Birth Story

Luke and I arrived at Mercy Medical Center at 8 a.m. on Sunday, June 19th. We were greeted by some wonderful nurses. I knew one of them! It was so nice to see a familiar face! They got me hooked up to the machines and realized that I was having contractions every 3 minutes. I had felt a few contractions before we left the house, but didn't feel any of the ones showing up on the monitor. We started Pitocin a little after 9. They weren't real aggressive with the Pitocin because were waiting for the anesthesiologist to give me an epidural. The first time they checked me I was dilated 2 cm. The week before I was 1 and 1/2 cm. I started feeling some of the contractions. The anesthesiologist finally made it. The epidural hurt worse than the ones I had in the past and I felt a more numbing on my right side than my left. But, it eased the contractions, so I was happy! They increased my Pitocin dosage and the contractions started coming fast and hard. They checked me again and I was only dilated to a 4. I was feeling a lot of pain, so the anesthesiologist increased the epidural and told me to push the button every 15 minutes. I did that for an hour. The contractions were about a minute apart and very intense. I could feel everything in my stomach, but couldn't feel my bottom or legs. The nurse checked me and said I was between a 5 and 6. The next hour was excruciating. I breathed through every contraction. We called the anesthesiologist again and he told me to continue to push the button every 15 minutes. My mom went and got the nurse because I was in so much pain. She decided to check me again. We were shocked when she said I was a 10! We were ready to push! Once they got my legs in the stirrups I said, "If we have this baby in the next 10 minutes he will be born at the same time Kimber was." He was born 3 minutes before! I pushed for about 7 minutes! I pushed thru two contractions. Kanyon James was born at 4:45 p.m. He was definitely my quickest delivery! I pushed for 34 minutes with Kinnison and 48 minutes with Kimber. I was so relieved when he came out screaming! We are so thankful that we had no complications! I had no tearing. Apparently all the epidural went to my right leg. I could move my left leg shortly after they removed the catheter, but couldn't move my right leg until sometime in the middle of the night. Luke had to walk me to the bathroom and help me stand up. It was still tingling the next day! We had to wait until Kanyon was 24 hours old before they would do the bloodwork and release us. Kinnison's T-Ball Party was at 7. We knew it would be a rush. Thank goodness my mom went to our house and got everything we needed. She brought it to the hospital so the kiddos could get ready there. We waited all day for the doctor to perform Kanyon's circumcision. She came in and told us there was a problem. Apparently Kanyon was larger than most newborn boys. They normally used a 1.2 or 1.3 tool to circumsize them, but she needed a 1.5 to do Kanyon. They had to have a larger tool brought over from the pediatric clinic! She said he was "well endowed". Luke had a hay day with this. We all had lots of laughs. This will be a great story for Kanyon to tell when he is older.

I am so thankful for Dr. Pickhardt and the staff at Mercy. We had a wonderful experience. They took terrific care of us while we were there.

I am SO thankful for my parents who watched the girls, took care of the dogs and brought us dinner. They brought us more food today! We are so lucky!

I am so grateful to have my wonderful husband who encouraged me and took care of me. He spent his Father's Day watching his son enter the world. Pretty amazing! He has been a huge help to me and Kanyon. The girls have been dying for some attention, so he took them fishing tonight. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful daddy for my children. And, I am so thankful that I don't have to worry about going back to work. I get to stay home with my children because Luke works hard to make it happen. He is such a blessing to us.

Last but not least I am so unbelievably thankful to God. I have three beautiful, sweet, smart, precious little miracles. I don't know why he chose me to be their mama, but he did. For that I will forever be grateful. I am truly blessed!