The next two contractions that followed were again stronger than the ones I had previously experienced, but a little inconsistent with timing, coming around 9-11 minutes apart. I woke Ryan up after the third one and said, "I think I might be in labor. I'm not positive, but I think we should time these contractions." We counted the next four, and they were about 5-7 minutes apart.
We decided to call the hospital at this point and the doctor told us to come in & get hooked up for observation (side note - the doctor was at home, still asleep and she fell back asleep after this conversation.) We called our friend Steph who was sweet enough to come to our house at 3:30 a.m. to stay with Miller. Se also prayed over us before we left for the hospital, not really knowing how much we would need those prayers!
We called our families on the way to the hospital to let them know we were heading in to get checked. At this point, the contractions were still approximately 6 minutes apart, but each one was stronger than the next.
When we arrived at the the hospital, I was having trouble walking in because of the pain. I set off an alarm at the check-in station because the nurses didn't answer the door as quickly as I would've liked. (When I'm I'm in pain, I throw politeness out the window.)
I was finally placed in a bed to get checked out and monitored, and around 4:30 a.m. I had my first "ohmygoshI'mgoingtodieifyoudon'tgetmeanepidural" contraction. I'm fairly certain my head spun around on my neck and all Ryan could do was watch & pray that it would pass quickly. It didn't.
The nurse checked me and had a slight look of panic on her face. "You're already 8cm," she said.
"Can I still get my epidural???" (It's all I cared about at this point.)
"I'm not sure you made it in time," she replied. I could feel my world closing in on me. I just knew I couldn't make it through childbirth without some major help.
We later found out this was the point where they called our doctor again to explain that I was already 8cm dilated. Dr Lambert later told us she scrambled around in the dark at home trying to get out of bed & to the hospital as quickly as possible.
It seemed like a lifetime, but the nurse finally came in to transport me to a delivery room. I don't remember much about my ride except seeing one girl, who must've just given birth, riding in a wheelchair with an entire box of pizza in her lap. Brat.
I also don't remember how long it took me to get setup in the delivery room before Dr Lambert arrived (too long in my opinion), but when she arrived and checked me, I learned I was now at 9cm dilated. Crap. One more and I was out of luck. When the doctor checked me she also informed me that she couldn't feel the baby's head. Shoot! He was head-down at the last two ultrasounds!
Dr Lambert ordered an emergency ultrasound. There were a lot of people moving around very quickly and it was kind of scary. She pressed on my belly really hard & finally found Price's head in my left hip. Here comes the fun part... She had to manually adjust him and pull his head to the center so I could deliver him. I still didn't have an epidural. Meditate on that for a minute.
Some more gut-wrenching time passed, but sometime thereafter, an angel walked through the door. Everyone called him Dr something, but details weren't important at that time. He was holding needles and it was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen. Within 15 minutes I was floating on a cloud of painless happiness. I thanked that angel doctor profusely, but he didn't seem to accept my gratitude because he too had been woken up from his
slumber to rescue me.
About 20 minutes after the epidural kicked in, the doctor checked me and I was 10cm. I had to "labor down" for about 30 minutes, then I was ready to push. The baby's heart rate started dropping, so the doctor ordered me to push as hard as I could to get him out quickly. Great, one more thing to worry about.
After about 10 minutes of pushing, at 7:17 a.m., Price was born. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his ankle and he had manged to tie a "true knot" in his cord. He was a very lucky boy, according to our doctor, but I knew our Lord had been watching over us both through the entire process. From the first contraction until Price was born, it was about 4 hrs and 45 minutes. Holy smokes that second one comes fast!
Meeting our son for the first time
Miller meeting Price for the first time. She was way more concerned with her glitter putty than this new human.
Our family of four!
Our parents made it just in time!
We were moved to another room & my sister, brother-in-law & nephews arrived.
Jake & Price. The oldest & youngest cousins.
My dad with his four grand babies. He's in heaven!
Love my sister!
Cousins make the best friends!
My sweet village came to visit. I hate I didn't get pictures of everyone who came to the hospital!
My TWO babies. This was such a surreal moment.
We spent one night in the hospital, then we were all packed up & ready to leave at 10:50 the next morning after Price's "boy procedure."
The hospital requires the babies to teetee before they can be released. So... We waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Apparently boys can hold their teetee for insane amounts of time. This kid held his for 13 hours, but at 10:30pm, he finally went & we were released to go home.
Welcome to our world, Price! We love you so much!!
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