Our Baby Story

I think that it is about time that I sit down and finally write this out. I feel like I have told this story about a million times, but I love it even more each time I tell it. So here is the story of how Miss Caroline Grace Tryon made her joyful entrance into this world.

On December 29th I went in for my 1st weekly check and I was 2cm and 50% effaced. On Wednesday, January 6th I went in and I was still 2cm and 50% effaced. The first week everyone flipped out and thought we were going to be having that baby really soon. When I was still the same a week later people started cooling their jets and thought that I had stalled out. That whole week I had been waking up really early in the morning and was not able to fall back asleep. Tuesday and Wednesday I woke up at 5AM and Thursday morning I woke up at 4AM. They say that is a sign of oncoming labor. I was really hoping so, because I was starting to get really tired. The following night (Thursday) D and I went to bed early like 8:30PM. I figured if I was going to be up at 4AM on Friday that I might as well go to bed early. Little did I know what was really in store for me.

Thursday, Jan 7 11:30 PM- I woke up with a lot of pressure in the downward direction. I was having problems getting comfortable in bed, because I felt like I had a head between my legs, which of course I did kind of. Went back to sleep eventually.

Friday, Jan 8 2:30 AM- Woke up feeling a little wet, went to the bathroom. Water gushed, contractions were starting. Went back to bed.

Friday, Jan 8 3:30 AM-Went to the bathroom again, water gushed, still having contractions. Went back to bed. At this point, I didn't think that my water had broken, but it had. My contractions were regular, just like they had been in the past. They weren't terribly strong, but were uncomfortable.

Friday, Jan 9 4 AM- Dusten finally decides there is no point in trying to sleep with a moaning wife. He gets up and starts doing things around the house. Packs last minute hospital stuff, takes a shower, eats breakfast, starts moving baby furniture (for carpet being laid on monday). I am timing contractions between 2 and 4 minutes apart. They are very steady, but not really getting stronger. I'm still thinking they will go away like they always did before. I started feeling guilty about keeping D up all night, because I am still thinking that we will both be going to work.

Friday, Jan 9 6:45 AM-We start making phone calls. I told Dusten to call the birthing center at the hospital to see if we should call the doctor. They say we should call. We call Dr Blake, he says meet me at the hospital. We call my mom and put her on standby. She starts pacing the house.

Friday, Jan 9 7:20 AM- Arrive at the hospital. Dusten drops me off at the front door and starts bringing in the suitcase and pillows. I told him to leave it in the car, we didn't even know if we would be staying at the hospital. I thought they would probably send us home. We get to the testing room and they hook me up to the monitors and check me. 5cm 95% effaced and she verified that my water had broken. She yelled out the door "We need a room....now!" They wheel me down to the open room and Dusten tries to wrangle the suitcase and other necessities. At the same time the doc comes up the elevator and rolls my suitcase into the room. "What service!" My mom had planned a baby shower for me on Sunday the 10th and I was planning to go to Terre Haute on Sunday morning. Dusten told the doc this on their way down the hall and so he comes in and says, "I hear you were going to sneak off to Terre Haute this weekend." Yep I sure was. I don't know for sure the timing in between here and her being born, but I know that the entire time I was in labor I kept having to go to the bathroom, which makes sense given that everything in your body is pushing down and out. I got to 6 or 7 cm and went to the bathroom and then I started having really bad contractions. I did it for about 20 minutes and then finally screamed for the epidural. Tammy, our wonderful nurse, checked me to see if I had enough time to get it and I was 7-8, so she called for the epidural. I had a couple more contractions and then had to go to the bathroom again. While I was in there I felt like I had to push. Dusten was sitting there with me and was bug eyed and was telling me not to push of course. When we came out the anethesiologist was there and said, "If you feel like you have to push, then she better check you again, because I cannot let you have this baby while I'm giving you an epidural." So she comes to check me again. (Mind you this is like the 3rd time in less than an hour) and she yells "call the doctor!" So Tammy and Dusten start pushing the call buttons to get the doctor (it's probably around 9:15AM now. Then things started falling out of the ceiling. Lights and tables and plastic and baby warmers started coming out from everywhere. A couple minutes later the doc arrives, gives me a local, and we pushed for about 10 minutes and she was here! The first push I didn't give much effort, because I thought it might hurt, and I didn't know what to expect. I asked Dr Blake if I was a wimpy pusher, and he said, "yea, kind of", so then I got down to business and 3 or 4 contractions later she was here!

Now let me just say that when people tell you about how painful it is to have a baby they usually just tell you about the labor part. No one really tells you how painful it is for the 3 days after you have a baby. It hurt to move. It hurt to walk, roll over in bed, sit or anything else that requires movement. It wasn't too bad as long as I stayed in one place. I found out later that it was likely she had bruised my tailbone coming out and that was likely part of the reason.

But I am amazed at how easy it was to create a person! I was miserable for a majority of my pregnancy, but add it all together, and I would do it a thousand times over. It was so amazing.

I went into the labor really hoping that I would be able to do it drug free. The closer and closer I got to having her, the less confident I was that I would actually be able to do it. I had been reading a book about the Bradley method but hadn't been able to finish it before she was born. The book also is just introductory for the 12 weeks of classes and additional exercises that were supposed to be done. I was hoping that the labor would go just as it did. Fast enough that I wouldn't have time for the epidural when I finally decided I wanted it. And it did. I was glad, because once he left the room, I really didn't feel any pain and that was before Dr Blake gave me the local. At that point I could hardly even feel the contractions, so I didn't even really know when to push. But it went beautifully. Dusten started crying before she was even all the way out. But you can listen to his whimpers on the video he posted.

She has been a really good baby. She eats every 3-4 hours and sleeps most of the time. So far she hasn't been awake in the middle of the night. The days seem to go by so fast. I feel like all I do is feed her, but I enjoy it. I think she is so pretty when she is nursing. We had her newborn pictures taken when she was 1 week old (her umbilical cord came off during the shoot) and we got a couple pictures of her nursing. They are all really good pictures, I don't know how we will decide which ones to get.

I meant to take one last belly picture, because I think my last one was like 34 weeks, but that didn't even cross my mind. So this is the closest thing I have. This is D and I 2 days before delivery:

I probably left a ton of details out, but I want to get this post up!! I have been working on it for a week!