Shay's Birth

December 8^th, Sunday, her due date: I lost the mucus plug  (tmi i know..)and began having regular contractions. I decided to stay home from church so if I progressed I would not have my water break while teaching primary. I had contractions for about two hours and then stopped. We went to sleep thinking this was not it. Ty made plans with the scouts (he is the scout master) for the following Friday, doing a campout. He asked if it would be okay. I told him as long as Shay came before Wednesday or there is no sign of her coming Friday, then he can go.

December 9^th, Monday, one day late. it is finals week at Wasatch Academy, where I work, so my students needed extra help. I went to work in the afternoon with no contractions. I then came home, and we took Tanner to see Santa Claus. I began having small contractions then, but did not think much would come from it. I then went to work for another two hours and came home. I had contractions the whole time at work, but again thought nothing of it. I kept praying that she would come that night or the next morning so that Ty could go to this campout, again it is the Lord’s will and whatever he thinks is best for us to do, we will do.

December 10^th, Tuesday, two days late. At 12:30 am Tanner began screaming, we think he fell off the bed from a nightmare and was scared. He did not want me, he wanted his father, it was the first sign that this was going to be the day we were going to have her. My contractions had kept me up from about 10 pm when we went to sleep, I never really slept, so I decided I would finish up with Tan and let your father sleep. I began walking around, deciding whether or not to call Kyna, who would have to drive an hour to take care of Tan and sleep at our place. I took a bath, because 90% of my contractions were in my back and my back was already in pain. The contractions began coming more quickly and more intense. I woke up Ty and told him I think that this was it. We waited an hour before calling Kyna and my parents. We called them and Ty played a joke, by saying “we just wanted to see how early you would be willing to wake up. Go ahead and go back to sleep.” Both Kyna and my mother were so chipper about it. (it was 2 am by the time we called them.) Kyna got in the car and we waited for her. During this hour wait, we decided I was going to get an epidural (which those who know me know I prefer natural labor, so this was a hard decision for me,) for several reasons. First, I was going off of two hours of crappy sleep, I knew I was going to be a very grumpy patient which would be no fun for anyone involved, including your Ty.  Second, the labor was mostly in my back and the pain was unbearable! Tanner had given me pains but Shay felt like she should have come at that moment the pain in my back was so bad. Third, when I did it naturally with Tanner it pained Ty to watch me be in so much pain. I did not want him to suffer like that again. 

Around 3:30 am, it was -10 degrees outside, we entered the hospital. We were not sure what door to use, once we finally found it we had to push a call button and had to wait about 5 minutes in the freezing weather. They let us in and took my measurements. I was dialated to a 4. My contractions were every minute lasting for a minute. After an hour I was a 5 and they gave me the epidural. I was very nervous for the epidural because I did not know what to expect and I heard it could hurt when they put in the blocker. The guy who did my epidural, Chris, was surprised how fast my contractions were, I think he thought she was going to come a lot faster than we were thinking. (Which may have been true.) I got the epidural and it was fabulous!!! Wow no more pain, I could just think about holding and meeting you. Ty and I were joking around and took naps (when they let us.) However, the epidural slowed down the labor by a lot!!! Infact it slowed me down so much I stopped contracting. So they had to give me petocin. 

It was 2:45 pm and I felt the need to push. I kept feeling it and feeling it, I told them I need the doctor now. He did not come so I held her in, man that was painful (the epidural had worn off by now.) I held for maybe 5 minutes and could not hold anymore, so the nurse told me i could push I just went in to quite mode and focused on pooping her out and at 2:56 pm she came completely out. It was so cool feeling as she crowned and then her shoulders, then her little body! It was seriously one of the most amazing experiences. I am glad I had an epidural with her and I am glad I did it naturally with Tanner. The doctor came in and said, “what you couldn’t wait for me.”

She weighed 7 lbs 4 oz., were 19 inches long and just came out screaming. She also wanted to eat as soon as she came out.

Tanner loves her and loves being her big brother. He would give her toys as she began crying and would get so sad for her. He always wants to hold her. Here are some pictures:

My parents were able to stay 5 days and it was so nice to have Tanner being played with so I could focus on our little throwing up newborn. She would eat so much she would puke out of her nose.