The R & S Mess

I mentioned I was going to write a blog post about Reagan's birth, but totally spaced it. Actually, I lied. I didn't space it. I wrote the post in my head about 100 times, just haven't had the time (ya know, with three kids-three years and under…) to type it up. So here goes.

Baby Winter 3.0 was going to be born at Mountain Midwifery just like Payton. I loved my experience with the midwives. I got hooked on midwives when my older sister, Janel, had my niece Brinley. Her midwife was calm and very knowledgable so I sought out a midwife for my pregnancy with Evan. Although Evan was born in a hospital, my midwife Jennifer was awesome. After moving back to Colorado and having more options when it came to birthing, I found Mountain Midwifery (the only free standing birth center in CO at the time) and fell in love. Payton was born in their "log room" in the birthing tub. The midwives and nurses were so sweet and super helpful during my labor with Payton, plus I only had to stay 4 hrs after her birth, I couldn't resist going back to them again for Baby Winter 3.0.

My original due date was January 8th but was changed to February 4th after a few ultrasounds. The midwives at the birth center calculate my due date based off the first day of my last period but since I was still nursing Payton those dates were (we found out later) not correct. So at 20 wks I had my first ultrasound (if I had an earlier ultrasound they would have been able to get a more accurate due date but, I didn't) the baby was measuring 16 wks instead of 20. The midwives didn't like that there was a big discrepancy between my due date and the size of the baby, so I had another ultrasound 4 wks later and the baby was still growing steadily and now measured 20 wks. But, according to my original due date the baby was still 4 wks behind so my due date was changed to February 4th.

I never thought I was going to have a baby early. Heck, Evan was right on schedule (born on his due date) and Payton made us wait 6 whole days. My babies don't like to be early, I guess.

Like I thought, February 4th came and went…

February 6th: My mom and I had planned to have lunch together earlier that week but since there was no baby (and no sign of a baby) we decided to go ahead and have lunch like we had planned. We went to The Yard House by Park Meadows Mall for lunch. The kids loved spending time with Grandma Cindy and were, surprisingly, quieter than the table next to us full of *very* buzzed adults. After lunch we headed to Castle Rock Adventist to see my great-aunt who was in ICU after a surgery she had in Denver. Although we didn't get to see much of her, since she was exhausted from tests and procedures she had that morning, we were glad to visit her for a short time.
After the hospital we headed home for nap time. The kiddos took a good nap while I cleaned up the house.
The night was pretty typical for our family; kiddos woke up from their naps, Daddy got off work, Mommy cooked dinner, played and worked around the house and then it was bedtime.
9:00pm I put Payton down for the night in our bed (she normally fell asleep in our room and then we would transfer her to her own bed) but I fell asleep with her… whoops! And I woke up around 9:30pm with a few contractions but nothing too strong. By that time Ryan had already put Evan to bed and was going to bed himself. I told him to be on alert because I felt like the contractions were getting a little more consistent. I never timed them, but I could tell there was a rhythm starting. But I told him to go to sleep because I wasn't 100% sure this was the real deal.
10:15pm I couldn't lay in the bed anymore. I was more comfortable handling contractions standing up and swaying. They were still about 15 min apart so I didn't wake Ryan (heck, someone needed to sleep before this party started…). About 45 min later I was sure this was labor. I was getting little breaks between contractions. I didn't think this was much different than the other two labors. Evan I was in labor for 23 hrs and Payton 11 hrs. Evan's started with my water breaking but no contractions for about 5 hrs and Payton's started with contractions and my water was broken at the birth center. But I loaded a contraction calculator on my phone to time the amount of time between the contractions. I was sitting on the toilet (that was the most comfortable place) pushing "start" "stop" "start" "stop" "start" "stop"for about 15 min or so. I was having a hard time figuring out when it was the end of a contraction. It seemed like I was in a constant contraction with some waves of less intense parts. At that point I called my mom. The original plan was for Ryan and I to take the kiddos to the birth center with us and then whoever was to watch them could just get them from there. But, since we had just laid the kiddos down for the night I figured I would see if my mom could come and stay with them instead of us waking them. Of course she agreed and said she would be there in about 30 min.
After I got off the phone with her I had some really intense contractions. I could only work through them by sitting on the toilet with my hands on each knee pushing my legs as far apart as I could. I wanted so bad to wake Ryan but every time I would stand up to go wake him I would have another contraction and end up sitting on the toilet. This went on for about 15 min. I couldn't walk to him without having another contraction, but finally I was able to wake him. Ryan doesn't handle the "I think we need to go to the birth center" phrase too well. He tries to stay calm, but you can tell his mind is going 100mph. So when I told him I thought it was time to go, he jumped out of bed and I swear was dressed and heading out the door before I could finish the sentence. I let him know that my mom was on her way and would be there any minute but we needed to call the midwives to see what they thought. He can tell when labor is real by the way I handle contractions. So he knew right away it was time to go but we had to call the midwife (Rachel) and let her know that it was time.
After explaining my contractions, the timing of them and how I was getting through them they decided it was time to head to the birth center.
Not 2 seconds after he hung up with Rachel did I say, "babe, I need to push." He looked at me and said, "uh, okay. try and push." (We both didn't think a baby would come but I couldn't resist the urge) So I did what my body was telling me to do, push. I pushed and she started crowning. Ryan tried to stay calm as he said, "oh god, the baby is coming!" So I pushed a little harder and a little head came out. Pushed again and there she was. I was so focused on the baby but Ryan knew just what to do. He was on the phone with the 911 operator just after Reagan was born. She talked him through checking the baby to make sure she was okay. All I remember was sitting on a cold toilet with nothing on but a tank top with a wet baby on my chest and asking Ryan for a towel. I asked calmly, "Ryan, can I have a towel. Ryan. Can I have a towel? RYAN. Can I have a towel? RYAN!!" He finally handed me a towel but he was still in shock and trying to follow the 911 operator's directions that he just didn't hear me asking. But I remember the 911 operator asking Ryan if the baby was a girl or a boy and we hadn't checked. So we both look down and… IT'S A GIRL!
About 2 min after we called 911, two police officers and my mom show up. My mom followed them to our house and when she realized they were going into our house one of the police officers looked at her and said, "it's okay, mom and baby are doing good." My mom about freaked! She ran in our house, threw her purse across the floor and booked it upstairs. She was expecting to walk into our house with two sleeping kiddos and a mommy in labor. Instead she walked into our house with two sleeping kiddos, a daddy in shock, a mommy sitting on the toilet holding a brand new baby.
One of the officers was a lady who stood in the hallway asking how I was doing and how the baby was doing and the other was a guy. The lady officer told him to stay downstairs. I remember her saying, "uh, you should probably stay downstairs. She doesn't have any clothes on."
A couple min after the police the whole fire station and their families showed up. Okay. Maybe a slight exaggeration, but I think we had about 8 fire fighters/EMT in our 4'x4' hallway. I was still sitting on the toilet with the baby nursing away. The EMTs cut the cord, gave me a warming blanket for the baby and asked me 10,000 questions. After determining the baby was healthy and I was 'stable' we headed to the ambulance. I had two AWESOME EMTs. They brought up the stretcher, loaded me on and wheeled me to the front door. Once we got to the front door they decided to carry the stretcher to the ambulance (since our front steps are kinda weird). The one by my feet looked at me and said, "I could carry you all day long. So much lighter than some people we carry." To which I replied, "well, I just lost about 7 pounds upstairs. You're welcome."
I about died in embarrassment when they started to load me on to the ambulance. Here I am, laying on a stretcher half naked with what seems like spotlights aimed right at me in the dead of night. I could just imagine all the neighbors peering out their windows. Luckily, I talked to all my neighbors after and they said they didn't hear/see anything. Whew!
My mom was able to stay with the older kiddos while Ryan and I rode in the ambulance. Ryan called Rachel to tell her the baby was born and we were headed to the hospital. She was THRILLED! But she was super bummed because she told Ryan, "man, I wanted to catch her baby!" Again in the ambulance I was asked 10,000 other questions, I had an IV port put in, and sticker things put on my feet and chest.
Once we arrived at the hospital we were greeted by 10 police officers and just as many hospital staff members. Castle Rock doesn't get much action so the police officers hang out at the hospital where they can have coffee and chit-chat with other officers until they get a call. I was wheeled into a labor and delivery room and transferred to a bed. They asked when the baby was born and the only way we knew *about the time* she was born was by the 911 call. So her birth time was determined to be 11:54pm on February 6th 2015.
The OB on call came into the room and introduced herself. She was not friendly and seemed like we interrupted her night. They (the OB and her staff) brought in all these different tools and gowned up. I delivered the placenta and was told I was going to get pitocin to help my uterus contract. I looked at the OB as if she was crazy. Pitocin, now? I have NEVER heard of pitocin being administered AFTER the placenta. I refused and she told me that it was a huge risk for me to deny it. But I knew I didn't need it. So I asked for my baby so I could continue to nurse her. I was told that her body temp was down and she needed to stay under the warmers. Again, I refused and told them I could warm her with my body (that is what a mother is for…right?). The nurse, an older lady, told me I was risking her losing more of her body temp by taking her out from the warmers. I just smiled and asked for my baby. :)
They came in and checked on the baby about 10 times. Her body temp still "wasn't where they wanted it" but I kept on nursing and wrapped her up. Her temp finally came up to 98-99 degrees and stayed there. And since I was nursing like a maniac my uterus contracted down to normal. When the OB came into the room about 17 hrs after, she looked at me and said, "oh, I guess you didn't need the pitocin." Duh. I do know *kinda* what I am doing. This isn't my first rodeo and I have done tons of research. I kinda wanted to stick my tongue out at her and said, "told ya so" since she was so rude before. But I resisted.
All my post-partum nurses were so sweet. One came in and said, "I don't want you to think we are ignoring you. I know this is not the place you want to be since you were wanting to deliver at a birth center, but we want you to know if you need anything we are right outside."
I had to stay 48 hrs because my baby was born in "unclean conditions" and I was GBS (Group B Strep) Positive and didn't have antibiotics before she was born. Normally, if you are GBS+, you get antibiotics during labor to clear out the bacteria before the baby comes through the birth canal. But… I didn't have the time to get antibiotics.
About 8hrs after she was born, we decided on the name Reagan Alice. Ryan and I struggle with girl names. We cannot agree on any. We were choosing between Anniston and Reagan. I wanted the middle name "Alice" because that was my both grandmothers mother's name. So we went with Reagan Alice since Anniston Alice just didn't sound right.
The older two came to the hospital the next morning to meet Reagan. Evan was so excited. He even wore his "#1 big brother" shirt and called her "his princess." Staying in the hospital was rough. The kiddos got too antsy in the room but I couldn't leave, so it was quite a pain. That was one of the reasons I loved the birth center, I could leave after 4 hrs. We didn't have to worry about bedtime, meals, naptime…etc. We could be home. But I didn't have that luxury. BUT, I DO have the BEST husband! He took the kiddos to the park, walked around with them at the hospital when they got restless, put them down for naps, took them to lunch, brought them to see me and the baby and was just awesome. I knew I married him for a reason. :)
The craziest part of this whole situation… my great-aunt, who we had visited just hours before Reagan was born, was down the hall from me. I walked past the same Labor and Delivery doors everyone was walking through to see me about 9/10 hrs before. God works in mysterious ways. So I had LOTS of visitors. They would visit her and then come see me and Reagan or visa-versa.
I am SO glad Reagan's birth happened the way it did. I wouldn't change it for the world. I learned more about me and my body than I could have imagined. I learned that God has a plan for me and there is no changing His ways. If we would have loaded the kiddos into the car, like we had planned, Reagan would have been born on the side of the highway at 11:54pm. God knew that was not where a baby should be. So He planned it out so well.
My labor was just shy of 2 hrs. Reagan is a beautiful, healthy and super happy baby. She is the perfect addition to our family. We are forever grateful for the quick response time of the Castle Rock police, EMT and fire dept. Thank you for all the visitors who came to welcome Reagan.