Tallin's Birth Story

(BEWARE... IF YOU DO NOT LIKE BLOOD, THEN I WOULD NOT READ THIS. Also, it is very long!!)

The Birth Story

On March 12^th we had a day just like any other day. Zack went to classes. I worked around the house and watched some Netflix. Zack came home from school and we went to the track. I walked, while Zack ran a couple of miles. We did this my whole third trimester and the end of my second. It was nice because I was able to get out of the house and also do some exercise. But before we went to the track that day I told Zack I wanted to climb some stairs. In the building where we walk there are about 6 flights of stairs. So we went and walked up and down both sides. We then went and did our normal thing on the track. After that I told Zack that I wanted to do stairs one more time before we left. So we went and did it again. They really worked out my calves. We then went home and had dinner. We didn’t eat anything really special because Tuesdays are our quick meal days. So we had hot dogs with peaches.  We went to a birthing class that night, the second of three we were to attend.  Zack then had to do homework and I snuggled up next to him and did my own thing. For some reason this night we stayed up super late. Well super late for me at least and I went to bed around 12:00. Zack stayed up and looked at some cool Russian stuff. (If you didn’t know, Zack’s brother Jake got called on a mission to Russia and Zack has been looking up stuff about his mission area. He is so excited his brother will be serving in a bordering mission.) I then woke up around 1:15 and told Zack to go to bed. I went to the bathroom before going back to sleep.

At 1:45 I woke to a rush of water on the bed. I was a little confused at first because I had a little over a week before my due date and was not sure if my water had broken. I woke Zack up and said, “Zack, I think my water just broke”. At first I don’t think he believed me. Then he saw that the bed was soaking wet and I ran to the bathroom. A lot more fluids began to come out. We called the Dr.’s office and a nurse told me it sounded like I was in labor. The weird thing was I was not feeling any contractions. I was not complaining about this though. We then got everything together and headed to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, more fluids started to come, so I had to change and put on something to help keep it from not getting anywhere. (If you didn’t know, I guess your water breaking is just the start of the fluids throughout the whole labor and delivery part. I didn’t know this.) We then headed to the hospital and got admitted.

They first took me to one room and asked all these questions and did some tests to see if I really was in labor.  I was.  I was now dilated to a 4. I was moved into a labor and delivery room.  I started to feel contractions a little bit, but they were not too hard. Then all of a sudden they started to come one after another every two minutes. I guess usually they are a little spread apart. I was in so much pain at this point because I felt like I didn’t have time to recover after each contraction. I asked for an epidural and it took over2 hours for the nurse anesthetist to come. I guess 8 other girls were in labor at the same time as me. The nurse started to prep me for the epidural and stuck an IV in my arm to pump fluids into my body. (I have to say, that hurt the most out of the whole epidural process.) The nurse anesthetist finally showed up to do the epidural at 6 am.  It was not too bad at all. However, I did not like the guy that gave me my epidural.  He was not friendly at all and seemed in a really grumpy mood. It must have been the end of his shift….

(Waiting for my epidural)

 (Still waiting... & in pain)

The hardest part about getting the epidural was sitting still while he inserted the needle, yet trying to breathe through a contraction. That was so hard!! After that it took about 20 minutes for the epidural to kick in and then I was in heaven. I could not feel any pain at all.  We spent the next 4 hours trying to sleep. If you have ever had a baby and an epidural you would know that every 15 minutes your blood pressure is checked.  This does NOT allow you to get any sleep.  The monitor was noisy and it is annoying to have the pressure on your arm. Although, Zack still got a pretty good amount of sleep. I was so jealous!!

(Finally got my epidural and I am feeling good)

 

At around 10 am the nurse came in and told me I was dilated to a 10 and was 95% effaced.  I was ready to start pushing. This part was really frustrating because I didn’t know how to push. I didn’t make it to the last birthing class so I didn’t get to learn the breathing methods or anything like that. When I started pushing the nurse told me that I had really good contractions that were coming super close together which would make it easier to push. Well with my luck it didn’t make it easier. I still did not understand what I was pushing. After two hours, all the nurse and Zack could see was that Tallin had a head full of hair. So after these two hours of pushing she finally said she was going to get the Dr. to see if we could take another approach instead of pushing, in order to get his head out a little. 

(Preparing for birth)

 

Dr. Allred came in and said he was going to try the vacuum to see if he could vacuum his head out a little so I could push the rest of the way. Well since my little angel had so much hair the vacuum did not work.  He then had to use forceps to widen me up to pull him out.  We warned the Dr. that Tallin might be stuck because of his huge head (if he was anything like Zack his head was going to be huge).  The Dr. wasn’t so sure that his head was huge.  But it was.  I had to have an episiotomy because his head was getting stuck. All I could feel was pressure and it was not bad at all. Tallin came out after one more push and they set him on my tummy all bloody and gross. When he first came out of me he would not stop kicking and moving his body. It was just like when he was in the womb.  He weighed 7lbs 0oz. 19 inches I fell in love with him immediately. 

(Finally born)

 (Baby Tallin)

(Mommy & Tallin)

 (First bath)

(When Tallin was born, he had his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. He had moved around in the womb so much that he made a knot in the umbilical cord.)

(Proud daddy)

(I LOVE HIM)

After the birth my epidural was turned off.  I had to wait a good 2 to 3 hours before they could move me. Before I was moved to a different room they wanted me to jump in the shower and rinse off.  Of course I was really weak after giving birth. I asked Zack to come help me because I felt like I was too weak to do anything on my own. He then came and all of a sudden I started to feel light headed and sick. I then grabbed Zack and passed out. They had a little sit area in the shower and I had to sit down and I was so out of it. I remember the nurse being worried and waving something strong smelling in front of my face. I guess this happens to a lot of moms because we lose so much blood. I then had to regain consciousness before I moved to the recovery room. They set me in the wheelchair and wheeled me down. Since I passed out I was not able to carry Tallin down with me. Usually the mom will carry the baby and dad carries all the stuff and the nurse will push mom in the wheel chair. We had to have a second nurse bring him down. While we were moving the other nurse was showing off our baby and of course they all fell in love with him and his hair. It was nice to hear them speak such nice words. 

(My two favorite boys)

 

(Erik is a proud uncle)

(Courtney and Tallin)

We got to the recovery room and I was not able to walk around because I kept getting nauseas and loosing consciousness. I had to have a nurse come to our room before I could go to the restroom. I also could not get my IV out until I was able to go to the bathroom. After a while I was able to go to the restroom on my own. I have to say the worst part about the whole pregnancy and birth is the recovery. Everything else was not as bad as I thought. I am so thankful that Heavenly Father trusted me enough to send me one of his children to raise. I know that I now need to step up my game and do everything I can to teach the gospel to Tallin and be the best mom I can be. I love him so much and it grows every day even though I don’t think it is possible for me to love him more.  I hope I didn’t bore you with my details or disgust you with all of the gross pictures.

(We got a steak and shrimp dinner)
 

(Our first family picture)

 (All ready to go home!)

 

(We are ready to head home!)