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So the story goes like this….

 

I went to my doctor’s appointment on Wednesday, April 25th.  While there, he said that I was dialated to a half (I talked him into rounding it up to a one) and was about 50% effaced.  At the end of the appointment, he said he would check with the hospital to see when they had availability if I wanted to be induced.  I was all for it, so I had an appointment to be there at midnight the following Sunday night.  Dr. Thein said he thought all would go well, and advised me to eat light!

 

Sunday night rolled around, and I ate a small dinner at about 3:00.  Micah and I hung out and played a little Dance Dance Revolution with Tristen, Calin and Skylar during the afternoon.  Afterward, I headed over to Bishop Lindahl’s to get a blessing that all would go well, and that the baby and I would be healthy.  My original thought was to stay up until I needed to go to the hospital, but at about 10:00, I was wiped.  I decided to sleep a bit, and at about 11:45, Micah came and woke me up (with the camcorder) to head over to the hospital.  In the meantime he had packed my bag and got everything in the car.  I could tell that he was pretty excited.

 

On our way, I realized that I was starving!  Micah stopped at In-N-Out for two cheeseburgers for himself, and I accidentaly had about half of one of them.  When we got to the hospital, I walked in and was immediately greeted by Carrie - the Nurse of the Year!  She was SO helpful and thorough, and really made up for my lack of birthing classes.  Woops - forgot to sign up for those!  She did some paperwork and covered what would be happening over the next hours.

 

When I got there, I was already having contractions about six minutes apart.  The nurse asked me on a scale of 1 - 10 how painful they were, and I said about a one.  (A five is equivalent to a really bad migraine headache.)  They then gave me a pill to thin my cervix, and afterward I was supposed to sleep until the morning.  Micah had a chair that turned into a bed and slept pretty well.  But when he woke up, he did tell me that his back was “about a 5″.  Somehow, he takes the whole “sympathy pregnancy” thing a little far!  I, on the other hand, had nurses coming in every thirty minutes to poke and prod me and move my baby’s heart rate monitor around….which made my night’s sleep pretty lousy.

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At about 6:30 in the morning, my contractions were getting pretty bad.  I would say about a 5+.  The nurse asked me about them, and I was pretty uncomfortable, but I told her they were manageable.  THEN……within ten minutes, my contractions turned into a 10+.  I was in some pretty intense pain!  I called the nurse and told her to page the epideral doctor ASAP!

I had my epidural soon after, and the rest of the day was a breeze!  My mom and sister Tristen showed up pretty quickly, alongside Diane - Micah’s mom.  By the time I delivered, I had my mom, Tristen, Calin, Skylar, and Megan and her four kids there.  Micah’s parents, grandparents, sister and her husband and aunt were also there.

 

At about 3:30 three nurses came rushing in and immediately moved me to my side.  They seemed pretty frantic, and apparently the baby’s heart rate had quickly fallen.  Apparently the cord was wraped around his neck. They had to do some fancy footwork to raise it again, and eventually did.  At about 4:00 Dr. Thein showed up and started to get the room ready for delivery.  I started pushing at about 4:15pm.  I had three contractions.  Between two and three I had a small upchuck session.  On contraction three, and at 4:23 pm on April 30th I delivered Scout Kei Denison! 

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He was perfect!  Because the cord was wrapped around his head, he was a bit blue.  They immediately put him on oxygen for a few minutes and then cleaned him up.  He screamed about three times, but other than that he just had his eyes wide open and was looking at everything.  Because the delivery was so quick, he didn’t have a cone head! 

 

It appears that he does have the much hoped for olive skin.  He has dark brown hair, and for the moment — blue eyes.  He is VERY calm and good, and is literally the most spoiled child ever.  I think I held him for about 20 minutes total the first day because EVERYONE wanted to hold him!

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After they moved me into the recovery room we had some fun visitors.  That night some of our friends stopped by.  Summer and Tacky Thacker, Mark and Tarah Hemeon, Nate and Megan Harris (with boys), Steve and Dana Donahoo (with kids), and the ONE AND ONLY……Gary Samuelian flew in from NYC to see my baby.  What a Best Friend!

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That night Tristen slept with me and was a saint!  She helped me do everything.  She is literally mother #2! I sent Micah home to get a good sleep, and thank goodness Tristen stepped up to the plate, because she helped me recover and the baby transition nicely.

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The following day a few more people stopped by.  Debra Bledsoe not only stopped by, but she brought me a huge adult-sized Barefoot Dreams blanket.  She said that I needed a gift that wasn’t for the baby.  Debra is always coming through on being the best!  Diane Nielson also stopped by with chocolate covered strawberries!  Micah’s friends Ryan and Craig also stopped by with his first football, and were darling with the baby!

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The next day, Micah packed all of our things up and we were headed home for a new era in our lives.  I got wheeled out and we put the baby in the car seat for his first ride ever! 

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My mom says that I had one of the easiest deliveries on record.  I don’t know that I totally agree, but it definitely wasn’t the horror story I have heard about.  Micah and I are thrilled to have this little addition, and can’t wait to see how his little personality develops!