said that I was already having contractions. My response was "THAT is a contraction???" HA! Obviously, this was just the beginning! The IV was started and we were on our way!

I think I did pretty well, we took things nice and slow. After about 10 hours I asked for some pain medication. I wasn't quite ready for an epidural, so we just did some pain killers. It was really funny! I started acting a little, well...drugged. Although I was fully aware of what was going on, I somehow found everything to be a little more interesting then it actually was. I think I kept Matt entertained for awhile.

I made it to 1 am, and was having such a hard time staying in relaxed. I did a lot of breathing, a lot of visualization, and a lot of squeezing Matt's hand! So, it was finally time to get the epidural. The epidural was really easy, it wasn't bad at all, except for trying to breathe through contractions while it was happening. The only problem we had was that the anesthesiologist was not exactly a super friendly person. She walked in and started just barking orders to the nurse and didn't even try to talk to me, other than telling me what she was doing and what to expect. Oh well, I guess no one really wants to be working at 1 am.

So, the epidural took effect and all was well! We tried to get some sleep after that. I actually had a tough time sleeping because every sound I heard made me think that someone was coming into the room to check on me. Matt had a hard time sleeping because he was freezing cold! So, needless to say we didn't have a very restful evening, even though I wasn't feeling any pain.

The next morning I got checked and I was still only about 7 cm dilated. Finally around 24 hours of labor the doctors started talking C-section. It certainly wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear, but things just weren't progressing very well. They were willing to wait and see if I could dilate all the way...so we waited. After being stuck at 9 cm for a few hours we just decided to go for the C-section. There was also suspicion that the baby might be too big. At this point my body was so exhausted I didn't really care how the baby came out, just as long as he came out!

They wheeled me into the operating room and I was practically asleep from being so tired. They prepped me for surgery and brought Matt in. Matt was allowed to watch, but he didn't really want to see me being cut open so he just sat by my side and waited with me to finally meet our little boy. The surgery went very quickly, and Scott was born at 12:26pm (after about 27 hours of labor). The only part of it that I felt was when the doctor had to push the baby out of my pelvis, which caused gas to move up through my chest into my shoulders. It was like a Charlie Horse for my shoulders.

They brought out the baby and the two things that they noticed first was 1. his size, and 2. his red hair! They held up my boy for me to see, and I got to kind of watch while Matt cut the umbilical cord. When they brought Scott over for me to meet him I just was so happy. All the exhaustion didn't matter. I gave my son a kiss and they took their time letting me see him.

While they finished stitching me up Matt went with the baby. They came back and announced his weight, 9 lbs 10 oz! WOW! That wasn't expected, no wonder he wasn't coming out! At this point I started sleeping again. I couldn't keep my eyes open at all. But it was over, and our family had grown from 2 to 3.

We stayed at the hospital until Wednesday. I had great nurses taking care of me. I got up and started walking the next day. We had plenty of visitors. Our families and a few friends came. Our little Scott, in spite of the red hair, has a very mild temperament. We had one very bad night where the baby just wouldn't sleep. All he wanted to do was suck. I figured he was just so hungry so I kept nursing him. Finally it dawned on me that this little boy just enjoyed suckling, so my wonderful sister went out for us to get us a variety of pacifiers, and they have really been a life (and nipple) saver!

The rest of our stay at the hospital was as enjoyable as a stay at a hospital could be. We worked on nursing, swaddling, rocking, walking (for me), and counting poopie and wet diapers. There were two times Matt and I accidentally set off the alarms as I walked the halls with the baby. I got a little too close to the exits and the baby's ankle bracelet set off the alarms. It was a little embarrassing, especially since the hospital security had to come and check out the situation both times. Naughty me!

My labor and delivery ended up being such a different experience than what I had thought it could have been. But I would do it all over again in a heartbeat for my son! He is so perfect to me. I sit with him all throughout the day and just marvel at his beautiful face. It is so amazing to think that not too long ago his sweet spirit was with our Heavenly Father, and now here he is! He is my everything! I LOVE to see the way his daddy looks at him. There is such a different love felt in our home now. He makes us so happy in every way, and words cannot describe how much we love him. He truly is our joy, especially at this time of year. At a time when we have to really reflect on our blessings, he will always be our most cherished blessing.

I have a lot future posting to do now! Hopefully I will be able to keep up as an excited first time parent. For example, he got his first bath today! It was sooo cute! Sorry, no pictures...I had to keep my hands on the baby. :)

Thank you all for all your nice comments for the pictures previously posted. I hope I can post many more.

Scott James W.
Born December 14th at 12:26pm
9 lbs, 10 oz
20 inches long
And the love of his parents' hearts!