another speedy delivery

at 5:34am on saturday, march 6th, 2010, london avery skiver made her fast and furious entrance into the wutang family.
i feel as though i had a whole lot more of the braxton hicks contractions than i did with either of the boys. all through my last several months i would feel them, sometimes even having to stop walking for a bit to let one pass. they never really hurt, they were just strong and tightened my stomach like nobody's business.
so on friday evening, march 5th, i thought nothing of them as we were at the wood's house playing catan with them and jessica. i do remember feeling as though i had some kind of gas pain, but nothing too major. just a little discomfort. nothing like a contraction. but in the back of my mind i did wonder if it really wasn't a gas pain, but maybe something actually starting. of course i didn't say this to anyone, or even allow myself to believe i was even thinking it. i can't go around thinking every little off day is labor.
so we're playing catan once the kids are in bed and i keep having the braxton hicks contractions. jess kept looking over at me asking if i was ok. sure...nothing going on here. just a little stomach tightening. no pain. i'm fine. i was still holding out for a birthdate of march 9th.
we end up leaving the wood's house somewhere around 10:30pm. we drive back to our house and jessica comes in for just a bit. justin ended up calling and he talked to me telling me he had a bet and his money was on me having the baby that day. i told him i only had an hour left so it wasn't looking like that would be the day. besides, i was holding out for march 9th. we still had a couple more days to go.
jessica ends up leaving and i headed to bed. dave came to bed i think around 1 or so. i remember having a fairly restless sleep and every time i would wake up i would realize that i was having a contraction...just the braxton hicks kind, still no pain. so i'd ignore it and go back to sleep. only to wake up a little bit later and realize i was having another one. i do remember thinking "hmm, that's weird. sure seems like i'm having an awful lot of these. but not worries, they aren't like cramps, there is no pain, i'm fine." i also was noticing that most of the contractions weren't very long...and i know i read somewhere that they get longer the closer you are. still thinking WAY in the back of my head...i wonder if something really IS happening?! but again not allowing myself to believe i was even thinking that. i was fine.
a little before 4am i wake up and decide i need to pee. i'll pee after my stomach isn't so tight. once it softened up a bit, i tap dave on the shoulder (i need him to lay totally flat so i can roll over him and get out of bed) and say "hey...i have to go pee, and also, i should let you know that i feel like i'm having an awful lot of these contractions." he asked if i've timed them and i tell him no, and they aren't hurting. there just seems to be a bunch of them. so he tells me to bring back the ipod when i'm doing peeing. as i go to the bathroom i start shaking A LOT. and i have flashbacks of shaking when i went into labor with hayden. so i'm not sure if it has something to do with labor or if i was just super nervous that this was the real deal...because at this point i have somewhat allowed myself to think "i think this really may be it." so i pee and go back to bed handing dave the ipod and he then sees how much i'm shaking. i roll back over dave and lay down. shortly after laying down, i have a contraction and dave times it using a song. it wasn't too long, only about 40 seconds or so. then the next contraction comes about 4 and a half minutes later and this one lasts about 70 seconds or so. i finally decided to allow myself to admit that this really was probably it. so before timing anymore i just said "yeah, i think we should call someone now." and then we both got out of bed.
i called mom and dad so that they could come over to sit with the boys. mom asked if they should just meet us there instead of having us wait around for them to get to our place. but i let her know i was fine, i still had time, the contractions weren't even really hurting. there was still no cramping or anything, but the tightening was packing a bit more of a punch. so i hang up with mom and dave calls jess to let her know as we are both getting dressed and getting the last few items we need packed.
i was still feeling ok. walking around even through the contractions. i even was able to have dave take a few pictures of me and my belly before we left.
mom and dad got to our house just a little bit later and by the time they got to the house i was suddenly having to stop walking during my contractions. i remember my dad coming in and me stopping at the end of the couch (litter boxing as jess and dave have named it....i would stand and just start slowly walking in place) and telling dad "hi! i'll give you a proper greeting with a homemade breakfast as soon as i get over this contraction."
i had called the dr.'s answering service and i think is was shortly after mom and dad got there that the dr. on call (dr. thai) called me back. i let her know i was having a lot of contractions and that my labors were always very quick...just 2 hours and 20 minutes...so we'd be heading in. she said she's see us there (she lied).
not long after mom and dad had gotten there i was not only having to stop walking when a contraction came, i was also telling people to stop talking. now...when i don't want people talking, i know the contractions are bad. so i realize, this really is it...it's no false labor...and i as where dave is. dave was downstairs updating our facebook status' so i yell down "dave...we have to go now." and a few seconds later he came upstairs and loaded up the car.
at some point shortly before we left, hayden came walking out of his room all sleepy-eyed. i told him "hayden...we're going to the hospital now to probably have the baby." and he says "i just knew i thought you were going to the hospital!" he hugged me and dave, said hello to grandma and grandpa and suddenly he was gone. i asked dave if he had told him to go back to bed and dave said no, hayden had just walked right back in and went back to his bed. so i walked in to give him a kiss and say goodbye and i told him i'd see him in a little bit. he then said "ok. and mom? remember, i really hope this baby is a girl!" to which i said "right, but if it's a boy we'll be very happy too, right?" "right." and then we were off.
we ended up leaving the house just after 4:30 (dave posted on facebook at around 4:33 and we were pulling out no more than 5 minutes later) and the contractions were getting much more intense. still manageable, but they were pretty hard. at this point some of my labor moaning probably started, which always freaks dave out, so he ended up going through a red light. i then told him something i told him when in labor with both of the boys "just don't get pulled over! i'm still ok, just don't get pulled over!" as i knew i had no time to be stopped by a cop. we then get onto m5 and are driving a bit when i remember looking at the speedometer and seeing that he was going 90. i then said "i'm ok. just don't get pulled over!" and seconds later we both look in the rear view mirror and say "crap" we were getting pulled over.
so we're sitting in the car and i'm just thinking "if only i could get out of the car and flag him down to get him over to our car now." but i knew he'd just start shooting. so i tried to remain calm and wait patiently for him to make his way over to us. we waited for a minute or 2, which felt like 40, and he finally slowly made his way over to our car shinning his flashlight in our eyes. he immediately asked for dave's licence and registration (a side note...we were using dave's work car) in which dave replied "yes, so my wife is in labor and she had both of our sons in just over 2 hours. i know i was going fast but i'll try to slow it down." the cop then asked which hospital we were headed to and then told us, "ok, go ahead." and we were on our way once again.
dave kept the speed down at that point and as we got off the expressway, the contractions were hitting harder than ever. he made the turn into the hospital and hit the bump a little too hard right as i was having a contraction. that sucked, and i let him know it. the he really knew we were close to having this baby.
he pulls up to the door and went to get someone that was at the desk who then came out with a wheelchair. i sat myself down and she wheeled me in as dave went to park. she asked if she should just take me straight up or if we should wait for dave and i realized i better get up there as soon as possible so we headed up in the elevator. as soon as it got to the 3rd floor and she wheeled me out i saw jessica and then started to have another contraction. i asked her if she could just wait until the contraction passed and she very nicely agreed. she stopped moving and didn't talk. so much better than the lady i had with hayden who said "we're almost there" all snippy like when i asked her to stop and wait for the contraction to end.
once it was over i asked if jess could come in with me and she said yes. so we head in to the maternity ward and seconds after having a horrible contraction i joked "hey...let's go have our pictures taken!" when i saw a sign saying "photo studio."
it must have been right around 5am when i was wheeled into the room which they had already gotten ready for me. the nurse came in and told me to get in the gown and she would then put the iv in and check me. to which i replied "can you please call the drug dr. now? i go REALLY fast." to which she gave a response that made me instantly not like her "i can't call him yet, we have to get the iv in and all of that." jessica then also told her "no, she really does go really fast." and i continued to beg as she continued to tell me he wouldn't even come up if they didn't have all of the other stuff in order. but, she insisted, he was really good and really fast, so once we had everything done and they called him, he would be right up. yeah, right.
i go in the bathroom and change into my gown as quickly as possible. jess helped me tie it and then dave got there as i was having another really bad contraction and i started to "little box" once again. i again begged the nurse to call the drug dr. and she once again insisted she couldn't. she told me to lay down so she could check me and then jessica headed out to the waiting room.
the nurse checked me and said that i was a 5. this is where i really began to panic because when we showed up when i was in labor with talan i was a 4. they called the anesthesiologist and when he showed up less than 30 minutes later, i was a 7. he told me it might not worked as i was too far along (it did end up working thank goodness!). so if i was a 5 already and they still hadn't called him, i thought i might be in trouble.
the nurse put the iv in me and did whatever it was she was doing. from this point, things get a little blurry for me. the contractions started getting REALLY bad. not long after she checked me the first time i told her that with each contraction (which were SO close together) i was starting to feel pressure. she checked me again and said that i was definitely moving and that i was past a 5. i don't think she gave a number though. maybe she didn't want to freak me out. she then told me that they had called the anesthesiologist and he was on the way. i think it was also at this point that she told me "but even when he comes, it can take 10-15 minutes for it to start working." this is where i freaked out even more. at this point, the contractions were so bad that i didn't think i would be able to take it for another 10 minutes.
somewhere around this time is when i started the screaming. i mean, top of my lungs, screaming as if someone was trying to kill me. the contractions were now just seconds apart. once one would stop the next one would start just seconds later. i would look up at dave and just start whining like a little girl "no, i can't do this anymore. not again. they're coming too close together." and then i would start the screaming again. once it would end i would look at them all and tell them how sorry i was. it was so embarrassing. i hate being that person. i think they were all beyond annoyed with me. but there wasn't a darn thing i could do about it. the contraction would start and i'd start screaming. (after it was all said and done, my throat hurt and i felt like i was going to lose my voice, which dave said he kept hoping would happen during that whole production.)
it then got to the point where i was pretty much pushing when i would have a contraction. and there was nothing i could do to stop it. a dr. finally came in as i was telling them i had to push (it wasn't dr. thai. the next day she came in to release me and she said "oh yeah, i missed your delivery" to which i replied "yeah, i almost did too.") so they checked me again and said i was an 8...mind you, this was maybe 20 minutes after they told me i was a 5 and the anesthesiologist was on his way. when i heard 8, i started whining once again saying "i'm not an 8! i'm a 10! i have to push!" i was honestly convinced that they were dead wrong. there was no way i was not a 10.
so once again i start to panic thinking, i have to push. i have been pushing slightly already. i can't wait to get to a 10 in order to get this thing out of me! i just remember chaos. me screaming, nurses everywhere, no drugs, and finally i remember the dr. getting in my face saying "look at me. if you have to push, push. i will push back on your cervix and we'll just do this." i have no idea what that even means, but i was happy to hear i could push. who knew you could push a baby out when you weren't a 10?! not me, but i sure am glad it was possible.
when my next contraction came i pushed as she broke my water. i heard her say that there was marconium in it and then i remember her yelling "you have to push this baby out! push it out!" so i continued screaming and pushing and she came right on out. i also remember them saying the cord was wrapped around her...i think just around her chest, not her neck.
i remember a few seconds passing before i heard someone say it's a girl and then dave looking at me saying "it's a girl! we have a daughter!"
they took her out and took her over to her little station so the nurses could work on her. dave wasn't able to cut the cord, just like with hayden, and i didn't really see her up close until close to an hour later as they were busy working on her and me.
once she came out and the placenta came out, the dr. said i was still bleeding and they had to check my cervix to make sure there wasn't a tear in it. as with hayden, the aftermath seemed to take longer than the actual labor. they weren't able to find the top of my cervix (again, whatever the heck that means) and i was in major pain. they then decided to give me some statal to get me to relax a bit so they could "find my cervix." it worked almost instantly. it didn't really get rid of the pain, but my head was spinning and i was a bit sleepy which made me relax enough where they were able to get in and get out pretty quickly.
as they were working on me i kept looking at dave saying "so, is it london?" because we had been going back and forth on 3 different girl names. 1 day london would be the name and the next day we'd flip to another one. dave said he didn't want to make that decision until i had seen her up close.
i kept telling him he should at least call jess in the waiting room to let her know she was at least born, but he didn't want to until we had a name to announce as well. i figured she was going crazy in the waiting room wondering what was going on.
they finally finished up working on london and me and i was finally able to hold her and determine that yes, in fact, this was london avery.
once we decided on the name, i had dave call out to jessica assuming mom had come up as well and left dad at home with the boys. but jess was still out in the lobby alone, so after making the announcement to her and telling her to come back in, we called mom to let them know. hayden was SO excited that it was a girl...just what he had been wanting! we also then called jenn (i had called her right before we left the house for the hospital and told her not to rush out the door as she probably wouldn't make it anyway and it was way too early!) and she and rainah had already taken off.
london weighed in at 7 pounds 7 ounces...which is the biggest baby so far beating out hayden at 7# 4oz and talan at 7# 3oz. and she was 21 1/4 inches long which came in just under hayden's 21 1/2 and tied with talan.
she has a full head (but not nearly as full as her brother's had) of dark hair. the front has much less hair than the back and it appears as though she has a bit of a receiting hairline at first glance. once again, we had a baby with absolutely no conehead due to the fast entry. and hours later you could already see some changes in her face, and especially nose, from when she was born.
we have compared a baby picture of hayden to her and we think she looks an awful lot like him. she's definitely the sister of hayden and talan as she has many similarities to them.
so far, london has proved to be a GREAT baby. right now, she is about a week and a half old and she rarely ever lets out more than a few squawks when she cries. i'm afraid to let her go too long in case she finds her voice and realizes she can actually cry longer and louder. for now she just lets out a few squawks to let us know she wants her bottle and then she's done.
she has had some gas recently and has been a bit "fussy." but when i say fussy, it's still NOTHING compared to any other baby. she just tends to wiggle around a bit more and fuss quietly for a couple of seconds.
hayden ADORES her, and his face lights up when he sees her. especially her first few days home. talan doesn't seem too bothered by her arrival but certainly doesn't try to be cautious around her!
dad asked me one day "i never asked, but was it your dr. that delivered." and i told him exactly what i told dr. hakim when he called me to check in on me a few days later (cuz that's how awesome he is!!!) "no, thank goodness!" my dad wondered why i said that since he thought i liked my dr. "i do. i love him. which is why i would never want to subject him to that chaos! i'm a good patient. i don't have lots of problems or questions. we like each other. the last thing i would want was him to be in there for all the screaming and drama." i'll just go back and see him in 6 weeks and act like normal. of course i will tell him i didn't appreciate the fact he had told me weeks earlier i could have the drugs waiting for me upon my arrival but the nurse told me no way. but i still like him. i choose to blame the nurse.
it was by far the most traumatic and painful labor to date. everyone just thinks "oh, but at least it was fast!" but being that fast is why there was so much pain to begin with. i mean, i don't think i'd want to change it really...to have a little less pain but a longer delivery...i mean, we've got some great stories. but don't kid yourself. it's not easy just because it's fast.
but in the end, i'm so happy i went through it and that she's here with us now!

last belly shots. 2 days away from being 40 weeks. taken just about 75 minutes before giving birth:


this would have been a little after 5am. the iv was just about to go in:

in horrible pain:
a contraction ending. and seconds before another one started:
about a half hour after arriving to the hospital, london avery was born:
and i was feeling MUCH better. i think i may have been on the statal at this point:


finally meeting london:





time for a bath. she wasn't that fond of it:


daddy and london:
london's first feeding:
me, london and aunt jessica...who beat us to the hospital:
rainah meeting her cousin:
london, aunt jenn and rainah:
hayden and talan meeting their sister for the first time:

all of us:
most of us. (talan refused to be in the pictures...it's not a case of middle child):
grandpa kellogg and all the grandkids:
grandma, london and hayden:

a GIRL!:

my kids:



hayden loves his sister. she's just what he wanted:
talan finally decided it would be ok to hold her:







sunday morning:

right before we headed home:

it's a monkey!: