Birth Story

After work on Friday (8/29), Phil and I packed up and headed to Covenant Hills for some Labor Day camping with two other couples from church (the Owens and Lemons). For those of you not familiar with the area, CH is in Otisville, about 20 minutes from Clio-we weren't hours from home at 38 weeks preggo, haha! We got there, set up camp and hung around the campfire for a while. After much debate, I decided to have a s'more (which turned out to be a good choice!) before heading to bed. Phil came to bed about an hour later and zonked out just like me.

At about midnight, I vaguely remember being aware of some sort of pains a couple different times. I woke up about 12:30, grabbed my cell phone and timed the "pains". After the third one came at 8 minutes apart, I whispered to Phil "Hey, I think I'm contracting...I'm going to go to the bathroom, but I think we should think about heading to the hospital". He gave me a groggy "ok" and drifted back to lala land. Poor guy was at LEAST as tired as me b/c he did 90% of the packing and ALL the loading for the camping trip. Anyways, I went to the bathroom (where I had 2 contractions) and when I got back, Phil and I timed a couple more. They ranged from 5-8 minutes apart so we decided to head to Genesys.

While I packed up some clothes and toiletries, Phil woke up Kevin, who graciously came and slept in our camper with Nolan. We stopped by the house and collected the things I had packed (yes, I packed this time, haha!) and took off. We called the doc on the way just to make sure we wouldn't be turned away (she said she'd meet us there).

We arrived, got checked in and after some slight confusion (they thought I automatically wanted a c-section) made it to our room. I got an epidural soon after and we basically just hung out, texting and making phone calls to family. I progressed without being induced, which was great b/c I wasn't fond of pitocin from my last experience. Phil's mom made it to the hospital before I started pushing and my mom made it just after I started (about 10 ish).

I pushed for about an hour and a half (not really knowing what I was doing since I hadn't pushed with Nolan). What I hadn't realized is that they turned off the epidural and the contractions kept getting more and more painful. I got to the point where the pain was trumping my ability to push effectively and I asked for a c-section. I was having a hard time breathing and felt pretty out of control by the time I was wheeled back to the operating room. I don't think I opened my eyes or spoke between the time I asked for the c-section and when it got started b/c it was all I could do NOT to freak out from the pain and to try and control myself and my breathing.

The c-section itself went fine and I was much, MUCH more comfortable with the operating room staff than last time. Phil was in there with me which helped a LOT. We both saw him the minute he was delivered and agreed that his name was Anderson (which was one of two names we'd been going between). I was able to nurse him in the recovery room and a few hours later, we were all together in my hospital room, I was on morphine and all was right with the world. =)

Kevin brought Nolan up to the hospital in the early evening, which is when these and several other pictures were taken. Let me say right now that I will remember EVERYONE who was in the room and allowed these pics to be taken!! Thanks guys-I totally feel the love! And apparently, I was feeling a lot more that night! =)





We've been so blessed with two wonderful sons and we can't wait to see what living life as a family of 4 is like!!

More pics coming soon...Nolan's big boy haircut, my cousin's wedding, Nolan loving on "Teeny"...so much to post! Bear with me...