Our Grand Finale!

We're scheduled to be released from the hospital in about 3 hours, so I figure I should take the quiet time that I have to get everything written down from Hyatt's grand entrance into the world.
I guess Hyatt's birth story starts on Saturday, September 19th at about 4pm. The boys were at a Diamondbacks game with Brandon,their Uncle Chris, and a bunch of his in-laws. Tabs and I were hanging out at home. I drank what would be a delicious chocolate milk shake if it weren't for the 2 Tablespoons of Castor Oil that I added to it. I was desperate, people! I had been doing everything I could think of all week to make the baby come and it wasn't working. So, Castor Oil it had to be.

The two other times that I took castor oil, that it worked, my contractions started after about 6 hours. This time, they started around 6pm. They weren't very strong and I figured that if it was going to work, I better get some dinner in me quick. Tabs and I went to Port of Subs and picked up a sandwich. By the time we were on our way home, the contractions were about 4 minutes apart. They weren't strong, but I decided I better give Brandon a heads up. I called him, but told him not to leave yet-- I'd let him know when he needed to come home.

Tabitha and I ate our dinner and I started timing the contractions with my favorite contractionmaster.com. They were 3-4 minutes apart, but still not really strong. It was the consistency that made me believe this was IT. I decided I better be safe so I called Brandon again and told him to come home. While waiting, I cleaned and packed and tried to keep those contractions coming. I called Michelle and told her we were going to the hospital. She had planned on coming over to stay with the kids, but since it was early and they were having a big UFC party, we took the kids to her. We dropped them off at 8pm.

I really hate going to the hospital without the SURE knowledge that I'm in labor and that I WILL have a baby before I go home. I didn't really feel like I had a choice this time. I had been told at my last doctor's appt. that I was 4 cm dilated, so I was nervous that he was going to come really fast and I wasn't going to get the antibiotics that are required when one is Group B Strep Positive. So, when I got to the hospital and they checked me in triage, imagine my surprise that I was only 3.5 cm dilated. Did I go backwards?!! Is that possible? Anyway, they could see that I was having consistent contractions so they sent us out to walk the halls for 40 minutes. I could tell that the nurse wasn't convinced that this was IT, and she was planning to send me home after those 40 minutes.

My friend Micaela is a nurse at the hospital and we stopped to chat with her for a bit as we walked the halls. She was rooting for us! After about 30 minutes, I was DONE walking. I was in pain and ready to get that eipdural started. The nurse wanted to monitor the contractions for another 20 minutes and then check me for progress. This obviously wasn't ideal for me, but I stuck with it. I started to get my "angry eyes" on as I sat through contractions that were right on top of each other. After suffering through the 20 minutes I got checked and I had progressed a WHOPPING point-5, yes 1/2, centimeter. It was enough though and they started an IV to get my antibiotics going.
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I was moved to a labor and delivery room at about 10:45 and I got my epidural at 11:10pm. I feel the need to have a moment of silence for the person who created the epidural.
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That person is in my top 10 people I want to meet when I get to heaven : ). It is just a heavenly feeling to go totally numb from excruciating pain. That tingle in my toes was just what I'd been waiting for. I plopped my legs back up on the bed and sat back to wait out the hours before the baby came. Brandon and I had some quiet conversation with his mom with our soft piano music playing in the background.

The nurse came in at about 11:40pm to put in a catheter and quickly discovered that I was completely dilated, water broken, and ready to birth this child! I laughed and asked if we could wait 20 more minutes so his birthday would be on the 20th. You see, Brandon and our boys birthday's are all on the 2nd, and Tabitha is on the 20th, so we thought, "what the heck, we'll just try to have this one on the 20th as well." They said we could do that, and the nurse left the room. She was back a minute later because Hyatt's heart rate dropped and it was time to get the baby OUT! We were cool with that. A healthy baby is the goal.

I wasn't feeling a thing, thanks to the fantastic inventor of the epidural, but I happened to feel a tightening in my tummy and told the doctor I was having a contraction. She was ready to catch, and told me to push. I did... and out he came. It was 11:46pm. The cord was wrapped around his neck. The whole thing was so fast it was surreal. Brandon and I were laughing instead of crying. It was CRAZY, but so AWESOME too. I wasn't exhausted, and I didn't break a sweat. I just had a really bright-eyed 6 lb. 12 oz. baby boy. We held him for about 5 minutes and then they took him to clean him up.

He just wanted to take everything in, and he was really quiet and looked around for so long. Brandon's mom got to hold him and then they moved us to our permanent room. The whole thing was so short and so AMAZING. I am so grateful to have a healthy, mellow, adorable, and SOFT little man.




Day 2:

I LOVE this picture. Uncles Justin and Kayson came to visit.


Going Home:

Our Little Gnome