Joel Stephen- Birth Story

Goodness, how time flies! My sweet Joel Stephen is already 6 1/2 months old. I feel like I just brought that tiny (tiny compared to now at least) baby home from the hospital. I really want to get his birth story in writing before life keeps passing me by and I forget some of those precious details.

Pregnancy this time around was rough. Everything went smoothly. I was healthy. Baby was healthy. No major complications. But morning sickness for 24ish weeks while taking care of two other kiddos is no small feat. Oh, and did I mention that my husband was in an intense summer session of classes during my second trimester? On top of all of that, my precious baby decided to drop about 2 months before due date leaving me in a LOT of pain for the rest of the pregnancy.

That being said, every ache, pain, and sleepless night was completely worth it. My due date was September 13th, and as with my other two, Joel decided he wanted to stay nice and cozy for an extra couple of days. The difference this time around was that I labored at home for almost 48 hours before anything was consistent enough to head to the hospital. I was so thankful to have my dad in town helping with the kids because I could barely walk by this point because of the pain mentioned above.

Wednesday night at midnight, I began having intense contractions. Cameron laughs at me because I refuse to wake him up unless I know it's time... so I was awake allllllllll night... in labor... and never woke him because, as I said, the contractions weren't close enough together yet. He stayed home from classes the next day because I was convinced that would be the day.

Nope.

I spent all Thursday and Thursday night having the same intense, painful contractions. So by this time, I'm going on over 24 hours of no sleep except when I could doze off here and there until the next round of contractions.

Random, but funny memory I don't want to forget: I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies. I guess to keep me distracted. I don't know. Anyway, I come out of the kitchen into the living room to sit down, and Cameron is conked out on one sofa, and my dad is asleep on the other sofa. It just struck me as funny considering I was the one in labor who hadn't slept for who knows how many nights. I guess it was part of all that nesting at the end.

Anyway.

Friday was the same deal. I had my doctor appointment that morning, and I was convinced I would have dilated quite a bit... I was only at 3cm. Somewhat discouraged, but at least something was happening. Around 8:30pm, things really started picking up. By 9:45pm, Cameron and I were headed to LeConte Medical Center to have our baby boy!

I called my best friend, Amy to tell her we were headed that way, and she said, "I'm on my way!" So wonderful to have a friend like that when family isn't close enough to be there with me. (Love you Amy!)

We arrived at the hospital and were sent to triage until the nurse got a hold of my doctor to decide if I was close enough to keep me there. Amy arrived during that time. Around 12:30am, I was getting settled into my room. Again, it was so wonderful to have Amy there. She was so awesome helping me through contractions while I squeezed Cameron's hand. I am so glad I had both of them there. Cameron and Amy had two totally different styles of support, both of which I needed, and I am so grateful to both of them.

By the time I was dilated to about 7 or 8, I started getting shaky and freezing. At this point, obviously, I was in a bit of pain, and contractions were coming very fast. Joel's heart rate was dropping because I was basically hyperventilating through contractions. So, I was put on oxygen for a while, and opted for the epidural.

I don't recall how long after I got the epidural before it was time, but had I known it was going to be such a short amount of time, I would have just pushed on through. (haha See what I did there?) So it was almost 3:30am, just three hours after getting into my room, and Dr. Anderson came in to check on me. I was at 10cm, but Joel was pretty high, and they wanted to see him drop down before they were going to have me push. Dr. Anderson asked me to just give a little push to see if anything happened. I barely did anything, and she said, "Whoa! Stop!" and everyone started getting into there respective places. One more push, and Joel Stephen was brought into this world.

I love being able to compare each of my kids' birth stories. Some similarities, and yet all so different. Regardless, each time I have been in just the right place, surrounded by just the right people. I am so thankful the Lord has blessed us with these three babies (and the two I have not met yet that were taken too soon). He has been so good to us, and every day that I watch these kids grow, I am absolutely amazed that He is allowing me to be a part of something so much bigger than myself.