Mace's Birth Story

Mace is now ONE! For memories sake, here is his birth story!

After going to bed on August 9th, I woke up around midnight because of a contraction. I never had contractions during the pregnancy. I felt another one about a half hour later. The contractions continued for the rest of the night and by the time I got out of bed, they were about 20 minutes apart. Tyler left for work around 6:00 AM and since I was wide awake, I got out of bed. I cleaned my entire house. It was insane how much energy I had.

During the day, I went shopping with my mom to a bunch of office stores. It was right around the time school was getting ready to start, and there were amazing deals going on. Who can beat 1 cent for a spiral notebook? I wore my watch that day, so I could time the contractions. At this point, they were about 12 minutes apart. I have  no idea why, but I never told my mom that I was having contractions. She finally said to me, "Do you have somewhere to go, you keep looking at your watch." She was really excited for me once I told her.

Later that day, Tyler got home from work and I told him that I thought this was really it. We hadn't even packed a bag yet! I put some things together and then we decided to go on a walk. We had been told in our birthing class that going on a walk might intensify the contractions and help us to know if it was real labor vs. false labor. We went to Tyler's parents home because they have a nice trail in their neighborhood.

The walk definitely made us decide that this was the real deal. We went home to get our things. Before heading to the hospital, we decided to stop at the library! (Crazy idea, I know!) We thought we would check out some videos to watch while I was in labor. (We never ended up watching one.)

We got to Jordan Valley Hospital around 9:00. The contractions were about 5 minutes apart. Once they checked me in, they told me that I was on the border line of them admitting me. They suggested going on a vigorous walk around the women's center for about an hour and then they would re-check me. As we started out on our walk, we called our family and bosses to tell them that we were at the hospital.

During the walk, a really strong contraction came on. I felt so much pressure, and then suddenly my water broke. I was so embarrassed! We were right in front of the elevator and people were getting off! I turned around and saw someone who worked at the hospital. I told Tyler to go let them know what had just happened. I was expecting her to bring me a wheel chair and take me back to my room, but instead she brought me a towel and told me to waddle back to my room. With every step I took, more fluid came out. I made it back to my room, and the nurse came in to check me. She said, "Your right, your water has broke! You are for sure staying now." It made me laugh a little, because of course my water had broke. I didn't just pee my pants in the hall! 

Around 1:00 in the morning, I got the epidural. It was a little crazy, because my blood pressure dropped quite a bit. It was 70/30. They quickly gave me some fluid and that helped to bring it back to normal. I was so impressed with the anesthesiologist. I was able to relax for a while and it was so nice due to what time it was. The nurse came in around 3:00 to check me and she told me I was at a 10! She wanted to wait a little longer to see if the contractions would bring Mace further down in the birth canal. A while later she came back, saying that Mace's heart rate was dropping lower than she wanted it to. She told me that we would start pushing and depending on how well I did, would determine when they would call the doctor. I didn't make it through a single push before she told me to stop. She left to call the doctor. He was there about a half hour later. I pushed three times and he was out! Tyler cut the umbilical cord and they passed him to me to hold for the first time. It was such a special moment for our family. Mace was so beautiful and perfect! After holding him for a minute, they took him to be weighed and to make sure he was doing okay. He had a hard time breathing initially, but he got the hang of it pretty quick. They did gave him some oxygen for a few minutes.

weight: 8lbs 2 oz

height: 21 in

time: 3:52 AM

date: August 11, 2009

His 5 minute apgar score was 8 and the 10 minute one was 9 (It is out of 10)

I had never felt so completely exhausted! They wheeled me to a room, that I stayed in until we were discharged. My parents were our first visitors, and as soon as they left, I fell asleep for a few hours. I don't think I could have been woken up no matter how hard anyone tried.

Tyler got to help give Mace his first bath, and he went with Mace when they circumcised him.

Throughout the rest of our stay, we had a lot of visitors, including Grandma RaNay, Grandpa Chris, Whitney, Chad, Cooper, Lucy, Christopher, Hailey, Tylee, Reese, Grandma Elaine, Grandpa Bill, Chase, John, Corianne, Brad, Grandpa Roy, Grandma Donna, Sadie and Meredith! Tyler's family had been out of town, so we were really glad that they got to come by before we were discharged.

Overall, we really enjoyed our stay at the hospital. The nurses and doctors took great care of both Mace and me. We were glad that everything went smoothly and that we were all healthy.

We were discharged Friday afternoon. It was so fun (and a little scary) to take Mace home!

Becoming parents has completely changed our lives. We absoluetly love being his mommy and daddy!