Only the Beginning

Our Miracle

Here I am, finally, to tell the story of the latest and most precious miracle of the Todd household. Our son is here! Hence the late posting--I can't get enough of him! I stay busy around the house while he sleeps but find myself frequently coming back just to get a peek at him. He is an angel.

As you read in my last posting, I was due Friday the 12th and hadn't had any sign of labor up until that time. I started getting anxious and went for long walks everyday to try and induce labor, but nothing seemed to progress until my walk later in the evening on the 12th. I went out for about 20 minutes and returned home because I started feeling dizzy and Tyson was due home shortly. I rested and planned to eat dinner when Tyson got home--but it was only 10 minutes after he arrived that my water broke. There was no question about it--what a feeling! I was like a walking water hose! And there was nothing I could do about it! So weird.

I changed my clothes (not that it helped!) and we were off.

When we got to the hospital, Tyson was a great scribe and took notes on my labor. I love the way he kept notes, so I'm going to tell the story along his timeline. I'll add my own comments in parenthesis.

*3/12/10*

7:30 pm - Water broke. Called Bev on the way. Gave Dani a blessing before we left to manage pain.

8:00 pm - At the hospital. Called G-man/Michelle/texted bros and sis. Dani changed clothes. Lots of fluid. (LOTS of fluid =0) The nurses told me to "settle in. First time moms are usually here 12-16 hours of labor and 2 hours of pushing." I studied the clock, calculating the hours in my mind. It was going to be a L O N G night.)

8:30 pm - Nurse checked Dani. 3 cm dilated and 85% effaced. Contractions every 1 1/2 min or so. Gradually get stronger. Itchy nose. Aspercream. (My nose itched terribly throughout the entire labor! I don't know what's worse - falling off a cliff or breathing through contractions while trying to itch a never-ending itchy nose! My lower back really, really hurt as well, so Tyson massaged it with Aspercream to help the pain.)

10:30 pm - Nurse gave Dani Fentanyl drug for pain. Seemed to work well. Dilated to 5 cm and 95% effaced.

11:25 pm - Dani puked - YUCK!

11:35 pm - 2nd dose of Fentanyl drug and Zophran drug for nausea. Both tired. (I had been paranoid about going into labor early, so I stuffed myself everyday to make sure I wouldn't go into labor hungry. Well of course, the day my water breaks, I hadn't had much time to eat and went into labor on a bowl of cereal for breakfast and a pb&j sandwich for lunch-that's it. Needless to say-lack of food, lack of sleep, and 4 hours of contractions made for one tired mama.)

11:35 pm (continued) - Internal exam. Dilated to 7 cm. Nurse said Dani is doing extremely well and progressing nicely. Discussing an Epidural. (I had every intention to make it through my labor without an Epidural, but our ultrasound earlier that morning made me have second thoughts. Pushing a 9 lb. 10 oz. baby? For 2 hours!!??! Granted, I was progressing more quickly than the nurses expected for a first time mom--maybe pushing would be quick too? But a 9 lb. 10 oz. baby!??! He would tear me apart! Plus, contractions were already bad enough, and I still had 3 cm to go! To boot-I was incredibly hungry and tired! An Epidural became a promising option.)

11:50 pm - Aspercream on back.

*3/13/10*

12:20 am - 8 cm dilated. Progressing well. Contractions growing. Back pain. (Extreme back pain!)

12:30 am - 3rd dose of Fentanyl.

1:00 am - Internal check. 8 1/2 cm. Baby is 1+ station. (Can I take this any longer???)

1:10 am - EPIDURAL. Baby's heart rate dropped. Got a shot to relax the uterus. Pain is going down. (The nurses informed me that I have an over-reactive uterus. What does that mean? It means that, throughout my labor, my uterus was basically contracted the entire time and contracted tighter during contractions. It reached the point that it was squeezing the baby so tightly that his heart rate dropped and he needed a break. The nurses panicked. Luckily it relaxed with the medicine or it would have been a call for an emergency C-section. They put me on oxygen at that point.)

1:45 am - 2 blankets. Dani is comfortable and warm. Everything is going OK. Blood pressure has been low the whole time. Nurse Melissa is running the bags of fluid into Dani at a fast rate. Dani has the labor shakes. Shivers. (My body was so weak, yet tense, and felt cold. I couldn't stop shaking throughout most of my labor. They had the most amazingly warm blankets that solved that problem real quick.)

2:50 am - 10 cm dilated and fully effaced. I took a nap. (So did I! My Epidural was the most incredible thing EVER! I knocked out.)

3:00 am - Hour of rest and descend.

4:00 am - Stirrups.

And that's when pushing began, which is why Tyson's notes came to an end. I could feel that the baby was low and ready. He definitely was. I pushed twice and he was crowning (about 4:20 am). The nurse called my doctor so he could make it for the delivery (Dr. Horsely is priceless. He wasn't the doctor on-call that night, but when he found out I was there he made sure the nurses knew to call him). So I just waited........and waited.........doing nothing...........feeling great.........laughing at my dead legs..........for about 10 minutes. Dr. Horsely arrived and we chatted while he dressed and took his time like nothing was going on (one major reason I'm grateful I had an Epidural!). It's now approximately 4:35 am. Another contraction and I push again. Dr. Horsely asked if I wanted to feel the head. I reached down and jumped at the touch. Everyone laughed. Another contraction and I push once more--it's now 4:44 am--and HE'S HERE!! He's really here!!! Every perfect little part of him. Wow. There are no words.

The entire experience was one to remember. No question. The surprising part (to me) is that it is a happy memory. Not a sick-to-my-stomach, wait-10-more-years-to-do-it-again, terribly-painful memory. I anticipated such a miserable experience, but when all was said and done, I looked at Tyson with a smile and said, "I could do this again tomorrow!" He scowled and shook his head. We both laughed. I'm glad I did all I could to wait for pain relief. Experiencing the contractions and having control over what was happening was satisfying. Am I disappointed in myself for giving in to an Epidural? I thought I would be. But after experiencing the difference between the two evils? Absolutely not. My Epidural was heaven-sent! It was perfect. I could feel my legs enough to move them, and I could feel the pressure of everything going on inside of me the entire time, but nothing was painful. I felt like I got to experience everything minus the misery. I'm happy with the way we did it. Wouldn't change a thing.

And now we're home with our little guy. Teryn Gregory Todd. We named him Teryn after my brother that passed away while I was serving my mission, and Gregory after Tyson's father. If our son grows up to be anything like those two, he'll be an extraordinary man. We're so excited for our future with him.

Here are some pictures. No captions. They should be self-explanatory.

The End =0)