Au Naturel

Now, this is the story all about how 

my life got flipped-turned upside down

 and I'd like to take a minute 

just sit right there 

I'll tell you how I became the mom of the baby with hair! 

Everett Paul Lott was born on April 25th at 10:40 am. He was 8lbs 6oz and 21.5 inches long and had LOTS of crazy HAIR!! This is the story of how it all went down. If you're not into that sort of thing, stop right here. If you are, get ready for all the gory details! 

The couple of weeks leading up to the birth, I had been sitting at 2cm and 50% effaced... Thursday, April 24th, I just felt gross. I was exhausted all day, had no energy, and just felt yucky in general. I had an inkling that the little guy would be coming on Friday, so I figured my body was just gearing up for the labor. I was a week past my due date (which is when Porter was born), so I knew it would be any day. I went to bed Thursday night feeling like Friday would be the day. I got up a couple of times in the night to go to the bathroom - what pregnant woman doesn't do that, right?! - and thought I might be having  contractions. I finally woke up around 2:30am and pretty much knew this was it. I had been feeling regular "waves" while I was trying to sleep and finally decided that they were, in fact, contractions. I decided to get up and get things ready for when we needed to go to the hospital. My mom, who had been staying with us for a week already, woke up when she heard me walking around, so I told her that I thought I was in labor and that we would be heading to the hospital fairly soon. After everything was ready, I laid back down to time the contractions. They were anywhere from 5 to 12 minutes apart, not regular and not yet painful, but getting a little stronger. I woke William up around 3:45am to tell him it was happening and we would need to go soon. I kept timing the contractions and hung out on the couch for a little while while William got dressed and emailed his work to let them know he wouldn't be in that day. 

The contractions started getting a little stronger and a little closer together, so I decided we should head to the hospital. Porter, my 2nd son, was a really quick labor and I showed up at 9cm at the hospital. I didn't really want to do that again, so I thought I'd rather get there and relax instead of risking having the baby on the way to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 4:45am. We got checked in and headed up to the labor and delivery hall. They got us into a room and I got the gown on and got hooked up to the monitors and all that stuff. I had said to William on the way to the hospital that I was going to be really annoyed if we got there and I was only like 5cm. Well, you guessed it. They checked me around 5:15am and I was only 5cm. Lame. I informed the nurses about my birth plan - to go all natural - and told them my preferences. I didn't want an IV - at least no fluids, I didn't want my water broken, I didn't want any drugs, I wanted to be able to move around as much as possible, I wanted to nurse my baby as soon as possible, and William wanted to cut the cord. 

SO, because of all that, after checking me, they pretty much left me alone to labor for a little while. I was hooked up to the stupid heart rate monitor, so I couldn't move around as much as I would have liked, but I was able to sit on my exercise ball and move around a little. The contractions were getting a little stronger, but still completely bearable. I had to pee like a million times, which actually proved to be a comfortable position for contractions. After a while and a few nurse shift changes later (and getting the head nurse of the childbirth classes who was a big proponent for natural birth), they let me get off of the heart rate monitor for a while, so I was able to get in the shower. It was about 7am. The water helped SO much in making me more comfortable. Contractions were about 3 minutes apart and lasting about a minute at this point. I sat on my ball and hung out in the shower as long as possible. When I got out of the shower, I had to get back on the monitors, so back into the bed for a while. They checked me and I was 7cm. The contractions started getting a lot stronger and a lot less comfortable. I didn't want to move or talk to anyone while I was having one. The nurse told me to let her know as soon as possible if my water broke or if things started getting a lot more intense, because she figured once things started happening for real that things would go really quickly and she wanted to be able to get the doctor and get ready while she could! 

Well, she was right....not long after she said that, I felt a really strong kick and what felt like a balloon popping inside of me and then a gush of water flowed out. Yep, my water broke and it was a crazy feeling! Thankfully the nurse was in the room, so I was able to tell her right away and she went to get the doctor and others who would need to be there for the delivery. This was some time around 8:30 or 9am. My contractions were really intense at this point and were coming really fast. The doctor came in to check me (which I was currently on all fours on the bed - the most comfortable position at that point) and she said that I was almost complete, but not quite. She said that if I wanted to, I could start pushing and see how it went.

At this point, the contractions were pretty much non stop and pretty unbearable. I decided it was time to get this baby out whatever it took, so even though I didn't feel the urge, I started pushing. I tried pushing on all fours, but knew that wasn't going to work, so I got turned around and the nurse helped me into the stirrups. It was at this point that I was really wishing for that epidural. Obviously it was too late for that, but man I was MISERABLE! I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't do anything but yell at this point. I finally got into position and was told to push. I couldn't. It hurt too bad. "Push like you're having a bowel movement" says the doctor. Ok. Done. Yep. Totally pooped and totally knew I was doing it. Sick. And that not helpful. I didn't need to push poop out, I needed to push this baby out! I finally sucked it up, figured out how to push and got down to business. Contractions were still non stop and it was really hard to push through that, but I somehow managed. I was so hot and so out of breath that I kept asking for ice and practically took off the bloody hospital gown. And through all of this, the nurse kept trying to keep that blasted heart rate monitor on me. I was about to throw it across the room, it was so annoying. Anyway, I somehow managed to keep pushing and yelling and panting and finally felt that wonderful "ring of fire" as the baby's head made its way through. A couple of pushes later and he was out and I had felt EVERYTHING! It was 10:40am and I felt like I could die. I was in so much pain and so worn out I could not believe I had just done that. Contractions were still SUPER painful and everything was in so much pain that I couldn't move and didn't want anyone to touch me. Unfortunately, though, they can't just leave you alone, I had to deliver the placenta and get stitched up before that would happen. They numbed me for the stitches, which was great, except for the one spot that the doctor poked me in that was not numb! 

They finally got everything back together and let me relax. Oh and the juice. They brought me that glorious juice with the crushed ice. Nothing. I repeat nothing has ever tasted so good! 

Everett was sunny side up as he was coming out, so the doctor had to rotate him as he was coming out. Once he was out, he wasn't breathing right away, so they whisked him away to suction the heck out of him. They had to put a tube down his throat twice to get all the junk out, but finally he cried and he was fine. They checked him over and everything looked great except one thing. He was born with hypospadias which means his pee hole is in the wrong spot. Because of this, they wouldn't circumcise him in the hospital. Other than that though, he was a very healthy, beautiful boy with a head full of awesomely dark crazy hair! 

(We have since gone to a pediatric urologist and he will fix his pee hole when he is around 6 months old. It is a very minor procedure and he will be totally fine and normal.)

After they got Everett all cleaned up and me all stitched and cleaned, I was finally able to hold my baby and nurse him and bond with him. He was pretty mad about his bath and getting a tube down his throat, but he finally calmed down and relaxed with me. We hung out for a little while before it was time to go to the recovery room. I had to pee before they would let us go, so I finally did and they got me all "packaged up" in all the post-partum glory and we headed down the hall to recovery. The nurse told me she was going to brag about me at her next childbirth class because I had made it through all naturally. I asked if she was going to mention just how loud I was screaming! Yeah. Just like the movies. Ridiculous.

We just stayed one night in the hospital, which is enough for anyone who wants to get any sleep. The big brothers and Missy came that afternoon to meet Everett. They were so sweet and so excited to meet him. It was so cute just how giddy they were. Porter asked "this ours baby?!" which he had asked a couple of times while I was pregnant and holding other people's babies. Finally, the answer was yes, this was our baby! Our friend Courtney came a little later that night and brought us dinner. The next morning the Kaisers came to see us before we got ready to head home. We got discharged around 2pm and headed home to start our lives as a family of 5 with THREE boys!! 

And here he is!!!!

 First day home! Lots of lovin' going on!

3 weeks old!