His Arrival

Friday night at 11:00pm I got up to use the restroom as usual. When I was going back to bed I kept leaking. I knew something wasn't right. I went back to the bathroom and then back in our bedroom telling Zach that I'm leaking and I think my water broke. Zach's first response was "that's just part of the process, come back to bed." I insisted that I think my water really did break and I don't know what to do. So then his next response is "I've told you to pack your hospital bag!"... and I'm thinking ok now is not the time to play- I told you so. Z convinces me to just get back in bed and not worry. So I put a towel down in bed (don't want anything to happen on our new mattress). The minute I lay down, I say "I just wet myself." This whole time it was just sporadic leaking and not this huge gush of water so I was confused for awhile if it was my bladder leaking or if it was the real deal. So I go back to the bathroom and start to pray asking God what should I do. (I could have freaked out and been like what the heck??!!! It's not time yet!!! But instead, from the beginning of this whole process- God gave me peace, his peace that transcends man's understanding.) I felt like the Lord said call the doctor. The doctor said to monitor my leaking for the next 30 mins and if it's still happening then come to the hospital and they will check me. The next 30 mins, Zach takes a shower and we pack our bags. At 12:45am, we make our way to the hospital and my contractions begin. The nurse checks me in and says that my water has broken and I am dilated to a 2-3.

They move me into the Labor & Delivery room and hook me up to the monitors and IV. I cannot believe that all this is happening, but at the same time Z and I are so peaceful about the whole situation. At this point, my whole family knows what's going on and some friends know too. Z texted his family, but was unable to get a hold of them until later.

Long story short--- the nurse puts me on pitocin kinda right away and I'm thinking what the heck lady?? Just let my body to what it needs to do... When she puts me on pitocin and I have a contraction Parker's heart rate drops and stays down. This poses a concern to the nurse and she makes me stay in bed on my side with an oxygen mask. 30 mins of this happening and it's not getting better so Z and I pray and the nurse calls the doc. The doctor says to take me off pitocin and as soon as this happens, Parker's heart rate is back to normal.... contractions keep going and start to escalate as time goes on... by 7am the contractions are getting bad and I'm not just "he-he whooing". I'm "he-he----yelling" I have the nurse check me at 7:45 thinking, I have got to be close to a 10... the nurse checks and I'm a 7. Within the next 15-20 mins I feel like a 10. The pain is excruciating and I just feel like it's time. The doctor was suppose to be in around 7am-8am to check on me and he hadn't come by yet. So I told the nurse I need some pain medication because I couldn't take it anymore. A) the pain was super intense B) Parker's heart rate was dropping again during my contractions and wasn't getting the oxygen he needed. I was fearful that I wasn't breathing right and doing my part to help him so I threw in the towel and asked for medicine in hope that it would help his heart rate and my breathing. A little after 8am they give me medicine and it knocks me out. It was the weirdest thing--- I was in and out of consciousness, was aware of all the voices around me, could feel my contractions every time they came, but could not keep my eyes open for the life of me. Not too much longer and it was time to push. Apparently I didn't have this whole pushing thing down and Z said he almost lost it with the first few pushes because it was so pathetic. 30-40 mins later... I open my eyes for a few seconds after a push and I see my little Parker come into this world!!!! I could not believe that the only time I could keep my eyes open was the few seconds of Parker coming out! It was amazing!!!

The nurses took him right away to check his vitals and get him cleaned up. They wouldn't let me hold him till 20 mins after he was born. I was still out of it anyway, but when I did get to hold him for a few mins, I loved every second of it! Then they had to take him to the nursery for the next 6 hours!!!!! I was so sad he was in there for so long, but it was protocol for pre-mature babies.

Overall, the Labor & Delivery was absolutely amazing and God provided everything we needed the whole way through!! Here are just a few blessings that Zach and I are so thankful for:

-Our doctor was on call that night and delivered Parker

-Parker does not have any respiratory problems (this is the biggest concern for premies born at 35 weeks because their lungs are not fully developed)

-Parker was not taken to ICU. If Parker was born a day earlier he would have been taken to ICU because premies born before 35 weeks are automatically taken to ICU.

-Parker is breastfeeding like a champ and latched on right away.

-Lastly, the support from our family and friends was tremendous and made us feel so loved and well taken care of!