Dawsen's Birth Story

At the hospital: 40 weeks 4 days

Monday, August 30th I went to my doctor's appointment, hoping to have progressed and be showing more promising signs that our baby was ready to come into the world.  After an hour of waiting, my doctor came in and said I was dilated to a 4 and still 60% effaced (not a whole lot of progress).  I was a little disappointed, but wasn't set on being induced yet.  We scheduled an NST for that Thursday, so we could make sure he was happy and healthy and not getting too big and I went home. :( 

The rest of the afternoon, I hummed and hawed around the house, took a nap, and then called my friend Tera to see if she wanted to get ice cream with me at Sonic.  We shared a campfire blast shake and each had a cheeseburger.  It was nice to vent my frustrations and eat an unhealthy, comforting meal.  When Tony came home, we went to a couple stores to look for party supplies for Sawyer's birthday.  That evening I normally would have done my dishes and made sure my kitchen and house were all cleaned, just in case, but I was feeling frustrated.  Instead, I just went to bed.  At about midnight, I woke up to what I thought was a need to use the bathroom.  I went to the bathroom and then went back to lie down.  About a half hour later, I felt like I needed to go again.  I knew my bladder was a much smaller version of it's old self, but it hadn't been that bad!  I tried and nothing happened.  I went back to bed and about fifteen minutes later I felt the same pain sensation.  I woke up Tony to tell him I was pretty sure I was having contractions.  All of my getting up and down woke up Sawyer, so I put him in bed with Tony and set to work.

Even though I was over my due date, I wasn't completely prepared (imagine that).  My contractions were approximately 20 minutes apart at that time. I was focused on cleaning my kitchen, packing my bag, and throwing a bag together for Sawyer.  Once my contractions continued to be consistent and become closer together I called my mom (at about 2 a.m.).  She was startled, but said she would get ready and head our way.  I got myself ready and at about 3 a.m. called my doctor to see when and if I should go to the hospital.  She said I could go when ever I thought I was ready.  By this time I woke up Tony and told him it was time to go!  My contractions were becoming more painful and lasting longer.  He called his friend Tyson who volunteered to watch Sawyer and off we went. Sawyer was really confused and much more awake than I thought he would be.  He cried as Tony dropped him off.  I wanted to tell him "goodbye", but I was too busy focusing on getting through the pain and to the hospital in enough time to receive the epidural. 

We got into a room by about 4 a.m.  The nurses were super nice and got us all settled in.  I requested the epidural promptly for fear that I was too late.  They assured me that I would still be able to have one, as I was only dilated to a 6 and 100% effaced.  Once they had the iv and the fluid in, I was sooo ready for the wonderful anesthesiologist to make my pain go away.  The epidural made me itch, but was totally worth it.  By 6 a.m. I was comfortable and resting.  Tony kept talking to me, so I didn't actually fall asleep, but it was peaceful and quiet at least.  When they came to check me around 7 a.m., my water had broken and I was fully dilated and effaced.  They called the doctor and she told them to let me labor down and she would come in as soon as she got her kids on the bus for school.  My mom arrived at 7:30ish.  I was starting to feel a lot of pressure during each contraction because he was ready to come out.  They had to move the baby's monitor a few times and re-situate me to make sure he was safe.  I was getting worried about him.  When I would have a contraction, he would struggle a little bit, but they said we just needed to wait for the doctor.  I remember feeling scared that we had come so far and I was going to be really angry if something went wrong because the doctor wasn't there. 

The baby's nurse came in to prepare all the necessary items and then we waited for what seemed like FOREVER for my Dr. to arrive.  As soon as she got there, she took off her sweater, put on her gown, and told me to push.  3 pushes later our sweet baby was born.  I was so relieved and grateful my doctor knew what she was doing and we were all healthy and safe.  I didn't have any tearing and I felt great compared to when I had Sawyer. 

Tiny little thing!

Tony and I rock paper scissored for the spelling of his name, I won (though I can't remember if it was rock, paper, or scissors that led to my victory).  Dawsen ? Bastar was born at 8:52 a.m. 7 lbs. even and 21 1/4 inches long.  We couldn't decide on his middle name and decided we would table that item until later. 

Our first photo together.

After a short time my Aunt Tessie arrived and stayed with me until my mom and Tony came back with Sawyer.  I got in the tub and Tony and my family took the baby to the nursery for his bath and check up.  I remember feeling oddly good.  I was expecting to feel like a truck ran over me like after I had had Sawyer, but that wasn't the case.  I was fairly awake and feeling awesome.  They had built a new wing of recovery rooms since I had been there last, so we loaded up our things and moved to our own little room. 

Sleepy boy!

It was so fun to look at his little features and try to see Sawyer, me, or Tony in there somewhere.  He looked totally different than Sawyer did though.  His head was perfectly round and his nose had more of a bulb at the end.  We had only a few visitors (my Aunt Debbie, and Angela & Ellie), and then my mom and Tony went to go get some food and run some errands so it was a pretty quiet rest of the day. 

August

  

August 3, 2010  36 1/2 weeks

Dinner at Jaker's

 So August was the month I thought would never pass, yet it did (along with September and October) and now I am really behind on my posting.  These are my attempts to update the last few months. 

On August 3rd we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary.  This is the 2nd anniversary I have been pregnant, so eating out is the preferred activity.  We celebrated at Jaker's because I get a 20% discount and a free HUGE slice of mudd pie.  I am not sure if any of you have met me before, but I L-O-V-E ice cream!  This pie was so delicious and the fact that it didn't cost a penny made it even better!  We had sandwiches (Tony the french dip and me the crab avocado), Barb was our server, and it was fun to go out just the two of us, even if it was a short evening.  Tony brought me home these gorgeous flowers and I wanted to take him to a movie, but that still hasn't happened yet :(  We will have more dates in the coming years I just know it!

Beautiful flowers, lucky me!

All but one year since we have been together we have driven to Kelly Canyon and hiked back to pick scrumptious little huckleberries.  On August 13th, despite my gigantic pregnant state, we decided we needed to carry on the tradition.  I was a little slower than normal and Tony was a little panicked that I might go into labor and he wouldn't be able to carry me back out to the car, but we made it.  We shared our berry picking spot with a young moose, much to Tony's dismay and Sawyer and I ate most of our berries instead of putting them in our buckets, but it was a fun adventure.  Since my husband is really good at picking those little round morsels of goodness, we have a bag of frozen berries to enjoy in the future.

Our huckleberry adventure

Sawyer thoroughly enjoys water and bubbles!  He would have spent the entire summer in our backyard with his "wayer" if I would have let him take the small, blue squirt bottle outside and dampen the entire backyard daily.  This day we went out to water our very small bush and blow bubbles.  When I was done with the hose, he decided it needed to be used to fill his empty bubble bottle, as captured here. 

Enjoying the water