Harper's Story

Harper decided to arrive 10 days before his due date... 3 days before our scheduled induction and of course, the weekend that my doctor was on vacation.

The labor and delivery did not go exactly as we had anticipated. Although, thinking back, it wasn't all that bad. I think I could probably do it again if I absolutely had to. The most important thing is that he got here safe and sound, which he did, in a very timely manner.

I woke up Saturday morning (March 19th) at 2:30 AM with some cramping in my back. I wanted to take a bath so I woke up Jason to help me. Soon after getting in the bath, the cramps turned into contractions- although still in my back. They quickly became more intense and closer together. Jason began timing them. For the first hour they were consistently about 5-6 minutes apart. After an hour had passed and I had even thrown up from the pain (which is a big deal for me... I never throw up. This was only the second time I had thrown up the entire pregnancy), we called the hospital to see if they thought we should come in. They told us, just as the doctors and nurses had before, to wait to come in until the contractions had been consistent for at least 2 hours. One hour down... one hour to go.

Easier said than done. The second hour of contracting was even more intense and worse than the first. I began sweating profusely and the contractions were getting closer and closer together. However, they were still happening in my back and not my stomach. Now that I look back, there were so many signs that we should have seen and just gone to the hospital; but this was our first time and we were trying to follow the advice of the doctors and nurses. The last thing I wanted was to go into the hospital and be sent home. By the time we were walking out of the door, the contractions were not more than a minute apart and I had even had an urge to push once or twice. Luckily we live right across from the hospital, but that 3 minute drive seemed like eternity.

 

We made it upstairs and to the front desk. The nurse was asking us lots of questions, most of which I couldn't answer because I was in so much pain. A nurse then took me back to a room, where I was asked to put on a robe. I went into the bathroom and the urge to push came back. They helped me to the bed and the nurse checked me to see how far dilated I was (2 days before at my doctors appointment I was only a 1+). Until this point, I'm sure they all thought I was an overreacting first time mom. When she pulled her hand out it was full of blood and she began ordering other nurses around to bring in equipment...call the doctor...get the daddy. She said I was complete. I wasn't even sure what that meant but by the looks of it I knew Harper was on his way. She told me she could feel his head, I was completely dilated and that it was too late for an epidural. I looked at her with desperation and said I didn't think I could do it without an epidural. She smirked and told me I already had. I guess epidurals are for dealing with the pain of contractions as well as the whole delivery part. After that, a lot of the details are kind of blurry. Everything happened so fast. Someone was putting an IV in me, another person was bringing in tools and explaining them to me, and yet another nurse was telling me to "make the contraction work for me". If I could have talked through the pain I would have asked her what in the hell she meant by that. Jason gave me a quick blessing, the doctor came in, and we began pushing. I asked the doctor (who keep in mind, I had never met before) how long this was going to take. She just kind of smiled and shrugged. My own doctor had told me it would probably take 1-2 hours of pushing since this was my first. I knew that I couldn't endure that for 2 hours and was scared that I might have to. It was possibly the scariest thing I had ever done, mostly because I wasn't mentally prepared for how quickly things were happening. I remember thinking with each push, that it didn't feel like anything was happening. I couldn't really hear anything Jason was saying to me, I was just trying to listen to the nurse who was telling me how to push, while at the same time silently pleading with Heavenly Father to help me through it all.  About 20 minutes later, there was some progress and his head was crowning. A few more pushes and I felt the greatest relief when his head popped out. I know, the word "popped" is a little weird but it's the best word I can use to describe the feeling. These next two statements just go to show how out of it I was, not long after Harper was born I said to Jason, "At least we saved money on not having the epidural" and "At least I don't have to skip a meal". Clearly I was trying to find the positive in the situation. Obviously the most positive thing was that Harper was here, safe and sound and healthy.

Harper Dean Merrill

Arrived March 19, 2011 at 6:20 AM

5lb 13oz

18 inches

He's just a little guy, which my lady parts were thankful for. Besides having a little jaundice he's been a healthy little guy. We are very grateful that everything went relatively smoothly and he is healthy. He's a pretty easy going little guy who has turned our lives upside down- in a good way. The past two weeks have been full of dirty diapers, feedings, tears (from baby and mommy- and even a few times from daddy), gassy smiles (I don't care if they're caused by gas, they are smiles just the same), wonderfully supportive friends and family, and many more adjustments. I still can't believe that I'm someone's mom... but that's a post for another day. Right now Harper's patiently awaiting his next feeding while I type this with one hand- one of the many things I've learned to do one handed.