Happy Family: March 2013

Peyton Henry was born on March 22, 2013 at 8:20am. He weighed 8 lbs, 1 oz and was 20 in long. He was definitely ready to get into this world in a hurry! Here’s the long version of the week of his birth.

{Week of his birth}

The week before he was born the midwife checked me and I was 2cm dilated and my cervix was soft. Of course this kind of means nothing with a third pregnancy but it was the most I’d ever dilated on my own since I was induced early (for blood pressure issues) with other two pregnancies. The plan in place for labor was to drop the kids off at our friend Kerry’s house if Jarid’s parents weren’t already in town. Bags were packed, checklists were made and things were all a “go” for his arrival. Jarid’s parents (Bill and Teresa to me; Sugar and Papa to the kids) decided to come a few days early based on my progress. We are so glad they did!

They left Texas on Monday morning (and it snowed here – crazy!) Tuesday we went to our friend’s house for preschool (a lesson on Spring…a day after the snow. Ha) and they arrived Tuesday night. I got home from my chiropractor appt and the grocery store and they were already here! Wednesday we mostly hung around the house after their long drives the days before and we took a nice long walk outside with some warmer weather. Thursday we took the kids to the mall to play in the playground and get out and about. Beyond all that walking I did a lot of “tailor sitting” as it’s called in Bradley birth classes to help get baby settled in the right place but not much else to get labor started. We ate a yummy dinner of chicken pot pie (and made a double batch to freeze!) and watched a movie all together.

That night Morgan asked when baby Peyton would get here since it was Spring and I’d told her that’s when he’d arrive. I said she should just ask him so she asked my tummy “Baby Peyton? When are you coming out??” She listened for a minute and said “He said tomorrow” very matter-of-factly and we all laughed about how funny it would be if she was right. Jarid and I went to bed around midnight as usual.

{Birth day}

At 5:30am I woke up with a contraction. It was noticeable enough to wake me up but not painful enough to think much of it. What felt like 10 mins later I got another so I decided I might want to pay attention to the time a bit. After an hour of contrax 10 mins apart and just breathing through them in bed (my preferred way of laboring for sure – dark, quiet and laying down by myself!) I knew I should figure out how long they were. I was using my timer on my phone and I definitely noticed myself being more “frazzled” by the having to press the start button on the timer instead of just going into my “zone.” I timed two of them and they were about 45-50 secs long, 10 mins apart. This was 7am so I woke up Jarid to tell him he should cancel all the meetings he had planned for the day because this might be it. I still wasn’t 100% sure because the contractions weren’t really painful yet and I’d never had them this far apart before so I thought maybe it would die out.

I got up and started putting the last minute things from our room in the bag just in case this was it and only needing to stop and breathe through the contractions but otherwise feeling normal. About 7:45 I checked the time right after a contraction and then again at the beginning of another and realized they were about 5 minutes apart. I asked Jarid to make me a turkey sandwich and said we should get going. We gave the kids and his parents hugs and kisses goodbye and it was such a laid back goodbye it makes me laugh thinking about it now! Ha.

The hospital is about 15 mins away and it was morning traffic but it wasn’t bad. In the car during a contraction I would hold onto the car handle, close my eyes and breathe through them quietly. The midwife called back from paging her earlier and Jarid talked to her and told her I couldn’t talk but we were headed in. I noticed they were more like 3 mins apart at some point and then I needed to start making low humming type noises to get through the contractions. I didn’t see it but I heard Jarid put on the hazards and definitely felt him driving faster – he knew those noises meant business!

We pulled up to the Birthing Inn at the hospital and he let me out and went to park. Inside there was no one at reception and Jarid asked had I seen anyone when he got in. I said “let’s just go!” and we went around to triage and I told him to just open the door. He said it was locked and pressed the button and told them who we were and we were in labor. She said “ok, come in and have a seat” – I was thinking “yea right!” So Jarid put the bags on the seat while I walked through contractions. He poked his head around and yelled out “We have babies fast!” so a nurse came over and said she wanted me to get into a triage room, change clothes and have my cervix checked. Again I was thinking “yea right” or maybe “no way!” They got me a hospital gown but even in the middle of the chaos I told Jarid I wanted my own gown so he ran over to our bags and the nurse put it on me (she put it on sideways but I didn’t realize it til way later – ha!) and I still had my yoga pants and shoes on.

They were talking to us and asking questions but I couldn’t answer and finally just yelled out to Jarid to “hold me!” and I wanted to put my arms around his neck, sway from side to side and just breathe. That happened twice within a few mins and I knew this baby was about to come out. I yelled out “I’m pushing!” (why do I always seem to do this in birth – I’ve yelled that every time before everyone realizes it’s “time”!) The sweetest nurse just took my hand and said “let’s go now.” She walked me down the hall to a room – she later said she probably should have gotten me a wheelchair but knew we needed to move – and started yelling out that they needed a table right then….and a doctor since my midwife wasn’t there yet.

We got to the room and I told them something was most definitely hanging outside of my body from the walk over. I might have yelled at them to take my pants off NOW. Jarid got them off and they confirmed my bag of waters was intact and hanging out. During all this other nurses were swarming the room and asking questions like “what is your name?” “who is your doctor?” “how far along are you?” “any issues in your pregnancy?” because they were not prepared for me whatsoever since I’d only called my midwife 30 mins before.

The nurse said “Ok, Christy as soon as you are ready lay down and you’re going to have a baby.” I remember thinking that it was going to be very difficult to lay down but definitely was ready to get the baby out so I did. The OB asked me to pull back my legs and I told her “no!” because it didn’t seem possible to do that at that point. Jarid says he started to help me pull them back but things started happening too quickly. Immediately she said something about him crowning and told me to bear down and Peyton Henry was born into the world! One of the nurses called out “It’s 8:20!” which was good because the OB asked later if anyone got the time.

He came right to my chest and was completely purple but started crying after a few seconds. He looked just like Morgan and Owen did – it’s amazing how much they all looked alike! He did have a bit of a “cone head” from being born so quickly. The nurse took him over to the other side of the room after awhile to get his stats while the OB stitched me as the midwife still wasn’t there seeing as we’d only been there about 15 mins or so at this point. He weighed 8lbs, 1 oz and was 20 in long – our biggest baby yet! They put his footprints on a card and Jarid stayed by him most of the time just talking to him and looking at him.

A nurse came towards me with a needle and said something about me not liking this part. I asked what it was and she said it was pitocin to help prevent hemorrhaging from the uterus. I told her I didn’t want it and she just looked around at the other nurses and the OB and asked “can she do that?” The OB wasn’t pleased with this and said that “the midwives sometimes let them do that” as if I was being a difficult patient. Ha. Oh well. She went away without putting anything into me – I didn’t have a natural birth to be shot full of something I didn’t need!

The midwife came in and said congratulations and talked about how she’d already heard about the crazy birth. Hee hee. She assisted with the stitching while I filled in all the blanks for the nurses who still hadn’t officially admitted me – answering all their questions, ect. The main nurse who walked me over kept giggling over the details of the birth and talking about them.

The midwife massaged my uterus and then the placenta was delivered. That part always feels like a relief to me – like “ahhhh, it’s all out!!” Everyone left and we had some time with our new baby. We said a family prayer together and felt so thankful for our new baby boy! We got moved to a post-partum room a few hours later because every single room was filled. A baby boom apparently!

Jarid’s parents brought the kids up later and they’d let them pick out a “little brother” outfit and a toy. They were so proud to give it to him and they couldn’t get enough of touching and holding him. Oh, it was so awesome to see them with him.

{Hospital experience}

The hospital experience was definitely not a birthing center one but it was still good. The nurses were all nice and respectful of our decisions (no one made a face when declined vax or the gunk on the eyes or circumcision) and worked hard to get us out within 24 hrs like we wanted. They switched to a computerized system the night we were there so there was some “chaos” for them as they all learned the new program which delayed getting out earlier but we still were able to make our pediatrician appt that day. We did NOT want to stay 2 days that’s for sure!

Sleep is definitely not easy at the hospital. At all. Crying babies, nurses coming in what seems like every 30 mins, loud beds and chairs. We didn’t sleep much between the three of us just from not being able to get comfortable. When we came home and took an hour nap and I swear I got more rest in that hour in my own bed then I did the entire time at the hospital!

{Home}

When we came home Morgan and Owen (and some help from Sugar and Papa!) made Peyton some Happy Birthday cupcakes! They made a sweet “Welcome to our family!” poster. They were so proud of both and it was just so sweet. Since we’ve been home things have gone so smoothly – the kids just love holding baby P and haven’t had any jealousy issues at all. So thankful they are so in love with him! We’ve all just been taking turns holding him since no one ever wants to put him down – exactly how it should be with a newborn!

{Peyton}

He makes the sweetest little baby noises, loves snuggling with us and is very alert already when he is awake. He has the softest skin and tiniest little toes and hands. He still has a bit of swelling and a hemorrhage on his left eye from a fast delivery but it’s healing. He looks so much like Morgan and Owen when they were born; he's obviously a Cottrell! He loves his tiny hands by his face and is already a fan of trying to find his fingers to suck on. Pretty much – he’s perfect and we could just eat him up! Our family feels complete with him. We’re so thankful for our sweet baby boy.

{note: we don't have many "day of" pics seeing as we walked into the hospital and had the baby. All of our bags - including the camera - were in the hall near triage still. Ha. Most of the pics are from my phone which Jarid had only b/c he'd called the midwife from it!}