Colton's Birth Story...

It has definitely been proven, based on the fact that Colton is almost one month old, that life with 4 kids is extremely busy…so busy that I am just now sitting down to write out his birth story!

So the night of January 10th John, the kids, my parents, my sister and her husband and I headed to Red Robin for our “last hurrah” dinner. It was a great dinner and my sister gave me and the kids our presents. She got “the baby” a stuffed monkey (she always gets each child a special stuffed animal) and an awesome swaddle blanket. She got the kids each a water bottle with their name on it, and continuing her tradition (NOT PURPOSELY) she got Kylie a “Kyle” cup :)

After dinner we headed home and John’s parents were there waiting for us. They were spending the night at the house so that someone was there with the kids between the time we went to the hospital and the time our nanny got there. We all hung out a while, the kids went to bed, and then I finished packing. John’s mom and I also went through each of the kids’ baby books comparing stats and trying to predict how this baby would stack up. John started working on our picture cards – we were planning on having cards made with the baby’s name on them and taking a picture of each person who visited us in the hospital holding “the baby” to put on the card. Unfortunately it took John a long time to get it right. We also finally decided on our names and spelling: Colton Joseph and Peighton Joanne.

I finally went to bed around 11:30, but I was so nervous I just couldn’t fall asleep. I finally did fall asleep around 12:15. Ryan woke me up around 3:15 and I never fell back asleep. I was never nervous with the other kids, so this was so strange! I got out of bed around 3:50 and got ready and packed up.

We got everything loaded up and finally left the house at 5:10. John prayed before we left, just like he has done for each of the kids, and it was sad knowing this was the last time. We drove through Krispy Kreme to pick up some donuts for the nurses. We checked in at the hospital and everyone was so nice! They had a room ready for us, but no nurse, so we went and waited in the waiting room until a little before 6:30.

They took us back and I changed into the gown and they tried to give me my IV. Unfortunately she had to try twice, but I got through it. They asked me the usual million questions and finally we were ready to rock. We kept looking out the window because the first large snow storm of the year was supposed to hit that day. And it wasn’t supposed to start until around 9:00 AM. The nurse hooked the Pitocin up and we were on our way.

After about an hour the nurse checked me again and I hadn’t really made any progress, so she upped the Pitocin. About an hour later I got my epidural because they were going to break my water. Now, the whole reason I was going to change hospitals was because this hospital made the husband leave the room during the epidural. I ended up staying at this hospital because I loved everything else about it. We told our nurse this as John was getting ready to leave the room, and she told us to hang on and she would talk to the anesthesiologist (who she said was super laid-back). Sure enough, when they both walked into the room, he said that John could stay with me! From then on everything was a piece of cake :) John held my hand while I squeezed the life out of it and after a few minutes I was good to go! We could not stop thanking our wonderful nurse and the anesthesiologist! After that they broke my water…all clean fluid! That was just before 10:00 AM…

The snow had started falling and the nurse checked me a little after 11:30 and I was 6 CM. She decided it was time for my doctor to be called to come in because she knew it would take a little bit with the storm. I also decided that my nanny and dad should get the kids around 12:15 and bring them over. This was the beginning of my stressing…I had two sets of people that HAD to get here before this baby decided to get here :) My nurse turned down the Pitocin so that I wouldn’t progress too quickly.

½ hour later I was feeling pressure and my epidural was wearing off a little. I was having some pretty bad back pains. I got another dose of my epidural, and my nurse checked me and I was 9 ½ CM!!! I was freaking out because not only was my doctor and my kids not there yet, John had gone downstairs with his parents to get lunch! I asked my nurse if there was a chance that I would have this baby without my doctor and she said “yes!”

Right after that my doctor walked in! I was so happy! Right after that, John walked in! So out of all the people I wanted to be there, the two most important people were there :) Shortly after that John looked out the window and saw my dad and the nanny and the kids pull in the parking lot. I instantly felt at ease. The nurse had me do a practice push and had me stop quickly. She told me no practice was necessary as this baby was going to fly out! It was 1:00 at this point. My doctor finished getting “suited up” and we jokingly said how cool it would be if the baby was born at 1:11 on 1/11/11. She told us she was totally cool with waiting. So we just hung out and chatted…John, my doctor, my nurse, the baby nurses and me. Finally at 1:06 my doctor had me push again and told me to stop it was too early. So we timed the contraction and at 1:10 and 30 seconds I started pushing. The head came out fairly quickly and then I started pushing like the dickens and nothing. My first thought was the time…I knew that I only had so much time to get my 1:11, so I tried harder. Then my thoughts went to the fact that it wasn’t safe for the baby to be stuck like that, and I tried harder. But that stubborn baby wouldn’t budge. My doctor told my nurse to get on top of me and for another nurse to get the vacuum, but just as they started doing that, my doctor told them that she had gotten it, and the baby slid out. All I remember of those 2 minutes was pushing like I had never pushed before and thinking that I might not be able to do this. I remember John pushing me and telling me I could do it, and when the baby finally came out, I remember falling backwards out of pure exhaustion, and John looking over at my with a huge smile on his face telling me “it’s a boy!” Everyone immediately began commenting on how big he was, and I could tell he was huge! I had known it all the time, and yet people still doubted me :) The worst part about the whole thing was that the clock had switched over to 1:12 just 10 seconds before he was born, so he was almost born at 1:11 on 1/11/11, but instead, actually born at 1:12 PM on 1/11/2011.

They put Colton on my chest, but I was so worn out I don’t remember much of it. They took him over to evaluate him and when it was time to weigh him, I couldn’t wait to see the scale. When they put him on it, the weight jumped over 10 lbs., but then settled at 9 lbs. 9.5 oz. His length was 21 ½ inches – a truly huge baby! His whole face was so bruised from the traumatic birth – I felt so bad for him!

One of the best parts of the deliver was when my doctor was finishing up and told me that I didn’t have any tears and no episiotomy was necessary. I’m still in shock that I delivered such a big baby without tearing! After everyone was cleaned up, we brought the kids in to meet their new little brother. Kylie was upset it was a boy, but she did a great job hiding it. John told me later that he pulled her aside and talked to her. He told her it was OK to be upset (and I later told her that I was disappointed too…another little girl would have been wonderful) but that God gave us another little boy for a very special reason, and we needed to remember that.

The kids went out and Kylie told everyone it was a boy. Then everyone that had been out waiting came in to see me – my dad (my mom had to teach), John’s parents and John’s sister Jamie. Shortly after that a couple from church visited us and prayed with us, which was really nice.

After waiting the mandatory 1 ½ hours we headed up to our postpartum room, which, but pure coincidence, was room 311 :) We watched the nurse give Colton his first bath and evaluate him. I just couldn’t get over how purple his face was :( After the bath and everything, the kids went back to the house and my sister came over to visit me. She also went and got me my standard Big Mac meal from McDonald’s, including a very large Diet Coke :)

My sister ended up staying with me until about 10:15 that night. It was super nice because John went back to the house to help get the kids ready for bed, so I wasn’t alone. My brother-in-law came over and hung out for a while too. John brought us dinner (to eat at 9:30 :) ) and we had a great night.

The first night we actually sent Colton to the nursery that first night because since he was born so quickly, he didn’t get all of the fluid pushed out of his lungs, so he would gag on it a lot as his body was trying to get rid of it and it scared me. So I got a good night’s sleep that first night :)

The next day we had some visitors and John and I were able to just sit and relax. The kids were at school/with our nanny and we got to just enjoy Colton. The hospital is my favorite part of having a baby, so I was trying to relish every second, knowing it would be my last time :( Unfortunately we were not able to get Colton circumcised because he has a vascular lesion, so our pediatrician wants us to see a pediatric urologist to have it done. We have an appointment scheduled for the end of this month…

Colton has really been a great baby so far…he usually gives me 4 or 5 hour stretches at night between feedings, and recently I’ve been able to get him to sleep in his bassinette (as opposed to his bouncy seat). He LOVES to be swaddled, so usually if I swaddle him up, he’ll go into a sleep coma and I’m able to get some things done. Thankfully, since I didn’t tear or need any stitches, I have been fine since the day I got home. I really wasn’t sore hardly at all, and except for normal new-mom exhaustion, I have felt great!

I’m working during the first part of my maternity leave. Thankfully it’s all from home and I still have my nanny, so life is really good right now. The hardest part of having four kids right now is leaving the house I think. We have to get four kids dressed and coats on and into car seats, which can be exhausting! Thankfully Kylie and Josh can do everything themselves, but we still have to tell them when/what to do at times.

The time is going way too quickly. I can’t believe that Colton has been a part of our family for so long. I feel like he just got here, and I know it’s only going to get worse…