Delivery Part 2 :)

Okay!! So back to this story...

I head over to school and first thing tell my principal about my contractions. I told her theyd probably go away, but I was going to stay and teach the morning...math, Daily 5, extra recess -Hey dont judge me! (She totally didn't!) And then finally sent my kids to lunch recess (which is BEFORE lunch for some unknown reason...ehh!) I had already worked it out with my principal a few weeks before that instead of walking the 6 or so blocks to the park where our bouncy house/park field trip, I would drive over the 75 kids lunches and my principal would walk with my kids. I figured the walking would be good, but I was worried about the heat and swelling so I'm glad we had that arrangement. After I sent my kids to recess, I went and got the school car and had the lunches loaded in the back. I then went back and got my kids all geared up for their big walk.. My principal was so nice to walk them for me, so I didnt have any stress about that at all. I drove the car over and waited in the shade, while calling my cousin Amy and trying to explain my contractions to her.. which were still every 20 minutes apart. She was adamant that these were real contractions but I wasn't convinced. She was one of the first people I called because we worked it out with her months ago to be in the delivery room taking pictures (not of THAT you sicko!) I knew that I'd be overwhelmed and that the delivlery would go by fast, so I wanted pictures of everything along the way to always remember it. Plus I wanted to see Michaels reaction when we found out if it was a boy or a girl1!

So anyways I hear my kids coming down the street shouting "BOUNCY HOUSE! BOUNCY HOUSE!" How do first graders have so much energy??? They get to park and we sit in a big circle while we're eating our bagged lunches...One litttle guy was running around with a soccer ball under his shirt saying "Look I'm Mrs. O hahaha!" The kids would come by and pat my stomach and say "Hi baby! Come out baby!" So we ate lunch and I got them sttarted on the bouncy house - 5 at a time for 5 minutes.. and my princpal comes over and says..."Hey, go home. Go take care of your stuff in the
classroom for a few minutes, but go home. You're having contractions for crying out loud!" So I hopped back in the school car around 1:00pm or so. First thing I did was finish all my report cards, which were already 95% done..I just hadn't added the kiddos DIBELS or MAPS scores or translated my Spanish speaking parents comments. After finishing those up, stuffing them in envelopes, sticking them in their mailboxes...I made up some really quick sub plans for the next 2 days JUST IN CASE I wasnt there. I found my sub (my amazing para who was my 'Friday sub' for all of my dr appts) and told him I was heading out and if he could take my kids for the last 20-30 minutes when they returned from their field trip I'd really appreciate it! and also that I planned on being at school the next day but if not I had things laid out for him. Off I went!

Michael went into work early that day (Wednesday the 4th) because he knew I was having contractions and we might have to head down. I got home about 2:15, grabbed my trusty tupperware full of fresh pineapple and sat on the couch to watch Scandal on Netflix  (again, Pateros. No life.) My
contractions were still almost exactly 20 minutes apart and about 30 seconds long...Totoally bearable.
 I had a contraction, and at the end of it heard a little 'pop' and a gush of fluid (ew that word is gross).
I said to Michael "um, I either peed myy pants or myy water broke!" We both were gigging and excited, not sure if it was really happening or not. I went to the bathroom and the 'gushing' didn't stop so I figured it was probably real.

Michael had yet to pack any sort of a bag with toiletries and such...(10 days out remember! Maybe 20 according to some of my FB friends experiences!) so while Im trying to clean up he is racing around the house gathering his man gear (deoderant, tooth brush, some clothes)..I still make fun of him for not having his stuff ready! While he was doing that I called the OB and asked what I should do since my water broke. I get the "Hmm.. Your water broke? Are you sure? It's probably just excess urine from a cough or something. But I guess if you want to head down you can...." Um. Okay? Maybe my water didn't break after all! But, anyways Michael decides to run around the house frantically packing his bag and I gathered all the stuff out on the front porch while texting Hanna, Amy, and Kayla and calling my mom and dad.So we throw everything in the truck, including the car seat (EEEEKKK!! We're really doing it, Hare!) and head out!

The whole way down I was second guessing if my water really did break or not. I was so excited but worried that maybe I got ahead of myself. I found an app on my phone called "full term" that would time contractions from beginning to end. So every time I would get a contraction I would start the timer, and when it would end I would press the button it. They would range from every 12 minutes to every 6 minutes apart. They were bearable, but I would definetly have to grip the overhead bar or Michael's hand just to get through them without making loud noises, haha!

We checked in at 4:30pm and the nurse got me hooked up to the monitors to check baby's heartbeat and my contractions. She said I was having contractions, but that they were pretty mild and far apart so I migght have to go home. BUT, the kicker would be if my water actually did break or not. They have a little strip they used to determine if it did...and it came back 'blue' (positive for water breaking) right away. She immediately went and found the doctor on call (Dr. Cayman) and she introduced herself to us and gave me a little eval..at that point I was only dilated to 1.5cm. To be 'complete' you have to be dilated to a 10. So I had quite a ways to go! She asked if I wanted to start pitocin right away (a medicine given through IV that gets the baby/contractions really going) but I wanted to try to dilate on my own. She left and said she'd be back around 9 (it was 5 then) to check me out.

Our nurse was great, she helped me get comfy with a exercise ball, water, warm blankets, the whole nine yards. We decided to unhook from the monitors so I could walk up and down the hall. Meanwhile, my parents came and visited us while I was walking in the hall. They were asking questions and of course my dad said "You better hold off till tomorrow! That's my birthday! Hang tight for at least another 7 hours!" As we were walking I would have to stop periodically and grab the handles on the wall to brace myself. Michael, being a concerned, loving husband would say "Clara, are you ok?? Are you ok??" I finally had enough and shouted "SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! OF COURSE I'M NOT OK!" How rude! He learned really quicck to just rub my back and hold my hand as opposed to asking if I was ok.

Kayla and Hanna came and hung out in the room, along with Amy who was there taking pictures (which I will upload into this post at a later date, since she's a lucky duck in Vegas right now!!)
Contractions were getting worse and worse, to the point where I was in tears towards the end of them so I just KNEW I was rocking and rolling along with dilation. Dr. came in to check me and I had progressed a whole .5cm. NOT 5 cm. POINT FIVE. .5. A half a centimeter. WHAT. We decided to start pitocin as well as get the epidural. Epidural got put in (which wasn'tt bad at all by the way..needle didn't hurt in the least bit. Maybe because she did it during a contraction which hurt worse.???) and I got to take about a 2 hour nap. Nurse came in around 1am and checked me, I was 7cm dilated but feeling like a champ because those contractions didn't hurt any more! In fact, I coulnd't really feel anything!

About 30 minutes later I started feeling more pressure, and asked the nurse to check me again. She came back around 1:45-2:00 and was like "oh! You're complete. I gotta go find the doc!" So doctor came in, and my mind literally went blank at this point. I knew Amy was in there taking pictures (which I am so thankful for, given that it was such a rush/went so fast) and I knew MIchael was in there, but I didn't hear or see either of them. I felt the pressure during the contractions and that was my focus.

I started pushing through the contractions about 2:30. I literally think I pushed like, six times. Which is pretty freaking miniscule compared to what I had built up in my head. Each contraction the pressure felt worse and worse. Doctor says "oh my the baby has blonde hair!" (keep in mind we still didn't know if baby was boy or girl)...I started pushing and doctor stopped me to REACH INTO MY VAJAY AND TURN BABY'S HEAD. What a ridiculous feeling. I guess Charles wanted to come out with his head sideways. It hurt a little, but she said it would hurt a heck of a lot more if he came out sideways.

Anyways..pushed a few times, baby came out, they laid him out on my chest and I didn't even wait for Michael to tell me the gender, I could feel it was a little boy! What an amazing amazing feeling. I remember crying and saying over and over "we waited so long for you! I can't believe you're here!"

Michael cut the cord (with the dullest of scissors, I might add) and they took baby away to weigh/measure/wash...

Somehow word got out to the waiting room that Hanna, Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Charles werre to come back to us first. They came back and Michael and I looked att each other to try to figure out who was going to tell Grandpa Charles the news...that this baby was named after him. I finally broke down and did it and there were tears everywhere from all of us. My grandppa Charles is so special to me...an amazing man who has overcome such hardships in his life and is 100%, hands down, the smartest, most loving, most respectful and caring individual I've ever been around. I hope someday my Charlie grows up to be even just half the man he is.

Anyways.....we felt so blessed to have so many people stay at the hospital until 3am just to meet our special little man...Charles Michael Oborne, born at 2:48am on June 5th, 2014 (yes my dad's b-day!) at 6lbs 13oz and 21 inches long.

Dale and Linda Zahn, Vicki and Charles Hull, Mike and Diane Hull, Jake and Kayla Johanson, Hanna and Raelyn Coffman, Amy Stennes (hoping I didn't forget anyone) all stayed with us that night to welcome little man into the world. What a blessed life we live to have all of these people care about us enough to welcome him. We felt so happy and loved and we only hope we can help baby Charles feel as loved during his lifetime. :) I'll try to add pictures of delivery (not gross ones sicko) when I get them when Amy gets back from her trip, but until then..Thanks for reading!

-Charlies Mama

Delivery Day

All through the pregnancy I kept waiting to feel "Braxton Hicks" or practice contractions. Towards the end I'd feel little pains here and there, but nothing consistent or nothing that felt 'right' (how the hell can you determine what a contraction feels like if you've never had one?? You can't. Simple as that!) Let me tell you..the "pains" I was feeling did not feel ANYTHING like the actual contractions felt like.

So I was bound and determined to make it to the end of the school year. Not for any other reason than I didn't want to deal with someone else dealing with all of the end of the year shenanigans (report cards, fly up sheets, field trips, MAPS party celebrations, room clean up, check out, etc etc etc) of course I wanted to park my whale of a self on the couch and watch HGTV all day, but it seriously would have been more work to be gone. If my kids ended up watching Magic School Bus episodes occasionally and having 4 recesses a day for the last 2 weeks...at least I didn't have to make gigantic sub plans and hope my kids weren't misbehaving for the sub..Not to mention, Michael and I were so excited (what expecting parents aren't??) That I knew if I stayed home, I'd literally drive myself crazy dying for the little one to come.

So, Tuesday June 4th our friends Jake and Kayla came over (which they do pretty much every night..we LOVE living close to them!) ---let me interject here. I almost erased the parenthesis because I feel like I use them too much. #sorrynotsorry

Anyways, Michael and Jake went out in the front yard to hit golf balls with baseball bats (yes we live in a small town with nothing else to do...PS you like those parentheses  ehh??) ANYWAYS. Kayla and I stayed inside chatting as usual...I may or may not have been eating my 3rd pineapple of the week... but that's neither here nor there. We decided we would meander outside to try our luck with the golf ball/baseball bat shenanigans. Very fun! I even had Michael take a picture of me because it was so ridiculous. But fun. and it kept my mind off the fact that BABY STILL WASN'T HERE :(

Ok this is getting long so i'm gonna cut to the chase. Went to sleep that night, woke up around 4 with some sharp pains, and I thought I kind of turned the wrong way and irritated my stomach muscles. Went back to sleep. Woke up again to a similiar pain. Same thing about 3 more times. I finally woke Michael up and told him I was pretty sure I was having contractions!! He got SO mad when I told him I was still going to work. First and foremost, I hadn't finished completely my kiddos report cards. Secondly, we were having a field trip. Thirdly...they were 20 minutes apart. They hadn't progressed. Finally...these were FINALLY the Braxton Hicks I hadn't felt all along, right?? I was only 38 weeks 4 days. All my first time mom friends went late. Heck, I had TWO friends on facebook that went 10+ days over. I had plenty of time. I'd go to school, take my kids on the field trip, send them home, finish report cards after school...and if I was still having contractions, maybe, just MAYBE, we would head down to Wenatchee to check it out.


We are heading down to Wenatchee to send Michael's little  bro, Shawn back to Seattle on a plane. I will finish the labor story later tonight or tomorrow. If you're still reading this, consider yourself a smarty pants who may or may not have too much time on their hands and who may or may not be sick of the words "May or may Not" AND/OR parentheses by the time you're done with me. See you soon!

-Charlies Mama