I wanted to document my labor story with Parker before I forgot all the details...
I had an OB appt on Nov 15, 2016 and Dr. Taylor checked me and put me at being dilated to a 5, it wasn't much of a surprise to me because I knew like the rest of the kids you would come a bit early. He went on to say that he didn't think I was going to make it to the end of the week without going into labor. I didn't have to take my last Makena shot either bc they said if you came soon it would be alright. I do believe that shot assisted in my carrying you longer, although at times it was tedious to have to go in once a week to get the shot it was well worth it in the end. A couple of times when we were out of town my Mom had to give me the shot and so did my friend Jessica! I hadn't felt any contractions or anything different really, so we just went about doing what we needed to that week and waited.
We went to our Friendsgiving that Friday on the 18th and all the girls there were so shocked that I was walking around at a 5 and thought I was going to go into labor at any minute, I still hadn't felt anything though. My worries were getting the best of me and so I called the nurses at the hospital and asked if I could come in so they could check me. We called Sis. Turney and she came over and watched the kids for us and we went to the hospital, we had a nurse check me and to her she said she only felt like I was at a 3 or 4, which kinda explained why I hadn't had contractions or gone into labor yet. She listened to the heart beat and monitored me for awhile and said everything looked good and that we could head home. She also had called Dr. Taylor to let him know that I had come in and he said just to make sure I went to see him for my next appt the following week.
My next OB appt was that following Tues on Nov 22, I went in wondering what Dr. Taylor was going to say since he had put me at a 5 and then the nurse had only said I was at a 3. He went ahead and did another culture check on me and still was confident about me being at a 5 again, I did trust him and thought maybe the baby would come that week. He checked me a bit longer down there than normal and I was wondering what he was doing! He had offered to "stretch" me out a bit more to help me go into labor, but I told him it was fine and that hopefully I would go on my own soon. He was bewildered that I hadn't yet and sent me on my way and told me to call him in if I did so he could do my v-bac.
After my appt I had some errands to run so I went to Walmart and walked around a lot, at this point I was so pregnant I was so slow at doing anything. I did feel more bowling ball pressure down there than normal, but didn't think anything of it. I also felt the tendency to pee more than usual, but still thought I didn't have any major changes in regards to actually seeing any signs of true labor. It was late so I called Jeff and asked him what he wanted to do for dinner, and of course we just decided to get In & Out. The In & Out in Kingman is always so busy, and their drive thru line to get food seemed to be taking forever and I was in Jeff's car too. I made it home and we ate and it was about 6:30 p.m. After we ate I decided to just rest in the recliner bc I was pretty tired, as I was laying in the chair I felt a cramp in the front of my uterus and knew that wasn't normal. Jeff and decided that when I felt anything in regards to labor we would just head to the hospital right away. I went back into our room and tried to walk off the feeling and waited to see if it would come back and it did. Jeff was on the computer and I didn't want to tell him just yet that I was feeling contractions and wanted to finish packing my hospital bag.
I had been so anxious about going into labor with this 3rd baby bc Paxton's labor was so traumatic for me and happened all too quick. I just wanted a more peaceful labor where I could hopefully get an epidural to ease all the pains of labor. I finally hollered to Jeff from the bedroom to let him know that I was feeling contractions and we should go to the hospital soon. Carol Turney was top on our list to call to watch the kids, she is the best and was excited to come over and take care of them for us. I sent her a text message asking her to come over and she responded right away saying she would be there shortly, it was about 7:30 p.m.
Jeff started loading up his fiat spider convertible car for us to take to the hospital and I told him I was just going to wait outside and that the contractions were coming quicker. Carol came and gave me a hug and wished us luck, I couldn't talk much bc it was starting to get more painful. In my heart I knew that this was going to be another quick labor, AGAIN.
Jeff pulled up to the ER and opened my door for me and thankfully I could walk on my own, but had to stop every couple of mins to let the contractions pass. They called the labor and delivery floor and had a nurse come down with a wheel chair. The elevator ride up to the 2nd floor seemed to take forever and by this point the contractions were coming hard and strong and I knew our little boy would be here very soon.
I knew it was close to him arriving bc I always feel the urge to go poop when the baby is close to coming, so of course I headed straight to the toilet. The nurse who was actually assigned to me was a girl I knew from the gym, she was very sweet and it was nice to see a familiar face there. She gave me a gown to change into and Jeff was trying to help me as much as he could and told me I needed to lay on the bed. I didn't want to bc once I'm on my back I feel like the contractions hurt even more.
The nurse was trying to ask me a ton of questions and I was trying to answer them from the bathroom. At the same time Jeff was trying to help me change and kept saying, "Elle, you have to get off the toilet and on the bed!" I was stubborn and didn't want to so then he proceeded to pick me up and kinda dragged me over to the bed. The nurse was on the computer still trying to get all my info and wanted to put an IV in and Jeff told her she better check me soon bc I go really fast, she kinda disregarded him and so he reminded her again to check me a couple of minutes later. Her name was Rashelle and she finally did and then confirmed and said out loud, "She's at a 10 already and the baby is coming!" Some other nurses rushed in to help her and said that Dr. Jackson was already there and they had tried calling Taylor in but he didn't answer.
At this point they were trying to tell me not to push with the contractions but it was hard not to, the baby wanted to come out. In a way I was thankful that Dr. Jackson was there bc I really liked his bedside manner when he had delivered Paxton. Everyone walked in and started coaching me to push with the contractions and Dr. Jackson was watching them on the monitor and knew when I wasn't. It was going to be another natural labor for me again, it's so hard to prepare mentally for one. I never felt what they refer to as the "ring of fire" when I pushed Pax out bc his head was so small, but boy did I feel it with Parker bc he was bigger. That's when I wanted to stop pushing was when I could feel his head crowning bc it burned and pinched so badly!!!!!!
Jeff kept saying, "Come on Elle, he's almost here...I can see his head! Give it 1 more good push!" I was trying hard to give "good pushes" to satisfy everyone, but it was so painful and I wanted to mentally and physically check out. I could feel that Dr. Jackson was stretching my cervix and working with me to get the baby out which I appreciated bc I swear he pulled the baby out more than I was pushing him out. Jeff said at the beginning he also broke my water. It was 4 pitiful, painful, natural pushes later and our sweet heavenly little boy Parker Kekai was born! I finally got to experience a labor where they put the baby on your chest right after delivery. To both Jeff and I he looked like Paxton's twin and had a full head of hair. After the delivery I was still in a bit of pain and had cramps and back aches so I couldn't fully enjoy holding Parker, but I was just thankful he could be there skin to skin with me like he was supposed to be. The nurse finally gave me some ibuprofen so that helped, not an epidural but it helped!
It definitely was a more calm experience compared to the other 2, still a little stressful bc of how quick I go, but I felt blessed to have a healthy enough body that would allow me to do a v-bac successfully. I remember the night Paxton was born I had a nurse named Linda who was also the lactation consultant at the hospital and she came into the room while I was in labor to do my IV, it was comforting to see her. There were 3 nurses total there along with Dr. Jackson and Jeff. I think it was a blessing in disguise that Dr. Jackson was there bc I honestly don't know if Dr. Taylor would have been "in the moment" as much as Dr. Jackson was as far as assisting me through the whole labor, it was meant to be that he delivered Pax and Parks. I even made my 6 week follow up appt with Jackson too.
A little after Parks was born and we had some 1-1 time with him and then they transferred us to a nicer room. Jeff had been in touch with both of our families letting them know I was in labor with Parker, it was such a blessing to be able to deliver him at a normal time. Once we got into our new room it was time to try my hand at nursing him, I was determined for him to get a good latch the first time around and not struggle with BF as much as I had with Annabelle and Paxton. Our room was pretty nice and there was a fold up bed for Jeff to sleep on, I'm glad that Carol was staying the night with the kids so that Jeff could stay with me. Sweet boy slept pretty good for his first night, I didn't sleep at all bc there was just so much going on and too much to think about and prepare for.
I woke up in the morning starving and wanted to order all the food. It was nice bc they had a "Mommy Menu" where you could order food at anytime and anything you wanted, I took advantage of it! For some reason after labor I was wanting a sprite with ice and I usually don't drink soda. I wished that we had family who lived here so that they could come to the hospital to visit, I know some our friends would have stopped by but most everyone we knew was out of town for Thanksgiving.
It was nice to have nurses cater to your needs, food brought to you and not have to worry about being on a schedule. The next day was a Wednesday Nov 23, 2016 and Jeff had off work for the rest of the week, so we just enjoyed lounging around in the hospital room with our new bundle of joy. Jeff left pretty early in the morning to go and take care of the kids and so that Carol could go home. Initially I had been stressed about asking someone to come and watch the kids while I was at the hospital and as I was thinking about all our friends and ladies in the ward Carol Turney instantly popped into my mind. She is one of the most kind women I have ever met, and she's actually the stake RS president right now too. I just felt like the spirit confirmed to me that she would be perfect to ask and would willingly help us out when needed. I sent her a text and her response back I will never forget, she said, "Oh Ellie, I would be honored to come and help you out, thank you so much for asking me!" It was an answer to my prayers! She was so good about following up with me and checking in or letting me know when she was out of town, it just worked out perfectly for her to take care of Annabelle and Paxton.
That morning Dr. Taylor had stopped by to check on me because he had heard that I went into labor. He said he had missed hearing his pager because he was at his son's basketball game and was sorry that he had missed delivering me. I then started laughing a bit and asked him what he had done down there at my last appt when he was just "checking" me and then he admitted to kinda stripping my membranes and stretching me out more, made sense why I had gone into labor that night! I think it's just funny that he didn't tell me that.
We thought that I would be discharged from the hospital that following day on 11/23 bc that's what they had told us earlier, but then one of the nurses came in saying that they couldn't find that Dr. Taylor had done the Group B swab on me at 35 weeks. I don't remember him doing the test either, so then they told me Parker was at risk of getting it and it was really bad if babies caught it and that we would need to stay another 24 hours to monitor him. The pediatrician Dr. Khan didn't think at all that he would contact it, but wanted to play it safe and have us stay. I was ok staying but just didn't want to spend all day in the hospital on Thanksgiving.
Later on that day Jeff brought the kids in to meet Parker, they were so cute with him and so so excited to finally see their little baby brother. It was hard for Paxton to understand that he needed to be soft with him all the time and not to touch him on the face or head. Annabelle just wanted to hold her little brother, I could already tell that she would be such a great big sister taking care of her 2 brothers. It was so crazy to think that we were now parents to 3 kids, and they were all ours! Jeff was getting bored with the kids at home so we let them stay and they watched a movie in our room, it was nice to have the company.
Thankfully the 2nd night in the hospital I was able to sleep a little bit more which was good because I needed the extra rest. I think since I was a 3rd time Mom the nurses hardly checked on me, I mean every now and then they would come in and bring me new ice water but that was it. The next morning I watched the Macy's parade a bit with Parker and other people came in to get some paperwork done and then we just hung out until we got the ok to leave. Dr. Khan showed up and I asked if we would have to stay until that night, but he said that he wanted us to go home to be with our family on Thanksgiving so he gave the ok to discharge us that early afternoon! HOORAY!! I called Jeff and told him to get the kids ready and come down to fetch us! I started packing everything up and Parker had fallen asleep so I was able to get everything ready before Jeff and the kids came.
I was so excited just to go home and figure out our new life with our little Parker. It's customary for them to have you sit in a wheel chair even on the way out, so I held Parker in his car seat on my lap and the nurse wheeled me downstairs and Jeff got all of our luggage. We loaded up the car with our total of 3 kids in tow and were on our way home...finally! How humbling it is to be chosen to parent 3 of Heavenly Father's spirits, the labor had gone better than I expected and although it was quick I'm thankful for the love and support I felt from Jeff, the nurses and Dr. Jackson. WELCOME HOMESWEET LITTLE PARKER KEKAI!!!
