Austin's Birth Story

{Editor's Note: I read back through this and realized that it totally sounds disjointed and is hard to follow in some parts. Sorry. That's just the way my brain is functioning these days... disjointed and in a foggy mess. :) Oh well. Hopefully it mostly makes sense. }

Life seems to be going in slow motion since Austin was born and at the same time moving like a whirlwind. How does that work? :) I cannot believe this Little Man is almost 4 WEEKS OLD!!
Well, before I start to forget details, I figured I'd better record how the big day went down. :)
It all started at 3:00 in the morning (of course) on Monday, March 26th. I woke up because I had to pee (sorry, I'm not going to worry about skipping potentially TMI or gross details... just so you know!) :), and in the process, I felt something slide out of me that was definitely not pee. I checked and realized that THIS must be my mucus plug (which I thought I had already passed a few days earlier) seeing as it was much larger than my previous occurance. (Note: I never saw my mucus plug with either of my girls, so I wasn't sure what I was looking for.) So now I'm thinking, 'Okay... NOW I probably have a few days before I go into labor'. So I go back to bed. But then I had a nervous moment where I suddenly felt like my belly was empty. I don't know how to describe it other than that I just didn't feel 'pregnant' all of a sudden. I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt the baby move and combined with this empty feeling, I was rather unnerved. So I went and got some ice cream (yea for ice cream at 3 in the morning!) :) and laid on the couch and just waited to see if I felt anything. It took a while, but I finally started feeling the baby move again, and I could breathe easier. In the meantime, I keep feel more discharge coming out, and it really seemed like it was a whole lot. But then it started feeling less mucus-y and more liquid-y. So that got me to thinking that perhaps my water had broken and was leaking. When I was pregnant with Summer, there was no question when my water broke. It was one big GUSH and I'd been having steady contractions for two hours prior to that. This time, I was having no contractions and there was no gush. Just some steady leaking.
Hmmm... what to do? Do I wake up the people on my 'baby time plan' list to come watch the girls and go to the hospital to get checked? But I'd hate to do that so early in the morning and then have it be a false alarm. At the same time, the doc told me that once my water breaks I need to get right in to the hospital so I can be put on some IV antibiotics due to the fact that I had tested positive for GBS (Group B Streptococcus) at my last screening test...
Well, at some point I went back to bed and fell asleep. Jim woke up at 5 AM and went to the gym to work out as he usually does, came home and was getting showered and dressed for work. I got up as well, and by this point, the amount of leaking I was having was really suspicious. Finally, by the time Jim is ready to leave for work (so about 6:45 AM), I told him I was pretty sure my water had broken and we should probably get to the hospital. He kinda looked at me like, 'Are you sure?? Cause I'm about to leave for work...' and then said 'Alright' and called in to his boss to let her know he would likely not be coming in that day. :)
So I called a lady in my ward (Janice Seely) who was my 'middle of the night' contact to come watch the girls until our good friend Babbi could come get the girls that morning... which, ironically enough, Babbi had insisted earlier that weekend that she come get the girls from me on Monday and they could play so I could rest and relax. She is so sweet. It turned out to be perfect timing, other than that I wouldn't be resting, but having a baby instead. :) So Janice came over to keep an eye on the sleeping girls, and Jim and I headed off to the hospital.
They tested me and sure enough... my water had broken. But since I was not having any contractions, they had to go ahead and put me on pitocin (along with the IV antibiotic). Well, I tell ya what... the antibiotic hurt my arm like pouring hot lead through my veins! IT HURT! But thankfully only lasted for as long as it took to get the meds in me (probably about a half hour-- although they had to repeat it again about 4 hours later. UGH!) The contractions weren't bad yet and I had plenty of time to call my mom and let her know how everything was going while I was still in good spirits. :) But finally around noon, the contraction pain started becoming pretty intense. I had initially thought about trying to do this delivery without an epidural since I knew of two people (my sister and my good friend, Amy) who both gave birth without one (one intentionally, and the other unintentionally) ;) and ended up with a really speedy recovery. I was really wanting a speedy recovery, since my first two times had been so slow and not very pleasant. Well, by the time these contractions were really starting to kick in, that whole 'natural' concept went out the window and I was ready for the good stuff. :) The anesthesiologist came and got me hooked up to the epidural, and about 15 minutes later, life was good. :) However, Austin started having a hard time with his heart rate dropping each time I had a contraction, so the nurses took my off the pitocin to slow the contractions until they could get his heart rate issue under control. His heart rate picked back up at that point and as it turned out, I was contracting well on my own, so they didn't have to put me back on pitocin. And from here, things started going quickly. I was dilated to about a 5 by the time I got the epidural, and then it was only a matter of about an hour and a half before I was fully dilated and ready to push. They called my doc, she arrived, came in, I pushed for about 3 minutes (and they actually had me slow down the pushing so I didn't tear) and out came Little Man's head... at which time they realized the umbilical chord was wrapped around his neck, so I had to stop pushing for them to clamp off the chord and cut it (Jim got to cut the chord) :) and then it was another push and suddenly, there was a new love in my life. :)
Austin was born at 3:31, and the first thing he decided to do in this new world was to pee on all the doctors and nurses. :) He gave them a pretty good spray. :)
Then they put this little guy up on my chest and I remember thinking 'wow he's so little!' and how he didn't look much like his sisters at all. Dixie and Summer had looked SO similar, that I half expected him to look the same as well. But not so. And then I couldn't believe when they told me he only weighed 5 lbs and 15 oz! My babies keep getting smaller and smaller! (Not that I'm complaining, but it just makes me laugh since that's the opposite of how it usually goes!) :)
They cleaned him up and brought him to me to nurse and he wasted no time in latching right on. It was almost funny how quickly he just took right to it. Jim and I both laughed and I told him this was definitely HIS son! ;)
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was able to get up and moving around at the hospital. I was so thankful that I was not in a lot of pain and wasn't feeling overly wiped out or anything. Of course, you get basically no sleep in the hospital, so I was anxious to get checked out. So two days later, after passing all the tests and signing our life away on all the different forms, we were thrilled to come home to two anxious little girls (and to Mom and Dad Roberts who had been so good to stay with the girls while we were in the hospital)!
Well, we've been slowly settling into life with three children. THANKFULLY, my mom was able to come be with me for three weeks (sweet!!) and has basically saved my sanity during the recovery and adjustment period. I don't know what I would have done without her! My house was cleaned from top to bottom, my daughters were entertained, my meals were prepared... I just cannot express enough gratitude for this amazing woman I am fortunate enough to have as my own mom. She finally had to leave today (tears!!), and I'm fearing life will start to be more overwhelming now than I am prepared to handle, but only time will tell. At least at this point, the girls have mellowed out from their 'new baby brother' excitement and are not all over him like they were in the beginning and are easier to handle. :) So hopefully life won't be TOO crazy. :)
Well, life is good, and we cannot count our blessing enough for the sweet little boy we have welcomed into our home, and for the joys we have been experiencing daily.
Austin, you are so loved and adored! We love you with all our hearts and are so thankful to have you as a part of our family!!
Loves to all! (And yes... I'll post more pictures soon.) :)