The night of July 25th, 2013 I kissed Berkley and Nixon goodnight and told them that the next day they would have a new brother or sister. We were very excited! We went the entire pregnancy without finding out the gender and we couldn't wait to meet our new baby and finally find out the gender! We went to bed, tired but excited, and tried our hardest to go to sleep. Thanks to our neighbor disturbing us with her extremely loud music and waking up Nixon it was quite a while before we actually got to sleep. The events of that are a long story on their own so we will just leave it at that for now.
The next day Aaron woke up and went to work. The plan was to have him work a half day and have my mom come up in the morning to help me with the kids while I got admitted at the hospital and Aaron would get there soon after.
When I called the hospital just after 10 AM (I was scheduled to be induced at 11) they said that they didn't have enough rooms or staff to have me go in and to call back at 2 to see if things had changed. I was sad but hopeful because things had been similar with Nixon and I only ended up being put off by about 30 minutes after my induction time so I decided to just be patient and wait for a call back. That call didn't come and didn't come.
Aaron decided to stay at work until I heard back from the hospital and my mom ended up just hanging out with me at home. After a little bit we decided to go shopping and walk around to try to go into labor. While I was at the store I called the hospital just before 2 because I was so anxious and they said nothing had changed yet. When we got back to my house I spent the rest of the day trying several things to induce labor and nothing was working. I had spent a lot of the day before doing the same thing.
After exhausting myself both physically and emotionally I sat at home on the couch sobbing. My doula, Brittany Hurd (so fantastic - check her out at yourbetterbirth.com) was so sweet and texted me throughout the day. My favorite text from her said "You're doing great! Your baby IS coming! :)" That text helped me a lot because I was honestly feeling like my baby never would come.
I called the hospital again around 5:30, just after shift change, to see if maybe they had enough staff and beds by that point and I was disappointed to find out that they were still full because they were having so many walk-ins. I literally asked them to send me a hook so I could break my own water and go into labor! I was so frustrated! At 6:25 PM they called me. My heart leapt when I saw that it was the hospital thinking that I was finally being told to go in...that didn't last long though...still full. :( They asked if they could reschedule me for 7:30 AM the next day. I was so upset because I HATE odd numbers and didn't want my baby being born on the 27th but I rescheduled anyways.
Aaron worked hard to try to cheer me up. He's such a sweetie and for sure the best husband! He went to the store and bought me some of my favorite treats and some puzzle books to keep me occupied and distracted from my frustration. As I enjoyed a chocolate chip cookie dough root beer float around 8:30 PM Brittany was so sweet to come over to my house and talk to me. She was at my house for about 2 hours helping me through my emotions, giving me some essential oils to try, and helping me prepare for the hopeful labor the next day (I wasn't getting my hopes up too high just in case).
I called the hospital again just after 10 PM to make sure nothing had changed and there were still 2 inductions ahead of me. I went to bed feeling a little depressed and, once again, told Berkley and Nixon that they would have a new brother or sister the next day...hopefully.
Can I just say that serenity oil is the bomb?! I know I wouldn't have slept well without it! I woke up on the 27th around 5:30 AM to go to the bathroom (my usual wake-up time during this pregnancy) and laid in bed, anxiously waiting for 6 AM so I could call before going in. At 5:50 AM they beat me to the punch and called me. It was one of my favorite nurses from when I did my precepting for nursing school. Kathy remembered me too and said that they would get me in as soon as they could but there were still 2 ahead of me. I was glad to get the news from her because she made it easier to take by being her sweet, happy self.
I went back to sleep and didn't wake up again until around 8:30. It was so nice to get a great night of sleep! I called them back around 10 AM and got the same disappointing news but we were finally down to 1 ahead of me. I decided to get dressed and go about my day and let them call me when they were ready for me (hard to get to that point). I got ready and headed out to run some errands with my sister-in-law and her kids. I left the car seats for Berkley and Nixon at home with Aaron just in case.
As we were driving down Washington Blvd. headed to Deseret Book at 1:16 PM my phone started ringing...it was the HOSPITAL! I got super excited and squealed and literally had to take a deep breath before answering. They asked if I could be there at 2 and of course I said YES! I was beyond excited! I called Aaron and told him to load the kids in his car and meet me at Deseret Book so we could go. It seemed like forever before he got there! Finally he showed up! We left the van and the kids with his sister and headed off to the hospital! It was finally time!
We got to Ogden Regional Medical Center's Family Birth Place right after 2 PM (meeting up and moving the kids to the van took longer than we'd hoped for) and got checked in. The anticipation was killing us! At 2:23 I was taken to Room 521 (my room) while Aaron went to the car to bring in the rest of our stuff. I did my urine sample and put on the sexy hospital gown and belly band to hold the monitors on.
After I got in the bed I answered questions for a while then my nurse, Becky, got things ready to start my IV. She tried for a vein in my left arm first and it blew...REALLY bad! After getting blood for labs from the blown vein she bandaged it up. It hurt so bad! I had her put pressure on it for a while because my blood had filled my arm and it was super swollen. She decided to put the blood pressure cuff on that arm because she had to use my right arm for a new IV. It hurt like heck every time the cuff inflated. Thankfully she got a great IV in my right arm with one try though. We were finally in business!
Brittany, my doula, showed up around 3 PM while things were still getting started. The nurse checked me at 3:25 and said that I was a 5 and 70% (my midwife, Guy Cox aka the best midwife ever, had said I was 90% two days before at my appointment). The Pitocin was started, running at a 4, at 3:35. Brittany started diffusing some essential oils and my nurse paged my midwife to come break my water. At 4:05 we increased the Pitocin to an 8 because I was doing great.
I should mention that I went 100% natural...no pain meds whatsoever! I worked on my puzzle book, looked at Facebook, and spent time with family while I was in labor. To help with pain and gravity I sat on a big exercise ball for quite a while and bounced through my contractions which helped a ton.
At 5 PM the nurses changed shifts and my midwife came to break my water. I was dilated to a 5 still. My new nurse was Michelle. I absolutely LOVED her! At 5:05 she increased my Pitocin to a 12. Around 5:30 I had her check my progress to help me decide if I should increase the rate of my Pitocin or not. I was dilated to a 5/6 at this point so I decided to have the rate increased to a 16 at 5:35 to help push things along.
Berkley and Nixon got to the hospital at 5:45 and spent some time with us. It was nice to spend time together as a family of 4 for a little while before I was in too much pain. At 6:35 I was starting to hurt more and I was needing to really focus on my contractions so we changed the atmosphere by having the kids and family visitors leave making it so it was only me, Aaron, and Brittany in the room. Brittany dimmed the lights and put on some soft music. Aaron helped me by massaging my back while I sat on the ball and massaging my legs while I sat in bed. As the pain got more intense I spent time trying different labor positions (hands and knees was my favorite).
My nurse came in to check on me around 6:45 and said that based on external signs of progress she wanted to check my dilation and effacement at about 7. When she checked me at 7 she said I was at a 7 and 100% and the baby's head was low so I decided to decrease the Pitocin to an 8 since I remembered the labor getting pretty intense at that point with Nixon. We were having a hard time keeping the baby's heart rate on the monitor so I had to lay in bed for a little while so we could monitor more closely.
Just after 7 Aaron gave me a blessing. Thank goodness for the Priesthood! Aaron and Brittany were very helpful with my pain management. I was so glad to have both of them there! As I started feeling nauseated by the pain Brittany sprayed some oils to help and applied cold wash cloths to my head...SO helpful! Nausea was one of the worst things for me when I had Nixon so it was nice to have Brittany's knowledge to help it subside!
The nursing staff started bringing in the birth supplies and mirror from the hall and heating up the baby's bed. I started getting more irritable because of the pain and demanded to have the Pitocin turned off and told the CNA that the baby was coming (I could remember the burning and pressure from having Nixon). She called my nurse into the room at 7:19 and had her check me. I was dilated to a 9+ so we invited a few family members back into the room and had my midwife on his way. Holy crap! Things were going so fast now!
At 7:23 they had me start pushing because Guy was there. It was definitely harder with this baby than I remembered it being with Nixon. As I continued pushing we found out why it was harder...this baby was coming out "sunny side up"! Babies usually come out face down...not this baby though! Face up it is! When I found out I exclaimed, "Is that why it hurts so much?!" I seriously felt like my head was going to explode from pushing so hard! I started to lose hope and want to give up. My sweet hubby, nurse, doula, and midwife helped me through with encouraging words.
As the pain and exhaustion got worse I yelled things like "get out of me!" and "baby, come out!" I only screamed about 5 small screams total and finally, at 7:38 PM (4 hours and 3 minutes after I had been started) my baby came out! I yelled "let me see, let me see!" repeatedly then my midwife flipped my baby's bum up into the air and there was no question about it...IT'S A BOY! I was so relieved, excited, and exhausted! My baby boy's here!
Miles Joseph Evans was born weighing 7 pounds 14 ounces (my biggest baby so far - both of the other kids were 7 pounds 2 ounces) and 21" long (my longest baby so far - the others were 19" and 19.5"), with a head circumference of 36.5 cm (biggest head so far)! Considering his size and the fact that he came out face up (a bigger part of the head comes out) I had a very decent delivery! He was born with a nice amount of dirty blonde/light brown hair (finally, we have a baby with hair!) and a cute little dimple chin just like the rest of the kids! Aaron cut the cord (he's pretty much a pro now) and I held Miles and kissed him like crazy while my midwife stitched up my tear (2nd degree).
Aaron was so excited to go announce that our baby was a boy. When he got out to the waiting room only my dad and two brothers were out there but it was still exciting. Aaron posted on Facebook about our handsome new man and let others know too. After a while I let Aaron have a turn holding Miles. Aaron got to put his first diaper on him too! Once I was decent again we let my dad bring Berkley and Nixon in to meet their new baby brother. They loved holding him and kissing him. Nixon actually freaked out when we took Miles away from him...so adorable! Those two boys had such a strong bond immediately!
After a little while we had everyone leave the room so Aaron and I could enjoy some precious time just the two of us with our new baby boy. It was perfect! Almost 2 hours after Miles had been born (at 9:22) we finally started letting other family members hold him. Both of our moms, my dad, my brothers (Austin, Garrett, and Paxton), and Aaron's sisters (Cherie and Dani) took turns holding Miles. I took a much needed shower! After everyone left for the night we just spent time loving on him and feeding him until the nurse, Emmalee (a friend from our old ward), took him for his first bath. I hated the time that he was gone and couldn't wait for him to come back! I had a very strong emotional bond with him throughout my pregnancy and that bond has continued to stay strong.
When he finally got back I took pictures of him and snuggled with him for a while before calling it a night after 1 AM. He's such an amazing little boy and I'm so thankful to have him in my life. I'm so incredibly grateful to have such a perfect little family to spend eternity with!
That's the birth story! If you're wondering if I plan on going natural again, I am! I love it actually! Obviously I would like to wait a while before we have another baby but we've already decided a few things about how the next pregnancy and labor will be...not finding out the gender (it really was so fun...hard...but fun), going into labor on my own (unless I'm 41+ weeks...really, having my induction put off for 27 hours was almost more than I could handle and stressed me out way too much), going natural (with my awesome doula's help, of course! Brittany rocks!), only Aaron and I in the room (besides the staff and my doula), and Aaron gets to announce the gender when he's ready!
I honestly had a great experience thanks to some awesome people. I'm especially thankful for Aaron, Brittany, Guy, and Michelle and couldn't thank them enough! They were all such a big part of making my experience what it was and I couldn't have done it without them! Enjoy these fun pictures! P.S. I'm sad that I don't have any pictures of Brittany to share because she really was there for me and made it so Aaron and I had a great bonding experience!
