LABOR STORY

Mark was so sweet to post about our new little addition to the family. We just love Alexa and she is such a sweetheart.

As for my whole labor story, well I will attempt to tell it to the best of my recollection...

I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday the 16th in the morning time. I had some contractions the night before, but only 3. Then in the middle of the night, contractions woke me up. These ones were pretty uncomfortable, but not painful. They were about anywhere from 7-20 minutes apart, here and there. Anyways, back to the doctor appointment. Mark came with me and the doctor checked me and told me that I was dialated to a 4 and 75% effaced. She said that it could be anyday now, and maybe she would even see me that night. (I really wanted her to deliver the baby because she is my favorite doctor at my office, and she was on call that night). We came home and my Visiting Teacher came over, we had lunch, did some things around the house, went on a walk with Makayla and just hung out.

Around 4:30ish I was having pretty regular contractions and so Mark called his mom and told her that she might want to stick around Temecula, because we may be going to the hospital soon. I was not wanting to go, but Mark thought that we should. I was afraid that they were going to send me home. Finally around 6:30 we arrived at the hospital. The contractions had gotten a lot stronger. They admitted me and hooked me up the monitors. I was a 4 and they said that they wanted to watch me for an hour, and if nothing had changed, then they would send me home. So, an hour passed and I was having some pretty good contractions, but at the end of the hour, I was still a 4. Right as the nurse was checking me, I had a really painful contraction, and even after I changed into my clothes to go home, I was still in a lot of pain. They told me not to hesitate to come back if I was in too much pain, or the contractions got worse. The whole walk to the car, I was having a hard time walking and talking to Mark because I was cramping and contracting a lot. Even in between contractions, I was still cramping. I was thinking to myself the whole ride home, "why am I leaving the hospital, we need to go back." I was tossing and turning to the best of my ability in the car, because of the pain.

We got home and I went straight upstairs to lay down. This did not help and poor Mark was starving (we hadn't eaten since 1 p.m. and now it was like about 8:30 p.m.). I was in horrible pain and nothing was helping. I called Mark on his phone and told him to come upstairs. I told me that we needed to go back to the hospital NOW. We had probably been home for like 25 minutes. Ever since we had left the hospital, my contractions had been strong every 3-4 minutes, with bad cramping in between. The front entrance of the hospital was closed and so we had to go in through the ER. I went by myself while Mark parked the car. When I called they told me that I needed to wait for a clean room and to have a seat. I was dying, and sat down. With each contraction I was trying not to make a scene in all my pain in front of all the family members of people who were waiting to see their loved ones who had just given birth. They were all looking at me like what's wrong with her. (I didn't care, I just wanted the epidural).

They finally got me in and hooked me up. I was in so much pain that Mark had to help me get dressed into the gown. Then the worst thing happened. The monitor was not catching ANY of my contractions. Both the nurse and Mark would look at me and say "You're having one right now?" I would say "YES!" They would preceed to say "How bad is it?" I would tell them, "Really, really painful." Then they would exchange glances like I was insane. I was in horrible pain, and the monitor was not catching any of it. I was so afraid that they were going to send me home in this pain and that the baby would be born at home. (oh yes, I forgot to mention that all of those contractions on the way home and back to the hospital didn't even dialate me anymore...I was still a 4).

I asked the nurse if I could have something for the pain, and she said that she would have to talk to my doctor. It seemed like she was gone for hours. I cried to Mark telling him that no one cared about me and they all thought that I was crazy (even him) and that no one believed me that I was having contractions and in all this pain. He reassured me that they did care and that they were just trying to find out why the monitor wasn't catching the contractions. Finally the nurse came in with a shot of demarol. I was so happy. It took awhile for it to kick in and it didn't make the contractions go away, but took the edge off. (She said that if it was false labor, it would knock it out, but if it was true labor, it would kick it into gear.) Well, a little while later she came in a checked me and I was a 5 and 100% dialated...YEA for me, They finally could see that I wasn't insane. She started my IV and I signed for an epidural. No more than 2-2.5 hours after she gave me the shot, was Alexa born. It all happened so quickly, and I was so in and out of it...tired and completely exhausted from all the pain. My water broke and she checked me and I was a 7 or 8 and then only like about like 5 minutes after that I was a 9. She screamed at the other nurses to call my doctor. It was at this point that the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural, that I wouldn't be getting. (A little late...thanks buddy!)

I just remember feeling this strong urge to push and the nurse was telling me, "NO, NO, don't push." It was the hardest thing ever to not push...and I tried my best. The doctor did NOT make it in time to deliver the baby...my darling nurse did (I loved her...after all she was the one who gave me the shot and was so sweet to me the whole time...even when she might have thought that I was a little insane about the whole contraction thing). The doctor did make it in time to deliver the placenta. I don't even remember feeling the pain of the delivery when I felt the need to push, all my energy and focus was on not pushing that I felt no pain, or very minimal pain. Not having an epidural was not as bad as I thought...not saying that I planned it that way, it is just how it happened. Mark had given me a blessing before we went to the hospital the first time and in it he said that Heavenly Father was aware of me and that all would go well, everything would be fine. It made me feel relaxed. When I was in the middle of it all, I was so scared and in pain, I felt like no one cared. I know that Heavenly Father blessed me and that I was okay, and made it and that the baby was healthy. I am grateful for the priesthood and that Mark is worthy to give us priesthood blessings when we need them.

Just some fun facts...both Makayla and Alexa were born 6 days early (I was induced with Makayla because of Toxemia, and Alexa came on her own). They were both born just after midnight (Makayla at 12:05 a.m. and Alexa at 12:31 a.m.). They were close in birthweight and height (Makayla was 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 in. and Alexa was 7 lbs 1 oz and 18.5 in). We are so blessed to have Alexa in our family. She is a little angel and such a sweet, sweet baby. She hardly ever cries. We gave her her first sponge bath and she cried hard then, but that is it. She is precious and we are so glad to have her here. Makayla loves her so much and it is sweet to see her want to hold her and my heart just melts at the way that Makayla looks at her with such contentment and joy. I love both my girls and I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband who is absolutely my best friend, and he is so good to me. Makayla calls him her prince...he is now a prince to 3 girls!