From Grass to Greyson

Okay, okay... I haven't officially stopped eating grass yet but its on its way out, I promise! And I can't think of a better replacement for my addiction than my adorable, gift from God.. Greyson David. 

Who doesn't like to be right every once in a while?  I recently predicted that Greyson would be born on March 9 and I'd like to take a moment to boast that.... I was right.  I don't get many opportunities to say it so I'm just going to take this moment to say it again... hehe... I was right! :)

Greyson was born on Tuesday, March 9, 2010.

Since March 1st I was having regular, consistent, uncomfortable contractions.... but alas, they always went away. I even ended up at the hospital one night because I thought I was in early labor.... and ended up taking the walk of shame out of the labor & delivery department back to home sweet home. :) 

Every night for the next week we'd clean the whole house & get the kids clothes out for the next day in hopes that *this* would be the night I went into labor.  But, he made us wait for it.  

So, when Monday night came around and I was having regular, consistent, uncomfortable contractions I figured it was more of the same - but I still cleaned the whole house, caught up on the laundry and set out the kids clothes.  I crawled into bed around 1:00 am and fell fast asleep thinking about whether or night tonight would be the night.

When I woke up at 4:00 in the morning to a really hard, painful contraction I knew.  Normally, when contractions wake me up I time them and end up going back to sleep.  This time I immediately woke Johnny up. This one contraction was more than enough to let me know this was the real thing!  We did the standard - run a hot bath, start timing the contractions steps but after about 10 minutes there was no doubt in my mind that it was time to go. We called our Moms and started loading up.

I chose to use a midwife for this pregnancy and the closest midwife my insurance covers is in Oak Park, IL. The hospital they deliver at is about an hour away so we knew we were going to have a long, uncomfortable drive ahead of us. Luckily, because of the early morning time, we were able to take a more direct route (94) instead of the more indirect route we normally take to avoid traffic (294).  The shorter route combined with Johnny's crazy speeding we made the 60 minute trip in 35 minutes!  

My midwife and I agreed that she wouldn't come in to meet me there unless I called her to say things were getting "intense." Her plan was to have the Triage nurses check me in and call her and that she would head over to the hospital at that point.  

warning.  the story gets a little graphic at this point. :)

We arrived at the hospital at about 5:30 in the morning and they wheeled me up to the labor & delivery unit.  They checked me and let me know that I was a "6 and very very stretchy."  They called my midwife and told her to go ahead and come in and then set me up on a monitor to check my contractions and check the baby's heart rate. After about 5 minutes of being on the monitor my contractions were so bad I couldn't help but *go* to the bathroom. 

I went into the bathroom a "6 and very stretchy" and came out in transition. I remember looking at Johnny, with panic in my heart, saying "Hey babe? You know that part I get to when I say "I can't do this anymore?' Well, this is it. This is that point. This is the point that its really, really hard. Like, really hard." He just kind of smiled - like 'Yah, we've done this before.... guess it'll be a couple of hours and the baby will be here.' kind of smile... 

The nurse came in at this point and said she'd like to put in my heplock for my meds (I had Group B strep so they wanted me to get 2 rounds of antibiotics before the baby was born). I refused. I told her I didn't think there was time for "all that." She must've sensed that I was close because she said, "Okay, we'll wait until your midwife gets here to decide. How about we get you into a regular room to finish monitoring the baby." I agreed getting into a room was a good idea. She asked if I'd like a wheelchair but I refused. I was WAAAYY too uncomfortable to sit down in a wheelchair! I'd rather waddle to the room and have contractions on the way than sit down!  So, off Johnny went to transfer all of our stuff to the new room and off went the nurse and I to walk their slowly...

However, I took less than 5 steps out of the room and had to lean over a chair because the pain was so intense. The contractions were literally one on top of another and I was barely getting a break enough to take a few steps.  I tried to start walking again and had to lean against the wall because I literally felt Greyson coming out.  I alerted the nurse that "he was coming!!" and she got on the intercom and alerted the nurses to help "stat." 

Meanwhile, Johnny is in the room noticing all the nurses coming in, prepping, setting up, getting everything ready for delivery and he thought... "Wow, they're really getting ready early!" He dropped our stuff off in the corner and came back out into the hallway to help me walk the rest of the way.

Simultaneously, a nurse came up behind me with a wheel chair and said, "Michelle, please sit down in this wheelchair or you are going to have your baby in the hallway!"  Sitting down was SO not an option so I kind of fell back in the wheel chair with my lower back on the edge of the seat. 

It gets a bit more graphic at this point...

Because of the position of the baby my legs came up with me when I layed in the wheelchair... which meant I was in the public hallway, laying in a wheelchair with my legs open for everyone to see.... THANKFULLY, it was early in the morning on a night when nobody was having babies because anybody walking through the hallway would've gotten quite the show!

As Johnny walks out of the room this is what he sees: two nurses sprinting me down the hallway with my legs up in the wheelchair and all he can see is the baby's head crowning and about ready to come out.  He calls out, "The head is coming out!!" They run me into the room and almost up to the bed where a nurse was frantically putting on some gloves and reaches down to catch Greyson plummeting out of my body in the nick of time.  

It was mahem.  

Sheer chaos. 

I have seriously never experienced anything as wild and fast paced in all my life. 

The nurse who caught Greyson attempted to put him on the bed but was immediately stopped by the warning of another nurse: "Wait! He's still attached!" Luckily, at this point a doctor walked in and took control until my midwife arrived.  Under her direction they placed Greyson on my chest and took the steps to clamp and cut the umbilical cord. After a few moments they took Greyson to get weighed and measured and helped me move from the wheelchair to the bed. My midwife arrived at this point and everything seemed to slow down and go smoothly and as planned.

But, all I kept thinking was... "Wow. Its over! I just had a baby! Wow. That was crazy. Oh my gosh. I just had a baby in a wheelchair. Oh wow. I almost had him in the hallway."

Greyson was given back to me and nursed right away... and literally hasn't stopped since. :)  I have simply loved and enjoyed him so much. After Nicholas' first few days of life it makes me remember that staying up at night with my baby is a privilege, not a burden. Its a gift, not a chore. And I'm trying to savor it.

Special thanks to Johnny's mom who watched the 3 kids for most of the 2 days I was in the hospital. And thanks to my mom for staying with me the first few days after I came home from the hospital. Today was our first day on our own and while there have been a few crazy moments we're definitely both excited to have our family of four under the same roof and begin this next stage of our lives together.  

The proud parents.

The proud siblings.

The unproud sibling. :)



The six of us. Wow.



And the star of the show.

My little Grey.