Well it's been almost 4 weeks since little Peyton joined our family! I debated about whether to share his story on the blog. But since I have been pretty bummed out about the fact that we didn't have our big camera or video camera at the hospital with us....nor do we have a picture of Peyton with Jason and I in the hospital...or really that many pictures at all in the hospital...I decided that I could at least document his birth story on here. So I am mostly doing this for my memory, but please feel free to read! (Warning...it is pretty long). So here goes...
I'd first like to explain why I think we may have been a little absent minded around the time Peyton decided to join us. We'll start with my 32nd week of pregnancy. That is when we began to prepare to move into our church's parsonage. That week was filled with preparing the walls of the new house to paint, tearing out carpet, sanding hardwood floors, removing cabinet doors to prepare to paint them, etc. Then, that Saturday, lots of people from our church came over to help us start painting. However this parsonage is a two story, 5 bedroom...1 1/2 bath house, so one day of painting gave us a HUGE head start, but there was still a good amount of painting to do. Then Jason left town for youth camp. So my 33rd week of pregnancy was spent painting all day every day. (I had a wonderful friend help me every day which was a big help! Thanks Tracey!) One day of that week however, I took a break from painting to begin (that's right...BEGIN) packing up our house to move the next week! So Jason returned home (to which I was very thankful)...and my 34th week of pregnancy, we moved into our new house. Then...3 days later...we somehow packed up a hodge podge of things and trekked our little selves to Tennessee for a long weekend (Jason's was the best man in a close friend's wedding). So my 35th week, we returned home and began unpacking. Weeks 35-39 were spent unpacking, hanging pictures and curtains, painting the baby's room, painting our mud room and downstairs bathroom, setting up the baby's room, refinishing a dining room table, recovering dining room chairs, refinishing the remainder of the hardwood floors, and whatever else I felt the need to do. And THEN...my 39th week of pregnancy I flushed the toilet in our downstairs bathroom and that changed our life for 4 days. Basically (short version)...we had a major plumbing mal-function causing: people from our church to have to dig out half our backyard to replace pipes, me to loose half my Christmas decorations due to toilet water flooding on them, and us to go without ANY running water for 4 whole days. And finally...towards the end of our plumbing crisis, we had an abdominal ultrasound done on Daniel to follow up on some stomach issues he had been having and they found a small tumor in his spleen. So we then had to have a CT scan and follow up with a pediatric surgeon the following Monday, August 27th (that would be when I was 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant) to determine whether or not he would need to have surgery to remove it. Turns out...this was a NON- cancerous tumor that was completely un-related to his stomach pain and will just need to be monitered to make sure it doesn't get bigger. Praise the LORD! And THAT finally brings us to Peyton's birth....
Tuesday Morning, August 28th ended up being both kid's first day of school. I REALLY wanted to be able to take and pick Lily up from her first day of kindergarten. Well, I got to! So we took the kids to school and I got quite a bit of house cleaning done on Tuesday morning and afternoon before it was time to get the kids. After picking up the kids from school we came home and ate some ice cream together and then I started cooking dinner. I felt fine...all this time leading up to Tuesday I had minimal contractions. However, the week leading up to this Tuesday evening, I had I guess had a few contractions and other signs that could mean labor was getting close. My mom, dad, sister, and her 3 kids had decided to leave Memphis around 3 that afternoon to start their trek up this way. (I was scheduled to be induced Thursday August 30th if I didn't go earlier). Ok, so we ate dinner that night and I got up from the table to refill one of the kid's drinks, and as I reached for the fridge door, my water broke (around 7pm)! This is the first time ever that my water broke on its own. It was not fun! It didn't hurt or anything, it was just a mess! So we began to prepare to go to the hospital. I started packing our bags (yes..our bags weren't packed) while Jason bathed the kids, packed their bags, put the left over dinner up, etc. And then, by 8pm we were off to the hospital! We had several sweet friends that had offered to take the kids if my parents weren't here yet, so we called one of them and they met us at the hospital to get them (thanks Spurriers)!
And so at 7pm, Tuesday August 28th my labor began. We got to the hospital and they had no open rooms, so we began the process in the back hallway until they could move some people around and clean a room for us. All the while, my contractions had started slowly, but were not very painful. We got settled in our room and all and the contractions continued to come and slowly get stronger. Ok...so let me now share..I have done childbirth two different ways...with Daniel and Lily, I had an epidural. However both times it dropped my blood pressure and with Lily, it didn't kick in good until it was time to push anyway, and it made me really sick. So with Austin I didn't want to get the epidural. His labor was an average labor as far as length, but I was not in very much pain at all until I was 9 cm. However, from that point on....it was VERY PAINFUL! But it only lasted about an hour and then I had him. But I did it...natural childbirth! So, with Peyton...I decided I would just wait and see how it went. Well...once I got to the hospital...I looked at Jason and said...I don't want to do this on my own! So once the contractions got a little painful (but not unbearable) I decided to go ahead and get it. Well...it didn't drop my blood pressure this time! But, I don't think it ever kicked in totally ( I could always feel some pain..it just wasn't much) and around 6:30 am it had totally worn off. That's right...6am and I still hadn't had him!! So I asked to get another dose. However, my doctor had another surgery to preform at 7am. Their policy is that she had to sit with me for 30 minutes after the dose to make sure my blood pressure didn't drop and I didn't have a reaction to the epidural....so, I had to wait until she got back from the surgery to dose me again. In the meantime my contractions were becomeing VERY painful and I was screaming through most of them. The nurse kept telling me to relax and that she hoped I would go ahead and have this baby so I wouldn't be in pain anymore. I kept replying..."I don't WANT to have this baby naturally..I want my epidural!!!" And I kept thinking..."YOU are not going through this right now...easy for you to say!" I wasn't a happy camper this time. WELL...by the time the doctor got back from her surgery, I was 10 cm and could start pushing. I was MAD. Yes....I have had a child naturally before, but I was NOT mentally prepared to do it this time. Plus...I was having mostly back labor this time, which was much more painful. Turns out...Peyton was posterior...which means he was facing upward when he came out. Anyway...I began to push and just felt like I was getting nowhere (also very different from my previous labors...I only had to push a few times with the other kids). So the doc offered to let me take a break from pushing and go ahead and dose me again with the epidural. I was shocked I was given this option, but by golly..I TOOK IT! As it was kicking in I was EXHAUSTED. By this time it was probably close to 10am. So finally after some rest, my sweet husband encouraged me to start pushing again. Although the epidural once again never relieved all of the pain, it helped so much and I began to push through each contraction. I was able to push so much better after the epidural, but because he was posterior it still took some time. It took him awhile to get here, but once he finally crowned he came out so quickly that they didn't even get the bed broken down. So finally....at 10:50am, little Peyton Jay Heath decided to make his entrance into this world. As soon as he was born the doctor layed him right up on my chest and let him stay there for quite some time. It was such a special bonding time for us. I have always heard that the sound of a mother's voice is calming to a newborn. But I guess with the other kids I never noticed it quite like I did with Peyton. As soon as they laid him on my chest and I started talking to him, he stopped crying! It was precious. And once they got me all fixed up everyone got to come in and meet little Peyton. My parents had been worried they wouldn't make it in time for the birth...boy were they wrong! They were there in plenty of time and were also exhausted from driving all night and straight to the hospital!
So anyway...there you have it! The story of Peyton's birth. It was long, and miserable, and definitely one of my worst labor experiences....but now he's here. And I'm just so so glad! We love him dearly and can't wait to watch him grow (even though it does happen to fast)!
