Saturday, August 14, 2010

So I'll never forget: Easton's Birth

Little things are beginning to fad in my mind about Easton's birth. Little things I WANT to remember, but as time goes by I forget. So tonight, as my little boy sleeps and my husband is out fishing, I write. And remember. My 1st born son's birth. Because I don't want to forget. Even the smallest detail.

And so, I begin Easton's Birth story....

Monday, May 22, 2010, I had my final visit with my Dr. He told me that due to my G.D. they didn't want me going over my due date. Being this was my 1st child, my Dr. told me the likelihood of going early was very slim. So, we decided to be induced on that following Friday.

Friday morning at 6am we pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. Already I had been up since 3am knowing that this was the day I was going to meet my baby boy. At 3am, I got up and showered and got fully ready. Makeup, hair and everything. My reasoning (as crazy as it sounds) but I didn't know WHEN they'd let me shower again, and I knew cameras were going to be ALL around. AND, although I KNEW labor would take some "beauty" out of me, I still wanted to be "ready for the day." (Very like my Granny Phillips) And so, I got ready, excited for this next step.

As we parked the car, I turned to Wil and said, "Let's go pick out our baby!" We both laughed and I wished it was going to be that easy. We entered the hospital and after getting my ID bracelet they walked me upstairs and took me to my birthing room. "This is it, it's really going to happen!" was going through my head.

The nurse had me change into a lovely hospital gown and had me in get into bed to answer some questions. Common, everyday questions: name. date of birth. address. And my favorite did I want to keep my placenta. I remember looking at the nurse and saying, "No?" Thinking why would you even ask me that question. She told me, "Good answer." We both laughed.

Shortly after that, a new nurse walked in and introduced herself as the 7am nurse. They 1st had planned to break my water and see if I'd go into labor, if not, start pitocin. Due to the position of Easton they couldn't break my water right away. And so, they started the pit. That scared me a bit because I'd heard such horror stories about pitocin. Expecting contractions to start coming HARD and FAST I watched the monitor. Nothing was fast or hard. And so the waiting began.

My parents showed up around 8am and I was worried Wil was going to go hungry. I kept asking him if he needed to eat. Every 30 mins they kept uping the pit and little by little contractions started to come.

By 12:30pm they FINALLY were able to break my water. And that's when things started to move...still at a snail's pace. But, move it did.

By 5:30pm, my contractions were coming every two mins and the back pain that I was having was beyond back pain. Poor Wil had to DIG his fist into my back just to ease my pain. I remember telling him not to TWIST his fist but to keep it steady. Realizing that I was only dialated to 5cm and in my mind the pain would ONLY get worse, I asked for an epidural. At that point I remember going into a "giving up" stage. Where I had been in pain for hours dealing with it, breathing through them, thinking about other things, and the idea of NO PAIN was way better than PAIN. So, forget this labor stuff....bring me an epi! I remember the ONLY time I liked my nurse was when they were giving me the epi and she let me lay my head on her shoulder. (more out of SHEER Rachel don't move, than comfort) but it was a nice gesture.

Finally, the epi was in and I could relax. At that point, I remember little things....like how my IV was hooked up and there was this little green piece right next to my wedding ring...I played with it while breathing through contractions.

I remember my mom always knowing JUST what to say when I needed her most. I remember looking into Wil's eyes and seeing how concerned he was for me. Like he wished he could take the pain away. I remember my sister Beka coming in and seeing her, I realized what she had gone through with giving birth to Tristan and once again my sister went up in my eyes. I remember my dad sitting out in the waiting room and how concerned I was that he was all alone...til I heard he was watching MARCH MADNESS and enjoying the quiet. Then, I was happy I could let him GET AWAY for the day!

Finally, my nurse left and I got a new nurse. When she came in I knew we would get along. And we did. Her name was Hillary and she was super nice. We talked about how she gets baby fever every day she works. But her and her husband were not ready to have a baby yet. She was sweet and fun. And I was SO glad she was my nurse. I loved her.

Around 11pm I realized that Easton wouldn't be born on the 26th of March. It made me sad. Not for ANY other reason than I like even numbers better than odd and March 26th sounded so much better than March 27th. (Or so I thought, after all, I was in labor.)

At 11:15pm they realized that Easton was turned wrong. His face was facing my left thigh. And, so we began trying to turn him. It was hard to do what they wanted, but I tried. It didn't work and they began talking about a C-section. At that point, I just told God whatever it took, I just wanted a healthy baby. At the LAST minute, he turned! God answered our prayers!

After an hour and a half of pushing I remember the nurse telling me, "Rachel, grab him and pull him onto your lap!" And I looked down into the sweetest baby boy I'd ever seen. My 1st thoughts went something like this...only 100 times faster. "Oh look at him he's perfect, Huh, he doesn't look like anyone I know, oh man, his head needs support, do I even know how to hold a baby? How have I held every other baby in the world and I can't hold my own's head so it won't move!? Oh my goodness, his nose is the sweetest nose I've ever seen. He has hair, oh my goodness he's so little. Why are they already taking him away?

When I was holding Easton, I said aloud, "He's so tiny!" And I remember my Dr. saying, "Oh, he's a good 8 pounds." But to me, he was still tiny.

They took him away and to the warming bed. The Dr. asked me if I wanted to see my placenta. Of course I said yes. As I was looking at it I thought, "They asked if I wanted to keep it?" That made me smile out of sheer WHAT ON EARTH would I do with it thoughts!

Since I wasn't allowed to leave the bed I was wondering what was keeping them with my baby CLEAR across the room. I asked, "How much does he weigh?" and my Dr. told me, "Don't rush it too fast, it will go by fast enough. Enjoy this time and this moment cause it will FLY by and you will forget things." Honestly, I wasn't asking because I wanted them to GET TO THAT POINT. I asked because I thought that was one of the 1st things you do! Little did I know there was SO MUCH MORE than just weighing a baby!

Finally, they brought Easton back. Since his head was turned wrong, he had huge bruises on the back of his head. He cried when I held him because my arm touched those bruises. I felt so bad! So, for the longest time I had Wil hold him UP against his chest so we didn't touch his head. Oh he was so sweet and precious. (If you look really close in the above picture you can see the clip that was RIGHT near my wedding ring that I played with during contractions. Such a love/hate relationship with that dumb thing!)
Our 1st family picture of all three of us! While in labor, I remember thinking the room was SOOO dark and not lit. Once Easton was born, I realized it was just because of my "labor brain" because it was WELL LIT and there were SO many lights everywhere. It was my brain that was fuzzy!


When I saw this picture for the 1st time, I fell in LOVE with this how he looked! This is JUST what Easton looked like in my arms for the 1st time. His little mouth was open and so were his eyes. And that nose...I just loved. This picture will go down as one of my favorites of ALL times because this is what Easton looked like when I saw him for the 1st time.
Having Wil hold Easton because of his bruises. Wil didn't mind at all! We both just wanted to look at him and talk to him. EVEN if we both were so tired.
While in labor, I started running a fever. After Easton was born, he ran a fever. So, after being with us for an hour, he had to go into the nursery for about two hours. I was so worried, and also tired. Mom and dad had left and I almost called them to pray. But, I didn't want to worry them. So, I'd pray, fall asleep, pray, sleep, pray, sleep. Worried about my son--yet being so tired I knew he was in God's hands and He would take care of my baby boy.
Wil getting to know his son. My mom was there to take pictures (when she wasn't talking me through a contraction) She was PERFECT for the job. Just perfect.
Easton's fever went away and they told me I had passed the fever to him. They ran tests but all tests were normal. Everything was fine and not to worry. And so we got settled into our room. It was well past 3am and I'd been up for 24 hours. I remember the nurse saying she had to give Easton a bath and couldn't wait to see that head full of hair clean! She told me over and over how beautiful he was and how he looked very much like his daddy. We settled down for the night and a nurse finally came in at 5am and asked me if I wanted her to take Easton to the nursery so I could get some sleep. I did, and only slept for about two hours before I got up to go get him. Not even 5 hours old, he was asleep in a swing, loving every minute of it.
Saturday morning we were up and I couldn't wait to have my family meet him! Beka had been in the waiting room and when Easton was born some nurse wouldn't let her in! I was SO sad! My nurse ran out to find Beka but she had already gone home. The next morning, Beka, Tristan, and Bethany Cooper came up to see him. My parents and Grandma Bonnie came and so many friends came up to see us. The day was perfect. Lots of love and lots of time with our baby boy. Saturday night Wil's family came. All they could talk about was how much hair he had. Nolt's don't have hair when they are born!
Sunday morning, Wil drove home and I took a nap thinking how everyone was at church and excited I had a baby boy! When Wil got back we walked down the the nursery to get our baby. (Easton had some basic tests that had to be done that morning) So, we sat and waited for more friends to come. And come they did. Right after church. Lots of love and friends and family. My brother, JP, came up and held Easton the entire time. He really didn't want to share him with others. Very funny. Only JP.

That night was our church's Easter program. Everyone was at church and we were at the hospital. It was bittersweet for me. I wanted to be there with Easton showing him off...yet here we were in the hospital enjoying our son. I just wanted people to see him. Funny what you think of at that moment. Sunday night Wil and I and Easton just sat and took pictures. Most of these of Easton were taken Sunday night on Palm Sunday.
Monday morning we were able to go home. I remember before leaving, getting some of their ice water because they have the BEST ice. AND, I wanted some for the road. Driving him home was a strange feeling. I just wanted to hold him and not have him in the carseat. But, laws are laws, and so, he sat in the back in his carseat. Law abiding...that's what we are!

Once we got home, I remember wishing we were back at the hospital. Having professionals wait on us for every little thing. I missed feeling the support and knowing if I didn't know...THEY would!

But, we adjusted well. And the best part of all was that Easton was ours. Our very own son that God hand-picked just for us!
And so, his birth story comes to a close. Having a baby is such a joy...so MANY emotions go through your mind. SO many emotions you don't expect.

But, having that baby placed in your arms for the 1st time is priceless.
May I never forget....












































2 comments:

Truly His said...

AWEEEE!! And I have fallen in love with a little boy named Easton wholeheartedly!! That is the best story I have heard all day! :)

Alicia Marie said...

Great story and GREAT photos. How special to have those. I wish we had someone there to take photos of Colin. How precious!