I have to start of by saying this pregnancy had been so different from the start than my other 2. I had almost no morning sickness this pregnancy, to the point I really didn't think the pregnancy was viable. I had WAY more heartburn, and my ribs hurt even more then my other 2 pregnancies. I didn't have the constant BH contractions that I'd had with the other boys, and I felt like I gained weight and carried the weight I gained differently. In short, just a very different pregnancy. All of this probably should have prepared me for a very different labor/delivery as well...
Tuesday Jan 31 - Mom flew in! I was SO excited to have her here, and really hoping Karl would come soon so I could have as much time as possible with Mom AND Karl here at the same time.
Wednesday Feb 1 - Had an appointment with the midwives, the midwife that day was Dustie, not my favorite one, she checked me and told me I was barely a 2, and baby was still at -2, so kind of high... She said she would try stripping my membranes to see if that would get anything started. We took Duncan to preschool and ran some errands, but I felt pretty discouraged that whole day, and went to bed early crying.
Thursday Feb 2 - My due date. Jeff had been 10 days early, Duncan 5, so I'd never made it to my due date before. Grant's Aunt's birthday (his dad's only sister) is Feb 2, so Grant's dad was really hoping I'd have the baby Feb 2, so I woke up feeling a little sad because it didn't look like that was going to happen. For scripture reading that morning I picked up my Nov '11 Ensign and flipped through the talks just reading things I'd highlighted in the past.
When I got to Elder Uchtdorf's talk "You Matter To Him" I read the story of when he was in army training in Texas feeling very alone and discouraged. Then he said "What mattered to Him was that I was doing the best I could, that my heart was inclined toward Him, and I was willing to help those around me. I knew if I did the best I could, all would be well.
And all was well"
When I read that I felt peace that all was going to be well, and I just needed to do the best I could to stay positive. That day we ran more errands and did a few projects around the house, and early in the day I started to notice I was having pretty consistent contractions, more "real" feeling than my BH contractions had been before then. But they were staying pretty consistent around 5-10 min apart, and weren't increasing in intensity or closeness, so I did my best to ignore them.
By late in the afternoon they were still the same, but because they hadn't changed or gone away I told Grant about them, and he was hopeful they would progress and we would be going to the hospital later that day/evening. But by bed time they were still exactly the same as they had been all day... So I went to bed hoping I could sleep through them. For the most part I was successful, I woke up to them a few times, but each time was able to go back to sleep pretty easily.
Friday Feb 3
3:45 AM - I woke up to my water breaking, which was a shock, since my water had never really broken with Jefferson and Duncan until just before they were born. I woke up Grant kind of frantically, and we decided to head to the hospital so they could start the IV for the antibiotics since I was Group B strep positive this pregnancy. After we started driving there was some confusion as I'd forgotten to get the number I was supposed to call, but we finally got it all worked out and woke up the midwife on call and told her we were on our way to the hospital, and she said she'd meet us there but would get there after us.
4:30 AM - We get to the hospital and fill out admission paperwork and wait in the waiting room. All this time I'm having contractions every 5 minutes that I can't talk through, but I'm still able to handle them pretty well.
5:15 AM - They finally come and take us back to a room, where the midwife meets us. It was Tara who was on call, which I was happy about, I like her. They have me change into a hospital gown and hook up the contraction monitors, and then the midwife checks me - almost 4 cm, he's still high, at -2 station.
I immediately feel very discouraged. Both my boys I was already 6-7 cm by the time I got to the hospital, and it was still hours before they were born. I'd been 4 cm and +2 with Duncan 24 hours before I even went into labor. So I'm feeling stupid for coming to the hospital so early, and waking the midwife up when I'll probably still be in labor for a day, but then the midwife says something doesn't feel right and she wants to do an ultrasound.
They pull in the ultrasound machine, and it takes 10 min or so to turn on, and then she looks at the baby - he's breech. I couldn't believe it. They hadn't done any ultrasounds since my 20 week one, but the midwives had always thought he'd been head down feeling his position from the outside, and both Jefferson and Duncan had been head down from like 32 weeks on (I had later ultrasounds with both of them), and I'd just assumed this baby had been too. The midwife said the OB they work with was already at the hospital, he was with a patient that they were waiting for her to be ready to deliver, and she would go check with him, but at this point I was going to be having a c-section.
I was... I don't know. Stunned? I guess I knew in the back of my head that things can always go wrong during labor, and a c-section was a possibility, but I never really thought I would actually have one. I started crying, mostly just trying to process it all I think. Tara was great, and sat with me, and talked me through how it would all go. She asked if I wanted to get an epidural then so I didn't have to deal with the contractions anymore, or if I felt I could wait and get a spinal at the surgery. They said a spinal is preferred, and I was handling the contractions pretty well, so I said I would wait. She said if they could get me in surgery by 6/6:15 they would do the c-section then, if not I'd have to wait until after shift change at 7:00, and it would be at like 7:30. I hoped and prayed that they would be able to get me in soon, because I wanted it to be over with and have my baby as soon as possible.
But I should say at this point that even though I was kind of emotional and crying, when she told me that I was going to be having a c-section, once again the quote came to mind "And all was well", and I knew that a c-section was the right answer for us, and everything was going to be okay.
6:15 AM - The OB's other patient was progressing slower than they originally thought, so the OB decided he could do my surgery before she was ready to deliver, so everything started to happen really quickly. The anesthesiologist came in and explained the spinal to me and had me sign the consent papers for that. Then they came and wheeled me into the OR, and I climbed up on the table and he put in the spinal. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, I think I had prepared my mind for horrible pain, and it really wasn't awful. Then I laid down and they put up the drape and began prepping for the surgery. I was amazed at how quickly I felt numb it seemed almost immediate from when he put the spinal in. They brought Grant in, and within a couple minutes we heard a cry, and Karl was here!
We didn't have our camera in the OR, so this fuzzy one from Grant's cell phone is the only picture we have
They took him over to the warming table, and Grant went over and watched them weigh him (8 pounds even, 21 inches long) and get him wrapped up in a blanket, then they brought him over to me. I don't think I cried when my other boys were born, but for some reason I started crying, and Tara helped me hold him and I just kissed his head and cried, I was so happy he was here and healthy. I started to feel sick from the stuff in my IV I guess, so Grant took him back until I was done with surgery.
7:00 AM - They wheeled us into recovery, and a lady came who helped me get Karl latched on and nursing, and he nursed for a good 20 minutes, then fell asleep, then the head nursery lady came in and did all the infant care stuff right there by my bed. Then they wheeled us up to our "mother and baby suite" where we stayed for the rest the time at the hospital. I couldn't believe it was over, and I already had a baby in my arms, it all felt like it went so quickly. The c-section wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be either. The "pressure and tugging" they told me I'd feel was very weird, but not horrible, and it was all over pretty quickly.
The first 2 days of recovery were not fun, I felt so... damaged? I just felt like I'd never be able to move without hurting again, I'm something of a drama queen sometimes, ha ha. But I started to feel better pretty quickly, they let me go home Sunday, and by Monday I was just taking regular ibuprofen and feeling pretty okay as long as I took it easy.
Meeting his brothers, this was probably the height of my misery, I was so itchy from the medicine in the spinal, so my face was all blotchy from scratching it, and I was so puffy and swollen from all the IV fluids, so ignore the sick looking lady in the background
Overall I feel really blessed in how everything turned out, and I can truly look back
on the experience and say "And all was well". Even though I was very
anxious about him coming so "late", with having a c-section I'm so glad
he came after my mom was here, because I really needed the extra help.
And even though a c-section wasn't what I was hoping or planning for, I
feel like it was the right answer for getting Karl here safely, and it
went very smoothly and I'm recovering really well. Alright, this has taken me forever to get written, so I'm just going to finish with this picture of the little man himself:
baby Karl, 3 days old
