Welcome To The World, Madeline

November 18, 2021

It’s a G I R L! We are so thrilled that Madeline has joined our family. It all started on the eve of November 18th, 2021.

Brandon and I were both so exhausted from the day. Around 8:00 pm, he fell asleep with Eli in our room and I snuggled with Evelyn in her bed.

Around 11 pm, I woke up feeling a second wind. I came downstairs and cleaned up the kitchen from our Crown Burger dinner earlier that night. I prepared a pot of steel cut oats in the instant pot and set out bowls for breakfast.

I really wanted this baby to come soon. In fact, for the last 5 days I had been working hard to go into labor. My sister Kristin was in town and I really wanted her to do some birth photography. She was planning on leaving Sunday the 14th to drive back to Georgia.

We had a big family party on Friday night (the 12th) at my dad’s house. My sisters and I went on a walk around the neighborhood. I walked the curb. We stayed so late I ended up sleeping on the love seat in my dad’s family room. I woke up in the middle of the night to contractions. They lasted for a few hours, but then stopped. I went back to sleep.

The next day nothing happened while so much happened. Evelyn and Blake went to watch their cousins race while Oliver and I hung out at my dad’s house with Kristin. Brandon was busy working at home with Eli. He got so much done in the backyard. I came home for a bit and then we went back to my dad’s for dinner.

Sarah made spicy Indian food to try to induce me into labor. We took another walk on the curb and ate lots of pineapple.

Since I hadn’t had the baby yet, Kristin decided to extend her trip. She figured out the details and Blaine flew home while she planned to stay through Thanksgiving.

Monday and Tuesday were busy. Monday night I drove to the hospital to get my platelets tested. (My platelets from the previous week had dropped to 106, so my midwife suggested I get induced so I could for sure get an epidural. She recommended Wednesday, but I just wasn’t feeling ready by then (even though I was 🙂 Turns out my platelets were back to 160! Yay.) My friend Aubrey and her husband came over those nights to help me redo our laundry room. I also painted the trim before the railing was supposed to be installed. Meanwhile Kristin headed to Utah county to be with other cousins.

On Wednesday, we had contractors at our house and it just seemed chaotic. I took a nap, all to find out later that it was mayhem for a bit for Brandon as he was playing general contractor. He was feeling overwhelmed and stressed so he left to pick up dinner, which brings us back to falling asleep at 8 pm.

At 11 pm when I woke up, the house was silent and with my burst of energy, I came into the living room. The lights of the Christmas tree were glowing and I did some high knees and squats. I had a few contractions but nothing crazy.

I pulled out my scriptures and started to read and pray. I told Heavenly Father I really wanted to have this baby soon and that if possible, I could go into labor on my own.

I was feeling so uncomfortable. I still had a million things I wanted to get done before the baby came, but I also felt super limited in what I could do. Bending over was impossible and I just couldn’t do much. And I felt so much pressure- like this baby was going to come any second.

I didn’t want to have a Thanksgiving baby and also knew that any day after the 22nd and their birthday could be on Thanksgiving. We decided to get induced Sunday the 21st if I hadn’t had the baby yet, but since everyone else wanted to have their baby before Thanksgiving, the only openings were on Friday at 6:15 am. So at least by Friday morning we would have a baby, but I really didn’t want to be induced.

After I finished making a wood bead garland for my tree, I started reading and the contractions came. I did more high knees and squats and they kept coming. I rested on the couch for a while staring at the Christmas tree in between them. It was magical in a way.

At 1:58 am, they were starting to get more painful and I thought just maybe this was the real thing. I started tracking them on my phone. I called Kristin (who was in Highland) and told her I thought I might be going into labor, but I would keep her posted.

I kept tracking them. 8 minutes apart. 7 minutes apart. I called her back around 2:30 and told her she should plan to come up. She gathered her stuff and baby Stella (planning to leave her other kids behind) and started driving up.

I woke Brandon up at 3 am and said, “I think it’s Baby Time!” He got up and showered and I started curling my hair and packing our bags.

Still breathing contractions, I knew it was real. I was so giddy that my body was doing this on it’s own!

We called my neighbor Shalyce to come over, but she didn’t answer. Then we called Brandon’s mom, but she didn’t answer either. We finally got a hold of Shalyce and she came over to be with our children. I just love her. She gave me a big hug and off we went. (But after she took a picture of us on our porch because she knows me all too well.)

First stop…the stake center so Brandon could drop off a projector for a meeting that was happening that night.

Then we drove the back streets of Kaysville until we got to the freeway to Layton. I told him to run every red light since this would be his last chance to do so.

We pulled into the emergency room and got checked in. Earlier that day I had pre-registered over the phone for my induction on Friday. It was fairly quick and the nurse just laughed and said that usually happens when you schedule an induction and then baby decides to come on its own.

At 4 am, a nurse came down with a wheelchair to take me up to labor and delivery. I got changed into the super hot gown and got the IV and my blood tested to make sure my platelets were high enough for an epidural. I totally wanted one! I was a 5 at this point.

Kristin drove from Utah county and made it to capture this memory. I was so grateful it worked out for her to be there.

It took a while to get the results back and by the time the anesthesiologist came in I was both equally relieved and terrified. I HATE getting an epidural. It scares me so bad. I think Brandon had some claw marks from me clenching on to him. I blasted up David Archuleta’s Pat-A-Pan song over and over while they did it so I couldn’t hear anything.

Finally at 5:30, I got the epidural. That is the worst and best part of having a baby!

5:45 I was a 7. We all rested until 8:30.

They checked me again and I was an 8.5.

Around 9, Stacie Carter my midwife came in and said, “Let’s have a baby!” I was like, “now? Am I 10?” I was!

I started pushing on the next contraction. 3 contractions later, Miss Madeline was born at 9:16 am! Her shoulders were broad and hard to push through, but once they got her shoulders out, she came right out.

Brandon announced it was a girl (although he already knew since my midwife had slipped and said, “her shoulders are getting stuck.” I was too distracted to pick up on any hints. We were thrilled.

They immediately put her on my chest and I just felt so grateful and excited it was girl! I got to hold her for a few minutes and Brandon cut the cord.

She was pretty blue from lack of oxygen–nothing they were extremely worried about, but they did want to get her oxygen levels up. So they took her from me to the warming bed and put her on oxygen for about 15 minutes.