Wells' Birth Story

At my 39 week appointment on  Tuesday May 30th I was still just dilated to 1 cm (had been since 38 weeks) and the plan was that if I didn't have him by my due date, Wednesday June 7th, I would be induced on Friday June 9th.

That week I was intent on getting all the little things left on the to do list done.
Thomas, my mom, and I made about 9 freezer meals, the house got cleaned, car seat installed, bottles sanitized, and had made a list of people to contract to watch Brooklyn according to what day it was and the time of day.

Thursday the 1st of June Brooklyn went to a play date with a friend and my mom and I were on the hunt to find someplace for me to get a pedicure.  I literally tried at least four different places and couldn't get into any one of them! I was feeling so frustrated and decided to just go home and clean. As we were headed home we saw a place that hadn't show up on Yelp and they could get me in.  Got my toes all cute and painted blue and afterwards felt ready to have that baby!

Friday the 2nd Thomas finished his last day of his clinical rotation in Grantsville where he had been staying during the week and coming home on the weekends.  He took his end of rotation exam that afternoon.

Saturday the 3rd at 3am I woke up cause I thought I had peed my pants.  When I went to the bathroom I still had to urinate quite a bit so I thought it was weird but decided to just go back to bed.  As I was walking back to bed though I felt gushes of water and was pretty sure my water had broken.  I woke Thomas up to let him know.  I started shivering/shaking because I was nervous and couldn't believe he was coming early! At this point I was having consistent contractions but they just felt like Braxton Hicks. They were lasting about 30 seconds and were about two and a half minutes apart.
Thomas went back to sleep but I was too excited/nervous.  I got laundry started and went online to look for earlier flights to get Bea on instead of her original flight for the following Tuesday.

Thomas got up about 8 am and my mom got about around 9 am.  When my mom came out of her room to the hallway Thomas gave her a thumbs up and told her "we're in labor!".  She was SOOOO excited! She wanted as much time as possible with the baby before she had to leave on the 11th to start radiation.

I really wanted to hit up the Provo Farmer's Market and was thinking that would be a good way to pass the time.  Brooklyn slept in til around 9:45 am which is very unusual for her.  Then she wanted to stay in her pajamas for a bit and take a bath so that took up quite a bit of time.  By the time she was all ready to go my contractions were a lot stronger and I was having to breathe through them and not talk and consciously focus on relaxing.  My mom suggested that maybe her or Thomas should take Brooklyn to my friend Lauren's house who was going to watch her for us. I agreed and so Thomas dropped her off while my mom drove me to the hospital.

Valet wasn't available because it was the weekend and we didn't know what part of the hospital we were supposed to go to but my mom parked in front and went in to ask.  Somebody came out with a wheelchair and took me upstairs to register while my mom parked the car.

Shortly after I got checked into a room Thomas arrived.  When they checked me I was at a "tight three" and since my water had completely broken they admitted me.

They asked me what my birth plan was and I just told them, to get an epidural ASAP.  I was a little worried that getting one too soon would slow down my labor but not concerned enough to not get one right away.  We were checked in at around 11:30am and probably 15 minutes later the anesthesiologist was there to give me the epidural.

With Brooklyn I was completely numb and the epidural was on a drip. This time with Wells I could still feel some pressure when I had a contraction and was a little concerned cause I didn't want it to hurt when I was pushing.  The anesthesiologist let me know that it was okay to feel some pressure and even beneficial for when I had to push but if it hurt he could up the dosage.  In the mean time I could press the epidural pump button every 15 minutes for more relief (which myself or Thomas or my mom would do).

Around 2pm they checked me and I was fully dilated and ready to push! We waited about 15 minutes for the doctor to come from the hospital in Orem and once she was there I started pushing.
Everyone there was so encouraging! I wanted to laugh and cry hearing everyone cheering me on with each push. There was the doctor (Heather Dabling), a medical student, my mom, Thomas, and two nurses. I hadn't ever seen this doctor but she was the one on call and she was WONDERFUL! So sweet,  encouraging, and sympathetic.

Dr. Dabling

Nurse

Medical Student

At one point they did have me put on an oxygen mask while pushing I think cause Wells' heartbeat was going down a bit. While pushing Wells was turning his head so the doctor had to reach up and turn his head.  Very glad I was numb for that.

After 30 minutes of pushing baby Wells was born at 2:41pm! I had asked that they wait for 30 seconds to a minute to cut the cord and they did that as well as "milked" the cord and then Thomas cut it.  Wells was immediately laid on me once they got him crying (it seemed to take awhile but probably wasn't too long).  He hardly had any vernix on him and didn't even have a cone head at all.  As they were wiping him off one of the nurses noticed what looked like a little raised scab that she thought was a birth mark on his left hand.  Later we realized it was just some kind of little blood blister that went away after a couple days. He also had a pretty deep scratch on his head that we think maybe he got when my cervix was being checked.  Poor little guy.

This was the charge nurse, Denise

Really he was just perfect and looked like an adorable newborn with chubby kissable cheeks and the most delicious newborn smell. He made the cutest little snorting sounds when he would cry which was ironic because when he was born I was kind of crying/laughing and let out a little snort too. Brooklyn was a little tooter when she was born so we jokingly say she is our "Brooky toot-toot" and he is our "Wellsy snort-snort".

Wells was 7lbs 15oz and 18.5 inches long.  The doctor said if he wouldn't have come out peeing that he would have been 8lbs.

He has nursed and slept great from the get-go.  So far no signs of colic, HALLELUJAH!!! The labor and delivery and first week has gone so well he almost has us convinced to have another one ;) .

Bea was able to get in at 11 pm that night and came straight to the hospital where she spent the night with me.

This little guy is so loved.  Between me, Thomas, my mom, Bea, and Brooklyn there is always someone waiting in line to hold him.

 Lauren brought Brooklyn later in the day after Wells was born.  She was shy at first (which I expected) but did love looking at him and saying "Hi Wells!".

 The next day Bea plopped Wells on Brooklyn's lap and she was loving it. She hasn't stopped kissing and hugging him since.

Welcome to our family Wells Ryan Giles!!!!