The Birth Story of Baby #5

Baby #5 was born 6 months ago...and yes, I am FINALLY getting around to blogging about his birth story. (not like I've had nothing else to do) I do have to say his story, while it's VERY special to me, will not be as exciting to read as his sisters birth story. (read her birth story HERE )

Let's see if I can even remember (just kidding). On the evening of April 23, 2012 I was scheduled to go to the hospital for an induction. I was told at my last Dr appointment that it would be best to induce due to the size of this baby. (I have very large babies so it's something they always monitor towards the end). While I did want to have the experience and excitement of going into labor on my own again, I was more than willing to be induced. For some reason I was SUPER nervous walking to the hospital that night. I don't know why. Heck, I've done this 4 times before. I guess just because it's almost been 3 yrs since I had my last baby. It was our biggest age gap between babies. 2 yrs and 10 months. (too long in my opinion but he came in God's perfect timing, not mine)

I got all checked into the hospital. Put on my lovely gown and then I started to get iv's and monitors all strapped to me. (the whole time I was thinking...ugh...wish I didn't feel so attached...I just wanted to be free...BUT since I was being induced..I knew this came with the territory).

I was told they would begin the induction at midnight. They would give me cervidal and it should start my labor and if it didn't, they would give me pitocin in the morning. Well, when I got there...turns out I was indeed already in early labor. I had NO clue. I had been contracting heavily...and honestly...didn't feel a thing. They were shocked that I wasn't feeling them. (see, that's how it was with my 4th baby...I had NO clue I was in labor...until I was REALLY in labor about to push out the baby!). SO my doctor decided it was best to wait on the cervidal until 2am. (my guess is he assumed I would go into full labor with the cervidal and he didn't want to make a trip to the hospital in the middle of the night). So I layed awake there for hours....expecting to go into full force labor at any moment...but 2am came...and nothing. I was still only dialated to 3cm as I had been when I arrived at the hospital. SO at 2am they gave me cervidal. The night nurses still expected me to deliver by early morning. But nope...7:00am came and new nurses came in. (I was sad because I REALLY enjoyed the nurse that was there on the night shift). SO they started pitocin. Contractions were definetly stronger with the pitocin. But I wasn't dialating anymore. I was getting slightly worried that this child would NEVER come.

A few hours went by. They upped my pitocin and I requested the epidural. Forget natural labor. I felt like I would be there for awhile and the contractions were definetly getting worse. What can I say...I am weak when it comes to pain. I wanted SO badly to not get an epidural...BUT at the moment I needed it. I was SO happy once it was in. (and on a side note...wow...that was the best anesiologist....not a single ounce of pain or trouble getting that epi in! ) Finally I was relieved of pain. Ahh...yes, that familar warm sensation taking over my lower half of my body. I found it VERY relaxing. NOW I was ready to have this baby.

They checked me and I was only dialated to 4cm. I couldn't believe it. It was 1:00pm. I was suppose already have a baby in my arms. Then all of a sudden I called the nurse because I swear I felt like I needed to push (yes, I know I had an epidural...but I promise you, you can still feel the urge to push. I know they say you can't but I definetly felt it with all 4 of my epidurals I had). Sure enough, I was dialated to 10cm. I went from 4 to 10 in 15 minutes! Crazy! I was going to have this baby after all!

While I was pushing I had the nurse in my face telling me I could do this. She was very nice about it and I didn't mind her pep talk. Figured out later she was trying to distract me. She was telling me to push. I wondered why they kept looking at the baby's heart monitor. Then tons of nurses came over. My doctor kind of seemed worried...but then at the same time I didn't notice what was going on until after the fact. (thanks to that nurse who distracted me so I didn't start to worry). His heart rate kept going way down but when I pushed he wasn't coming out. Then finally one more good push and he was out. Come to find out the cord was around his neck. They put my precious baby boy on my chest. I cut the cord (I've cut all of my babies cords except my first one--he had heart issues right away so I didn't even get to hold him until he was a few hours old. My husband just can't handle that type of stuff, I'm happy to just have him at my side for the birth and not fainting on the ground so I am happy to cut the cord)

On April 24, 2012 1:47pm Colton Jayhawk was born. He weighed 9 lbs 2oz and was 21 1/4 inches long. I was and still am completely and utterly in love with him. He is such a blessing and I couldn't thank God enough for blessing us with another precious child. Every good and perfect gift is from above... James 1:17

**and yes, I REALLY did put Jayhawk as his middle name on his birth certificate. For those of you that may not know what a Jayhawk is. Its my husbands ultimate favorite college basketball team. Kansas Jayhawks. He's cheered for them his whole life. While I wanted to name him Colton Ryan (after my husband) he wanted to name him Colton Jayhawk. I couldn't help but love the smile on his face when I agreed to it. After all, it was baby #5 I suppose I could let him win one of his crazy sports name. He originally wanted his first name Jay and his middle name Hawk. That wasn't happening...(even though I do like the name "Jay"..). So there you have it. Colton Jayhawk. I was even told I could call him Colton Jay...but for some reason...I don't mind saying Colton Jayhawk.