Oh What a Day!

Dear Makels-
I want you to know the story of your birth!
A week before you came, I had an appointment with the doctor. They said you weren’t ready, but I had many contractions on the way home. That night, GG and I had our ANWA writing class and I had contractions the whole time. GG thought you might be coming, but I had a feeling you weren’t. The whole weekend I was contracting and Grandma Barnes thought you might be coming. I was uncomfortable, but I didn’t think you were ready. That Wednesday Brad and Katelin Barlow came over. I wasn’t very fun to be around because I was having lots of contractions. It seemed to be the norm, so I didn’t think anything of it.
Thursday morning I woke up around 6:00 with intense contractions. They were very strong, and I had to relax to get through them. They came every two minutes and all I could do was sit on the couch. Daddy had to be to work at 8:00, so he had to leave. GG was in Vegas helping Michelle with Russell. I tried calling her and she didn’t answer. This made me scared and I cried. I couldn’t cry for very long because the contractions would hit again and I would go limp in my attempts to concentrate. It was frustrating being alone and not knowing what to do. I called Daddy who said he would take me to the hospital if that was what I wanted. He knew what to do even less than I did. Grandma Barnes was at school, so not knowing who to call I called Grandpa Graves. He worked ten minutes away and said he would take me to the hospital.
Now I had options.
I thought I would just breathe through the contractions and they would go away. I didn’t want to go to the hospital because you hear stories of women who are sent back home. I called Aunt Erin who told me to go in. It seemed like forever that I sat there relaxing and breathing before I called Daddy to come home. He left work at 8:45. We got to the hospital at 11:00 and I was dilated to a 5.
I was determined to do this naturally and when I felt a surge coming, I thought I was handling it pretty well. It took forever to fill out the paperwork because I could only read a little bit before another surge would hit. All the nurses were very nice, except the one that kept coming in for the paper work.
“Your husband can sign for you!” she would scold me.
I wanted to know what I was signing. I didn’t want him to just sign away all of our rights. I didn’t have anyone experienced there to help me, to say ‘this one means this,’ and ‘this one you don’t want to sign because…” So I read every single line on every single paper.
Aunt Erin was in Clinton, so she decided to come and be with me. She was on her way when we finally got a hold of GG. She and Luci were on their way home, but still a few hours out.
Right before GG got there, the surges got really intense. I was dilated to a seven and my back had searing pain. I would try to relax, but it seemed too much. I would cry every time. I was so exhausted between that I didn’t want any company. We tried pushing on my back, pushing on my legs; we even tried the bath tub, which helped a lot. I was in the bathroom a lot and I couldn’t make it there and back without having at least two surges. It became too much and for an hour I asked for an epidural until Daddy and GG finally took me seriously.
Before the epidural we had the light off and music playing and everyone was whispering so not to upset me more. I had a hard time looking and talking to anyone because I was in so much pain and I was ornery and tired. Once I had the epidural, I was happy and it was great. No more pain! GG and Gramps, Grandma and Grandpa Barnes, Luci, Erin, Johnny and Nate all came in the room after and hung out. It was like a party. The epidural changed everything. I was happy and pain free, but I wasn’t progressing as fast. It was okay, because you still came relatively quick.
At around 7:00 the nurse kicked everyone out of the room. Daddy, GG, Grandma Barnes, Erin and Luci stayed in. I only pushed for maybe 30-40 minutes. The first thing we saw was a cute little tuft of hair. I couldn’t feel anything because I was numb, and you were ready to come out. The nurse went to get the doctor, and someone made me laugh. You started to pop out and a nurse said, “Stop laughing!” That made me laugh more and you popped out a little further. We could see a lot of long, dark hair.
Finally the doctor got there and with a couple more pushes you were out. I saw your cute little face and started to bawl. You were here. My little buddy for the last nine months finally had a face. You were beautiful! I instantly loved you! I couldn’t stop crying because I was overwhelmed with the love I had for you!
You were born at 8:01pm on May 20, 2010. You were 6lb. 9oz. and 18 inches long. You were two weeks early, and just on time.
That was the shortest day I ever remember. When I add up the hours, it doesn’t seem like it took that long, but it must have.
I’m glad you’re here!
I will love you for eternity!
-Mommy