Meet my sweet baby Hendrick! I wanted to record his birth story before I forget the details...
All of my three girls were born right around 38 weeks, so I was hoping that this guy would do the same! Sure enough at 38w 3d I woke up at 5:30 in the morning with a different, stronger contraction than I have had previously with this pregnancy. I started timing on my labor app and couldn't fall back asleep! Dennis got up at 6:00 and I told him I thought I might be in early labor. He said, "Well 11/7 would be a cool birthday!"
We got the girls ready, I kept timing, but they were only 10-15 minutes apart. I sent Dennis to work and decided to just keep counting until my regular appointment that morning at 10:00. I answered some emails, sent off a wedding gallery, took a long shower, put my hospital bag and the car seat in the van and drove off to my appointment secretly hoping I really was in labor and that they'd just admit me to the hospital right then! I was excited to hear that I was 3cm & 80% (that's progress!) but the doctor told me there was a 50/50 chance I could have a baby today and to come back after contractions were 5 minutes apart. I mentioned how fast my previous labors had been and that I was worried I wouldn't have time for an epidural like with my last baby. (Let me tell you from my experience... Epidurals are a gift from the heavens!) He suggested that maybe I stay in town then, rather than drive the 20 minutes home.
By that time it was 11:00. I called Dennis to tell him the report and he agreed I should stay in town and he'd take me to Olive Garden on his lunch. I arranged for my mom to pick up Emmy at preschool and to hang out with her at the house until I could see if these contractions would speed up or taper out. My contractions have always been random frequencies and I just never know when to go into the hospital!
We needed groceries so I went to Walmart to walk around hoping that would help them speed up. However, they just got longer! I ran into my friend from church, Jenice, and we had a long conversation in the baking aisle... After a while though I told her, "Uh, Jenice... I should probably go. I might be in labor." :D I checked out with my dry groceries (I didn't buy anything refrigerated since I wasn't sure if I was going to go home yet or not!) and Jenice came back to say she was helping me into my car.
At Olive Garden I kept counting contractions. I was hoping to not come across too rude to all the people talking with me when I'd randomly just start timing on my phone and close my eyes and try to keep up with the conversations. Haha! We took things slow. Dennis ended up taking a 2 hour lunch and by the end of our meal my contractions were still random. 6 minute gap, 15 minute gap, 11 minute, 8, 12, 7... Never under 5. But Dennis suggested I call my sister, Tara and see if I could hang out at her apartment in town. While I was on the phone with her our waitress, Krislyn heard me say "I think I'm in labor," and so all the other waitresses came to check in on us and say good luck. They even brought me a free dessert (the pumpkin cheesecake is delicious y'all!) and I felt so loved!
At 2:00 I drive to Tara's house with Dennis following me. I made it with only one contraction conveniently during a red light and sent him back to work. Tara did my hair and makeup and Dennis texted me at 3:01...
"So what's new?"
"Ugh. 11 minutes apart. But yeah. They huuuurt."
":-O"
"Should I just come home??? I don't know what to do! This seriously has to be labor though. I can't talk through them... move... it's labor."
"You should get checked before you head home. Do you want me to take you? I am caught up here."
"We're going to walk to the park."
I had just had a 15 minute gap in contractions and was getting frustrated. I was quite certain I was having a baby that day but I felt like an idiot keeping everyone on call (Dennis, my mom, my father-in-law to watch Emmy when it was time for mom to come to the hospital...) and was ready to just go home. It was an unusually warm day so I told Tara to bring her dog and we'd go for a walk to Mary-Alice park on the other side of the block. If things didn't speed up after that I'd go home.
So we hung out in the park for about an hour. The owner, Art was there with his two cute pups and we had a long conversation about what he was up to and shared memories of my grandma playing on his piano that he keeps under a tarp in the park. (If you haven't been to Mary-Alice Park on Main Street in Twin you simply MUST go! It is the most delightful little gem on Main Street!) He'd just wait while I had contractions and resume talking when they were over. It was 4:15 by the time I had my first contraction under 5 minutes and it was like something was switched and 5 was the magic number! All of the sudden they were really strong. Art was explaining how the labyrinth path worked and how long it was so I could keep track of my distance, but I didn't actually do any walking. Just talking! I told Tara it was probably time to go when a really strong contraction hit. I had her call Dennis to tell him that I would not be driving to the bank to pick him up but that he should come get me. Tara turns to me and says, "He's walking here."
"He's what?! Tell him to hurry!"
"He says he's almost here."
Turns out he was still several blocks away but "almost here" meant he was then running. Haha! He came to the door out of breath and I had to laugh because he looked more in labor than I did! He turned to Tara and said "thanks for hangin out with Alea! We'll see you later." But she grabbed her bag and said, "I'm coming with you."
Okay. I wasn't going to fight her. It would've been a loosing battle anyway. I was actually glad she came because she kept me laughing all afternoon.
We got to the hospital by about 5:00 and I can always tell by the nurses' faces that they are skeptical that I'm really in labor... Until they check me and laugh because I'm at a 7. The room went into full on baby prep mode and they ordered an epidural STAT. We flew through the check-in questions, got an IV in place, and met the anesthesiologist on call. He was there and ready to go at 5:30, we just had to wait until labs came to test my platelet count to make sure they were high enough (I guess they were a little low previously?) Meanwhile the contractions were coming hard and fast and I was panicking that I was going to deliver "naturally" again. It really wasn't fun the last time! My awesome nurse, Michelle kept checking in on them to see where the heck they were but I guess they had two other "STATs" before me. She told them that this STAT was more STAT! But I think they ignored that because it was more than a half hour of waiting for someone to come draw my blood while the anesthesiologist was there unable to do a darn thing.
Twiddling my thumbs waiting for labs to show up...
Finally, labs showed up to draw my blood (with less urgency than I would have hoped! Tara was threatening to go out an "make stuff happen." I was scared she was totally serious.) I never got checked since the initial check in and I was pretty sure with each contraction that the next one would produce a baby. Ha! The anesthesiologist told me he could give me a kind of epidural/intrathecal mix but I told him without hesitation to just do the intrathecal. I had had one before with my second baby and it was fantastic. He started to explain how they work immediately (unlike an epidural that takes some time to kick in) but that they wear off in about two hours and then I'm out of luck. I was quite certain the baby was more likely to come in two minutes, so I said again... "Do the intrathecal."
Dr. Allen came in immediately after I was given the sweet sedatives of the Gods, and he was a little sad because he was just sitting down to his Culver's butter burger. I told him we'd get him a new one when we were finished! A couple contractions happened after the intrathecal, and while I could still feel them in my upper abdomen, I was numb to a good 75% of the pain.
Michelle said, "That may be as good as it gets."
And I said, "I'll take it!"
Dr. Allen ordered the room prepped for delivery.
"Already done."
They put on his apron, he asked for an amnio hook (I'm pretty sure the nurse already had it in her hand), he broke my water, I pushed twice on the next contraction (with ZERO pain. Hallelujah!) he said "half a push," and then I heard crying (and it wasn't mine this time!)
Baby Hendrick Levi Peters was here! And I'm pretty sure Dr. Allen's butter burger was still warm.
6:20pm
7lb 11oz on 11-7
20.5 inches
I don't know if these pictures show me in shock that he was actually here, or the fact that he has hair. My girls only had peach fuzz until they were two!
"You got your epidural." "YEP!!!"
He is seriously the sweetest little baby with the most mild temper I've ever seen (knock on wood) other than his daddy... Who in 12 years I've only seen mad maybe twice? Later that night I thought it was cute they were both sleeping so I had to take a picture. I don't know why the light was on...
The next day we had lots of visitors. He is a loved little boy!
Three, very proud big sisters! The big girls were at school all day but Emmy got to go be spoiled at the harvest festival with grandma Mary and auntie Tara (hence the face paint).
And... His coming home outfit. (Thank you to all the nurses that expedited things and help us break out of the joint after his 24 hour check-up! It's so nice to sleep at home!!)
We love this baby to pieces and are so happy to have him in our family! <3
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