Thankfully, instead of being in labor right now, I am holding my sweet 2 week old son in my arms.
Everything went great, but was not according to plan at all. I shouldn't be surprised by this, since a lot of my life happens this way, but I feel better when I have a plan. I was visiting Marc's parents in Manti for Memorial Day weekend when I went into labor. The strangest part is, I was warned in a way. The night before we drove to Manti I had a dream that I was in labor at Marc's parents'. In the dream my mother-in-law said, "I guess you'll just have to have your baby at my hospital." She works as a nurse at San Pete Valley hospital. I also had felt that my baby would come early, but dismissed it as wishful thinking.
The night before I hardly slept a wink on a thin mattress. In the morning, I thought I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions until I realized they were starting to be pretty regular, 10 minutes apart. I was in denial though. I wanted to have my baby with my doctor in St. George. I wanted things to go according to plan. I kept telling everyone that it was no big deal. DENIAL.
Around 6 that evening, there was no denying it any longer. The contractions were getting more intense and now were 5 minutes apart. I told Marc, "I think this is the real thing. It actually is the real thing!" Luckily, my mother-in-law knew exactly which doctor was on call that weekend, Dr. Armstrong. Not only is he the family doctor that saw Marc growing up, but Marc is also friends with his kids. That's Manti for you. We called him at home to come to the clinic and check things out. I cried on the way there. I just kept saying, "I don't want have my baby. I'm not ready! We don't have any clothes or anything!" When Dr. Armstrong took a look, he didn't waste any time. He told Marc to drive responsibly, but that we needed to get to the hospital right away. The baby was coming whether we liked it or not!
The drive to the hospital is half an hour. I called my family and told them what was going on, and they couldn't believe it. My wonderful father helped me to stop crying about the situation by reminding me that though it wasn't according to plan, it would all be okay. He even added his new mantra: "It's just adversity." He and the rest of my family helped me to get through contractions and even made me laugh. They even called my sister in N.C. and held up the phones to each other so we could talk. Here are the pictures that they took to chronicle the situation:
We pulled into the emergency entrance and a nurse with a wheelchair was waiting. It was a slow day at the hospital, and here we came with plenty for everyone to talk about and do! We went straight to the delivery room and got down to business. Dr. Armstrong was hot on our heels, and arrived a few minutes later. A few minutes after him, my mother-in-law arrived. Dr. Armstrong said that I would be ready to push very soon. With a marvelous nurse on my left and my husband and mother-in-law on the right, the moment had come. I pushed and they all saw some red hair! About 40 minutes from admittance, we had our second son.
7 lbs even, 18 inches long. Auburn hair! Perfect.
This little guy decided to convenience everyone by coming on a holiday weekend. None of my siblings at home had to work, and they came to visit the next day, bringing Marc's sister with them. Marc had work off as well, which we had been worried that he wouldn't when the baby came. It was also great to have people to babysit Ethan while all of this was going on.
I had forgotten how much peace a newborn can bring into a home. They are just so small and sweet and sleepy. We love him so very much and look forward to getting to know his personality and see him interact with his brother.
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