This is our Calvin's birth story. I was not sure how much I wanted to share because this day was so sacred to me and near to my heart, but I use this blog as record keeping and I want to remember.
I will preface this story by saying that, while I have never really been nervous to have a baby, I have been pretty anxious about having a baby (the giving birth part) ever since I found out that I was pregnant. I calmed my nerves by getting a book to read and signing up for an 8-hour birthing class. I figured that I would get really ready for it in the couple weeks leading up to my due date. On October 8th the only thing that I knew about giving birth was what I had seen in movies... no exaggeration. For some reason I was sure that I was going to be late... I didn't really plan on Calvin coming until a week or so after my due date.
I will preface this story by saying that, while I have never really been nervous to have a baby, I have been pretty anxious about having a baby (the giving birth part) ever since I found out that I was pregnant. I calmed my nerves by getting a book to read and signing up for an 8-hour birthing class. I figured that I would get really ready for it in the couple weeks leading up to my due date. On October 8th the only thing that I knew about giving birth was what I had seen in movies... no exaggeration. For some reason I was sure that I was going to be late... I didn't really plan on Calvin coming until a week or so after my due date.
October 8th, 2012 was our 2nd anniversary. We decided not to really celebrate until the weekend since we were moving and my parents were in town. We were pretty stressed about the move because we ended up not being able to get the keys to our house until later than we thought, so we were not going to have any help. My parents decided to rent us a moving van to load up all of our stuff into... that way we would only have to unload our stuff on our own. Plus I was 36 weeks pregnant, so I could only be so much help.
I woke up early to go pick up Berkley (the girl that I nanny). My parents and I took her to the fancy business Costco because my mom wanted to see it. I noticed that I felt particularly good that day. We spent most of that day packing up boxes and loading them and our furniture into the moving van. Dallin was a trooper about moving since he was sore from running a marathon just 2 days before I didn't really help with the moving part because I was so pregnant, so I mostly watched Berkley. Dallin made fajitas for dinner, and our friends Justin & Lindsay came over to eat with us. My parents were planning on leaving right after dinner.
While we were getting dinner ready I could tell that something was leaking. I did not think anything at all about it, but ended up having to change my pants by the end of dinner. We had to eat our fajitas on the floor because all of our furniture was in the moving van. Afterwards, Lindsay and I took Berkley home and the leaking continued. We got back and were about to eat Justin's brownies for desert when I decided I could not wait any longer and had to tell Dallin that I just leaked through my second pair of pants. I awkwardly told Dal that I needed to see him in the other room for a second. I told him what was happening, then decided to completely dismiss the problem when he suggested that we go to the hospital. My mom asked if everything was alright when I went back into the living room to which I responded, "Yeah, everything is fine. I thought that maybe my water broke for a second but it didn't and I am not in labor. Who wants a brownie?". I proceeded to dish myself a brownie, sit in the only piece of furniture that was left in our apartment, and eat my brownie super fast while all 5 of them just stared at me. I refused to consider the idea that I was in labor. I was not ready to give birth-- I had not been to my birthing class yet! (ha). Plus, everything that I owned was in a moving van and we did not have the key to our house yet. Plus I was 4 weeks early. I was also having absolutely no strange symptoms besides the water leaking through multiple pairs of pants. I figured that if I was in labor that something would feel different. Dallin called the hospital to see if there was anything else that it could be, and they told him that either my water broke or I peed my pants. I decided that I was not going to go all the way to the hospital just so that a nurse could tell me that I had peed my pants and to come back in 5 weeks. I ended up kind of yelling at the nurse on the phone. It was really out of character for me, but I was freaking out. Finally my mom said that she and my dad weren't leaving until I went to the hospital, just to make sure.
By the time we got to the hospital I was more convinced that my water had broken because I knew that there was no way that I peed through 3 pair of pants in an hour. I had a major breakdown in the car on the way to the hospital because I was so nervous about having the baby so early. My doctor had been out of town for a few weeks, so it had been almost a month since I had even seen him. I hadn't talked to him about labor at all... we hadn't gotten that far yet. I wanted my baby to be healthy. Sure enough, the nurse checked me and immediately told me that my water had broken and I would have the baby before I left the hospital. Dallin called both of our parents, and mine rushed right there from our apartment. Dallin's parents were in Hawaii with Aubree and Craig for Urology meetings. They bought a ticket to come home a day early just so that they could see Calvin for 24 hours before they left for Germany for 2 weeks.
I usually consider myself to be a pretty laid back person... but I was not laid back from the moment I found out I was in labor (around 7 pm) until about midnight that night. Every person that came into my room knew that I was early, that I was nervous, and that all of my stuff was in a moving van before they left my room. Luckily I had awesome nurses that made me feel better. When I got there I was dilated to a 4, and the doctor on call told them to wait until morning to start me. My parents got there and hung out with Dallin and I all evening. My dad went and picked some stuff out for us because all we had was the clothes on our backs. He had to crawl around the moving van to find most of the stuff, including the car seat.
That night I pulled my first all-nighter since middle school. I was hooked up to all kinds of monitors and was pretty sick because I was not allowed to eat anything. Plus, I was still trying to process that I was about to have my baby... a whole month earlier than expected. Dallin stayed the night with me, but he was sleeping so the night nurse kept me company... she was awesome. I was super obnoxious and kept asking her what time I was going to have the baby. Obviously she didn't know, so finally she said that I would have him at 3 in the afternoon. I ended up giving birth at 2:54 p.m.
By the next morning I had progressed to a 5 and they were ready to start me on Pitocin to get things going. It is funny how so much of labor is just waiting around. A couple of hours later I was dilated to a 7 and the anesthesiologist came in and said that he was ready to give me my epidural. I was torn because my contractions had not really hurt yet... I was in no pain. The nurse and my mom talked me into getting the epidural right then because it was not going to slow me down at all, so there was no reason to wait if I was going to get one anyway. So he came in and gave me my epidural to stop the pain that I wasn't having. Let me just say that I am not tough nor do I have very much of a high pain tolerance, I really was not in pain. Our anesthesiologist was awesome! He was from New Zealand and was really funny. The epidural worked great. I somehow managed to give birth to a baby without any labor pain. The only part that I didn't like about labor was that I couldn't eat, so I got pretty sick and kept throwing up. A couple of hours and a lot of sitting around later I was at a 10 and was ready to start pushing. My parents were super awesome and waited around all day at the hospital and kept us company.
Dallin and the nurse helped me do a couple of practice pushes that were sort of casual for about 20 minutes. The nurse told me to stop when they could see the head so that we could wait for the doctor to get there. He ended up taking 45 minutes to get there, so I fell asleep. Dallin said that it was super crazy to have to wait that long when he could see our baby, and even crazier that I was just sleeping through it. The doctor got there aroud 2:40 and a few pushes later Calvin Russell was here weighing in at 5 lbs. 12 oz. and 19 inches long. I loved pushing. If I wasn't so anxious for him to be here I would have been sad that my labor was over. The moment he came out they put him on my chest. At that point I don't think that I could really process that he was mine... my son. They got him cleaned up and brought him back to me. I had been so worried that he was early so I was on cloud 9 when he came out and was perfectly healthy. The doctors left after they got him all weighed and cleaned so it was just my husband, my son, and me... our family of 3. That is when he opened his eyes and looked at me for the first time and it was the single greatest moment of my life.
The nurse brought both Dallin and I this huge feast after we were finished that included steak, mashed potatoes, and shrimp. It was delicious. The rest of the day was filled with lots of staring at Calvin, my parents meeting him, and people coming in and out. Lindsay & Justin, as well as Catherine & Greg also came to the hospital to meet baby Cal that night. Dennis and Lisa flew in from Hawaii at midnight, and got to the hospital around 1 in the morning to meet their new grandson.
That is how our son came into this World. It is funny how much such a little guy can do for a person. For lots of people, really.
That night I pulled my first all-nighter since middle school. I was hooked up to all kinds of monitors and was pretty sick because I was not allowed to eat anything. Plus, I was still trying to process that I was about to have my baby... a whole month earlier than expected. Dallin stayed the night with me, but he was sleeping so the night nurse kept me company... she was awesome. I was super obnoxious and kept asking her what time I was going to have the baby. Obviously she didn't know, so finally she said that I would have him at 3 in the afternoon. I ended up giving birth at 2:54 p.m.
By the next morning I had progressed to a 5 and they were ready to start me on Pitocin to get things going. It is funny how so much of labor is just waiting around. A couple of hours later I was dilated to a 7 and the anesthesiologist came in and said that he was ready to give me my epidural. I was torn because my contractions had not really hurt yet... I was in no pain. The nurse and my mom talked me into getting the epidural right then because it was not going to slow me down at all, so there was no reason to wait if I was going to get one anyway. So he came in and gave me my epidural to stop the pain that I wasn't having. Let me just say that I am not tough nor do I have very much of a high pain tolerance, I really was not in pain. Our anesthesiologist was awesome! He was from New Zealand and was really funny. The epidural worked great. I somehow managed to give birth to a baby without any labor pain. The only part that I didn't like about labor was that I couldn't eat, so I got pretty sick and kept throwing up. A couple of hours and a lot of sitting around later I was at a 10 and was ready to start pushing. My parents were super awesome and waited around all day at the hospital and kept us company.
Dallin and the nurse helped me do a couple of practice pushes that were sort of casual for about 20 minutes. The nurse told me to stop when they could see the head so that we could wait for the doctor to get there. He ended up taking 45 minutes to get there, so I fell asleep. Dallin said that it was super crazy to have to wait that long when he could see our baby, and even crazier that I was just sleeping through it. The doctor got there aroud 2:40 and a few pushes later Calvin Russell was here weighing in at 5 lbs. 12 oz. and 19 inches long. I loved pushing. If I wasn't so anxious for him to be here I would have been sad that my labor was over. The moment he came out they put him on my chest. At that point I don't think that I could really process that he was mine... my son. They got him cleaned up and brought him back to me. I had been so worried that he was early so I was on cloud 9 when he came out and was perfectly healthy. The doctors left after they got him all weighed and cleaned so it was just my husband, my son, and me... our family of 3. That is when he opened his eyes and looked at me for the first time and it was the single greatest moment of my life.
The nurse brought both Dallin and I this huge feast after we were finished that included steak, mashed potatoes, and shrimp. It was delicious. The rest of the day was filled with lots of staring at Calvin, my parents meeting him, and people coming in and out. Lindsay & Justin, as well as Catherine & Greg also came to the hospital to meet baby Cal that night. Dennis and Lisa flew in from Hawaii at midnight, and got to the hospital around 1 in the morning to meet their new grandson.
That is how our son came into this World. It is funny how much such a little guy can do for a person. For lots of people, really.
Love this Sam. What a beautiful story and darling baby! Congratulations!!
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