The 3 of us got to the hospital at 3:30am. I was worried about transferring to a hospital that I had not received care at, but I LOVED my experience at AF hospital. The nurse took me to a triage room and I was dilated to a 4 and 100% effaced!! Wow. They left us in the room for an hour as they watched my progress and sure enough after an hour I was to a 5 plus. Next step, I was admitted and given a labor and delivery room that had a beautiful view of the Timpanogos Temple. All the nurses said it was their favorite. The contractions were getting stronger, and I began vocalizing during each one. I was so grateful that the hospital really was open to doing whatever I wanted to do. I felt totally comfortable, and all the staff was amazing! My mom, Zach and I continued through the night dealing with the contractions. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy, or rather doable the contractions were. Soon enough I was dilated to a 9 plus and so ready for the baby to come. The nurse broke my water, which I am not sure if that was a good thing in the long run, but oh well. When my water broke it was the most relieving feeling ever. So much pressure was removed. Soon after the labor began to get really intense. I loved every second of it, and I know that sounds crazy. I remember I started to cry because I felt such love and gratitude. I remember saying, "I love my baby. I love my little Sam. " "I am going to see him so soon!" I also said over and over, "I never want an epidural, I love this." I really did. It was such an unexpected experience. The nurses kept saying that I had the ideal labor. They told me to call them in when I had the urge to push. Unfortunately that urge never came! I was in transition for 3.5 hours and could never dilate to a 10 for whatever reason. I remember praying and praying for the urge to push, I just wanted to help him out, but he would not drop down. The first few hours were very manageable, very intense and painful, but doable. I remember noticing something changing in the labor pain where instinctually I knew something was not right. I have never been in labor before, but I just knew that something was hurting more than it should. Something was wrong. We did not know at the time, but my placenta was detaching from the uterus. I was bleeding so so much but the nurse was not worried about me so she was not checking on me that often. I got to the point where I looked down at my arms and they were stark white, I felt clammy and dead. It was like I could feel the life draining from me. At this point I knew I could not go on any longer, but that something needed to change because with losing so much blood from the placenta coming off was causing major pain and my energy was just about gone. In my attempt to communicate with words, which is so difficult when you are in your own little labor land, I said, "I need an epidural." In my mind I remember thinking no it is not the epidural I need, but something needs to happen cause something is wrong. My mom and Zach so graciously said, "Ky you can do it. You made us promise that we would not let you do that. You can do it, you are so close!" We all kept thinking that Sam would make his arrival any time, but he wouldnt come through. When Zach and my mom saw that I looked like I was going to faint from lack of blood they got the nurse who then quickly got the doctor, and they very quickly saw that I was having an abruption and Sam needed to come out quickly. Because I was dilated fully, and the doctor was awesome, I did not have a C section! Wahoo! Within 8 min of the Doctor arriving, Sam was born. I remember being rolled on my back and seeing 15 people fill the room. There were people there to help Sam, 2 people trying to put an IV in, and nurses on both sides of me pushing my legs up to get ready and push. Zach and my mom were on each side of me giving me encouragement! At this point I did not know what was going on, but I knew Sam would be fine, I just needed to get him out. They put an oxygen mask on me, but I thought it was drugs because I felt SO good after breathing it...My body obviously did not have enough blood! The doctor pulled Sam down into my birth canal and told me to push. I pushed so so hard that I popped my IV out! They quickly tried to put it in again but the urge to push was so strong. It was the most intense feeling I have ever had. I remember pleading with the nurses doing my IV to hurry cause I wanted to push. After a few pushes, an episiotomy, and forceps Sam was born into this beautiful world! They put him on my chest and then he was whisked away to the nursery to be taken care of. His lungs had filled with blood from the abruption, but once that was removed his lungs were fine. It sounds like such a crazy experience, and it was, but I truly loved it. I was so glad to be there and bring my little man into the world. I sound like a crazy woman, but I loved that I felt everything and that I knew what was going on with my body. I would not want to do the abruption part again because everyone has said that that added way more pain to the actual labor. Zach was such a perfect support for me while in labor. He never panicked or did not know what to do. He rubbed my hands and feet, he talked with me, he supported me literally when I could not take my weight. My mom also was so helpful. They were the perfect birth team! They sang to me when I was trying to stay so focused, and they would sing hymn after hymn. Zach finally ran out of songs to sing and began singing Jesus wants me for a sunbeam! I remember thinking, "really?" We laugh pretty hard about it now. They both say that their testimonies of the atonement grew "3 sizes" that day as they sang the line, "Thou didst bleed and die for me." They were wiping tears away as they sang songs about the Savior and his sacrifice. I feel so extremely blessed that everything went so well, even though it was an emergency at the end! I definitely loved the whole experience.
