Boston's Birth Story: A Perfect Delivery

When I was 38 weeks and 5 days along, I went to my regular check-up with my doctor. He had told me 2 days before (at church) that we need to get this baby out by the end of the week since he was leaving town for Mother's Day weekend, and because my body was clearly very ready. He agreed that it was a bit nuts and confusing that I was still pregnant at that point. He told me that he would strip the membranes but I had to be very quiet about it since the nurses at the hospital would write him up for it if they knew (since I was a couple days shy of 39 weeks and it isn't supposed to be done before then). As he checked my cervix he said I was dilated between 5 and 6 centimeters, and the bag was bulging. He could hardly believe I was so far dilated. I couldn't either, but it sure makes sense as to why my contractions had been SO intense those last several days. He stripped the membranes but then said that he was very concerned about my water breaking and "dropping a cord". There could be complications if my water broke and I was already that far dilated. He told me to stay put at the office and he would call the hospital to get me in over there. I was so excited, I bet it was written all over my face! I said "Yes! Let's do that!" haha. Ryan had already informed me at the start of the week that the hospital was extremely full all week... lots of scheduled inductions and almost every bed was already taken as it was. Ross (my doc) called over to the hospital and I could hear his conversation with the charge nurse. He was saying "I don't know what else to do... I've never had a patient walking around at a 6! I'm really nervous about it... I understand you're full but we need to get her in today..." The other issue is that I was GBS positive (group B strep) so we knew that for the baby to be safe I needed to get 2 IV bags of penicillin 4 hours apart from each other BEFORE the baby was born. So with that all on the table, my doctor sent me home to relax while he got things settled. I called Ryan so he could get his afternoon cancelled, and I called my friend so she could pick up Logan and Grace from their schools. Ryan and I made and ate lunch and waited for a phone call to come. He also gave me a priesthood blessing of peace and strength. I did feel completely calm and was grateful for that extra blessing.

At about 12:45 the charge nurse called us directly and told Ryan to bring me on in -- they had a room for me. :) We already had our things ready and in the car, and everything at the house was set for our friends the Croshaws to sleepover with the kids that night.

My last photo pregnant. Happy day!

 Baby Time!!

When we got the hospital (which is 2 minutes away) I was contracting every 10 minutes or so and the monitors were showing some super strong ones. My water wasn't broken yet though - it was just the same old contractions I'd been having for weeks. After about 45 minutes, they finally got me hooked up to the IV so we could start the penicillin. I was getting so antsy before they finally came in to do that because I felt like we were wasting time sitting around just monitoring the baby and contractions. I knew we needed about 4-5 hours to do the IV bags from start to finish, and I didn't want to keep waiting around to get started. They finally started the first bag and OH MY it was painful. I wanted to cut my arm off! Luckily it doesn't take too long to empty the bag. For the next few hours we pretty much just hung around chatting with our fun nurse (Stephanie) and watching HGTV. It was a Fixer Upper marathon. Perfect, right?!

At 5pm our friend Ty Curtis came in to do the epidural. I was still contracting quite often - they were even getting closer together and more intense by then so I was pretty sure I was still progressing all on my own. Still no need for pitocin since my body was doing it all. My nurse checked my progress after my epidural was settling in, and I was closer to a 7 at that point. We spent the next hour moving me around so the numbness was spreading evenly to both legs/sides and so the baby's heart rate continued to stay in a good range.

Just waiting and hanging out...

At 6pm we were hoping that Ross was going to come in and break my water, but he called to say he wanted to go to some of his son's baseball game. We were a little disappointed but we understood, since he needs to have his family time too! I wasn't going anywhere and we were fine to wait another little while. At 7pm, Ross came in, broke my water and things got going pretty quickly. Still no need for pitocin either! The contractions got REALLY bad and so painful around 8. I am still just guessing at that time... I felt like it was earlier than that and I had to deal with them for a long time, but Ryan says it only ended up being about 20-25 minutes of the worst of it. They were SO awful. My throat and lungs were on fire trying to breathe through them. There were so many times I said "I didn't get a break between those 2!" Or at least I think I said that but in less words and between big breaths... Ryan and my nurse were good coaches in helping me through each one. It felt like an eternity. I could tell I was moving quickly into transition at this point. I even pushed the pain meds button a couple times, and at one point Ryan could tell I was at a really low point with the pain and even he tried to push the button  for me. It was too soon after the last time I pushed it though and didn't give me extra at that point. I was feeling shocked that I was still in so much pain even with the epidural! Somewhere during those intense 25 minutes, I huffed to Ryan something like "Get Ross. Can't I be done? Isn't it time?!" Ryan thought I was in my "crazy zone" with transition (we had talked about it just a few days before how ladies start saying crazy things while in transition) because he kept giving me funny looks and giggling at me. I was so frustrated though because I was screaming the words in my head but was breathing SO HARD that I couldn't get the words out very well. Anyway, when I could finally feel that the baby was engaged and that intense pressure didn't ease up in between contractions, I told them I thought it was time to push and they needed to get Ross. He came in, immediately could see it was time and baby was about to come, but then he said "I need to change my shoes! Can I change my shoes? I just need 30 seconds!" In my mind it was funny but I was soooo not in a laughing mood... I couldn't even see him or answer him because my eyes were squeezed shut and I was just trying to survive! 

Ross came back in quickly (delivery shoes on, I guess... my eyes were still shut tight), they got me into position, they got the mirror in place that I had asked for (because why not, if it's my last delivery?!) ;) and they told me to push! I pushed hard, then they told me to do half a push with the next contraction. The head was out and the nurse told me he had lots of hair! Then I pushed one more time and Boston Lee Turner was born at 8:29pm!! They put him immediately on my chest and he screamed and screamed. He was so angry and he didn't quiet down for quite some time.

My labor and Boston's delivery could not have gone any smoother! Or been any more perfect, given the fact that I needed the penicillin, I reeeeeally wanted an epidural, and I was already so far dilated that the intense contractions didn't have to last long. I'm so grateful it went so well!

Sorry for the shirtless shots... at least all the important stuff is covered up. 

This hospital is a "baby friendly hospital" which means that their practice is to put the babies right onto your chest and leave them there for an hour or two. They don't weigh them or clean them off (besides a wipe down with a towel) for that amount of time, and they even check vitals/do the apgar score all while the baby is still laying on the chest. It was a new experience for me.

I loved having him right there, skin-to-skin. I realized there is a bonding that takes place that I didn't get to experience with the other two kids. I was able to start nursing Boston within about 30 minutes of his birth and he was a total pro right from the beginning. When they finally took him over to be weighed, Ryan was able to play "Dr Dad" for that part. He checked vitals, helped wash him off a bit (finally), and Boston weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs and 0.4 oz. My biggest baby! It's only because he stayed in the longest. But he was a perfect, healthy size!

 Nurse Koryn combing his beautiful, dark hair.

That night Ryan stayed with me in the hospital because I knew I would need his help handing me Boston when he needed to nurse and such. I didn't want to be along quite yet, and we had some wonderful friends staying with the kids (the Croshaws). Boston was such a good baby, and I would nurse him anytime he showed signs of interest which was quite often. He was so often trying to suck on his fingers or anything close to his face. I was required to stand up a couple times within 6 hours of getting my epidural but my right leg was incredibly numb. I kept trying to use it to get out of bed, but even with help I just could NOT get it to do what I wanted. There were other painful and uncomfortable issues I dealt with that first night that made things pretty miserable, but that's all just part of the deal. ;) I also did not sleep. Maybe a total of a half hour. I just could not get myself to relax and sleep, even though I was completely exhausted. I tried around 2am or so to get up (I finally had enough feeling in my leg to walk to the bathroom with help) so that I could take my contacts out and brush my teeth. Unfortunately I almost passed out and had to yell for Ryan. But we were well taken care of by our nurses though and we made it through that first night.

Just hours old:

I took tons of pictures because I was still just trying to learn his face, and capture all of the "newness". Babies change so much in the first few days and weeks.

Welcome to the world, sweet Baby Boston!! We are so happy you're finally here.