The Story of Seth

You would think that by your 5th child you would have some idea what to expect in a pregnancy. This baby and delivery decided not to stick to any pattern set by the other 4, though. The Journey to Seth was full of surprises.

Timeline of Seth

Early 2012: we learned that we were going to have a baby. My due date was August 29th.

First Trimester: Nausea, fatigue and all that fun stuff.

At 20 weeks:  we had an ultrasound and were told that our baby was a little girl.

At 28 weeks: I passed the glucose tolerance test. This was entirely unexpected since I have had high blood sugar and gestational diabetes issues with the last 3 kids.

August 2012 (first week): I develop higher than normal blood pressure and am put on bedrest. Two firsts here; one, I have never been on bedrest before, and two, I have never had problems with high blood pressure before. Luckily Matt was able to work from home to help out with the kids.

August  14: Matt and I celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary with a visit to the doctor and an ultrasound to check on the well-being of our little one. We learn that the baby is NOT a girl, but rather a little BOY. To say we were surprised would be an understatement. We then spent the evening packing up the box of pink girl stuff, and pulled out the box of blue. We also pull out the baby name books to try to figure out what to name him. (Romantic evening, I know...)

August 16th: Kids first day of school, which I missed because I was still on bedrest.

Friday, August 17th: I go to the office for a non stress test, since my blood pressure is still elevated. Baby was fine, but we confirm that I am contracting about every 6 minutes, although the contractions are not really hard yet. I was convinced that they would go away since I had been having non-eventful contractions for several weeks.

By about 6pm the contractions were still coming at a predictable 4-6 minutes apart, although they were not very strong. We decided to go to the hospital to be checked, to avoid a 2am dash to the hospital in case things got worse.  Even as we were driving to the hospital I was convinced that they were going to send me home. After all, it was still 11 days until my due date and ALL of the other kids were late, most over a week late. I had been induced with all of them.

After 2 hours of walking around the labor and delivery floor I had progressed from 3 cm dilated to 5 cm dilated, and was told that I was going to stay and have the baby that night. I was shocked. Although frequent, my contractions were pretty weak compared to my other labors, and it was so much earlier than I had anticipated. The doctor was convinced that I would have a quick delivery, since he was my 5th, and the others had mostly arrived quickly, once my labor was started. Again, this baby chose mot to follow my norm.

I'll be honest- I got a bit scared at this point because I really wasn't emotionally prepared to be in labor that night. Although I knew that women go into labor on their own all the time, and that technically having a baby early was possible, that had never been my experience. Even as the doctor was breaking my water to speed things along I was in a little bit (okay a whole lot) of denial, thinking to myself, "But this can't be. I am not in labor... this is just not how it works!"

With this mindset, when they offered me the epidural, I took it, even though I had never had one before. I thought that it might help calm my nerves.

I progressed quickly to a 7- and stayed there for many hours, stalled. About 6am I was about 9 cm and was told that soon I would have the urge to push. I didn't ever have the urge. At about 7:30 the nurse came in and told me that we needed to start pushing, whether I was having the urge to or not. I really don't think the nurse was expecting little Seth to be born so quickly. It only took 3 pushes and he was born- before the doctor could even come in the room.

August 18th: At 7:58am, on August 18th,  Seth was born. 9 lbs 5 oz. 21 inches, 11 days early.

Later that morning Seth made a trip to the NICU for high red blood cell count and the rest of my day was spent in bed, unable to sit up because of the severe head and neck pain and the vomiting. Matt went back and forth from my room and the nursery, taking pictures of Seth with his phone to bring back and show me.

Week of August 19-25th: I spent the next week trying to recover from complications from the spinal headache, still unable to stand or sit up. Seth was released from the NICU on Monday and was doing well.
We both returned home on Tuesday, hoping that I would improve at home.

My sister Janice arrived to help with the kids while I was trying to recover. 

By Thursday it was apparent that I was not improving and so I was admitted back into the hospital. Several procedures and tests and many many prayers later I began to get a little bit better.

By Friday evening I was able to sit up for short periods of time and returned home to the family. I improved a little bit each day, although I had residual migraines for about a week after returning home.
 

Through this delivery I have learned (once again) that things don't always go as you expect them to. I expected to have gestational diabetes again. I didn't. I was expecting a little girl. Turn out it was a boy. I expected to have to be induced like I was with all the others. I went into labor on my own. I was expecting to be overdue. I was 11 days early.  I have never had an epidural, or any complications after delivery. This time I did.

Through all these surprises I was humbled and blessed more than I could have imagined. My family was cared for, not only by my relatives, but by the generous members of our ward who called, prayed, dropped off meals, chauffeured our kids to and from school, and took Levi on playdates. We were truly blessed.

Although I would not care to repeat the experience, I am so completely in awe of the love and generosity and kindness of others. I know that my family was being watched over at this difficult time and I am so grateful.

Welcome to our family, Little Seth, may the rest of our time together be a little more "predictable". We love you!