Let me start out by saying, our
little man has arrived! He decided to not wait until his due date (March 1), or
even the scheduled induction date (February 25), but rather to arrive in a way
his Momma never wanted to experience - NO EPIDURAL - in the early hours on a
Saturday (the Saturday that was the last Saturday I had to finish checking
things off my to-do list before the scheduled induction) 10 days before his due
date.
Now - I'm going to share my version
of how things went down. I'll also post Tyler's version and Sheri's version. I
can't help but laugh at how similar they all are and yet how funny they are
from each persons' perspective.
I was 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant.
I had just had my 38 week prenatal visit with Dr. Kathy Langer. She did a cervical
check and it hurt...like really, really, really hurt! She had also checked me
the week before and it hurt so bad she pulled in the ultrasound machine to make
sure the baby was really head down. He was. I'm still not sure why the cervical
check hurting would be a sign that the baby wasn't head down, but that's what
she checked for. This time, no checking, just an apology that it hurt and a
decision to not be seen again in a week, but rather in eight days for the
induction and delivery.
Why was I being induced? Well, 1)
because my doctor said it was fine to do and a good idea so we could make sure
my mom and dad would be able to be here to watch the kids, and 2) because I
didn't want the baby to be born on Leap Day. I'm still not entirely sure why that
was such a big deal for me, but it was and I wanted to make sure he arrived
before that day so I wouldn't have to worry about it.
My 38 week appointment was on
Wednesday, February 17 at 2:45 p.m. That night I had some light spotting, which
is normal after a vaginal/cervical check. For the next three days the spotting
continued, and by Friday it was a little more and a little more red. Plus, by
Friday I was also cramping a little bit. I thought that maybe Langer had
stripped my membranes. But why? Why would she do that if we were planning to
induce me the following Thursday anyway? So I ruled that out.
By Friday night I was still cramping
and spotting, but then around 8ish I was certain that I had just lost my mucus
plug. I quickly got online and read that "When the mucus plus dislodges
from your cervix it's a sign that things are moving in the right direction, but
it doesn't necessarily mean that you're in labor." I sent a text to Sheri
for reassurance. She suggested that I take a bath and see how I feel in an
hour. I got in the tub and I felt my stomach getting those round ligament
pains, which I get for my entire pregnancies, so I didn't think too much of
them. After a while I did finally download a contraction counter app, but that
just ended up confirming that nothing was consistent, so it probably wasn't
labor. I stayed in the tub for an hour...and then I just really wanted to go to
bed.
Side note: My mom's sister, my aunt
Florence, was in the hospital having been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer on
Monday. My mom had been in Ogden visiting her all day and I knew that she was
tired and probably already in bed.
Tyler suggested that I pack my bags
- you know - just in case! So I did, sort of. I was kind of grabbing things
here and there that I thought could really go in my hospital bag, but knowing
that the majority of what I would need were things I needed everyday. If I'm
not having a baby tonight why pack my bag with everything that I'm going to
need here tomorrow? At this point I felt two small gushes of water and I
briefly thought, hmmm...did my water just break? I called the hospital. Their
response was, "If your contractions aren't six minutes or less and your
water hasn't broken there is no point in coming in. However, if your water has
broken and you aren't in labor it could lead to infection." So basically
it was my call, but I then started thinking that I had just gotten out of the
tub, so maybe my water hadn't broken and my contractions are definitely not six
minutes or less apart, in fact they were at about 20 minutes, and in no way
were they even consistent at 20. I decided that I was definitely NOT in labor,
At this point it was a little before
11 p.m. and I was tired. I kept thinking about how this was my last Saturday to
get some things done before the baby was to arrive the next Thursday. My mind
started spinning as I mentally stared at my to-do list. I told Tyler how tired
I was and how much I wanted to get accomplished the next day and then asked,
"Do you think I should take Ambien or just a Unisom?" I'm honestly
not sure how I decided, but I took half of an Ambien and went to bed at about
10:45 p.m.
I remember, AFTER taking the Ambien,
asking Tyler for a blessing and also asking him to massage my back. And then
that is when things become really foggy. I was definitely in an Ambien induced
coma...and in LABOR! Tyler had to be my brain, because now looking back, I
didn't really have a clue as to what was going on for a couple hours. I remember Tyler telling me
to finish packing my bag for the hospital, I remember calling Sheri - at 1:16
a.m. I remember that when Sheri answered she was totally out of it, naturally,
and she asked me if I needed to go to the library. I remember that I said,
"Yes, I totally need to go check out a book right now." When she
showed up, about 15 minutes later, as we walked out the door, I remember saying
something along the lines of "this is probably a false alarm so we'll be
back soon." I remember getting all the way to the freeway entrance and
realizing that I had left my purse and wallet in the other car, and so I made
Tyler go back to the house to get it. Why? Well, the last thing the hospital had said
to me, when I called to pre-register just three days before, was to remember to
bring my picture ID and insurance card on the day I deliver.
At this point is when I remember starting to really feeling labor pains. I'm assuming I had somewhat consistently been
feeling them previously or Tyler wouldn't have suggested we rush to the
hospital, but remember --- AMBIEN! The first really painful contraction I
remember feeling was as we were on the interchange off of I-215 onto I-15. I grabbed the
handle above the car window and squeezed as hard as I could. And then I heard
myself screaming like I have never heard myself scream before. It was like an out-of-body
experience. Seriously! I was thinking, is that really me screaming? Am I really feeling
this pain? I wanted to squeeze my hand so tight that my hand would hurt worse
than my stomach and back, just to give me a moment of relief.
I was delivering at Riverton
Hospital...which is the furthest hospital from our house! Literally. And, I had
only driven by it two weeks previous when I found out that that is where I had
to deliver due to our change in insurance provider. I had scheduled to do a
tour of labor & delivery on Valentines' Day, but we stayed at my parents'
house too late and just wanted to get home - so we bagged the tour. At this
point in our Friday evening we were wishing we had taken the tour and had any
clue as to where we were supposed to go when in labor. All I knew was that we
were to go to Tower 3. That's it. That is all I knew. Well, that and the fact
that I needed to have picture ID and my insurance card. Right?
Tyler pulled up to Tower 3 at 2:10
a.m., grabbed a wheel chair and I immediately insisted that I needed to go to
the bathroom - URGENT!! (Note: if you are 38 weeks pregnant and feel you need
to really, really go to the bathroom...don't do it. I nearly delivered a baby
straight into a public toilet. Gross!) I wheeled myself in to the restroom
while Tyler ran around looking for labor and delivery. Luckily a calm couple
was just arriving and showed or told (not sure which) Tyler that he needed to go to
the third floor. The next thing I know two nurses are prying me off the toilet
and forcing me into the wheelchair.
At this point I remember asking the
nurses over and over and over, "I'm still going to get an epidural,
right?" I just wanted the pain to go away, I wanted the epidural and I
wanted to go to sleep. The nurses were walking really fast...maybe running, but
again - AMBIEN! And then they wheeled me into a room where the lights were
really bright and they started stripping all my clothing off. I felt like
everything kept getting stuck so I was trying to help them undress me, but I
think I was just making things worse. My garment top stayed on because while
they were undressing me another nurse was putting an IV in my left hand. I was
Strep B positive, the same as I was with Holland and Taggart, and so I needed
to have antibiotics in my system for at least 30 minutes before delivering as
to not pass the infection to the baby, which could be very harmful to a
newborn.
One nurse was holding my right hand
and telling me to focus on her eyes and saying "DO NOT PUSH." Over and over she kept
saying, DO NOT PUSH - DO NOT PUSH - FOCUS ON ME - DO NOT PUSH! And still I'm
asking, "I'm going to get an epidural, right?" And then, a
contraction like no other and there is no stopping the need to push. The nurse
says, "DO NOT PUSH!" And I say, "I have to." And just like
that, I feel his head, and then another push and it's obviously his
shoulders...and then, there he is in my arms!!! I don't remember hearing him
crying, but I remember looking over at Tyler and acting out that he should be
taking pictures. I remember that as I looked over at him I thought, why is he just sitting on that
couch? He honestly looked like he was in total shock!
This delivery was NOT at all like
Holland's or like Tagg's. Each of them were different as well, but this one was
in a league of it's own. I had just given birth, without any medication, and
fully in an Ambien fog. So now I'll know for next time, wait...I don't think
there will be a next time, do not take Ambien if you think that there is any
chance that you might be in labor. But then again, had I not taken Ambien and
things progressed this fast, would I really have been able to handle it all? I
guess we'll never know!
Quinnten Taylor Pace was born
Saturday, February 20 at 2:22 a.m. - SEVEN minutes after pulling up to the
hospital entrance - delivered by a team of nurses. The on-call doctor arrived
20 minutes later. He weighed 6 lbs. 7 oz, and was 18.5 inches long. Thank
goodness he does not have a Pace head! The nurses were so in the zone with this
fast delivery that Tyler didn't even get to cut the umbilical cord. Pretty sure
I wasn't the only one in shock during this "Stop and Drop" delivery,
as the nurses all later told me these types of deliveries are called. Ha ha
ha!!
Looking back I find it so funny that
I had put so much effort into getting ready for this baby, when in the end
hardly anything was "ready" for this baby to arrive. I had an
appointment to get my eyelashes done on Monday, and a hair and wax appointment
on Tuesday. I had planned to paint my fingernails and toenails the night before
the induction. I had scheduled a photographer to be there for the birth so that
we could finally have really good and meaningful pictures of the delivery and
first few hours after birth. I was almost done with the nursery and had planned
to finish it up on Saturday. I had ordered his "going home" outfit
and it was supposed to arrive in the mail on Monday, which it did...but we were
already home before the mail was delivered.
Life is so unpredictable!
 |
| The
nurse that delivered Quinnten...and who lied to me about me being able to get
an epidural! |
 |
| Tyler
looks tired and in shock! Pretty sure he was just happy he didn't have to
deliver our baby along side the freeway that night. |
