Val's Birthday

Just like you I love to read a good birth story. And this one will not disappoint!

So let's begin....

Val Anders Hawkley
8 lbs 10 oz

Val was due on April 7th. I figured he would be late because my babies like to take their sweet time. The last couple weeks/days of pregnancy are always the hardest for me. I'm always trying to make sure everything is ready, the house is clean and full of food. And I do everything in my power to try and get the baby out. The 7th was a Monday. Baby didn't come. So on Tuesday I woke up, packed up the kids and headed to a friends house. She watched my kids while I went on a 6 mile walk. People would look at me and I would respond, "yeah I was due yesterday!" I was contracting the whole time I was walking and things were really starting to hurt. So I was getting excited! I went back to get my kids. Took them back home and put Jade down for a nap and started cleaning the house and vacuuming out the car. Contractions were still coming. I called Pehrson at work and said...I think it's time. I called the family who was gonna watch our kids and they were available. P got home, dropped off the kids. Picked me up and drove me to the hospital. Contractions were about every 4 minutes at this time. I got in and they measured me at a 5. But the baby wasn't low enough. So they stripped my membranes and told me to go walk around the hospital for an hour and come back. I was so disappointed mostly because I didn't want them to send me home. So I walked and walked some more, ran up & down stairs, did the curb walk, squats...and said lots of prayers! The hour was up and we got back into the elevator to go inside and guess what, "my water broke!" I was so excited! So they admitted me for sure and started getting everything set up. So usually when my water brakes that means it's go time. But you'll find out later in the story that my water breaks 3 different times. It's a slow process. I'm not in major pain but the contractions were getting stronger. They checked me and I was at a 6.5 and I pretty much stayed there for about 10 hours. Also, my baby was sunny side up which was making it harder for him to drop and get in position. Some new nurses took over and checked me and one of them said she felt like there was a fore bag (which means my water really didn't brake completely the first time) about 30 minutes later I stood up and a gush of water came out of me! So they were right my water hadn't broken completely and now that I had another brake we all thought for sure the baby would be here any second. But the contractions started to die down. They were still strong but only happening every 8-10 minutes. Val was not under any stress, his heart beat was perfect and he was in no hurry to get out of me. Since my initial brake in the water it had been about 15 hours. And once your water breaks you are on a time crunch now. They want to get the baby out around 18 hours after it breaks to avoid infection. So since my contractions started to slow down we all decided it was time to put some pitocin in me to help things go a little faster. They started at a 2 mL (I think) and went up to 8 mL. Which isn't very much I guess, they can go up to 20 or higher. But it was enough for my body to respond. I was really nervous about putting pitocin in my body. I have never had it before and I didn't want it to stress out my baby. But since they didn't have to put too much Val was still under no stress. The pitocin kicked in and the last two hours of labor were LABOR! I was contracting about every 1 1/2-2 minutes. Of super intense, can't breathe, nobody talk to me, nobody touch me contractions. Val didn't like it when I sat down, so I stood through every contraction or was bent over on all fours. The pain was getting stronger and I almost started to cry. I looked up at Pehrson and said, "I can't do this anymore!" And he said, "that means it's time to push!" And sure enough he was right I was at a 10 and baby was coming! Seriously the best news. The hardest part was over. Time to push! I love when it's time to push! Feels so good especially since you know your baby is almost in your arms.

So remember how I said my water broke 3 different times. We'll here comes the best part of the story. I get all set up on the table. My nurse asks me if it's okay to have some students come watch. I said sure and in a matter of seconds there were about 16 people in my room watching me. Awesome! Ha so the resident gets all suited up to deliver the baby and the doctor is right next to him. A contraction comes and they all tell me to push. I push with all my might and POP the last of my water popped ALL OVER THE RESIDENT! I sprayed the poor guy with amniotic fluid from head to toe. It looked like I had taken a big cup of water and thrown it all over him. No one could believe it. The room went silent, I looked at him and said,"I am SO sorry!" Then started laughing so hard. Everyone was laughing. Pehrson was in tears, my nurse was uncontrollable. It was seriously histerical and exactly what we needed after being in the hospital for 17 hours. The poor guy stood in awe and asked nicely, "can someone please get me a towel?" Then a few seconds later he says, "can someone please wipe my mouth!" On the bright side all the laughing made my baby drop fast and in about 2-3 more pushes out he came!

He was perfect!

I have never been so relieved! I just stared at him while they stitched me up. The doctor came over and pushed on my stomach and noticed that I had a ton of blood clots come out of me. She said I lost a ton of blood and she needed to go in and scoop out all the blood clots. She said she was gonna give me some medicine that would make me really drowsy and I couldn't nurse my baby for a while. I said no way! I just went through hours of labor with nothing I don't want any drugs in me now! I didn't really understand what she had to do.....but boy was it painful! She stuck her entire hand inside of me and scooped out all the blood clots, three times, then the last time she got a rag and wiped all around my cervix. It only took about 30 seconds but I could not believe how painful that was, makes me sick just thinking about it. Then it was time to recover.  I was a little shaky from all the blood I had lost and super hungry! They put lots of blankets on me and feed me some peanut butter and graham crackers. I was so relieved and so happy to have my baby here.

I moved over to the recovery room and slept the rest of the day and stared at our sweet little baby. Beck & Jade came to the hospital the next day. And as much as I love seeing the baby for the first time after labor. Watching my kids see each other for the first time on earth takes the cake. B&J wanted to hold him and give him fruit snacks and B asked daddy if the boys could all wrestle. Those are the moments I replay in my head over and over again.

It just felt right.

Val proved to me again that every delivery is different.  Every kid is different. And that the challenge of being a mother is learning how to raise each one because of their differences. Val has been such a wonderful baby. He loves to cuddle and hardly ever cries. Is a great eater and just let's Beck & Jade love all over him. We are all smitten and so happy to be holding him in our arms.

Our bodies are  truly amazing! And I feel so lucky and blessed to have another one of God's children to raise and love. There is nothing more important to me then spending my every day with these three beautiful children. It is the best job in the whole wide world!

SoinLove!