The Livingstons: December 2013

From the moment my mom announced she was pregnant with my twin sisters I have been obsessed with birth stories. Some kids watched Nickelodeon, I watched "Bringing Home Baby". Birth is incredible and so exciting. Its sacredness has never been lost on me, and so as I approached my baby's birth it was all I could do to contain my excitement.

On Thursday October 10 I started having cramping. Nothing bad, just enough to get my attention. I thought it was weird, but as I was just under a month away from my due date I didn't worry. The next Monday I had a doctors appointment decided to ask him what he thought about my going to St. George for three days on Tuesday in light of my cramping. Now, my doctor is SUPER lax about pregnancy rules...i.e. he told me to go ahead and eat sushi, hot tub, and drink cold medicine all while wake boarding if I wanted, so I guessed that my concern would be shushed and soothed. Surprisingly though, he said that I should maybe rethink my plans. He wouldn't give me a definite yes or no, just that I needed to recognize that my having a baby on the Southern I-15 was a real possibility. Still, I was convinced that I shouldn't worry and put it from my mind.

The cramping got worse. That evening as I was preparing some dinners to put in the freezer I laughed with Carter over the possibility of our having the baby in the next few days...all while grimacing in pain over contractions that were coming every 11 minutes. We talked with family, and joked about my being in "real labor", not thinking it possible...contractions started coming every 10 minutes. Finally, after tossing and turning I got up at 2 am and decided to try and slow the pains down. Nothing worked, and they were coming every 7 minutes. At 6am as Carter was waking up, I told him that I didn't think I would be going to St. George.

I sent Carter off to school, saying I'd call him when I needed to, but thinking that I probably wouldn't for a long time. Wrong again. Two hours later I was on the ground rocking and breathing every 6 minutes. I cleaned the apartment in between contractions until finally at 10am the pain was so bad that my gag reflex was triggered with each cramp. I decided that whether or not this was the real thing, I wanted my husband there. I texted him and ten minutes later he found me on the family room floor trying to breathe. I was still too scared about going to the hospital--I didn't want to be sent home. But after a walk around the block (or rather a slow limp with Carter supporting me most of the way) I decided that I should probably go see what was going on.
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On the way there was a noticeable increase in the strength of my contractions, my fears about this not being the "real" thing started to go away, because if it wasn't, then I refused to go through real thing. We got to the hospital and the nicest, most angelic nurse helped me into a room to get checked out. They said that although I was only at 4.5 cm I could go ahead and stay. They then asked if I wanted an epidural to which I responded with a resounding YES! They got me settled into a room (right next to the "nutrition" room which Carter loved) and the doctor came in and broke my water. I was given my epidural and checked again. In just an hour and a half I had gone from 4.5 to 7cm. My nurses were shocked and knew they'd better keep an eye on me. By 2pm I was ready to start pushing, but because the doctor wasn't there they just had me rest and let Jayden descend on his own. At 4:10 the doctor came in and had me push. After 4 contractions worth of pushing my precious little boy made his way into the world. He weighed 5lbs, 15oz and was 18" long.

My nurses were amazed at how quickly my labor progressed; they told me I was the fastest new mom they'd ever had. I guess that's a good thing, I'm not really sure. I had such a great experience at the hospital; the medical team was so efficient and respectful of this special time for Carter and I. They came in, quietly did their thing, and left. Our room was so homey and huge! They had a bed for Carter and let him have whatever he wanted from the snack room. After watching "The Business of Being Born" I was kind of scared of hospitals, but honestly, my experience was fantastic.

Oh and speaking of fantastic, I LOVED my epidural. I know some people are really passionate about natural births, and that's AWESOME for them, but for me, the epidural made the experience so wonderful. I was able to truly enjoy my baby's birth because I wasn't delirious with pain. But again, that's just me :) I didn't have any negative affects from it and would highly recommend getting one. Its true that it took some time before I could get up and walk around (about 5 hours) but I don't know that I would've wanted to anyways. I was able to jog (slowly!) again 2 weeks after Jayden was born, so I wouldn't say that the epidural made my recovery harder.

Carter was such a support to me. While I felt the full strength of the contractions, he was by my side, supporting and loving me. He helped me as I pushed by encouraging me and letting me know how I was progressing. He even got to cut jaydens cord! I'm so glad he was there, husbands are just so great.

Though she was happy to be there if I wanted her, my mom counseled me to just have Carter there as Jayden came so that we could have that special time be just for our family. I know a lot of people like to have their family there, and that's great, but I'm happy I took my mom's advice. There was a sweet, pure spirit as he was born and I'm happy that it was a sacred time for just us.

But luckily she showed up about 8 hours after he was born. And man oh man did she save my bacon! I often felt overwhelmed as doctors, nurses, and lactation consultants came and ran me over with information. I would try to pay attention to their instructions, but was too tired to really take it in. My mom was there to listen for me and let me know what info was really necessary. I struggled with breast feeding, and was so grateful for her wisdom. The only complaint I had with my hospital was their assigned lactation consultants. Though they meant well, it is NEVER good to dump two ocean loads of information on a brand new, tired momma. Especially when she's struggling to keep back tears because you've implied that her baby will starve due to a subpar "football" hold...(take that with a grain of salt, I was seriously out of it when the consultant visited).

But I digress...

Jayden is just so precious. My feelings of love for him are overwhelming. I am so grateful for his health and for the opportunity I have to be his momma. I don't take my time with him for granted :)