nick & donelle: Payton Liberty Foster is here!

I kinda swore to myself that I would never do this {PUBLICLY blog about any of my children's birth stories}...BUT here I am, changing my mind.

It's a loooooooooong post, scroll down to the end to see the pictures if you don't want to read it :)

On Monday, December 3rd, around 11:00 pm I started feeling what I thought could possibly be contractions. Being a first-time mommy I wasn't real sure what to expect contractions to feel like. Husband was already sound asleep and I didn't want to wake him yet. So I sat in bed and waited to see if the contractions continued. Well they did. Around midnight they started to really intensify. At this point they were ranging between 5 and 7 minutes apart. I woke husband up and started getting ready in case we were going to head to the hospital soon. My contractions continued to get closer together. By 2:30 am my contractions were consistently 3 minutes apart and had been for almost an hour, so we headed on down to the hospital.

When they got me set up in triage I was only dilated at 1-2 cm. They kept me there until 4 am to see if I would progress at all, and while my contractions were still 3 minutes apart, by 4 am I was still only dilated at 2 cm. So they sent me home to get some rest because they were positive that later that day I WOULD have my baby.

I was NOT happy about having to go home.

So now it's Tuesday, December 4th. I had a doctor's appointment that day just before noon. I went in. They hooked me up to the monitor thing that measured my contractions and at the end of the visit the nurse practitioner said to go on over to the hospital. I was now dilated at a 3.

Back into triage I went. I was there for about an hour and was still at a 3. The nurse told me that they may send me back home.

People, by this point I had been having contractions for well over 12 hours. I was REALLY not happy about the idea of having to go back home. The nurse could sense that, so she told me to walk around the halls for an hour and then she would measure again.

So husband and I walked for an hour and every 3 minutes I would have contractions and each one was getting more intense than the one before. At the end of the hour I was in A LOT of pain and PRAYED that I had progressed further so they would admit me to the hospital.

Well, at the end of the hour of walking {around 4 pm} I was at a 4, almost a 5, so they finally admitted me and I immediately ordered my epidural :)

It wasn't until about 5:30 pm that the anesthesiologist came in and gave me that epidural. By then I was dilated at 6 cm and in so much pain that I was happy to get that needle in my back. They made husband leave the room while they did it, but 5 minutes later when he walked in I was all smiles and no longer in pain!

Baby and I were doing really well at this point. They put my on pitocin to help intensify my contractions to help my water break. By this point we're all {me, husband, nurse, doctor} placing wagers on when I'm going to have this baby. All of us were sure it was going to happen before midnight. Well, by midnight I was at an 8, but my water still had not broken and there was still no baby :(

It is now Wednesday, December 5th {baby girlfriend's due date} and I have been having contractions for 24 hours! Thank heavens for that epidural though so they didn't hurt anymore!!!!!

Around 3 am my water finally broke and within an hour I was at a 9. Around 6 am my doctor came in and found that baby girl was facing the wrong way. She was head down, but she was face up. So she had me try laying in different positions in hopes that baby girl would turn. At 10:30 am my doctor came back in and baby girl was still face up. The problem was also that I was stuck dilated at a 9. So very gently my doctor told me that the best option was for me to have a c-section.

I wasn't even shocked. I had been having contractions for almost 36 hours and had been in the hospital for almost 24 hours, I was so ready to just have this baby!

So I said, "Okay!" I didn't even cry.

But I looked at husband and he seemed really worried. I told him to ask the doctors if he had any questions or concerns. The doctor answered his questions, which helped to calm his nerves about me having to go into surgery.

Within 10-15 minutes we were in the operating room.

And on December 5th, 2012 at 11:12 am Payton Liberty Foster was born!

8 lbs 5 oz

20 3/4 inches

I remember a few things about my time in the operating room.

I remember them playing music and husband had them turn it up for me because it was Coldplay and he knows they are one of my faves :) I remember it starting to get really painful and asking over and over again for MORE drugs to help with the pain. I remember my doctor calling out at the beginning of it, "Wow! No stretch marks!" I remember hearing Payton cry for the first time and then seeing her over the curtain when the doctor first pulled her out and held her up. {I cried.} And I remember looking over and seeing husband lying on the ground, but having no clue why. {We'll get to that later.}

I very vaguely remember what happened when they took me back to my room. I don't even really remember much about the first time I held Payton. That's the hardest thing about having to have a c-section. But I'm grateful that everything turned out okay and that baby girl was as healthy as could be!

Okay...so why was husband lying on the floor in the operating room?

After Payton was born he was sitting next to me holding her while they stitched me up. His back was starting to hurt a little, so he stood up for a second and looked over the curtain. Then he started feeling a little light headed. He knew he was about to pass-out, so he quickly handed Payton to a nurse and then layed down. He most definitely passed-out. Silly guy! Meanwhile, I'm on the operating table and have no clue what was going on. I'm just grateful that he knew what was going to happen and handed Payton to someone and also that he layed down before he passed out completely.

We are so thrilled and happy to have Payton in our family! We just love her so much already!

This is the first time I saw baby girl! Dr. Laden lifted her up so I could see her over the curtain.

My first thought was, "That's my baby!"

My second thought was, "Whoa! Cone head and huge lips!!!"

Cone head is gone and now she has the tiniest little lips :)