The Road to Here - Part 2

I feel like I need to give a little bit of background before going forward.  Lola was due on December 18th the Sunday after the last day of school before Christmas Break.  I teach so I was trying my best to make it until the break.  I had everything planned for my students after Christmas for while I would be out on maternity leave so I was ready.  I had a wonderful pregnancy and loved every minute of it.  The last week of my pregnancy I had a LOT of lower back pain so I started feeling ready for Lola to make her appearance. The Wednesday before her due date I went to my regular doctor's appointment early that day because I woke up and my face and hands were very swollen.  I was afraid that my blood pressure had gone up or something, but they said it was normal towards then end to start swelling.

The  next day, Thursday  I began having very regular and strong contractions all day and even worse back pain than I had been having.  I came home after work and continued to have regular contractions.  When John got home from work I told him I thought I was going into labor so we headed to the Doctor's office.  I called on the way and the doctors had already left for the day so they told be to go straight to the hospital.  After getting checked out.......FALSE ALARM.  They said I was having strong and regular contractions, but they weren't making me progress any.  John said he was not bring me back to the hospital unless my water had broken (remember this...).  I went to work for my final day before the break and continued to have contractions and major back pain.  Luckily I made it through the day and said goodbye for a while to all my friends at work.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

My Papa's Birthday

I started the day by releasing balloons at his graveside with my family.  After that my mom and I decided to go do some last minute Christmas shopping (by the way I was done with Christmas presents and had them wrapped under the tree before this day).  I wanted to get just a few small extra gifts to be completely done.  We walked all over the mall!  I was so ready for her to come and my back was hurting so bad, I wanted to "walk her out!"  I ate lunch at Ice Cream and Coffee Beans with John, Loren, Mom, Chan, and Lisa.  John and I went home and took a little nap.  My mom called and asked if we wanted to eat at Lake Bowen Fish Camp, so we got ready and went to Loren and Chad's to ride with them.  I made the comment that they would have to drive us to the hospital if my water broke!  We ate and then rode back to their house to hang out for a little while.

Side note...
At this point in my pregnancy I was going to the bathroom every 5 seconds so I had been to the bathroom about 10 times at their house that night within an hour or so. 

I got up once to go to the bathroom and said, "Oh, my water just DIDN'T break."  It took them all a minute but then they were mad and told me to quit joking.  I went and came back.  About 5 to 10 minutes later around 8:00 p.m. I had to go again, so I went to the bathroom and Landry (18 months or so old at the time) wanted to go too.  I got up to go out of the bathroom and I heard a noise and it felt like someone had popped a balloon in my belly.  I yelled out LOREN (which I don't call her in real life unless something is wrong).  She and John came running in screaming what's wrong.  I said, "I think my water just broke."  Of course, because I had been joking all night they did not believe me.  I finally convinced them that I was serious and off we headed to the hospital.  (John and I in our car and Loren, Chad, and Landry came not too far behind us in their car)

John drove WAY too fast, but we made it safely to the hospital.  After having trouble at the gate (crazy people) we finally parked and made it up to the maternity floor.  They confirmed that my water had broken and moved me to a birthing room and got me hooked up.  Around 10:00 I began having very strong painful contractions that were so close together.  I never had a chance to breath in between.  I dealt with them for about an 1 hour before John called the nurse.  She came in and looked at the monitor and immediately ordered an epidural for me before I asked for it.  She said they were very hard contractions.  I received the epidural around 11:30 and was in heaven.  The nurse told us to try to get some read, so John laid down and fell asleep.  Around 2:00 I called the nurse in because I was feeling a lot of pressure.  She told me they wanted to get the last bag of antibiotics in me so she would come back in an hour to check me because she didn't want to "stir the pot" right then. 

When she came back around 3:10 I was fully dialated and she said that she could see Lola's head.  John by the way had been asleep so he was trying to get himself awake at this point and he was not quite ready!  She called the doctor and we did some practice pushes while we waited on her to arrive.  Dr. Beck, my doctor (who by the way was also like 8 months pregnant at the time) got there and delivered our beautiful baby girl at 3:45 a.m.  I had a wonderful labor and delivery experience!

Lola Kate Boyter

born December 18, 2011

at 3:45 a.m.

7 lbs.

20 1/4 inches long