Phoenix' Birth - The Story

It's hard to remember all the details of a birth. It's so surreal and such a dream for me anyway that I want to just press rewind and experience it again but it's gone in a matter of a day, just like Christmas....gone for a whole nother year! With delivering a baby, even longer! I'll do my best though mainly for family history to write a good account of what went down...

On Sat. May 24th I waited up for Sharrid to get home from work, right around that time (midnight) I felt achy, odd pains and pressure, and a whole lot of Braxton Hicks! I then had a feeling I would have the baby in the next few days, even though I wasn't due for another week.
I went to bed, slept fine, woke up and got us all ready for church. While at church I started having tons more Braxton Hicks and they began to be stronger than just BH. That along with pressure made me think I was probably dialating, and was the night before as well. I didn't start dialating with Marce til after I was in full blown labor so I hadn't experienced this at all so I talked to a few people in the foyer about it. I was pretty sure I was at least dialating if not going into the beginning of labor. We got home from church and started doing whatever, then I kept complaining to Sharrid about the BH's. At the same time I was totally playing them down. He started to time them and I reluctantly told him when the pains came. I guess I didn't want to get my hopes up in case it was false labor...they were about 10 minutes apart for a while but they came closer and got worse. I was breathing through them pretty good. We decided to start packing up and arrange for Marcelus to go somewhere. We finally got packed and in the car. We dropped Marcelus of at April Duggins house a few hours after church. The labor in the car got worse even though the contraction times were a little sparatic, they were mainly 5 minutes apart now. We got to Mercy Gilbert Hospital and checked in. In the car I was complaining that with every contraction, my stomach was becoming more and more empty and I needed to eat something, so when I was checking in Sharrid went to the cafeteria and got me a banana nut muffin; something I would normally hate but loved at the time! I ate that as they wheeled me up to a room. When I got there I went to the bathroom and put on a robe. They got me all hooked up and checked everything out, I was dialated to a 6 at this point, and was very proud of myself! With Marcelus I got my epidural when I was a 5! I was doing much better this time! I labored another coupld hours or so. Sharrid was a great source of security and was "there" all the way. He stayed by my side and held my hand for sqeezing sometimes. I got my epidural when I was a 7-8. It was as easy as last time and I was ready for it so that I could rest a little. Phoenix's labor came faster and stronger than Marcelus'. It progressed faster. The epidural was nice and numbed everything. I couldn't really feel anything. I wished it was more like Marce's, the perfect balance: feel no pain, feel all the pressure. But with this one I felt basically nothing. My water broke a while later and they noticed it when they checked me one time, there was water all over the bed and me but of course I couldn't feel it. They got me new blankets and a little bit later I was able to start pushing with Shar and the nurse. My nurse was half white half black, and we ended up finding out that she was a member of the church. It was pretty cool for us to have those things in common. Dr. Conrad, a woman, got there and I scooted down and we pushed for real. They told me they could see hair and that even though I couldn't feel anything I was pushing great. They were really encouraging and kept saying things like "more Lexie, a little harder, keep going, a little stronger..." At that I was wondering if I was doing well or making good progress but sure enough he came and they put him on my tummy. He was born on Sunday evening at 7:44. It took him a while to start breathing as they were clearing his passages but just seconds later they wrapped him in a small white towel and put him on my chest for me to hold. I don't remember Sharrid cutting the cord at all...hmmm... I noticed right away that he was heavy. They told me then that this baby was not a 7 pound baby as Marce had been. I was anxious for the weight but it would be a while before I knew. They told me that even though Phoenix was big, I made it look easy (the delivery). Later after finding out he weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces, I was super proud of myself! My placenta wouldn't come on it's own, so after about 20 minutes the Dr. went up in me and retrieved it. Her whole arm was up me! When she got it and brought her arm out, it was all bloody but she got the Placenta! She told me I'd be given an antibiotic in my IV in case of infection. She then sewed me up. I did have to have an episiotomy with Phoenix as well as Marce but I was just proud I had that big of a baby still. I know that she wouldn't have given me one if I didn't need it, we were already clear on that. Dr. Conrad and I talked together while she sewed me up about our families. We had some things in common too as she was the 3rd child of 6, the last being a boy. After a bit, Connie showed up and I relaxed in bed as we talked with Shar and my nurse, about our families and the new Temples that were coming to Arizona. I breastfed Phoenix who like Marce was a natural, but he was held by Connie or under the heater for the most part. After awhile I was ready to be transported to my recovery room but my nurse wanted me to use the bathroom first. I got to the toilet, and then started to lose it. I remembered I passed out on my first attempt to use the bathroom with Marce. I told her this and she wondered why I hadn't told her this bit of info earlier, like before I got out of bed...I told her I forgot til now. She called for some sniffers but I was going. She was in my face asking me loudly if I were still with her. I just tried to focus my eyes on her and stay alert. The sniffers were way strong but I was gone after a few seconds. When I woke up they were all trying to walk me back to the wheelchair to get back in bed. I got back in the bed and the nurse said she was going to have me stay here til she knew I was stable. I got really cold and started to shake all over uncontrollably. I tried to control it but couldn't. They brought in heated blankets and piled them on me, and she put one around my head so only my face was showing. She put an oxygen mask on my face and kept asking me questions as I was shaking like crazy all over...the bed was probably moving a lot. She asked me questions like "are you with me?" and what's my babies name, and Connie asked me what my favorite movie was, when I answered "Mad Mad World", she told the nurse I was alright ha ha. The fact is I was alright, I was just very cold and couldn't stop my body from shaking violently. I eventually warmed up and stopped shaking. It was a long while before that happened though. It must have worn my body out because after this I was exhausted. I was given a catheter so I wouldn't have to attempt going to the bathroom again that night. I got to my recovery room and fed Phoenix once again before I was finally able to "try" to sleep. It was past midnight. Phoenix did much better in the night compared with Marce. I woke up at 2 am wide awake and surprisingly a little warm. I kicked my covers off. I just sat there in the dark for a few minutes. Sharrid looked like he was sleeping cold on the bed thingy next to me but wouldn't wake up when I called him. I had an extra blanket to give him but he must have been too tired. I got tired again and went back to bed. Over the next few days I knew I felt better this time around. I purposely tried to sleep and rest as much as I could in the Hospital. It felt great to shower of course and I took 2 showers while I was there. They gave me 3 stool softners in the Hospital and I just want to say it was a bit overboard. I enjoyed the Hospital food although you could only choose between a couple of things. I had a whole menu to choose from with Marcelus. I made sure I sent for Phoenix' birth certificate and Social Security card. Phoenix was circumsized the last day I was there. We left the Hospital Tuesday afternoon just after mom showed up. We stopped at Carrabas for dinner. My visitors in the Hospital included Connie, Connie again with her whole family, my mom of course, my good friend Janny St.Onge, and my good friend April Duggins who took care of Marcelus stopped by my house later that week for a visit. The first week home mom and I went into town about every other day. I got my ears peirced in the mall and Phoenix pooped in Childrens Place all over his clothes! Phoenix was discharged weighing 8 pounds 5 ounces but at his 2-3 day Dr. appt. he was back up to 8 pounds 13 ounces. Sharrid was a great partner to have during the whole experience, he got to take off quite a bit of work actually. It was great to see him more. I was really lucky to go into labor when I did as he was able to drive me to the Hospital and be there. I was a week early and Phoenix would have been over 9 pounds if I'd have been on time! So overall here are my thoughts on it all:

Pregnancy: no sickness, carried very low, bad glucose test experience, measured week ahead, born a week early, hospitalized in March for bad flu
Labor: great pace/progressed faster, played it down, left house at the right time
Delivery: epidural a bit strong for my liking, episiotomy, said I was a good pusher again
Recovery: went to church the very next Sunday, better than last, breastfeeding going great, bladder weak again, tailbone sore without meds
Phoenix: great breastfeeder, sleeps well at night considering, hiccups a lot, does well in the car mostly, pees a lot when we change him, needs to burp very well

There will be more posts and pictures coming soon...