Julia's Story

I finally have found a few minutes to myself so I am taking advantage of that by posting the story of our newest daughter, Julia.

So my last post was from Thursday...Jason was on his way home from Kansas to be expected around 11 pm, my sister came to stay overnight (unannounced to me at the time), so the pressure is on to have this baby! ha ha ha However, Jason hit some bad weather and was going to be late. I was fine with that.

Amber and I decided we better hit the hay early for the anitcipation of a baby coming soon. I went to bed and the contractions began shortly after. I was contracting every 10 minutes, they weren't getting closer, but they were getting stronger, nothing I couldn't breathe through, but was concerned about when they got stronger yet if Jason would be home. By 2:00 AM, I was really feeling like I was going to be going in during the night. I called Jason, he was only 20 minutes away. I told him to have Jim, my stepdad who was with him to come stay over incase I went in so that he could get the kids off to school. He got home and we talked for a little bit, and my contractions stopped. We went to sleep, and they started again. This time a little harder, but still 10 minutes apart. I went to the living room and at 4:30 AM, I thought I should wake Jason and Amber up to go to the hospital. Once I laid on the couch, they stopped again. So, I was able to get a little bit of rest. I woke up before 6 with contractions again, and thought I would get the kids' bags, winter gear, etc. all ready set up for Jim. Then the contractions stopped again.

I got the kids up for school and had Amber take pictures of me with Sam and Becca and the "belly" as it may be the last time they got to see it! As we sat around, with hardly any contractions, I thought it would be the next day. However, when I got one, it was pretty intense. After a few of the intense ones, I agreed that we should go in and at least get checked out to see where I was at.

I had some pretty good contractions on the way there, while I enjoy the support of my sister and husband, they found it really funny to try to make me laugh while I was trying to breathe through a contraction...then they'd laugh more at me! Those brats! Ha Ha!

We got to the hopital around 10:30 AM, and put into a "transition" room...we weren't technically admitted yet. The nurse hooked me up to monitor the heartrate and contractions, of which were very few at this point. She checked me and I was between a 4 and 5, 75% effaced, and the baby was between a -1 and -2 gestation! Lots of progress from yesterday afternoon! There wasn't much more action happening so Jason slept while Amber and I walked the halls to try to trigger some more contractions, and it worked, I had to stop about 2 times each pass for her to rub my lower back and I breathed through them. I could tell that this baby would be facing the wrong way just like the others with the back labor I was experiencing.

I got checked again around 12:30 and not much changed, I was a full 5, that was the only difference. Wondering at this point if I should go home and just wait for things to pick up or what. The nurse suggested we wait 1 more hour and see what happens and make a decision from there. So, we walked some more. Finally I told Amber I had to go lay down from being up all night long, I was exhausted. I laid down and my mom came with lunch for Jason and Amber. When the two of them went to eat, my contractions picked up like crazy and were pretty intense. When they got back to the room, the nurse came in too and I told her that they were only a few minutes apart and hard ones...it was 1:30, she checked me again, I was a full 6 cm and the baby was closer to the -1 gestation. With that, and the patterned contractions, they finally admitted me.

I asked if I could have something for the pain, not an epidural yet, but something to take the edge off...so I went into the big hot tub...felt great! The contractions kept coming and the nurse put my IV in while I was in the tub to prepare for the epidural. When I got out of the tub, the contractions were getting unbearable. I told my mom to go make sure she ordered the epidural as I know it takes like an hour for the anesteciologist (sp?) to get there. Mom told me she'd have Amber do it. The nurse came in about 10 minutes later and I asked her about the epidural (I REALLY WANTED IT!) She told me she was going to order it now! WHAT? Come on people, it's been like 20 minutes since I first asked!!!!!! AHHHH!!! I remember laying in the bed and the contraction was coming on SOOOOOOOO strong, I rolled on my side, grabbed the arm guard and just grunted. The nurse looked at me kinda weird and the next thing I know, there are 3 nurses in the room setting everything up...she said, "we think you're ready now." She checked me and said, "your rimmed." I was like, "What does that mean?" knowing full well it meant I was a 10 and baby was down and ready to go...knowing full well THAT meant no epidural!!!! I freaked out and cried and cried saying I needed something, what can I have? Jason and my mom were hugging me, rubbing me, doing what they could to ease the pain I knew was coming! The nurse told me that I could get a spinal block, a one time shot that numbs like an epidural but only lasts 1 1/2 hours or so. I chose to get it, and I almost said, "no", it felt like the baby was so close to coming out, the pressure to push was astronomical, but I went ahead with it knowing in the past I pushed for 45-50 minutes.

And it was wonderful to have the pain subside...the contractions were quite further apart now, and they had to tell me when to push cuz I couldn't feel a thing. It was like we were just sitting around the table talking...with me in a vunerable position of course! ha ha

It was just after 3:00 when I began pushing, after awhile, the doctor said that the baby was turned sideways, and he needed to turn it to make the baby be able to come out easier, the next contraction and push, he began to turn the baby, and WHA-LA, everyone yelled, "Tammy, get ready to grab it!" (I like to pull the baby out and put it on my chest once the shoulders/arms are out)...I couldn't believe that it was time already...I grabbed the baby and as I pulled it up to my chest I heard Amber and Jason yell, "IT'S A GIRL!" I was like, "REALLY?" I thought there was a little boy in there! So there she was, a perfect little girl, crying like a champ! I said, "You tricked me Julia!, I thought you were a boy!"

I kept saying, "she's SO tiny" Of course I am used to holding Adelyn now who will be 3 in March, so I suppose even a "big" baby would look small to me! Jason asked what we were going to do for a middle name, I said I had thought of 2, either Marie, for my grandma, or Kay for Farrah. He right away said, "Kay" and then he cried, and so did I. Farrah was a friend of ours who died from Cancer in November, and she is a great person to have our daughter carry her middle name.

I called the kids and let them hear her cry, then told them it was a girl! They were all screaming and excited. Jason went to get the kids and when they arrived...it was like I saw three little hearts just melt into this baby's hands. They all love her so much already...it will be a great adventure to see them interact with her. Chaotic? Yes, but a good kind of Chaos!

She weighed in at 8#-4oz., is 21" long, and looks just like Sam when he was a baby, Adelyn too...I don't see too much of Becca yet, but she will change so much this next week, we'll see!

She took to nursing right away, most "natural" one yet! The kids got to help with her first bath and when they went to do some tests, I got to shower! The rest of the night was visitors and photos and smiles.

PS: I started this Blog around 1:30...my "few minutes to myself" ended up getting interrupted so many times, it is now 5:10...that's how it goes with 4 kids and a husband! ha! And I still have to upload photos!