Anistyn Quinn Brady

 Little did I know that this would be my last pregnancy photo

At 1:30am on March 7, 2013 I was awaken by some serious pains!  Mind you, although this was my 3rd baby I never had real contractions with Leila or Dexter until my water broke.  So when these pains started, continued, and got more persistent I began to wonder if I might actually be in labor.

I didn't want to wake Drew, so I thought I would just try to go back to sleep and/or time these pains if they continued.  For 2 hours I the pains got steady enough that I decided these were contractions.  Not wanting to wake Drew (and Leila who had snuck into our bed), I went into my closet and called the hospital.  I told the nurse I had been having contractions for the last couple hours and they have been about 4 minutes apart and lasting 45ish seconds.  The nurse told me that it was my call to wait it out or to come on  in.  (While I was on the phone with the nurse, Dexter decided it was time to wake up and come hang out with me too.  So I put him in bed with Drew and Leila.)  Since I wasn't due until March 24, the nurse thought that maybe I was dehydrated, she recommended I drink some water, walk around, lie down and see if they persist.  After another little while of doing that, the contractions kept on going.  I decided to wake Drew up and tell him that I thought I might be in labor.  His response was, "I don't know if you are, its too early."  I laughed at him and asked if he meant to early in the morning or too early from my due date...  We talked and went back and forth on what we should do.  I had him give me a blessing, called my mom and dad and we all thought that maybe it was time for me to go into the hospital just to have things checked.

By this point it was 4:30am and we didn't have any family in town to watch the kids.  (Like I said, this was all going down a lot sooner than we planned.)  My friend Keri offered to watch the kids if/when I went into labor so Drew and I tried to decide what we should do.  I had false alarms with both Leila and Dexter and I didn't want to trouble anyone unless I knew for sure that I was going to be having a baby.  So I made the executive decision (against my husband's will and the knowledge of others) to drive myself to the hospital.  I felt fine about it and the contractions weren't that bad that I couldn't do it.  I hopped in the Jeep and drove to the ER of Saint Rose Hospital.  (On the way over and walking into the hospital I did have a few contractions but I was a champ, breathed through them and got there in about 20 minutes.)

When I got to the maternity floor they took me into the triage room to monitor me before they would check me in to see if I was really in labor.  When she checked me I had gone from a 1 (checked at my last doctor visit) to a 3.  I informed her of how quickly my labors go, and she said they would monitor me for a while and see what happens.  Because I was only 37 weeks pregnant, the hospital could not intervene in any way.  The contractions were consistent, but they weren't lasting as long as the nurse wanted them too.  My dad kept telling me that with my history they would be dumb to send me home, and after another 30 minutes or so, the nurse checked me again and said, "I can call that a 4...let me call your doctor."  Thankfully my doctor said I was ok to stay and have a baby!

I called Drew, my mom and dad and told them the good news.  My sweet friend Keri drove to the house to get the kids from Drew, then he headed to the hospital to be with me.  My mom jumped in the car as soon as she could and drove down from Draper.

After getting all checked in, my doctor came and wanted to break my water.  I insisted they give me my epidural first because Dexter came so quickly after I got the epidural withhis delivery, I didn't want to miss my chance to have it.  The anesthesiologist was awesome!!  He gave me the epidural while I was sitting up instead of lying down (like I did with my other kids).  He was quick too!  I vaguely remember him telling me something about giving me a dose, and that there was a button for when I needed to boost it...but I didn't see or remember to use that button...which plays into the story later on.

After the epidural, my doctor came in and broke my water.  By now my contractions were going and going (I never even had to be put on Pitocin) and I kept on progressing.  Side note:  the bed I was in was awesome!  It actually sat me straight up sitting position, so that gravity could be used in my favor.  When I started to have that super pleasant feeling of "I want to push" pressure the nurse checked me and said it was time to have this baby.

Now I need to interject and say that when I was feeling this "pressure" it hurt a lot more than I remembered it hurting.  I told my nurse that as well.  But she never mentioned boosting my epidural and I didn't want to overdue the amount I had so that I would know when to push.  But little did I know that my epidural was on its way out of juice.  Totally my fault and I paid the price.

My doctor came in and said it was time to push so I did...and as I did, it began to hurt, A LOT!  The next few minutes of the birth to the end is not a proud moment for me...in fact I still think about it and get really embarrassed.  I literally became one of those screaming CRAZY women during this birth.  They would say, "ok K.D., PUSH!" Then I would push and yell, "OUCH, SHIT!  THIS REALLY HURTS!!  SHIT!  SHIT!!!  SHIT!!!!!!!" Then the contractions and pushing would stop, I looked at my nurse, doctor and Drew and say, "I'm so sorry!  I don't know why I'm screaming.  I'm so sorry!"  Then another contraction and more pushing commenced.  And more yelling and swears came out of my mouth.  At one point when I literally thought I couldn't do it-which pissed me off because I had done this before!-my sweet husband looked at me and said, "K.D., you're so close I can see her.  She's right there."  I wanted to punch him...right in the face.  But I didn't have time to cause it was time to push again.  After about 5 pushes/swear sessions and a BURNING I've never felt before-I felt a huge relief and heard a little cry.  At 9:49am my Anistyn Quinn came into this world.  She was all sticky and slimy and was one of the most beautiful little things I had ever seen!

I held my baby, cried, laughed and continued to apologize to everyone in the room for being so crazy and for the swears.  To which they were all very sweet and said there was no reason to apologize and that I did great!  (They were sweet...I was crazy.)

So to all you amazing women in the world who have their babies naturally without an epidural I say, you are awesome!  And a hell of a lot tougher than me, cause I will be sure to push that epidural button before I do that again!

My mom missed the delivery by about 2 hours.  And the 1st visitors we had were Leila and Dexter.  Which made me and them happy!  Dexter was funny, he wouldn't have anything to do with her that 1st day.  He wouldn't even acknowledge her presence.  But the next day he warmed up to her.  (He's still on the fence with her now that she's home and its been awhile.  Some days he loves his "Ba" other days she gets in his way of mommy/Dexter time.)  Leila on the other hand hasn't wanted to let Anistyn go.  She LOVES her baby sister and is always making sure that me, Drew and anyone else watching or holding the baby knows what they are doing.  I keep teasing her telling her that she survived having me as a mommy, so I think Anistyn will be ok too.

Now, I work on trying to figure out how to be a mommy of 3 kids!

 

 

 

 Our 1st family photo!