Wyatt Osborne Boyce

We would like to welcome to the world baby Wyatt Osborne Boyce!

8 lbs. 14 oz. 20 1/2 in.

It has been a crazy few days. I have not gone into labor this early with my other babies, so I didn't think that I would be delivering him 'til next week. But I guess Wyatt had other plans in mind. I had been having pretty regular braxton hicks the last couple of weeks, but nothing to throw a party about. Tuesday night, I woke up because I was having more regular contractions. They were coming about every 3-5 minutes and this lasted for an hour and a half. They then died down, and I was able to go back to sleep. I continued to have contractions the next day, but nothing too exciting.

Thursday I woke up feeling pretty good. As most of you know, I get pretty bad morning sickness all nine months of pregnant, but Thursday I was feeling pretty good. Ty went to preschool that morning, and I relaxed and worked on some projects that didn't involve much more than me sitting on the couch and occupying my hands. Then around 4 pm, my contractions picked up a lot. I was having contractions every 2-4 minutes and they didn't stop. After my experience Tuesday night, I wanted to make sure that these were legit, so I drank a lot of water, laid down, took a warm shower. They just wouldn't stop. Aaron was downtown at a dinner meeting for work. So he was about an hour away and I can't always get a hold of him, as he is talking with other clients and doesn't have access to his phone.

I labored at home for about 4 hours before I decided to call the triage nurse at the hospital to see if I should come in. She gave me the go ahead and Ms. Dawn came to stay with the kids and Ms. Joy took me to the hospital. At this point, Aaron was done with his meeting and was able to take off to meet us at the hospital. I was delivering at a new hospital so it was interesting to see how things happened at this place. At my old hospital, as soon as you were dilated to a 4 you were admitted to the hospital. Here you have to wait another hour to make sure that you are in active labor. I was at a 4 when we got there and I thankfully  progressed in that hour. Unfortunately, the computer system was down, so it took another hour before I was set up in Labor and Delivery.

Please note, my last two deliveries lasted 6-7 hours from checking in to delivery. I have been very lucky in that regard. So I, of course, had the same expectations this time around. I got my IV (which is always awful, but more so this time.) The nurse had a hard time collecting samples and really dug my IV around. And my epidural was painful. It worked though, so it was worth it. :-) At this point it was about midnight and I was thinking "this is great, 3 more hours and I will get to meet my son." By about 4am, I still had not progressed past 6 centimeters. So they started me on Pitocin. The baby's heart starting showing some signs of distress. Not anything big, but his heart beat would drop every now and then. They kept having me turn from side to side, eventually having me get on my hands and knees, because the baby decided to come down head facing up instead of down.

At about 6 am the nurse started talking about c-sections. Because I was having a big baby, they didn't think that he would have the room he would need to successfully come down that way.  She let me know that the doctor was on his way and that most likely he would agree that I needed a c-section. I know that many a person has had an emergency c-section and it wasn't in their plans, but I was devastated. She continued to walk me through what would happen if the Dr. decided that was the course of action to take. She didn't ever present me with any other options for trying to get him to turn around. So here I am, having been awake all night, being told that I am having a c-section.

Well, yay for 7 o'clock, because there was a shift change and I got two new nurses. And can I say, they were seriously heaven-sent. There is no doubt about it. The doctor was already on his way. The new nurses decided to put me in a weird potion with me on my side and my opposite leg up in a stirrup. With in minutes, I felt the pressure of the baby moving down. The doctor got there about 7:35ish and checked me. He told me that I was complete and could start pushing. He never even mentioned a c-section. He left the room to check on something else and the nurses had me start pushing. I pushed once and they told me to stop and to get the doctor right back in there. About 5 minutes later, the doctor arrived and three pushes later, Wyatt was here. I will forever be grateful for those two nurses who were willing to give me a chance to get this baby out the way I wanted.

I tried to come home a day early since they no longer take take the babies to the nursery at night, but when they were running the final labs on Wyatt, they found that his biliruben count was high. So we didn't get to go home. He had to spend the night under the UV lights and I was only allowed to take him out every 3 hours to feed, and then for only 30 minutes. It was hard not being able to cuddle and comfort him, but he did a really good job for the most part.

We are now happily at home and his biliruben count is normal. The kids are so excited to see him all the time now. They are constantly checking on him and Ella wants to hold him every chance she gets. Hopefully we can get back to a routine soon and the kids can feel normal again. Aaron had been super dad and an amazing help.