Arrival of Lawson Y Oblad

Well, remember how I went to the hospital with a false alarm? Well, later that night around midnight I was laying in bed reading about labor and delivery and I started feeling cramps in my back. They didn't hurt too much but they kept coming and going. I decided I should probably keep track of how far apart they were. After about 3 different times I called Tyson in and told him I thought I was having contractions. He got our kitchen timer and made a little graph thing and we timed them for a little over an hour. Most of them were 30 sec to 1 min long with about 3-6 min from the beginning of one to the beginning of the next. They were gradually getting worse. At 2am we decided to go into the hospital. I knew exactly where to go! :) When we got there, there was a security desk with two guys and they said, "I take it you're not here to see someone." They told us to go ahead. We got to the labor and delivery floor and checked in. They gave us a room. I changed into the gown and got on the bed. A nurse came in and checked my cervix. I was dilated to a 2-- earlier that day I was 1.5. She said she'd let me sit for an hour and check me again. The contractions kept getting worse. Tyson helped me breath through them. She came back and I was a 3. I was so grateful. She let us stay and got an iv into me. She gave me some pain killers that made me a little loopy. It was nice! She called my doctor to let her know I was there and ask about an epidural. The nurse came back and asked me if I wanted my epidural. I told her yes! The epidural guy came in about 45 min. or so later and got my epidural in. I had to lay on my left side. I felt a prick and then he put a tiny little tube in through the hole and into my spinal area. That part felt weird. Then he got the medicine going. It was awesome! I always thought that you were paralyzed for the waist down. I could still move my legs but it just felt like they were asleep. They were tingly and warm. Before I got the epidural I was really really shaky and I puked a couple of times but the epidural stopped the shaking for the most part. I had to stay on one side and the nurse would come in every hour and check my cervix and then she and Tyson would move me to my other side. The epidural works with gravity so if the side that's up starts to hurt then moving onto your other side would help that. There was also a button to push if I could start to feel pain and it would give me more juice! I think I pushed it 5 times during the whole thing! Everytime I did though, I would puke. I don't think my stomach liked it. The puking was worth it! So every hour she would come in and check me I was dilated another cm. It was good to be progressing! About 10:30 Sunday morning I was fully dilated. My doctor broke my water at this time. She could tell the baby had pooped, which happens when the baby is stressed. If he swallowed any when he came out it could make him sick so she was going to make sure the ICU nurses would be there to suck everything out. She gave me an hour to rest and then we were going to start pushing. The nurse came in an hour later and she and Tyson held my legs up and with each contraction I did 3 pushes-- 10 seconds each. I couldn't feel the contractions but I had a monitor on me that showed when I was having them. I was wearing that and also the baby heart monitor around my waist. Eventually they took the baby monitor off and put one that sticks on his head that's supposed to work better. Anyway, it was weird because the nurse kept leaving so it was just Tyson and me pushing. She wasn't gone long and I wasn't worried or anything I just thought it was weird. The baby's head was angled diagonally instead of downward so he wasn't coming down like he should be. The nurse called the doctor and she came shortly. We kept pushing while we waited. She came and tried turning him so he was facing downward. With each contraction she turned a little more. There was a lot of pressure but I didn't feel any pain really. Finally he got turned. By this time it was about 1:30 ish. I pushed through a few more contractions and his head was far enough down that I could see it. She got me a mirror. It was sooooo cool. Watching his head coming out really motivated me to push harder. It still didn't hurt but felt like my butt was going to explode! It was a ton of pressure. My bum hole looked like it was turning inside-out (too much info, sorry!). She got his head and I pushed once more and she pulled the rest of him out. She took him to the ICU nurses so I wasn't able to see him right then. He was just on the other side of the room and they lifted him up to show me. He didn't cry at all but was making some little noises. They were trying to make him mad so he would cry but he wouldn't. They got everything sucked out of him and wrapped him up and brought him over. He was so cute. His eyes were wide open. He has big dark crystal blue eyes. They then took him and Tyson to the nursery to run tests and do all that stuff. During this time my doctor delivered my placenta, which was awesome! I asked her to show it to me. It was huge compared to what I thought it would look like. It looked like a liver or something. It was amazing. I had torn a tiny bit inside so she stitched me up also. They let me rest for another hour. They wiped me up and gave me some pitocin, which helps to contract the uterus back down. The nurse came a couple of times and pushed on my stomach and a bunch of blood came gushing out. At that time my epidural was off but still was working so it didn't hurt. After an hour, I could feel my legs more. The nurse took the catheder out and took my epidural catheder out and also iv. She helped me up to the bathroom and sat me on the toilet. She said it was very important for me to try to pee because if too much pee gets in my bladder then it blocks room for the uterus to shrink back down correctly. So I peed a little bit. She gave me a bottle and I had to wash myself off down there instead of wiping. Then she washed my legs off because they were still covered in blood. She gave me these disposable underwear that she helped put on with this huge pad. She changed my gown and then sat me in a wheelchair. She gathered up all of our stuff and had another nurse help her bring it all down to the next floor which was recovery. I started feeling a little light-headed and sick so I had her give me a puke tray but nothing happened. We got to my room and she helped me into bed. At this time Tyson and the baby were still in the nursery. I tried to sleep a little but Tyson came in and then the baby was brought down. He was all wrapped up and cute. I tried to nurse him then but he wasn't hungry and wasn't responding. Tyson's family came down that evening. They stayed less than an hour. Tyson left about 8:00 to go home and I stayed the night with the baby. He slept most of the night. At 2am the nurse came in to check our vitals and she took the baby to the nursery because his temp was running cold. Tyson came back at 9 the next morning. We hadn't heard from our doctor so we weren't sure when we would be released. We told my mom to come that afternoon. She got there about 3pm Monday afternoon. She stayed with us at the hospital and finally my dr came at 7pm. She talked to us about being released that night. She took the baby and did the circumcision. Tyson went with her and he said it was really cool. He said the baby still didn't cry but made little noises. She brought him back and a nurse came and went over some things about taking care of him and me and things like that. Then I got dressed into my clothes and we put the baby in his clothes and put him in his carrier. The nurse came with a wheelchair and my mom took the baby. Tyson went and got the car and then we went home. It was a lovely experience!

For his name Tyson still really wanted Doman. I just couldn't bring myself to name him that. The night I spent in the hospital I was thinking of names and Lawson popped into my head. It was on my list before but Tyson had vetoed it. When he came the next day I asked him about it. He said he didn't care. He said I could have the final say! So we've named him Lawson Y Oblad. The Y was Tyson's 2 cents! It stands for BYU of course! I personally think it's cute. It's unique and original. So anyway, things are good. I'm glad the pregnancy is over but there's a whole lot of other things to worry about now! More later. . .