A "Labor" of Love...The detailed version

Tyler and I came home from the hospital today. It was a wild ride on Friday. I thought I'd post the details of Friday's delivery for those of you that are interested. My induction was scheduled for Friday because my doctor is going out of town tomorrow. Friday also happened to be my birthday, but it was the only day he could do it before he left!

We called Tri-City at 4:30 Friday morning and the charge nurse said to come on in because they were not busy. David and I got ready and arrived to Tri-City about 5:30. By 7:30 I had my pitocin going and my doctor broke my water. By 8:30 I had my epidural by the best anesthesiologist that the hospital had (according to all the nurses) and by 8:45 I was feeling good and thinking things would go really fast......but I was wrong. By 11:00, I was still at a 2 and the baby hadn't dropped yet. I had David give me a blessing and he said that things would start happening and that I would have the best of care and everything would be ok and that the baby and I would both be fine. The next time the nurse checked me I was at a 4, but the baby still hadn't dropped any.

As time went on and I started dilating more, the baby's heartbeat would drop done below 100 during each contraction. My doctor, who was checking in on me regularly, was getting really worried. By 3:15, he was sitting by my side, watching the monitors and not sounding too positive. He did not like seeing the heartbeat drop so low and was worried about the baby being so high still. He said that I probably needed a C-section right away. He got everyone prepped and the anesthesiologist was right there ready to make me numb. Within 30 seconds of him saying that, I felt this amazing amount of pressure and pain throughout my whole lower back. He checked me again and the baby had dropped and the heartbeat was back up. It was truly a miracle. He had me start pushing and an hour later....a long, exhausting, painful hour later, Tyler was born face up. So, even with the epidural, I had very painful contractions because of the way his head was. With me, David, my mom, David's sister, two nurses, one doctor, one anesthesiologist, and a team of Neonatal nurses standing by, Tyler was welcomed safely into this world.

The neonatal specialists helped get Tyler to breathe right away and clear his lungs. It was scary because he was so floppy, but with time and help from these wonderfully skilled doctors and nurses, Tyler is now healthy and perfect.

After the delivery was done, my doctor covered in sweat gave me a big hug and said, "This was truly a miracle. I have rarely had to work this hard to get a baby out, so I can't imagine how you are feeling. My doctor is a blessing and and answer to prayer. Without him, I would have had a C-section a long time ago. I don't even have any stitched because he was able to sit there and stretch me the whole time, rare for a posterior-faced baby!

I am glad to be home and count my blessings. The power of the priesthood is truly from God, and with it, everything worked out great in the end! David kept telling me to have faith, and at times, I wanted to give up, but I held on to the words of his blessing and was able to have enough strength to make it through.

You think the third time around it would have been slightly easier.....I guess that's not in the cards for me. Maybe I need to have these hard labors to appreciate more the special gift I am now holding in my arms. What a joy it is to be a mother....so the journey begins with three.