#3's arrival....

I went to sleep Thursday (Jan 26th) night around 10:30 or 11pm. I was assuming that he wasn't going to come before Sunday, maybe just trying to prepare myself to be "overdue" since my due date was Sunday (Jan 29th). My midwife had already offered to break my water 2 days before (on Tuesday), she said my bag was bulging and I had been at 4 cm and 80% effaced for a couple of weeks. I REALLY wanted to go into labor on my own, knowing that that would allow my body to work more efficiently and eliminate me worrying about any "need" for intervention.

I woke up around 12:45am and went to the bathroom, thinking that it seemed pretty early in the night for me to be waking up to pee. I went back to bed and started to fall asleep when I had a contraction. It was very light and I didn't think much of it because I had had random braxton hicks in the weeks leading up to that night, so I just rolled over to go back to sleep. I ended up waking up again to another contraction. It was only 1am, so I decided to get up and see if my body was really trying to get things started, or if it was just a fluke.

I got up and walked around a bit. Had contractions occasionally, but often enough to make me believe that the baby really was coming. I went downstairs to find my husband asleep on the couch with his PS3 on. I woke him and told him that we'd be having a baby that night. He asked, suddenly worried (clearly not completely awake), "Right now?" I just smiled and said, "no, not yet." We cuddled on the couch for a bit and I told him he should probably put some stuff together for when we'd leave. By 2am I decided to start timing contractions. From 2-2:30am they were pretty regular, but I started feeling them in my back. I was bouncing on my exercise ball and just relaxing. The pressure in my back became pretty intense, which made me wonder if my baby was posterior (backwards, face up, sunny-side up, whichever expression tickles your fancy). So I said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to let me know when I should go to the hospital. The pressure in my back kinda threw me off. Because my other 2 births were unmedicated as well I had felt pretty confident with how familiar I was with the stages of labor and how my body reacted to them. The back labor, however, totally skewed my perception of how far along I was, or at least I thought it did. I remember Brian asking me if I felt like I was progressing and that was when I decided to pray. I realized that I didn't want to make it to the hospital after the fact and I didn't want to get there too early because I was in unfamiliar territory. Immediately after saying the prayer I thought "2:40." So, I looked at the clock and said, "We should leave at 2:40." Brian looked at the clock and said, "That's in 10 min." So I got up to call my friend to come be at our house with our other kids and she DIDN'T answer...nice. :)! I needed to use the bathroom, so I decided that if she didn't call me or text by the time I was done then I'd call a different friend to come. She ended up sending me a text a minute or two later saying she could be here in 15 min. Thanks for following through Emily!

Once she got here I realized that I was going through transition. It's such an unmistakable sensation, and makes me feel a little out of control, although my husband says you'd never know. We got in the car. I told him to drive as fast as he could, I knew the drive would feel uncomfortable with any bumps. I put on my hypnobabies scripts and relaxed on the way. When we got to the ER half way to the entrance I grabbed Brian's hand in the parking lot as I focused on a contraction. I noticed I was beginning to feel nauseous. I threw up right before pushing my other 2 babies out, so I knew I was close to meeting this little guy. I told Brian I felt nauseous and he said, "Ok, let's just make it in the hospital, c'mon." We got into the ER at about 3:05am. A nurse asked how she could help. I told her I was going to have a baby and walked away from her, thinking I needed a safe place to puke, and by "safe" I mean "as private as you can get in a public ER." She directed us over to another nurse who pulled out some paper work for us to sign or something. Brian looked at her and said, pointing to me, "She's pretty far along, can we just get into a room?" To which the nurse smiled and said, "Yeah, we can get you into one, just sign here please" Haha, nurses are funny to me. I REALLY need to make a bigger raucous when I get to the hospital so people take me more seriously. Brian went to sign the paper and I asked for something to throw up in. A nurse quickly handed me a lovely pink puke bin. I love that the puke bins at the hospitals are pink. At least all of the ones I've used have been. It's like they're trying to still help you feel feminine as you're vomiting. I stood and faced a corner, trying to avoid anyone else having to witness my yakking. I remember thinking how uncomfortable it was for my stomach to be ejecting upward as my uterus was trying to eject downward and suddenly felt a "pop" as my water gushed all over my pants. Awesome. I said, "My water just broke." My water didn't break with my other 2 births until my midwife or dr broke them at 9.5cm...this baby was ready to come. Suddenly a nurse was behind me with a wheelchair and asked me to sit. I tried and totally felt like I was going to sit on his head and told her so. She just told me to do my best so I sat off to the side on one butt cheek while I tried not to push this guy out. I told the nurse I wanted to push and she just said, "Hold on honey, don't push, don't push."

We got to a delivery room. I remember seeing the clock's hand was somewhere between the 2 and the 3, so around 3:12am, or 3:13am. I stood up and leaned on the bed with my elbows. It felt good to not be sitting anymore. The nurse was bent on me getting on the bed. I did NOT want to be laying on my back or sitting on my butt at all. She kept asking me to get on the bed and I'd say, "Hold on a second" She said she didn't want my baby falling on the floor and all I could think was, "I'm wearing pants, he wouldn't fall on the floor, he'd be totally fine!!" Haha, it's funny what you think when your body is on autopilot. My husband asked the nurse if I had to be laying down on the bed (he knew I didn't want that, we had talked about what I'd be okay with during labor and what would drive me crazy! So glad we had those discussions so I didn't have to explain anything while we were there and my focus was elsewhere). The nurse said "no." So I quickly pulled my wet pants off (GROSS!!!) and climbed onto the bed on my knees with my arms up on the back of the bed and my head resting there as well. The Dr walked in as I was pushing. I remember hearing him ask if I was comfortable in that position. I didn't answer him. I was in a different place. I did think that that was a stupid question. If I weren't comfortable I wouldn't have been in that position.

Anyway, I pushed and the Dr massaged my perineum. That did NOT feel good. It was rather distracting. I asked him to stop. He said he was just trying to help me not tear. It worked. I didn't tear. The baby came out in about 3 or 4 pushes. He was born at 3:18am. It was AWESOME!!!! Such a WONDERFUL feeling afterward. If I could bottle up the concoction of hormones that flood your body after an unmedicated birth I would be rich. And an addict. A rich addict, nothing good could come from that...

So then I got to hang out with my little guy for a full hour before they even weighed him or measured or administered anything. It was sooo great!! Totally what I wanted! He weighed 7lbs 11oz and measured in at 20.5 in long. My biggest baby by a pound and a half!! He also was inside me for a week and a half longer than Isaak and almost 3 weeks longer than Kaebri. Before he was born I guessed that he'd be 7lbs 10oz, and Brian guessed he'd be 7lbs, give or take a couple of oz. I'm bummed my midwife couldn't be there (she was out of town) and the other midwife on call got there a bit too late, but it was all good.

We AGONIZED over names for him!!! UGH!!! I HATE naming kids. It gives me too much anxiety!! I question myself too many times, to the point that I don't even like the names we're considering anymore. I definitely have commitment issues....

We finally decided on Demetri Lucas Vaughan. No, we're not Russian. :) I do know that it's supposed to be his name, even though I feel pretty attached to the other one we were considering. If we have another boy there's a good chance we'll use it then.

We are in LOVE with him. It's so funny how life changes after each kid. How big your other children seem, and how much you just want to slow everything down to enjoy the sweetness of new life.

Isaak is enamored. It's very sweet. Kaebri likes him more than she tends to admit. He's always the first one she wants to give kisses to at night when she goes to sleep and is always the first to go run to him when he cries, but if he cries too long then she walks away shaking her head saying, "No baby, no baby." Isaak LOVES his name. Kaebri says it and it sounds like "DT." He's been a pretty good night sleeper. The last couple of nights he's woken up more frequently, but up until then he was only waking up once at 3 or 4 to nurse and then go back to sleep.

Brian's been home for the past two weeks. It's been WONDERFUL having him here. I truly am in LOVE with that guy. He is such a wonderful father and so good about looking out for me. He goes back to work on Monday. I'm sad. I'll miss his help for sure!! But I know I'm just going to feel lonely for him as well.

So here's to 3 kids...and me surviving, and, with any luck, thriving this next week and every one that follows!! I'll let you know how I fare... :)