our birth story

so i love reading birth stories. i love reading about the mothers experience through such a surreal event. it is something that you plan 9 months for but it is hard to fully prepare yourself for it. it never seems to go the way you think having a baby would go. at least not for me anyways. birthing a baby is nothing glamorous but it is absolutely amazing and is an experience i'll never forget. this i'm sure will be very long but i want it written down so i will remember every detail.

my due date was february 16th and i was fully prepared to have my baby on that day. i did not think that he would be coming any other day. when people ask you "when are you due?", you tell them and you just expect they will be here on that very day. well folks, it doesn't happen exactly like that for some. me in particular. our little guy was not really wanting to come out. i wasn't even dilated or effaced at what was supposed to be my last appointment before my due date. what they heck? this baby was supposed to be coming out now!

after my due date came and passed, i accepted that he just wasn't going to come on his own. we set an induction date for february 23rd, one week passed my due date. once that was set, i was okay with him staying in for one more week. it was one more week that quin and i had to ourselves. i tried to sleep a lot. and, of course, eat a lot. i even picked up more shifts at work so i could make it a normal week. it was the parade of homes so we decided to buy last minute tickets and hit up the gorgeous homes in st. george because we could. i wasn't having a baby yet so it worked. it was actually an awesome last week so i'm glad little man decided to stay cozy for a little longer.

when they set my induction date, they said they'd call anytime between midnight and midnight of that day. we went to sleep early thinking maybe they'd call in the wee hours of the morning. they ended up calling at about 8:45 in the morning february 23rd. we got really nervous and excited at the same time. it was here! we were finally going to meet our little man!

we arrived at the hospital at 9:30am and were checked in. they got us all set up in a room and tucked me all in. we knew we'd be there for awhile since i was only dilated to a 1 and he was still pretty high in my belly. melanie was my nurse during the day and she was awesome. we loved her and i thought she was a great nurse! they started me on pitocin around 10:30am and we just relaxed. the olympics were on so at last we had something enjoyable to watch. after being on the pitocin for about 3 hours, they rechecked me and i hadn't progressed at all. i was at the highest dose you can give and nothing was happening. great. before starting everything, i told them that i'd like to try and do everything we could to avoid a c-section and they really did try everything. they called my doctor, dr. kvarfordt, and he decided to have the pitocin stopped and to try cytotec, which is pill they place by your cervix to try and soften it. before they did this they let me eat which i was very thankful for!! going all day without food was not something i wanted to do. i had been eating anything i wanted for the past 9 months, i didn't want to stop now!

they gave me the cytotec around 2:00pm and i would have to wait for the next 3 hours to see if it worked. more waiting around watching the olympics. my parents came and visited me sometime during this time as well. up to this point i hadn't really felt much. i was having contractions during the pitocin but nothing i could feel. i started feeling them more with the cytotec but it just felt like mild period cramps. so after the 3 hours they checked me again and i hadn't dilated at all, but i was 75% effaced so it was some sort of progress! little man was definitely making it difficult to get him out. his heart rate started to drop when i stood up to go to the bathroom and walk around so they wouldn't let me get up anymore. lamesauce. laying in bed all day isn't great fun but at least i was able to walk around. i was a little nervous with his heart rate dropping and i was hoping that it wouldn't mean i'd have to have a c-section. of course, if it was what was best for our baby then i'd be okay with it.

with laying down, his heart rate was fine so they started me back on a low dose of pitocin. by this time is was about 7:00pm and i had only dilated to a 2 still only 75% effaced. the night nurse we had next was named sue and she was also great. i'm so glad i got great nurses! it definitely makes it better. anyways, i started feeling the contractions a little bit more at this point. nothing too crazy yet so i wanted to try and last as long as i could without getting the epidural. i knew for sure i was going to get it but i at least wanted to see how far i could get. by 9:30pm i still hadn't done too much so dr. kvarfordt came in and decided to break my water and do an amnio-infusion. basically they break your water but have a continuous flow of water into your uterus to avoid stress on the baby. i was glad they did that since he was already getting stressed with just movement.

after the broke my water about 10:00pm, my contractions immediately started to get worse and closer together. i was not a fan! all you awesome mom's who do it natural are crazy! good for you though. i wasn't about to last much longer. the anesthesiologist came in a little bit after to do the epidural. he did an awesome job! i couldn't feel him do anything on my back and relief was immediate. it was amazing. modern medicine is definitely for me! i was still able to move my legs the whole time which i was glad for. i just felt numb and tingly and had zero pain.

from here on out, everything went much quicker than the first part. the contractions got much stronger and quicker. depending on what side i layed on or different positions i'd be in, little man's heart rate kept dropping with the contractions. they kept having to slow down the pitocin, then stop it, then start it back up again, then stop it. it wasn't too fun and i was still worried he was going to start doing worse and we'd need to hurry and do a c-section. he was a trooper though! by 3:00am i was dilated to an 8 and by 4:00am i was completed! finally!! the contractions were coming so quickly now and they were still worried about his heart rate. they gave me a shot in my arm of medicine that slows them down after stopping the pitocin. i started pushing about this time but the medicine slowed the contractions down so much that i was only having them every 5 or so minutes. ugh.

for the next 2 hours, i pushed until he finally made his debut at 5:56am! the pushing was slow and i was super nauseated the whole time. after everytime i pushed, i would have to throw up. it wasn't the funnest! i was nauseated through most of my pregnancy so it was only normal to be nauseated to the last moment! haha. it actually helped little man come out sooner so that made it a little better. quin was awesome through the whole thing. he held my leg, my hand, my hair when i was throwing up. he was great and i couldn't have done it without him there.

when kai came out he had the biggest cone head! he had been in that "birth canal" for awhile. when dr. kvarfordt pulled him out and held him up, it was was the best feeling in the world. they always tell you what a high you're on afterwards and it's so true. i had this feeling of accomplishment like you're on top of the world. it's definitely unreal. our little man was here and it was the best feeling.

after they laid him on my chest, they cleaned him off and i was able to hold him for a little bit. it was great. he was the cutest thing ever, even with all of the gunk he had on him. they then took him over to the warmer where they weighed him and did everything else. quin was able to be a part of that and was able to hold him afterwards. it was such a blur at the time but i'll always remember the feeling. we became parents and i don't think i'll ever get used to it! we love our little guy and couldn't be happier.

quin kai monson

february 24, 2014

5:56am

7 lbs 4 oz

20 inches long