The Lucky Ones!: August 2012

Monday, August 6, 2013 at 7:30am I woke up from contractions. I texted John, who was already at work, and asked him to call me. I told him I was having contractions but he shouldn't come home because they may go away like they did the day before. At 8:07 I texted him an update that i was still contracting, and at 8:33 I asked him to call me again. we chatted and decided he would continue working because the contractions weren't getting any worse, they were 'just there'. at 9:07 i text him that they were still 'just there' and at 9:30 we chatted and decided he should come because they weren't going away - his normal 15 min drive home took him 8 minutes :)

john started tracking the time, duration, and intensity of my contractions. they all lasted about 40 seconds, didn't hurt very much, and were all about 4-8 min apart. john called our doula to let her know contractions were happening again like the morning before and she said to keep monitoring them. Tanaya woke up to her friend Kanasha calling; she wanted to come over and make waffles. we said she could come over, but told tanaya she needed to get ready and pack clothes because we might need to go to the hospital. she was SO excited! about 10:00 john called our doula again let her know the contractions were still continuing. she asked john how my mood was (she had told him all along that when he's no longer funny to me it's time to take me to the hospital) and he told her i thought he was still funny :). she said i was a long way away from delivering and there was no hurry to get to the hospital so relax and take it easy but just get prepared to go to the hospital sometime today. about 11:00 my contractions weren't any stronger or closer together but we decided that we would feel more comfortable going to the hospital - just in case. we got dressed, packed our bags, and john strapped the car seat in the car. we joked, laughed, and were giddy with excitement that this was really the day we were having a baby! about 11:30 we were ready to go, but not before we had some lunch. I wasn't going to the hospital without eating first :) but mid sandwich i had a very intense contraction and told john and tanaya we had to hurry and leave. john snapped this picture and we ran out the door.

As I went out the door i had another intense contraction and had to rest a second before i could continue to the car. once they eased up and we were on the freeway i started doing my make up. tanaya laughed at me and said i was crazy for doing my make-up while i was in labor, but i told her i wanted to look pretty :). At one point during our drive i yelled at john, 'if your not passing cars, your not driving fast enough!' and he sped up. We hurriedly gave tanaya the task to notifying family members once I was checked in to let them know we were at the hospital. I had a few more intense contractions and yelled that i didn't want to have this baby in the car. john drove faster and ran red lights :) as john rounded the corner to the hospital i was SO relieved I said 'we made it!' John yelled to have our car valet as tanaya grabbed a wheelchair and put me in it. As tanaya ran me through the lobby, embarrassed, I told her to stop running because people were looking at us, to which she said 'MOM who CARES, your in LABOR! john met us at the elevators and we rode up to the 2nd floor and started checking in. however, we found out we were checking in at the wrong desk and that we needed to go further down the hall. As tanaya walked me down the hall I yelled at her to stop because the contraction i was having was so intense it hurt to move...then i yelled at her to hurry, hurry, hurry! john and tanaya ran me down the hall and a nurse who was walking by saw their panic and let us in the secured doors. john checked us in at the proper desk and they took me to the examination room. John walked in a few seconds later to help me get into the hospital gown but i was only able to get my jeans off before another contraction hit. i was put on a bed and the nurse started to check me when she said 'OH! well, hello baby!" I was dilated to a 9 and a half! they started running me down the hall to the delivery room and my water broke on the way. the nurse told me NOT to push and i calming said (later did i find out i wasn't so calm) 'I cant NOT PUSH!". as they wheeled me into the delivery room john stayed by my side and tanaya was right by my head. amid all noise the only thing i heard was tanaya saying 'your doing good mom'. :)

John: Once in the delivery room everything happened so fast. I kept telling the nurses that michelle didn't want an epidural but they had to keep telling me not to worry because it was long past the time for that. I was asked to call out the sex of our new baby and then to cut the cord - it all happened so quickly that i barely knew i was doing it. we were at the hospital less than 10 minutes.

Tanaya: While my mom was pushing, a nurse that was holding one of her legs asked me if i wanted to look (caiman was still mostly in "there") i told her no, she asked if i was sure, i said yes. she turned her head back to my mom. she looked surprised because my mom only pushed twice, but at 12:05, she said "ITS A BOY!"

Alyassa, our doula, came to our house throughout the pregnancy to show us massages, positions, and pressure points to help with the pains of labor. However, things happened so fast john and i weren't able to use any of the information we learned, and neither alyassa or our doctor made it in time for the delivery.

Because everything happened so fast tanaya wasn't able to call anyone to let them know we were at the hospital so instead everyone got a call after he was born saying "we're had the hospital and we had a boy!" everyone was SO shocked it took a minute for it to sink in :)

My amniotic fluid was tinted brown so the doctors suspected he may have inhaled meconium. so immediately after he was born they rushed him to a bedside table to make sure his airway was clear. because of this i wasn't able to hold him right away, but tanaya was an awesome big sister and watched over him and made sure they took good care of him while john was taking care of me

the doctors looked me over and took my vitals just so they had it on record that they did it, even though he was already born :)

Tanaya was the first to hold her new baby brother

what an amazing sister!

SO, SO excited!

then it was daddy's turn. John: it was scary but exciting to hold our baby for the first time.
what a proud daddy!!!

such a precious little one

then john handed him to (john: the most amazing mom - that was still half in her street clothes). he was SO perfect with beautiful blue eyes, adorable long fingers, and a little bit of his daddy's brown hair. i was so excited to finally see the little one that had been kicking and stretching into my ribs. he just melted into my arms and heart. he.is.precious!

The first weight in...7 pounds 7 ounces

and 20 1/2 inches long

ahhhh...stretching out just like i did in moms tummy :)

SO dang cute!

I bled a lot with the delivery of the placenta and it was very painful. so john and alyassa were awesome and spent hours massaging me until everything was under control. at one point alyassa said to john 'this is usually what we do BEFORE the baby is born' :) meanwhile, tanaya continued to take amazing care of her brother

he even had his first nap with her :)

i LOVE that he's holding onto her finger. their already the best of siblings

me and my babies!!!

meeting grandpa

and grandma

john called my parents and asked them to bring me a frozen hot chocolate from kneaders - something i'd been craving but couldn't have for months! i LOVE him!

(you can see me in the background chugging it down)

we were finally moved into our recovery room about 5:00pm

we bought tanaya a water paint board for her to pass the time with while i was in labor - we didn't even give it to her until we were settled in our room :)

all of us with alyssa, our doula

our family :)

we searched for the perfect name - and brayden found it. about a week ago me, john, tanaya, grandpa, and brayden went and saw the movie 'snow white and the hunstman'. afterward we stayed and watched the credits and yelled out names we saw that we liked. brayden yelled out 'caiman' and one by one we took turns saying it out loud and decided we all liked it, so we put it on our list of names. after he was born john and i looked at our new little one, then at each other, and said 'caiman'?! :)

he was SO excited he named his cousin. look at that smile!

my whole family came to see us and meet the new little guy. no one, including us, knew we were having a boy until he was born. such a fun surprise!

tanaya was a cute big sister showing him off to all the cousins

such a cute little guy. he was so alert and looking around

Uncle ryan waited patiently but finally got his turn holding his new nephew

daddy comforting caiman as his foot was poked for a routine blood test

daddy and tanaya dressing caiman

tanaya cutting caimans umbilical cord shorter. the doctors were in such a hurry to check his airway that they had john cut it extra long. john said he got to do the first cut so tanaya could do the second one