The best chicken marinade
15 years ago
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Other hospital pictures
Friday, July 15, 2016
Introducing Zachary John Stephenson, his birth story
First of all, my doctor was out of
town from week 38 until the day after my due date. So I wouldn’t have minded being late. But, of course, the end of pregnancy is such
a mind game, that really, I was tired of being pregnant (and being in pain), so
it didn’t matter who delivered. The
Thursday before my due date I was awake from 2:45-5:45am having painful
contractions every 15 minutes. It was an
intense pain on my left side. But, when
my contraction was done, I was fine. I
needed Rob to push on my back during them.
When I started listening to my birthing music (same music as with the
twins), I fell asleep & my contractions stopped. I told Rob I wasn’t sure if he was going to
work that day, but I felt fine once they stopped, so he went in late. I went to the park with my friend Catherine
Fisher (and sat in a camp chair the whole time) and had a few contractions
there, but not painful. That afternoon
my visiting teacher (whose husband is in the bishopric with Rob) called and
said she’d been thinking about me all day and wondering how I was doing, and
asked if she could bring dinner. I told
her that would be wonderful and that I thought I was going to the hospital that
morning, but ended up being a false alarm. (I had a plan for dinner, but not a
lot of motivation to get off the couch.)
She brought taco fixings and all the kids loved it! I had contractions through dinner where I was
making faces, but weren’t as painful as that early morning. I wondered why I was having so many
contractions during dinner. Why was I
taking so long to eat? I told Rob I
wasn’t sure if he was going to bishopric meeting that night, but when it was
time to leave, things hadn’t progressed, so I told him to go (common
theme). I texted my neighbor, Pam Harris
to let her know it might be that night, but nothing was happening right now, so
if she could keep her phone by her so she could come watch the kids while we
went to the hospital, that would be great.
Around midnight (I’m just guessing
on the time), I started having intense contractions 10-12 minutes apart. Same place- left side. I didn’t feel like they were close enough
together, but by 1am I was tired of the pain and occasionally they got as close
as 7 mins apart. I told Rob I didn’t
want to be at home anymore. I wanted to
be at the hospital. Funny side note: Rob
had been saying since that morning he didn’t want me to have the baby at home,
so make sure we went to the hospital in time.
But, once I said I wanted to be at the hospital, Rob said, we don’t want
to get there too early.
I called our neighbor & Rob made a bed for
her on the couch. I told her that I
hoped it wasn’t a false alarm, I didn’t want to be sent home. When I walked out to the car, I got hit with
another contraction and was glad we were leaving. The drive to the hospital
wasn’t bad, since it was the middle of the night. The hospital was under construction, so
parking was limited. There was still a
labor and delivery spot left at the front of the hospital. I think I had another contraction in the
middle of the road, but managed to make it across. Rob suggested I ride in the wheelchair every
time we passed an open one, but I wanted to walk so that I was doing everything
to keep things moving along. When the
elevator doors opened and we stepped on the labor & delivery floor, I
started crying. All the pictures of the
newborns and hormones I guess. When we
got to the check in desk, she took one look at me and ask if I wanted to check-in
in my room. I said yes and was so grateful!
By the time we made it to my room, I wished I had the wheelchair. I got hit with another contraction right when
we stepped in the room. I leaned into
Rob in a hug with my head resting on his chest, wishing I had a more
comfortable position to be in. The nurse
asked if I felt like pushing. I said no
& was happy to get in bed once it passed.
She checked me to see how dilated I
was. I was at a 6 with bulging
waters. “yay!” I said, “I get to
stay!” She went to the hallway and called
out “She’s at a 6 with her sixth baby!”
Suddenly 4 nurses were in my room rushing around getting things
ready. Crazy because I needed 4 hours to
get the antibiotics for the strep b.
They called the anesthesiologist and asked me a million questions while
I was having contractions. The anesthesiologist
was one I had before, I think with Makayla.
He started my epidural before I even signed the consent form. I was very glad of this because I was in so
much pain. (I have no idea how far apart
the contractions were at this point…once I got to the hospital, I stopped
timing them & didn’t look at the monitor.)
He said the epidural should take effect in 2-3 contractions. Well, after 3 contractions, it still wasn’t
kicking in, so he gave me another shot of the stuff through the tubing (no more
pokes). That kicked it in almost
instantly. Ahhh, a big sigh of relief
and relief from the pain. Then I felt
pressure & wasn’t sure if that meant it was time to push or not, so I told
the nurse. She checked me and said I was
at a 10. So she left to call the doctor
(luckily he lived 2 minutes away). I was
glad that I didn’t have to push& wasn’t in pain anymore. He arrived & looked very tired. (It was
the middle of the night, but the nurses said he had delivered a ton of babies
in the last 24 hours.) He wasn’t in the
room that long & was nice enough, so it was ok that my dr wasn’t
there. I pushed a few times & his
shoulders got stuck, like with Michael.
I wasn’t surprised, but they were, despite me warning them.
Zachary John Stephenson was born around
3:15am, an hour after I got to the hospital.
They were surprised he was “so big” at 8 lbs 4 oz & 18 & ½”
long. “where were you hiding him in
there?” Because of the mild shoulder
dystocia, I had 2nd degree tearing.
It was a painful recovery, but nothing like how bad the twins recovery
was. I enjoyed the hospital stay &
the food was amazing (an omlette with mushrooms, sausage, and feta cheese!!)
and the kids enjoyed visiting. Rob
brought them by several times. Matthew
kept saying “cuute. Baby zach cuute.” The hospital provided one guest meal &
since Rob wasn’t ever there at a meal time, he suggested I invite a
friend. So I invited my friend Catherine
(who I went to the park with). We had a
nice lunch, though the doctors & nurses kept interrupting ;) Zachary even
had his circumcision during that time.
The last thing to note is that with
the other kids the hospital sent me home with a diaper bag & formula. This time, nothing. I wonder if its cuz he nursed all.the.time in
the hospital. With the twins I felt like
I had to set them down when I wasn’t feeding or burping them because there were
2 of them. This time around, I cuddled
him a ton in the hospital bed. And now
I’m at the frazzled mom of 6 stage.
(Actually, now that he’s 2 months and can settle himself down for a nap,
its not as bad, but this is definitely the busiest time of my life. And yes,
having one newborn is way easier than two.
But now I have 2 toddlers and 3 other siblings to give my time to.)
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
School carnival
Beginning of May
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