matthew's birth story...

This kid has been trying to come out for a while now and he finally made it. We went in on Thursday July 22nd and the doc said "any day now". That night I had EXTREME contractions and had started counting them at about 3 minutes apart. I woke Nick---or tried to. He told me to go back to bed, still not coherent enough to realize I was saying WE NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL, Nick! GET OUT OF BED! He got me to lie down again and I fell in to an exhausted sleep about an hour later, the contractions having calmed down to about 6 minutes apart and lots less intense. I was furious with him the next morning. He didn't remember a thing, so I couldn't stay too angry. Obviously he didn't do it on purpose. He did, however, wake up to Claire screaming about an hour after I fell asleep. She was barfing on and off for the rest of the night. I think we had to change her sheets 3 times and ours once. Poor girl.

The next few days were uneventful. I went to work a few times, as did Nick. We went to the Pioneer Day Parade in Logan. Claire loves the candy and still asks to go to parades. It's probably the only time I have let her eat candy without restraint.

Monday we went back into the doc and he said we were far enough that we should probably just go to the hospital because I tested positive for Strep B and he wanted the antibiotics in me before my water broke. We went in and Claire came with us. She was still barfing through the nights and it was obvious she didn't feel well. We sent her to Camilla's house when it was time for a nap and she stayed the night with her.

My water didn't break after sitting there with strong contractions for 5 hours and I hadn't progressed in any other way. My doc offered to just break the water. I was hesitant, but we went ahead with it anyway. We wanted to get home to Claire asap.

I really had planned to go with out an epidural, but I gave in when I had only progressed from 4cm to 5cm after another 4 hours of contractions, the last hour had me screaming at times. I wouldn't even let them check me before they gave me the ep. I didn't want to wait. If I had, the probably would have said it was too late! I wish I had just waited! I got the ep and about 5 minutes later they had to call the doc. He came in and had me push THREE times and he was out! No complications, no four hours of pushing, no meconium, no cord wrapped around his neck four times, no being breach, no heart problems, no lung problems (all of this happened with Claire) and NO NICU! He nursed right away and only doesn't nurse when he's not hungry (I say this because he went a few hours longer than he was supposed to without eating and the nurses tried to force feed him a bottle---he barfed it right back up, twice.). He doesn't scream (at least yet) the way Claire did for four months solid. He is sweet and I can't help but love him.

Claire spiked a fever to 103 the next night and we sent her to the doc the next day. She has strep throat and an ear infection. It was hard to keep her off the baby! Especially because she wanted to hold him and kiss him. Krista (my MIL) watched her the second night (we had to stay two nights because of the Strep B). Claire earned her name as Monster #1 that night. She didn't really sleep until 3 am. Poor Grammie.

All in all, we feel so blessed to be healthy and happy. Matthew arrived 2 weeks early (our last ultrasound moved our date back to the 10th of August---but I was UNWILLING to wait THAT long! LOL) but is a keeper! Claire has developed bronchitis and is on an other round of antibiotics, but she is still happy. I am crazy-hormonal, but I'm trying. I get grumpy at Claire for silly things and I'm exhausted, but hopefully I'll be able to sleep more after I die ;) Even with a few bumps in the road, we are so great and happy. We are grateful for God's hand in our lives.