He's HERE!!!

Dax Made His Debut Bright And Early!

Birth Stats:


Name: Dax Archer
Date: December 3rd
Time: 5:59 AM
Weight: 4lbs 13oz
Length: 17"


Birth Story Background:
SO, as I was turning the corner on my 37th week of pregnancy and I had finally started to get my gear together, ever the planned procrastinator! I had come across my list of things to pack for the 'hospital bag' from Pierce's delivery & what I needed to go in Dax's diaper bag - you would think I'd never done this before!  And since it was inordinately warm weather Kaiden & Pierce and I went outside so I could clean out my car and install the baby carseat.  I mean better safe then sorry right?  This was Thursday Dec, 1st, I THOUGHT I had two weeks left! Thought being the operative word.

Then Friday came and Kaiden helped me to get everything I would need packed into Dax's diaper bag. He was being a very sweet & very helpful big brother.  He helped to put the gear in the bag, and he even picked out two different outfits & the blanket he wanted Dax to have at the hospital.  And although my car had been cleaned out & ready for the baby seat I hadn't yet installed it so up in Dax's room I had his packed diaper bag, his baby seat, the large mirror & MY hospital bag all grouped together and ready to go. . . . IF ONLY I'd known I'd be picking them up a few hours later to go to labor & delivery. . .  Oh well guess there is something to be said for Mother's intuition because I could NOT get anything else done Friday morning until those bags were packed and ready to go!!

True OR False - Labor, That Is
SO Dave who had been working from home all week closed up shop around 4:30 on Friday and the boys had been asking to get outside and go for a walk.  So we put Pierce in the jog stroller - he's so much easier to handle around traffic when there is a stroller - he doesn't even have to be strapped in, he'll just hop in and ride, then when we get to the 'safer streets', not like we live in the 'hood or anything, but the roads are pretty constant with cars so we go to a quieter street to let him get down and walk.  Anyway off we went, it's a pretty flat mile or so walk and I was pushing the stroller so I had something to brace myself on.  We got down the road and then the boys decided they wanted to get back to the house so they could get a juice box and play with Daddy outside before the sun went down.  So we turned back and headed home and that is when the first contractions hit.  Honestly when you're 'that pregnant' with your third Braxton Hicks contractions are a pretty common occurrence, so I didn't think much of it. ~~ And let me just say, when I went to my 37 week appointment on Tuesday I had been having contractions for like 3 hours and I told my doc & she said, "Oh it's probably just BH, you're pregnant with your 3rd and it is VERY unlikely for women to deliver early, especially when you've never labored before.  But don't worry, IF they are REAL contractions 'you'll know', um, gee thanks!~~ So, I just told Dave & the boys I'd catch up in a minute and stood there to let my contraction run it's course, didn't want to look like a wimp or the woman who cried LABOR!  Like I said those happen towards the end so I wasn't worried when I had a few more on the way home or just after we got back.

After our outside time was up we headed in to start dinner, and since it was a Friday we were gonna do more like a 'happy hour' dinner - you know several different little appetizers & Dave got to enjoy a drink!  So as I was making the quesadillas I realized that I was having another contraction and that since it was almost two hours after the first one started I should try to 'pay attention' to what was happening & when.
Dinner was done & Dave ran the boys up to take a quick bath since it was the night of the new Phineas & Ferb Christmas Special - we are all Phin & Ferb fans around here!  But I hadn't eaten much so I sat at the table feeling 'off' is the best way to put it.  So I got a HUGE cup of water and went to lay on my left side on the couch.  Dave & the boys played & watched the show, and I had my iphone in my hand so I could document each time my contractions hit.  This was around 7:30ish

Here's My Note From My Phone:
Noticed contractions while on walk, had four or five before I began timing them.

7:23
7:35
7:52
8:11
8:32
8:52
9:12
9:25
9:34
9:45
9:57
10:11
10:28
10:40
** Fell asleep **
11:45
12:00
12:22
12:40
12:56
1:09
1:21
1:47
1:55
2:19
2:36

Yeah so that is how I spent my Friday night.  I guess it was around the 9:00 hour, so I had technically been having contractions for four or five hours, that the contractions began to get painful, to the point where I was pretending like I knew what I was doing, and I was doing 'the breathing techniques'.  Of course my dumbass NEVER went to a single child prep class, I mean I STILL feel like that isn't for me - I get the logistics a large headed baby is coming out a much smaller hole, there will be pain & someone will be telling me to both push and when to and not to breath - so um, yeah I NEVER went. AND from my episode on Tuesday with the first round of contractions and the doc & nurses telling me 'when they become real, you'll know' - which is about the same as when they say you have your 'ah-ha' moment with your wedding dress, which LUCKILY I did have that moment so I figures since it worked before, it would again. . . . well needless to say after drinking a second 48 oz of water and resting legs up on the couch and then moving to my bed and the contractions had neither slowed down or gotten less intense I guess I fell asleep. Contractions (and worrying) are EXHAUSTING!  Which at the time, made me think - YUP here I go again getting all excited for nothing, it was just false labor again, but then as I was sleeping, I noticed I felt restless and uncomfortable and even anxious, if that's even possible to feel while sleeping and when I woke up enough to know what was going on I realized I was having yet another contraction! Which would be when my above list resumed.

Around 1:00 am I put a call in to my practices on call line and the midwife who called back said to get my things together and head down to the hospital.  And although Dave had fallen asleep, which at the time I had encouraged because I really wasn't sure I knew what was going to be happening, when he heard me talking on the phone he came into the bathroom to see what was going on.  I mean is there anything worse than a woman saying "this is it" and it being indigestion or just braxton hicks, so I was trying to hang in like a trooper.  But after getting the 'go-ahead' from the midwife I made the call to Grammy, who I had forewarned earlier in the evening with a text that I was having contractions, and Dave said "do I have time to take a shower" - YES, this is the same thing he did when my water broke with Kaiden, but I was like "yeah, go ahead, we have to wait for Mom to get here & I've already been having contractions for hours so I'm sure a few minutes more won't be an issue!"
Just as we were finishing loading up the car a sleepy but excited Grammy made it to the house, I told her to hurry & jump in bed to try and get some sleep before the boys woke up, but she said she probably wouldn't be getting much sleep cause she would be waiting to hear what was going on with me. . . Dave and I did the double check that we had all we needed and then we were off!

Labor & Delivery
I have to admit that as I hugged my Mom good bye and she said "Good Luck" I half thought, she is gonna KILL ME, when we return to the house in a few hours empty handed because I had jumped the gun with thinking these contractions were more than they were.  So in a weird and some what sadistic way, each painful contraction I had while in route to the hospital made me feel more and more confident that I wasn't completely off base for going in to get checked!

We made great time down to Northside, after what we went through with Pierce we wanted to make sure we were back in the baby factory - I LOVE NORTHSIDE!!!  We got a parking spot right up front, apparently middle of the night is a great time for convenience and special treatment - good to know, since apparently my babies like to come in the 37th week in the wee hours of morning!!  And of course since I hadn't quite finished my Pre-Registration yet, I mean I still had almost 3 weeks, we had to make a stop at the front desk and fill out a few forms, but again we were the ONLY ones there so it didn't take any time at all before we were given our bracelets and instructions to head to the High Risk L&D room - apparently because I was a 3-pete c-section momma that deems me HR - who knew?!
After making our way through a virtual maze of turns, hallways and corridors, only stopping or slowing twice for contractions, we made it to our designated room & I got to get in that AWESOME hospital gown & hooked up to the two monitors 

One of the belt monitors watches the contractions, and the other watches the baby's heart rate.  SO the good news I now had medical back up that I was in fact having 'real' contractions & joy of ALL JOYS, I was getting to hear my sweet baby's heart beat - cause I have to admit I wasn't feeling too much from him cause he did NOT like the contractions.  And as luck would have it, that is exactly what the belt monitors told us, after a few hours of watching the screen they decided that they did NOT like the pattern of Dax's heart rate decelerating with each peak of my contraction, and although my water hadn't broken nor was I 'progressing' yet in labor the Doc decided it was best for everyone involved if we went ahead and delivered Dax.

On A Tight Schedule
Well as I've said before so much of pregnancy is 'hurry up & wait' and being in the HR-L&D room was no different.  In fact, at first, the nurse told us ~after doing an internal - which is NO FUN~ that since I wasn't progressing there was a good chance that they would just monitor me a few more hours and send me home.  But then when they decided that it was GO TIME, it was like 4:45AM and they said "We have you scheduled for a 5:30 delivery" - oh goodness that is FAST!!  So of course at this point they were flying through all the things they had to do to get me 'prepped' for delivery: the IV - which I MUST remember to tell them NOT to even bother with my left wrist - it ALWAYS blows, this time was no different, and the anesthesiologist was called to administer the epidural and at this point the nurse asks me if I am OK and do I need anything. . . . . WELL, actually I need to go to the bathroom I respond - she says 'oh, don't worry we will be placing a catheter once you get your epidural' I was like, 'yeah but, um, that isn't the kind of 'bathroom thing' I need to take  care of'.  Being the doll of a nurse she was, truly she was great, she says 'oh, I'm sure it's just nerves, it will pass, take a few deep breaths' . . . . . Me on the other hand, I'm trying to think of a more delicate way to put the line from Fat Bastard (in Austin Powers) "I've got a wee turtle head poking out" cause I think this probably won't sound as funny as I think it will - so I decide to go with the truth, I explain that I had been put on 500mg of Amoxicillin earlier in the week for a sinus infection and that the side effect was a mass exodus of fecal waste from my posterior - see that sounds better right!?  She humors me and says "OK, go ahead and see if you can go while we finish up getting things ready in here, we have some forms to finish filling out. . ."  So thinking I'm heading down the hall or something to find a communal toilet, she says "Oh no, it's right here"  Now mind you, we are in a 12' X 12' room with 3 sets of dividing curtains - luckily it was a 'private' room in that Dave & I were the only patients in there, but with two nurses, an anesthesiologist and doctors popping in and out, that damn curtain didn't make it feel all that 'private'.

BUT like they say 'when you gotta go, well you GOTTA GO!!!'  So I walk all 5 steps to the toilet area, pull the curtain - which does NOT muffle either sounds OR smells - and handle my business.  Now I'm not one to get embarrassed, and luckily I wasn't really put off by these circumstances I mean these nurses have seen, heard & smelled it ALL, but I still thought I was being funny by saying things like "Please disregard all sounds and smells coming from behind the curtain" - and after a few minutes I felt MUCH better and was ready to get on with the show.

Unfortunately my little 'unscheduled deposit' put a kink in the timeline so everyone was now moving in hyper speed, or at least that's how it felt to me, the 'man' showed up with my drugs, which I have to admit the epidural is my LEAST favorite part, but he did a GREAT job, I had NO pain and was able to focus on not moving even during contractions, which I was a little freaked out about, and I swear in the blink of an eye I was being hefted onto that shiny operating room table staring at the bright lights of the what I know as 'the delivery room' and Dave was brought in and seated by my head & the procedure was started.

The Sweetest Sound
The procedure went well, it's still not 'fun' laying strapped down to a table while they cut you open and remove your innards and your baby but when they say 'he's out' 'it's a boy' and 'Happy Birthday Dax' I can't help but get emotional and tear up.  Dave and the doctors do a good job keeping me updated on what's happening, Dave would go on the other side of that curtain and help if they would let him.  He is completely fascinated by it, and sometimes I don't mind him standing up and looking and sometimes I want him stuck behind the blue curtain like I am!  Either way it didn't seem to take anytime at all before Dax was out & they were showing me my little man before the whipped him off to do all the new baby stuff.  He was a very calm newborn, he only made a few squeals and cries and I got to say Hi then him, Dave & the nurses headed off while I got sewn up.

Welcome to the World Sweet Baby Dax!!