The one about Dawson's Birth

I am in Coer d'Alane Idaho right now. It's a long story that I don't even feel like getting into right now, so that'll have to be another post, another day.

I am exhausted, but not sleepy. I think I'll write about Dawson's birth instead, before it's been so long that I forget the details:

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I went to the doctor's on March 12 for my 38 week appointment. I was tired and exhausted and miserable. Each day I had been only trying to survive pregnancy symptoms. My hips and back felt disconnected and agonizing, my belly button felt like it had ripped, heartburn was U.N.B.E.L.I.E.V.A.B.L.E, and my heart would just POUND POUND POUND constantly.. .. ugh. Thank goodness those days are over now.

So the nurses checked all the usuals, and as usual, my blood pressure was high. In my checkup, Dr. Ollerton decided I needed to head over to the hospital and be monitored. Halle & Drew were at Ora's house, so real quick I ran their packed bags over- just in case I'd stay at the hospital- and drove back to check in.

They hooked me up and sure enough, my blood pressure was pretty bad. What was worse was the baby's heart rate kept dropping. Still I sat there, expecting to be sent home to endure another few weeks of pregnancy. When the nurse came in and said, "We are keeping you. Let's get you to another room and have a baby" I was totally shocked. All the sudden I felt like I wasn't ready, and scared for labor, and wanted Kevin there RIGHT NOW, and all sorts of crazy emotions. I started crying and felt really embarrassed. Haha. I'm such a mess when I'm pregnant.

Kev rushed to the hospital as I got situated in the Delivery Room. He came in and was SOO excited and happy. He just couldn't stop from smiling. He brightened me all up and made me feel like everything would be ok.

I remember looking at the little baby bed they would be placing our baby in, and feeling like it was sooo unreal- that he would NEVER-EVER really be here.

They gave me some pitocin and I felt a lot of contractions, but nothing too painful. I was relaxed and felt pretty happy. After a while the anasthesiologist came to give me the epidural. Pretty soon I stopped feeling the contractions and Kev and I got to hang out for a while. It was nice, since we don't have lots of time to really chat or relax together. We (finally) decided on the name Dawson Riley and that got us both even more excited. Everything felt like Christmas. Amazingly, my blood pressure went down to almost normal so I ended up not having to be on Magnesium Sulfate like I'd had with Halle. What a blessing!

We turned on a movie, so of course I fell asleep (haha- if you don't know me that well, I ALWAYS fall asleep in movies). After an hour or two, I started to feel like our baby was close. I asked the nurse to check me and sure enough I'd dilated from a 3 to a full 10 in only a few minutes.

Dr. Ollerton came in with a few extra nurses. Everyone was joking around and cheerful. As I started to push, I remember thinking that the doctor and Kev were acting like they were watching a football game. For example, when they saw his head come down a little further they were cheering, "Hey Man! Did you see that? That was awesome" and stuff like that.

Everything was so unlike what you'd picture labor to be: everyone relaxed and smiling, telling jokes & laughing. I asked a nurse if she'd take some video footage for me (up by my head of course) and felt really pretty amazing considering I was at the end of labor.

Kev told me that the baby had blonde hair and I remember getting so excited. Then I pushed a couple times and all of the sudden and just like that. . . he was here. It was 1:14 AM. So unreal. They placed him on my chest and I swear there isn't any feeling in the world like that. Their teeny amount of weight right above your beating heart, and something inside is filled to the max. I don't know how else to say it.

I counted his fingers and toes and admired his sweet messy & wet, long blonde hair. They weighed him, and when they announced he was 7-11 we called him "our little slurpy." The nurses were in no rush, & when I was ready I let them take him so we could both get cleaned up and comfortable.

At 4 AM they brought him back to me. Kev fell asleep on the pullout bed while I took little Dawson in my arms. For the next FOUR HOURS he was wide awake and looked at me. His dark blue eyes staring right at me, I felt all those motherly feelings grow and grow inside of me and I fell in total LOVE with my son. His tiny fingers opened and closed, opened and closed, . . identical to what he had done when we watched him in the ultra sounds 20 weeks earlier. It was completely silent, peaceful & heavenly in the room with a beautiful view of the temple outside the window. I wish I could think of a word to describe what I felt in those four hours. I will never ever forget it.

A little after 8 AM, I woke up my Kevin and we started calling family members. The rest of the time at the hospital -and I guess ever since then- has been mostly hectic and rushed, so I am so grateful for that time I got to bond with my son. I think of it as a gift from my Heavenly Father.

Halle & Drew came and met Dawson, along with lots of visitors. We brought him home the next day. I'd like to blog about the crazy-yet-wonderful, stressfull-nut-blessed time we've been having since, but I'll have to another time. I have another big day tomorrow and so sleep would be good. I'll take this tiny little hunk o' burnin' love (who has been sleeping on my lap this whole time) and get to bed.

G'night ya'll!