Grayson Kirk Hunsaker's Birth Story

I was terrible at blogging this pregnancy. I thought about it A LOT just never got around to doing it. It was emotional, terrifying and soooo exciting for me. I was not going to believe he was a perfect healthy baby until I held him in my arms and checked every single finger and toe.

This is a long version of Grayson's birth story with a lot of detail for my memory. 

35 weeks- Dr. Bean- I didn't get to see him for as many appointments during this pregnancy as I would have liked but all the doctors were very sensitive to our situation. At this appointment they let me schedule my induction. I couldn't decide when to do it because Dr. Bean was not working in the hospital until I was 39 weeks 5 days and he didn't think I would make it that far. I decided to do the Monday after Thanksgiving so the baby's birthday would never be on actual Thanksgiving.  Dr. Bean said he would be in the office that day and would come over and deliver our baby for us if he was free. He delivered Olivia and I feel like we have a special connection with him.

36 weeks- almost 2 cm  (Dr. Lamerauex)

37 weeks-  between 1-2 cm (Dr. Aagard) 
I haven't always liked Dr. Aagard in the past. It wasn't anything too specific but I didn't like his bedside manner in the past. At this appointment I really liked him. I could have been induced by him on Friday, November 25 but had previously decided not to but after this appointment I wished I would have just scheduled with him. I was having second thoughts about being induced at all. I had assumed that all doctors gave you the option to be induced at 39 weeks with your second (+) child but after talking to cousins and my aunt who live out of state, I learned this isn't the case. I just wanted to make sure I was doing what was best for our baby. I asked Dr. Aagard if it was safe and what his thoughts were on being induced early. He said if it isn't your first child, you are dilating and something else I can't remember then it has actually been shown in studies to be safer. (because the baby is less likely to aspirate meconium.)

38 weeks- between 1-2 cm- stripped my membranes (Dr. Melendez) This didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would. Maybe I should have told him to do it twice for good measure. I was really hoping this would do the trick and put me into labor but no such luck. By this point I was getting super swollen. The doctors told me there is really nothing I could do and that it gets worse with each pregnancy. 

39- no appt because it was the day after Thanksgiving and the OBs office was closed

 Tuesday, November 24- last day of work until after baby

Wednesday-Sunday seemed to be the longest days of my life. We were soooo anxious to meet our little guy and I was so sure that he would come early like Bryce did. Every single day I kept thinking today could be the day. Luckily there were holidays and shopping to keep me occupied for part of the time.

Thursday we hosted Russ' parents and grandparents for Thanksgiving since we couldn't travel to New Mexico this year. I went to target that night to get a gift for my mom for Christmas on the black Friday sale. The truth is my body felt pretty good except the swelling and exhaustion.

Friday morning Lauren and I got up at 430 am to be at Cabela's at 5 am because I wanted surprise Russ with a gun for Christmas. Then we went to the mall in SLC. I was hoping that would put me into labor but no luck.

Saturday- Russ took me and Bryce to breakfast at Kneaders and sat around the rest of the day trying to pass the time.

Sunday, November 29- hospital called to tell me I was on call and they would call me between 6-9 am the next day to come in for my induction. They said I would have 30 minutes to get there. I had no idea what that meant. Did they have a spot for me or not?

MONDAY, November 30!

I got up at 5 am to shower and make sure I had everything ready for the hospital. Once I was ready I laid back down in bed and stared at my phone waiting for it to ring. My family kept texting me to see if I had heard from the hospital but I hadn't. My poor mom was so sad because she couldn't come until Wednesday. 9 am I called labor and delivery to see what was going on. The girl said they had a lot of people to call in still and if I didn't hear back by 12 pm to call again. I was so disappointed because she didn't really give me any more information so I was worried that meant I wouldn't be going in at all that day. I called again at 11 am and she said still no room for me. After a few questions she did say that most of the early morning inductions should be moving to mother baby soon and they do not have a cut off time for starting inductions so I would get in today. She told me to call back in a few hours again. We decided to go eat lunch at Cravings (a delicious grilled cheese place). I remembered telling Russ that I hope I didn't see that lunch again later because I vomited while in labor with Bryce. That killed some time and then I came home and swept and mopped the floor. 2 pm rolled around and I wanted to call but didn't because I was afraid she'd say the same old thing, to call back in a few hours. Finally, I just did and she said hold on and then said can you be here in 30 minutes?! I said sure and hung up. Russ laughed at me because he said I acted so nonchalant about it even though I was dying! Luckily Lauren works close by and is the most willing-to-help person ever, so she came and took Bryce for us. As we drove to the hospital we prayed together for a healthy baby, a safe and speedy delivery and thanked our Heavenly Father for this special experience we were about to have. We were so excited driving to the hospital. Russ did a video, just like he did on the way to deliver Bryce. You can see how swollen I was at this point.

We got back to the room changed and filled out all the paperwork. She said Dr. Melendez is on today but it says in your chart Dr. Bean will be coming over to deliver you. I was so impressed that he made sure that was put on my paperwork. She put the belly straps on to check for baby's heart rate and contractions. I was surprised when she told me that I was having contractions every 5 minutes before they had started "inducing" labor (3 pm). She said that labor after your first goes about half as fast as the first. (Now when I say second delivery I am not discounting Olivia's life or birth, but hers was not a full term birth so it isn't comparable to parts of this delivery or birth. The nurses knew about her and her delivery.)Bryce's labor was almost 12 hours so the thought of meeting out baby in 6 hours was very exciting! The nurse also said that I wouldn't really have to push since it was not my first delivery. She got a call and left for a few minutes. When she came back she said that was Dr. Bean and he was so sorry but he wouldn't be able to come that night to deliver me because he had another obligation. She said he felt terrible. I was so shocked that he went out of his way to call and remembered even. It had been almost a month since I talked to him about it. I knew that it wasn't a for sure thing anyway but he never ceases to impress me with his kindness and thoughtfulness. 3:10- 3 cm and contractions every 5 1/2 minutes. 3:30- pitocin started. At this point I start to feel the contractions but they aren't painful. I requested my epidural because I think if you're going to get one anyway might as well get it right away. The nurse also said that it does not slow down labor because they are controlling it with the pitocin now. The nurse anesthetist had 2 more epidurals to start before he came to my room. Dr. Melendez came in to say hi and asked if it was getting a "happy-dural". When I told him yes he said he would come back after I got it to break my water. At about 4 pm the nurse anesthetist came in to give me my epidural. He was making small talk with Russ, the nurse and I. She was saying how good of a nurse anesthetist he was and she would let him do one on her or her daughter. Russ is standing in front of me holding my hands and Rick (the nurse anesthetist) inserts it the first time. He instructed me to let him know if I felt it on the right, left or center and I felt it on the right. He took it out and did it again. This time I felt it on the right again and had an electrical shock go down the right side of my body. He did it a third time and I felt it on the left. He took it out again and on the 4th try it felt like it was right in the center. He gave me a test dose to make sure it is placed in the correct location. At this point I am freaking out inside and to be honest on the outside too. I was shaking and crying a little bit with my head down.  I hate when I give someone a shot in the mouth and they flip out so I was trying to play it cool, not sure how well that worked out. I was squeezing Russ' and the nurse's hands plus shaking. I wasn't saying anything really but I was so afraid. Every time I have had an epidural I always worry that something could go wrong and I'd be paralyzed. Slim chance, I know but it still scares me. Russ is very sensitive to blood, needles, etc so he started feeling light headed. The nurse walks him behind me to the couch to have him sit down. As all of this was happening Rick is asking me if I heard ringing in my ears or if I felt light headed. I did. I felt like I was going to pass out. It sounded like everyone was far away and I was in a tunnel. Once he knew I was not feeling right he took it out. He explained that the test dose they give is to make sure it isn't in a blood vessel and if it is the stuff they put in creates a fight or flight type of response. I was even more scared because I felt so strange, Russ was gone and I seriously thought that I might not actually get the epidural. I thought I can't have him put it in AGAIN and I will just have to give birth without one. I was so happy that Lauren walked in the door at that very moment. The nurse told her go and get juice. It was for Russ because he was about to pass out still. He said he looked at my back and it was completely covered in blood from where Rick was inserting the needle over and over. Lauren came back with the juice and came over to hold my hands. She stayed with me while I shook and cried and Rick inserted the epidural for the 5th time. This time it was right on. Russ got it together and came over to talk to us. He asked Rick what would have happened if the put in the full dose while it was in the blood vessel. Rick said it would be very bad. After a little more asking he told us that it would basically stop your heart and you would die without some serious medical intervention. This stressed me out even more. Rick leaves and the nurse continues to make sure my blood pressure doesn't go too low and I start to feel a little light headed again. The epidural is working great on the left side so they propped me up to get the right side a little more numb. I felt stupid asking but when I started to feel light headed again I asked the nurse if I was past the point where I could die from the epidural. She said that I would be fine. It sounds comical now but I was truly scared. 5 pm- dilated to 3 cm still and so they turned up the Pitocin.The doctor still hadn't broke my water and my blood pressure was still a little bit lower than it should be from the epidural incident. 6:20 Dr. Melendez still hadn't come in to break my water. I was super anxious because I knew once that happened things would progress really quickly. I was still feeling a little light headed occasionally but I started to feel better. Lauren stayed with us the whole time talking and watching TV. At some point her and Russ went down to the cafeteria and got some dinner. I told them I wouldn't mind if they brought it up and ate in the room although I couldn't eat. The nurses kept me filled with juice and popsicles. Once they brought their food up I decided I shouldn't have had them bring it up because it looked so good.7 pm- dilated to 4 cm and Dr. Melendez came in and broke my water. He is really nice and cracks jokes a lot. He said well from here on out you will be wet and he was right. Every time I moved or laughed fluid would leak out. Russ or I asked how he breaks the water and he explained that he uses a hook. He stick it up and nicks the bag of water and it breaks. I was curious because with Bryce it broke all on its own and with Olivia they didn't break it. At this point my left leg was super numb and immobile while the right was numb but I could move it. 8 pm- feeling very nauseous. The nurse was supposed to come back and check dilation at 8 so I didn't push the call button for anti-nausea medication but I should have known better because I vomited with Bryce's and Olivia's labors. 8:30-dilated to 5.5 cm. When she check she said she could feel a space so that mean that he was face up but there was still time for him to turn. She went to get the medicine but as she walked in the door I was vomiting. I don't know if it was because I was laying back slightly but I couldn't breath during. It was pretty violent but apparently during transition a lot of women get nauseous. The good news is I didn't see that grilled cheese again. I finally got the medicine and started to feel better. Tanner watched Bryce for us while Lauren was at the hospital. They couldn't keep him overnight because Lauren and Tanner both had to leave their house before 6 am for meetings at work. Nicole and Tyler were nice enough to keep him over night for us. At 8:30-9 pm Tanner met up with them and they took him home with them. Tanner had to come to the hospital to pick up Lauren and he wanted to be there to see the baby. I felt bad because I didn't want Bryce to be there so late but I didn't know if Nicole or Tyler had planned to come over right away when he was born. She said she was fine and they would come visit the next day.  Russ' parents were on their way from Santaquin around 9 pm. 9 :20 pm the nurse came in and said the monitors were showing signs that I might be getting close. She checked me and I was a 9.5-10 cm!!!! So in 50 minutes I went from a 5.5 cm- 10 cm! It was so strange because right after she checked I stared to feel lots of pressure and knew he'd be here so soon.

I was so excited and couldn't believe it was time! They had me lay on my left side and put a huge peanut shaped ball between my legs to get him to turn. He was posterior and somehow this turns a baby.

You can kind of see that huge ball in this photo

 The nurse paged Dr. Melendez at 9:30. My friend Audrey came to take pictures and got there at about this same time. Russ set up the gopro (video camera) behind the bed and recorded the whole thing. It was in the perfect place to capture everything. It was kind of far away but you can hear and see everything. I am so happy he did. Dr. Melendez came in the room at 9:54 pm. This was it! We were about to meet our little guy. I pushed for about 3 sets of 3.

 Dr. Melendez was cracking jokes the entire time. Russ mentioned that he really liked him as a doctor. After his head came out he told me to stop pushing and unwrapped the chord from his neck. It was only wrapped around one time. Then he was here at 10:02 pm!

 

8 lbs 10 oz and 18.5 inches long.

 

Russ cut the cord and then they laid him on me for a few minutes.

 

 I was so happy, relieved and proud of my sweet boy. Happy isn't a strong enough word for the joy I felt in those moments. The labor and delivery went as smooth as I could have asked for. Despite the epidural fun, it went very well. Dare I say easy. Maybe I was just so happy to have the baby I didn't care.  The nurse was saying how big he was and I told them Bryce was pretty close to that at 7 lbs 11 oz. What was I thinking, 1 lb on a baby is a lot! Dr. Melendez delivered the placenta and gave me one stitch (No episiotomy, just  slight tear. ) while they checked Grayson out. They suctioned him out and then laid him on my chest. This was the best. They wanted me to do skin to skin for an hour then feed him. I loved this so much. My precious baby that we agonized over in so many ways was finally here. No more waiting for a healthy baby to come live with us. This was our miracle and I felt so blessed. It is so amazing how much we love our babies after knowing them for seconds. Grayson had some trouble breathing due to amniotic fluid in his lungs. While Dr. Melendez was still in there I was holding Grayson and kind of saying shhh, shhh even though he wasn't crying but he said this is the one time you want them to cry. Grayson was not crying and kind of choking so the nurses decided to take him down to Mother/Baby and do a deep suction on him at 10:30 pm. Russ followed the nurses with him down stairs. Surprisingly I wasn't that worried about him. I knew that he would be okay. I say surprisingly because I am the most worried, stressed out person. We had said so many prayers and I know that in this moment I was being comforted. Tanner, Lauren, Kim and Kirk came in after they saw Russ go by with the baby. I love to see how excited they are. They all loved him so much but they had only seen him for a few seconds. He was gone maybe 10-15 minutes and then Grayson was back snuggling with me. The family stayed for a little bit while Audrey took pictures. Kim and Kirk stayed past midnight. We told Russ' parents while there were there that we decided to name Grayson after Russ' dad. We would use his name as Grayson's middle name. Family names are very important to me and we were proud to honor Russ' dad. I don't care that I have a triple chin or major eye wrinkles in these photos because those wrinkles are from my huge smiles. And the chin well, I was huge and it was worth it.

 At about an hour I decided I should probably try to nurse him and he latched on great. Bryce and I didn't make a good nursing team so I was really hoping that it would go better with Grayson and we were off to a great start. It was probably almost midnight and the nurses hadn't returned to clean me up and take me down to Mother Baby so I called and one came. Later we found out that there was an emergency in another room. Heather, from angel watch, commented on our photo she was at the hospital the same night we delivered which means someone else sent an angel back to Heaven while we were welcoming our sweet baby. I am glad that we didn't learn this until later because I was so enjoying the peace and joy of Grayson in that moment. I think it would have sent back the flood of emotions that I wasn't ready to experience in that moment. We went down stairs at about 12:30 am and Russ' parents came down for a few minutes waiting to see him get a bath. They told us they wouldn't give him a bath until he had been nursed successfully twice. The had just implemented a new protocol where they don't want you to take the baby out of the room at all. I wasn't super excited about this because it was so late by then and I was so tired. I wanted him to have a bath before we went to sleep for the night. The nurse and her aide came in and went over a bunch of stuff for what seemed like forever. Finally, the aides from the nursery came in to give him his Vitamin K shot and hepatitis shot. There was a bit of a debate because they were supposed to do one of them upstairs and they hadn't so they had to call them and work it out. No one really seemed too sure of who was supposed to do what because of the protocol changes. I asked them if they would give Grayson his bath and they said yes! They said they usually do it in a tub in the room or they could take him to the nursery and do it. I asked what was easier for them and they said the nursery. Plus I thought he might get a better bath in there. Russ went down with them and watched his first bath. He took a video so I wouldn't miss it.

 

 

Look how mellow this kid is. He is the calmest baby ever. Reminds me of his daddy.

While they were gone I ate a sandwich. I was starving. I was so anxious to see his hair color when he came back. We couldn't really tell the color though all the vernix but it looked red. When they brought him back It was after 2 am. Russ and I decided his hair was strawberry blonde.

He was cute before his bath but his skin and hair were so soft once he was born. I just kept thinking to myself, how can I keep loving him more. When everything was settled and we could finally go to sleep it was after 3:30 am. We were all exhausted. Russ stayed with me and slept on the pull out couch. Grayson slept in our room but I had to call the nurses in several times because he kept spitting up the amniotic fluid and would choke on it a little bit. Bryce did the same thing when he was born so I had him sleep in the nursery so I could sleep and not worry. I didn't really have the option this time. We woke up at about 5:30 am for the day and stayed up. Russ went home to get some sleep and pick up Bryce from Nicole. Nicole said Bryce was really worried about me and was kind of apprehensive. This makes me so sad and happy he loves me that much. Dr. Bean came in to check on me the next morning. He is the sweetest man. He sat on the bed next to me and said "I am just so happy you finally have your baby." He apologized again that he couldn't come and deliver Grayson. The fact that he cared enough to call and come over both mornings to do my checks when I know he wasn't the on call doctor Tuesday means so much to me.

Tuesday- Hospital day
I was so exhausted all day. The pediatrician came to check Grayson out and said he was perfectly healthy. I sighed with relief again. There is always still a lingering thought that something could be wrong. His bilirubin was a little high so it would have to be checked again. I took a shower and Audrey came over to take pictures of Bryce meeting Grayson. Russ' mom and Grandparents came by and saw Grayson then Russ and Bryce showed up. Bryce wasn't too sure about meeting Grayson but he was super excited to get the present Grayson brought him from Heaven. It was a... BYU football mini helmet. Bryce loved it and Grayson. Audrey took a few photos and then Russ took Bryce to school.

 

 

 

While they were gone Russ' sister Kristin came to visit.

 

Then Stacy and Phebe (girls I work with came to visit during their lunch break. This was around noon and I was so out of it by then because I was so tired. My friend Katie came by and brought some delicious Kneaders bread. After that Nicole and Nixon came to meet baby Grayson. She brought flowers and a Spider-man balloon for Bryce.

 

 

Russ picked Tanner up at the train station and they all came back. Everyone left around 5ish and Tanner took Bryce so Russ could stay at the hospital a little longer. Russ stayed and watched TV and held Grayson for a while then went home around 9 pm. My Mom, Nana, and Papa got to my house around midnight that night.

One thing that surprised me were the contractions after birth while I nursed him. They would ask me if I needed any pain medication and I would say no but then I'd nurse and the contractions killed so I'd call them to come back and bring me some.

 Our second night in the hospital went better. I definitely got more sleep. I couldn't really fall asleep until about 1. They came in to check on me and told me they'd be taking Grayson around 3 am to check his bilirubin again so I asked if they could just take him to the nursery until then so I could sleep. I got a few solid hours before they brought him back. He was such a good baby. He never cried when he was hungry only rooted and I'd wake up and feed him.

Wednesday
Woke up around 6 am again. Dr. Bean came by again to check in on me. Then the pediatrician. He said the bilirubin levels were still a little high. I would have to take Grayson back to the hospital Thursday morning to have it checked. I took some pictures of Grayson while I waited for my family to come. Russ brought them over around 1030 am. Bryce brought Grayson some balloons and they brought me a swig drink. They were so excited to see Grayson! I was so happy to have my mom and Nana there. They are so helpful and I love to see the look of love on their face. They held him while I got ready. We were starting the process of getting ready to leave so they took Bryce to get a toy at the mall while we finished paperwork, etc. It was interesting while I filled out the birth certificate that they changed it because of the new same sex marriage laws. The nurse said an additional 5 pages were added. The lactation lady finally stopped by. She told us his mouth looked great and he had a strong suction. She did tell me he was not opening his mouth wide enough so we had to work on that but it definitely made nursing more comfortable. Finally, we dressed him in his very own clothes and got ready to leave. He was so adorable in his little mittens and hat. The moment we walked out of the hospital I was so excited to start our life with this new little person. We stopped at Target to get my prescriptions and then home! It was so surreal to be home with a new baby. It was so quiet and peaceful. My sister in law Sara came to visit and then my friend Erin stopped by. This little boy is so loved and had so many people want to meet him. We were just in baby heaven. I never wanted to put him down and 7 weeks later I still don't.