Presenting...

Chase Robert Smiley

March 19, 2012
1:20 pm
8 lbs 3 oz
19.25 inches

I went to bed exhausted on Sunday, March 18, at about 11:30 pm. It was a restless night and I woke up several times with strong contractions. At around 5:30 am, I woke again with a very strong contraction that would not go away. I got up and went to the bathroom and tried walking around, but nothing made it stop.

After several minutes, the contraction finally subsided and so I got back into bed, but the contractions kept coming. I decided to take a bath to see if that would make them stop (I wanted to make sure this was the real deal), but it didn't work. The contractions were consistently 3-4 minutes apart. Brian and I decided then that we probably needed to make plans to go to the hospital. I called my Mom and told her we would be dropping off the kids and then we flew into action. We woke up the kids, put the bags in the car, and we were off!

Before heading to the hospital, Brian and my Dad gave me a blessing, which gave me a lot of peace and comfort knowing all would go well. We arrived at the hospital at about 7:45 and things went very smoothly from there on out. When the nurse checked me, I was dilated to a six. I had to get hooked up to an IV so that I could get a couple doses of penicillin during labor, because I had previously tested positive for group B strep. I also got a epidural - thank goodness for modern medicine. I really admire those who can deliver naturally. I am admittedly not one of those women.

By noon I had started getting really nauseated and threw up several times. Another wave of nausea hit me around 1:00 and I began repeatedly throwing up. It was during this time that Brian actually heard my water break. He called for the nurse and she and the doctor both came in and found that I was ready to go.

The room became a buzz of activity. As soon as everything was set up and ready, I began to push. After pushing through just two contractions, Chase made his debut into this world. My water had broken at about 1:05 and he was born just 15 minutes after that. Crazy!

As soon as we could see how much hair he had, we were shocked and amazed! The umbilical cord was wrapped two times around his neck and it took a few seconds of vigorous rubbing to get him to make a sound. He scored an 8/9 on the apgar, but I gave him a 10. I thought he looked perfect. It was a remarkable experience.

We love you Chase! Welcome to this crazy world and to our crazy family :o)