It was Saturday morning of General Conference weekend and we were running a few errands before it started at noon. I had definitely been having some contractions but nothing too crazy or out of the norm for being 9 months pregnant. The contractions started getting stronger but I still wasn't totally sure that this was the real deal. Finally, we got in our car to leave whatever errand we were running at Home Depot and I started to not be able to breathe well through the contractions and they were super painful! That's when I knew it was really happening. I just never know how fast or slow it is actually going to all happen, so when we got home, I started to pack my hospital bag and shower and get ready while trying to find people who might be available to watch our kids. Unfortunately, all of our neighbors who I was counting on to watch them if it was before my mom flew in were all at an event together right when I was probably going to need to go to the hospital. I tried calling our babysitter, Chloe, who was busy, and then just tried to find anyone who was close because those contractions started coming on strong and fast and I knew our time was limited. I finally asked my church friend, Jillian Neeley, to watch my kids and she hurried right on over to watch them until Claire woke up from naps and then took them back to her house for the evening. I had to sit down as much as possible while getting ready because when I was standing up and moving around the contractions came one on top of the other. We took our traditional pre-delivery pictures on the front porch while waiting for Jill to get there. As soon as she got to our house we left for the hospital. They checked me in, did the awful IV (and they had to stick my arm like 6 or more times on one side and it never worked so they switched to the other side and finally got it in. Also left me with a huge bruise on the other arm. Probably my least favorite part of the whole process!), hooked me up to the monitors and started pumping whatever it is through the IV that I need to have a bunch of before they gave me an epidural. After what seemed like forever but actually wasn't too long, the anesthesiologist came in to give me the epidural. He was quick, humorous, and did it relatively painless. Of course, just like the other two times, it only worked on one side and not the other for a while, so they had me lay on my other side and pumped me up with a bunch more of the good numbing stuff. Once I was totally numb from the contractions, I was a happy camper! The doctor came in and broke my water (first time for that- it broke on its own the o there two times), said everything looked good but that the baby was still a bit high, and that I was only dilated to about a 5 or 6. Despite me warning the nurse that my babies come fast after my water is broken, she told me that I still probably had a couple of hours at least to get where I needed to. Well, about 5 minutes later I called her back in because I was feeling a lot of pressure and sure enough, I was complete and the baby was there and ready to be delivered! They hurried and called Dr. Hagerty back in and scrambled to get everything ready quickly. Three big pushes and about 8 minutes later, Davis was born! While the hospital I delivered at is not the nicest and the food is just short of inedible, I have grown to love that place because of the awesome nurses and doctors and it just feels like everyone there is so helpful. Being my third baby, I knew the processes, some of the people, and just the feelings that go along with this whole giving birth thing and it made it so much easier to enjoy it all!
