Today is Payton's 11th birthday. My squishy little clown of a boy is growing up! In honor of his birthday, and the fact that I started this blog when he was 2 1/2, I thought I would take a minute to write the story of his birthday. With the help with some notes in his scrapbook.
When Conner (our first) was born, he was one week overdue and weighed 9lbs. 9oz. Long, traumatic delivery, lots of stitches, you get the idea. My very understanding OBGYN agreed that I should not have to go through that again so she kindly scheduled an induction for baby #2 one week before my due date.
On that February 2nd morning -- a Sunday -- we woke up early, showered, ate, said good-bye to Conner & Grammer Teresa, and left for our 7:30am appointment at the hospital. It was a foggy morning and it stayed that way for pretty much most of the day. St. Vincent's Hospital was located in Portland, approximately 30 miles away from our home. As Scott and I drove and we got nearer and nearer the hospital we both admitted that we were a little nervous. This time we knew what labor was all about -- thinking back to the first delivery had my nerves going. Then the realization also began to set in that by the end of the day we were going to have another child in our family. We were excited to see this little boy and get to know him.
By 8:55am I had my IV hooked up and the nurses started me on Pitocin. An hour and a half later I was finally feeling the contractions. They were only a little uncomfortable and about 2-3 minutes apart. Scott and I just sat quietly in the room -- trying to stay rested.
At 11:50am I hadn't progressed much so the nurse decided to break my bag of water. As hoped, this started to intensify things. I began having contractions that were painful and I really had to concentrate and breathe through them. After about 5 of those I said "I'm done." I've felt labor before, I've known that pain -- I didn't need to "experience" it anymore. Get me my epidural.
Heaven, in the form of an anesthesiologist, arrived at 1:15pm.
At 3:35pm the nurse came to check on me. Jokingly, Scott said, "We're looking for a 7." Things had been progressing so slowly thus far that we were sure this was going to last well into the evening. The nurse examined me and chuckled and said, "you're right at 7-8cm." We were both very surprised.
As time passed I began to feel more uncomfortable and asked for a second dose of the epidural. At the same time I was also feeling a lot of pressure -- which was a new sensation for me. (During Conner's labor I felt nothing I was so numbed up). I convinced the nurse to check me again at 4:40pm and she announced, "you're ready." Scott and I immediately looked at each other in shock! We both sat there in complete disbelief watching as the nurses began breaking down the bed and wheeling in the delivery cart.
The nurse asked me to do one practice push . . . and he was coming!
They immediately told me to stop and paged the doctor who was at the office across the street. At 4:55 the doctor arrived out of breath - she had sprinted the whole way. The nurses quickly prepared her and we began to push. 3 contractions later and Payton was born at 5:12pm, weighing 7lbs 12oz (the smallest of all my babies).
When I saw his sweet face for the first time I was flooded with emotion. It was something I will never forget.
The nurses placed him in my arms and I got to hold and cuddle him for the longest time. It felt like a quieter experience than the first time around. It was a calm several moments of connecting, discovering his little face, and realizing that we were now a family of four. His skin was so soft, and his face was perfect in every way.
(Heading home from the hospital 2 days later)
And now we get to celebrate this boy in our lives every February 2nd (along with ground hog's day, and sometimes the Super Bowl). He adds an element of magic & humor & silly imagination to our family and I don't know what we would ever do without him.
Happy Birthday Payton!
In conjunction with Story Sunday I plan to share one idea, resource, or bit of inspiration to assist others with sharing & recording their story. Don't get overwhelmed thinking that you have to do it all. The beauty of having so many options is that you can pick and choose the method that works best for you!
I have a hardbound journal for each of my kids that I write in
It includes whatever random things come to my mind . . . . memorable stories, things that they are doing, funny things they say, their struggles/challenges, how they are growing, etc.
I will fully admit that I was much much better at writing in these when they were small. Blogging kind of took over, but I still have the journals. And I enjoy going back to read little notes about the nicknames we had for them (that week), the messes they made, or other small details of life that didn't make it into a blog post.
I want to re-commit this year this write a little more in each of their journals. Plus, having this record from their mom's perspective, in her handwriting, I think . . . I hope will be something they cherish someday.
