Welcome, Greyson!

What a day. So here’s what happened: On February 1, I was feeling some pains and thought maybe they were “false labor pains” because they weren’t really consistent. I went to the doctor to make sure and she said that she didn’t think I was “in labor”. So…I went about my business, still having the pains, and went to the grocery store and everything, and then later that night they were getting worse and closer together, so I called the on call nurse for my doctor’s office and she told me to go to the hospital. I thought for sure I was going to be having a baby that night…it was so bad! Sawyer was already in bed, so we called my friend Angie to come hang out at our house while we went to the hospital. They gave me two doses of terbutaline to stop the contractions. Here’s what happens when they give you this shot – they watch your monitors for an hour to see if the contractions go away. The first dose did not work, which I thought should have been a red flag. The second dose worked until the last fifteen minutes, and a nurse came in and asked me if I was feeling any pains and I said “yes every now and then and more toward the end of the last hour” and she looked at the paper print out from the monitor and said she didn’t really see anything she was worried about, and the doctor said the same thing, so they sent me home. It was 1:30 am when we left the hospital on the morning of February 2nd. We came home, relieved Angie of her babysitting, and went to sleep. Less than three hours later, I ended up waking up to find a paper and pencil to start writing down times of these pains again! I was up for good by 8:00 and they were really really bad but here I am thinking, “It’s four weeks early, this must be false labor!” And then Sawyer woke up, so I went on like nothing was wrong, changed his diaper, fed him breakfast, played on the floor a little bit…trying to ignore everything. Pat’s aunt even called and offered to come up and help and I said NO – like an IDIOT – thinking I could lie down when Sawyer took his nap at 11 and try to make myself feel better. What ended up happening at 11:00 was: I called the doctor’s office and left a message for the nurse, but they hadn’t called me back so I called again and talked to the girl in the front office and she told me that she’d call the hospital so they’d be expecting me and to just go ahead and go. By now the pains are 4-5 minutes apart. I called Sarah, who lives 3 minutes away in our neighborhood and asked if she could take me to the hospital. Holy cow…I’m dumb. Oh and by the way – Pat’s an hour and a half away in Greenville doing a career fair for work. So I drive to Sarah’s house, have THREE contractions in the time it takes me to get Sawyer in the car, drive to her house and sit for a second while she put her son’s carseat (and her son) in the car. I had called my mom and told her what was going on and to start her 8 hour drive to Charlotte because there would for sure be a baby this time! So, Sarah has her 10 month old son and Sawyer in the backseat and she drops me off at the hospital. She takes the boys back to her house and Dennis and Trudy, Pat’s aunt and uncle, come up to get Sawyer to take care of him for the rest of the day. Pat called them and made those arrangements while I was calling the doctor and getting Sawyer ready to hang out at Sarah’s for I didn’t know how long (which involved carrying his 27 pound self up and down the stairs to change out of pajamas into a full blown outfit with shoes and everything…oh my gosh). Anyway – I walk into the hospital with my bag over my shoulder and barely able to breathe – must have been quite entertaining for the people in the lobby – and get checked in and wheeled back to “triage”, which is where I had spent the night before. The nurses who saw me said that I shouldn’t have been sent home the night before, I was already 8 cm, and ready to go up to the labor and delivery room. By this time, Pat is on his way back from Greenville, driving 79mph because they’re in a government vehicle which doesn’t allow you to drive over 80. Ha! Okay so all the nurses are feeling all sorry for me and holding my hand and rubbing my back and asking if anyone was coming to be with me, and I kept telling them that my husband was on his way. They were so so so so sweet. I got an epidural around 12:00 and Pat got there about half an hour later. Greyson was “occipital posterior” which is aka “sunny side up” which means he was facing the wrong way, so he took a little longer to show up than he should have, but whatever. He made it at 2:18pm, he was healthy (6lbs 1oz, 19.5in) and we are SO happy to have him here (and I am SO HAPPY to not be pregnant anymore)! He’s been SUCH an easy baby. I seriously can’t believe it; I’m just waiting for him to turn on me! Sawyer already knows that if we ask him where Greyson is, he actually points to him! He’s given him about 50 kisses and laughs every time Greyson sneezes. He still has some work to do on the whole “gentle” approach, but he tries. It’s so cute. I’m feeling really great and my mom has been here helping out A TON, so that makes all the difference in the world. I’m a little scared thinking about having them both by myself because I know she can’t stay forever. But like is a year too long? Pat’s been awesome, too. I can tell he totally feels like a pro this time around. So cute.

Thank you to EVERYONE who made that day go as smoothly as possible, especially for Sawyer. Angie, Sarah, Trudy, Dennis, and MOM – ya’ll are angels!