Delivery from the Stork

Our Sweet Baby Boy is finally here!

Nixon James Cleveland 

Born August 29, 2012 at 10:28 am

Weight 8lbs 2oz

Length 21 inches

Here is his Birth Story:

My pregnancy with Nixon was a long HOT pregnancy. The truth is I expected it to be worse than it was, so that is good, but by the last 2 weeks I was done. I was miserable, swollen, hot, grumpy and I just wanted this boy to come. Everyone kept saying things like "There is no way you will go all the way to your due date" and "You've definitely dropped, you're going to have him any day" it made me get my hopes up and made the end seem much longer than two weeks. I had my membranes stripped on a Monday two weeks before I was due and I thought for sure it would put me into labor. It didn't. It was a long week. The following Monday I had them stripped again but by this time I had decided that he would probably never come so it didn't get my hopes up. I figured I wasn't going to have him until after my birthday (September 4th). On Tuesday I had a normal day. I played with Autumn, cleaned the house, and I even made dinner! We went for a walk after dinner and every neighbor that was outside commented that they couldn't believe I hadn't had the baby yet. I was going NUTS! 

That night after we put Autumn to bed, I was getting into bed and I had a small gush of "water" come out. I wasn't sure if my water had just broke or if I just peed on myself. My only experience was with Autumn and the doctor broke my water and it was so much. I felt like it never stopped coming out, so this small gush didn't seem like it could be the real thing. I couldn't fall asleep after that, I kept thinking, "Well what if it was?" I started having contractions shortly after but they weren't very hard or painful. After about 45 minutes of contractions I started timing them for the next hour and a half I was having them every 3-7 minutes and some of them were painful. I decided to wake Logan up and call his mom to come get Autumn. I called the hospital as we were getting ready to go because I still wasn't really sure if this was labor or not. It wasn't painful, but it was steady. But there also wasn't much water so I was doubting myself. The doctor on call told me that if I thought my water might have broke I better come in and see. 

As we were driving up my contractions started slowing way down and I felt stupid for waking Logan up and calling him mom. I was pretty sure that this was not the real thing. I felt like we would get there and they would just send us home. I felt like crying (gotta love being pregnant). 

I got all checked in and they hooked me up to a monitor to measure and track my contractions for a few minutes and then they tested to see if there was any amniotic fluid, or in other words to see if my water had really broken. Once I was laying down my contractions started getting really hard again. The nurse said it would take 20 minutes to get the results for the test. So we just sat there waiting and watched my contractions and the baby's heart rate on the monitor. Once again my contractions started slowing. I told Logan I was sorry for making him get up and that I was pretty sure we were going to be sent home. He said, "Yeah, I think we're going to get the boot." I felt so tired. It was not almost 2:00 in the morning and Logan had work at 6:00. I just wanted them to come back and let us go so we could go home and get some sleep. I felt so disappointed and embarrassed even for not being able to read my own body.

The nurse finally came back and said, "Well you tested positive." I wasn't sure what that meant. But then she said, "That means you're staying, it was your water that broke, you are leaking amniotic fluid." It hadn't actually broke there was just a leak in it, which is why there wasn't a ton of water when I felt the "Gush". I couldn't believe it. I instantly felt more alert. So did Logan, he sat right up and looked shocked. Our baby was coming!

Logan had some things that he needed to print off at work and some stuff he needed to get together for an interview he was going to have on Thursday morning so he decided to go do all of that right then while it was still really early Labor (I was still at a 4, which I had been for almost two weeks now) and my contractions weren't changing that. After he left I didn't really know what to do. I decided to curl my hair to pass the time. Plus I wanted to look a little cuter this time around. With Autumn I looked like Sh*** after I had her and I hate looking at pictures from the night she was born if I am in them. Since I had time and couldn't fall asleep I decided why not get ready, right? 

After I curled my hair I walked around my room for a little bit then decided that I should try to sleep a little so I would have energy at the end. Around 5:00 in the morning Logan came back and he fell asleep on the couch as soon as he laid down. I was able to sleep a little too. Then around 6:00 the action started happening! A new nurse was on at 6:00 and she came in to check me. Her name was Tammy and I LOVED her! She was the best nurse ever! She checked my cervix to see how dilated I was and I was still at a dang 4. After she checked me my water broke for real. And let me tell you, I'm glad that did not happen on my bed at home. So much fluid. 

After my water broke the contractions really started going. They were so hard. With in an hour I was ready for an epidural. I was crying with every contraction. (Logan was still asleep, the little turd.) The anesthesiology came in right after I asked for one, so prompt! If anything could wake up Logan it would be that big curved needle just knowing that I was about to get my epidural made him dizzy. But he did stand up and come stand by me while I was getting it. He's such a sweety! 

Once that medication kicked in I was in heaven. I went right to sleep. Not a deep sleep but I was able to get some rest. An epidural is the weirdest sensation. I couldn't feel the pain but I knew I was having a contraction. And I could tell when they were really hard ones. Tammy had to go assist with a delivery and said she would be back in about an hour and would have another nurse check on me while she was gone. The other nurse came in and looked at the monitor once while she was gone but didn't check to see how dilated I was. I wasn't worried about it because with Autumn it took around 10 hours to get from a 4 to a 10. But after an hour I still hadn't been checked and I was feeling a lot of pressure. I felt like I should call a nurse in to check me, but then I thought I was being dumb. A nurse did come in finally and I asked her if she would. I was a at 10 and ready. I wished I would have called someone in earlier. Because my doctor was still at the Layton clinic doing her appointments. Only an hour ago I had only been at a 4 so she had no idea I was ready to push. I was so sad because I thought I was going to have to deliver with a different doctor and I wasn't way comfortable with that. They called Tammy right in. She checked me and called Dr. Deschamps right away. She told me not to worry that we had time still for the doctor to get there. She was so confident and made me feel calm. 

I still wasn't feeling any pain, just pressure so I was fine with waiting too.  After sleeping on my hair and the hour of painful contractions my hair didn't look too pretty so I decided to pull it up and put on a headband. I still had plenty of time so I put on some make up too. I was feeling good. Logan was making fun of me a little but the nurses said it made total sense. I mean come on, you look at these pictures forever. 

Dr. Deschamps came in and got ready and we started the pushing. It was a strange feeling at first to try to push because I couldn't feel my progress. But after a few pushes I felt more aware of what was going on and even though there was no pain I felt in-tune with my body. I was relaxed and in between contractions we were joking and laughing. Laughing, for real, while I was pushing my baby out. I'm telling you these ladies were AWESOME! I only pushed for about 25 minutes and he was out. It went so smooth. I didn't even have to get stitches (which has been so much better as far as recovery goes!). They did immediate skin to skin contact which I had originally thought would be a little gross but I loved it. Logan cut the cord and this time around blood didn't squirt everywhere (with Autumn it got all over him). 

I am so glad I decided to switch to a different doctor this pregnancy. I love Autumn and I am so glad that she is here and I would go through everything I went through with her again if it meant that I could have her, but this time was SO much easier. The atmosphere was so calm and relaxed. My first time was the opposite. I felt terrified, and panic the whole time. I was in so much pain. By the time I was ready to push I was in hysterics. I know that with the second one everyone says it's so much easier and your body knows what to do and such, but I really do feel that it was the people that were there with me and getting me through it made all the difference this time. 

Here are some pictures from that night/morning.

This was the night I went into Labor...ready to POP!

 



After they put the IV in. I hate that almost as much as the contractions

 

 

Logan holding our son for the first time

 



Me holding our son for the first time

 

 



Autumn meeting her new little brother. She loves him so much!

 

 

Handsome Dad, Handsome Boy

 

 



I look weird. But this is the only picture with the 3 of us :(

 





I love Miss Autumn's Huge Eyes. She is so beautiful.

 



Grandma and Grandpa Simmons meeting their new Grandson

 



Love these 3 so much

 



Grandma Joy so excited to meet our new little one

 

Meeting Grandma and Grandpa Cleveland

 



Nixon with Great Grandma Clawson. He loved her. He just slept in her arms forever, he was so cozy.

 

 



Nixon with Great Grandpa Clawson. He just stared at him. Grandpa is a pretty handsome guy.

 

 

First day at Home. We were so excited to come home and get out of that dang hospital!

 

 



Aunt Rachael and Uncle Brett came up to meet him but they didn't realize we delivered him up at McKay Dee Hospital in Ogden and they went to Davis hospital in Layton first. So they had to leave right after they got there to go get their kids. I felt so bad. But of course we got some cute pictures first!

We Love having this new addition and blessing to our family. He is so sweet. He has been so easy so far. Autumn loves him so much and wants to hold him constantly. She is very protective of him, whenever anyone holds him she makes sure to tell them that he is her brother. I hope they will love each other always.