He's Here and a Birth Story

I'm a little late in updating, but our special Christmas present, Austin David arrived on December 13th, 2010 at 1242PM. He weighed 7lbs 13 ounces, and was 21.5 inches long.

First picture of the three of us


All bundled up, just minutes old


We had a snowstorm/blizzard the weekend before he was born, so we were hoping that we wouldn't have to rush to the hospital in a blizzard. We had dinner at Rib Crib on the Friday night before the blizzard for Justin's mom's birthday. Towards the end of the meal, and when we got up to leave I just felt funny. I had a lot of back pain, and felt different, but I figured it could be because I decided on Friday afternoon that I "needed" to reorganize our storage room. This included moving many heavy boxes, totes, and mattresses to and from many times until I thought I had the combination "just right!" That night I woke in the middle of the night with some contractions. We thought that this would be "it", but they ended up subsiding and I fell back to sleep, and Justin headed off to work for the morning. Around 11:00 the snow started falling, and the blizzard started. We got a little cabin fever that Saturday, however, not being able to leave the house, so that evening after Justin blew snow, "just in case", we walked laps in the house between the upstairs and downstairs. We later went to bed, and I slept great that night, but little did I know that this would be the last good night of sleep I would get in.a.LONG.time! Sunday we woke up to beautiful sunshine, and decided to head off to church since it would feel good to get out of the house. We realized that we would probably be late by the time we blew snow and got ready and everything, but I said to Justin, "I'm overdue, I can do whatever I want!" I figured being overdue was as good of an excuse as any to be late for church! We headed off to 10:30 church, since 9:00 was cancelled. Afterwards, we decided to grab some lunch. We pulled into Taco Bell, but decided instead to check out Ruby Tuesday's since it had just opened the week before, and since it was lunch time and the town was slow due to the weather, thought maybe we would be able to get in without much of a wait. We got right in, and ended up having a nice lunch together. This would be our last time "out" just the two of us before we became a family of 3! We made one more quick stop to Menards, and headed home. We decided after we got home to go to the Cutting Edge (fitness center) to walk, figuring the walking would be good for me. We got there at 3:00, I walked for about 50 minutes on the treadmill, and we left at 4:00. Justin then left to do a service call, and I stayed home and decided I should reread my Babywise book. I started reading and at 5:00 I started having some contractions. I figured they would just fizzle out again, so didn't get too excited. I kept having contractions on and off all night until we decided to head to bed at 10:00. At 10:00 I hadn't had one for a while, so I figured it was a false alarm again, but wanted to be prepared just in case. So, I vacuumed the floor, and the couch upstairs, wiped down the countertops, etc. etc. I went to bed and had a few more contractions, but thought if I have another one I'll get up and look at the time. I was able to sleep through the contractions until I was awakened by a BIG one at 12:00. I continued to have bigger contractions, and woke Justin up at 1:00. We continued to time them, and he would tell me to breathe through them. We called the Birth Center, and asked when we should come in. They said wait until they are 5 minutes apart or so to come in. Mine were about 6-8 minutes apart at this time, but very strong. Once in a while I would have one closer together, but for the most part they were about 6-8 minutes apart. After they started to get a little closer together, we decided we should probably start heading for the hospital. But, before I could go to the hospital, I wanted to take a shower first, and freshen up, because who wants to be stinky to have a baby!!! I took a shower, and the whole time I was showering and getting ready the contractions were 3 minutes apart. I finished packing my bag, Justin loaded up the car, and we were off. We are only about 10-15 minutes from the hospital, but it seemed like an eternity, and I had never known the roads to be so bumpy. When we got by Wal-Mart, I was sure thankful that we didn't have to drive an hour to get to the hospital. Justin dropped me off at the ER door. I walked in, but was having a contraction, and thought surely if the person sitting at the desk has a camera to see who's walking in, they'll think I look ridiculous walking in, stopping, and starting, leaning against the wall, etc etc :) I walked in, they put me in a wheelchair, Justin signed papers, and I was up to L&D in about 3 minutes, I think we got there around 5AM. The ladies in the ER that checked me in were so nice, talking to me, I felt bad that I wasn't friendlier, but I just was in a lot of pain at this point. I got settled into my room, still unsure if they would keep me, but I was hoping so.
My nurse got me all settled and checked me and I was 3cm and 90% effaced, and I was showing contractions on the monitor. They did decide to admit me, but said, "It's your first baby, it will be a while, and you probably shouldn't get your epidural until 6 or so cm." I tried to breath through the contractions, got my IV put in, and they started some fluids. At this point they said that I could have some pain medicine in my IV. I got that, and it helped---for about 3 minutes. They also gave me some anti-nausea medicine so that I wouldn't get sick from the pain medicine. A few minutes later I had a bad contraction, got up to go to the bathroom, and threw up. So much for the anti-nausea medicine! After that I was just starting to relax a little and almost fall asleep between contractions when I woke up to one of the worst I had had. I couldn't move, it hurt so bad, and I just keep saying loudly "OUCH, OUCH, OW, OW," Well, the nurse and doctor came running in at that point, and said that they thought they should check me again. The doctor checked me and asked me how far about a 3 I wanted to be. I said, "Well I"m probably still a 3, but I would like a 4." He said, "Try a 6!" I was very excited, and they said now would probably be a good time for an epidural....for which I completely agreed! I was the only one in Labor and Delivery that day, so it was great to get some extra special attention. My epidural got there fast, and soon I was feeling sweet relief. Those epidurals are the best things ever, because who ever said breathing through contractions helped! After the epidural, things went rather quickly. I continued to progress quickly, and baby moved down. I was probably completely dilated by 11:00, but they let me labor down for a while. They told me to tell them if I felt a lot of pressure. I was feeling some pressure but nothing like I have to push right now. The nurse checked me after about 40 minutes, and she called the doctor in stat, and said the baby is right there, you need to start pushing. I started pushing at 11:42, and he was born at 1242. I had to push longer because his head was turned to the side instead of straight. They said if his head wasn't turned I would have probably had him out 20 minutes sooner. When he came out it was one of the best moments of our lives. My first thought was "look at his head" and "he's not that big." While I was pushing, they were wondering if he was big, because he was having such a hard time coming out, but it was just because of his head position. He was completely healthy, I felt great, and relieved. The rest of the hospital stay was uneventful, and we headed home on Wednesday as a new family.

Our first night at home went better than we ever could have expected. He slept so good, we actually thought something was wrong with him! The hardest part was putting him in his crib, and leaving him there all alone. Even though it's right beside our bedroom, only a few steps away, it was by far one of the hardest things that Justin and I have ever done. It has been a good lesson to put him in God's hands and trust in him. Not easy!

All in all, the labor and delivery went great, and now we are blessed with this special little bundle of joy from our Heavenly Father. Justin and I both commented on how having Austin, also made us really realize how much our Heavenly Father loves us.

Something special about Austin's birthday that we feel was a God thing, is Austin was born on a good friend of ours Tracy Dugan's birthday. Tracy and I were in the hospital in Rochester, MN at the same time in 1991. Her parents Dennis and Kelly, who live in AZ, became good friends of my parents. God had other plans for Tracy, and she went to Heaven on February 18th, 1991 at 5 years old. Tracy, and her family will always have a special place in our hearts, and out of all the days in a year to conceive and have a baby, God chose December 13th for these two special babies. It is just another example of how God has a perfect plan for everything.

Lastly, my advice to anyone expecting a child or doesn't have any children yet. ENJOY your time as a couple, especially enjoy those nights of hanging out on the couch, and going to bed sleeping a good sleep with not a care in the world. Enjoy them as much as you can because after you have a little one they are gone with the wind!

Love you Austin-
Love, Mom