James Devin Tranter - July 23, 2014

Tuesday afternoon, July 22nd, was my 40 week OB appointment.  Claire and I took Emily to swim lessons in the morning and then I shuffled us all over to the doctor's office, lots of snacks in tow, to be seen and "checked".  I had not made any progress towards labor, for the 3rd week in a row, so I asked her to stir things up down there as a possible natural way to get things going.  With both girls, I was induced after my due date, and this 3rd time around I wanted to see if my body would do it on it's own.  I was willing to wait the maximum time the doctor would allow after my due date...which was 10 days.  Mentally, I was prepared for this baby to come late, but what the doctor did that day actually got things going for the first time in all 3 of my pregnancies.  

In the middle of that night, I woke up several times not knowing why.  Once I was awake enough, I realized it was because I was having a mild contraction.  This happened several times.  Finally at 5:45am, on Wednesday the 23rd, while Devin was shuffling around the room before he left for work, I decided to start tracking them.  They came about 10 minutes apart, give or take a few minutes each time.  Because I have never had contractions at home, on my own, I didn't know what to think of these.  They were mild and short, and spaced apart.  I knew I was no where close to actually having the baby, but I didn't know how long it would take before things really got rolling.  Devin went to work with strict instruction to pay attention to the pager on his hip since he had no cell phone reception at the VA.    

So I was awake from about 5:30-9am before the girls finally woke up.  3.5 hours of me tracking these contractions, roughly 10 minute apart.  They never increased in intensity, but they remained constant and on time, one after another.  Was this going to lead to something?  Was I going to be hospital bound on this day?  Should I call the woman I have on standby to watch the girls?  Should I call Devin home from work?  Should I call my dad to start the process of getting my mother in law here, flying standby from Salt Lake?  Should I take Emily to swim lessons?  Should I pack a hospital bag for myself and an overnight bag for the girls?  All of these questions were swirling around in my head.  I wanted to have control over as much as I possibly could, in a situation that I ultimately had no control over.  I was waiting on my body to do its thing, and I had absolutely no idea the time frame it would take to do it.  I was in touch with Devin, through text, and after 3 hours of timing contractions, I decided to call the nurse at the doctor's office to let her in on the scoop.  She said that I needed to wait until either the contractions got closer together, or they increased in intensity before heading to the hospital.  

So I decided to load up the girls and head to Emily's swim lessons as a way to keep our routine and pass the time.  It was great.  Emily got to swim, while Claire watched a movie in the van and I made phone calls to set things in place/order for the rest of the day.  By the time we were home from swim (a little after 11am) I was feeling exhausted (already, yikes!) and put on a movie for the girls while I laid on the couch and devised my plan.  I prayed, I talked to Marianne and Amber, and most of all I tried to pay attention to my body.  By the end of the movie it was 12:30pm and I had made up my mind that I was going to the hospital.  I called Devin and told him it was time, and that he needed to start his hour drive home as soon as possible.  I called Cassie and asked her if she could come pick up the girls.  I got my bag packed and house in as much order as time allowed.  Cassie came, the girls excitedly left with her, and I literally waited on the curb of our driveway, under a shaded tree, for Devin to pick me up for the hospital.  

Side note:  When I was getting the girls ready to go, I was explaining to them what was going on and that they would be spending the night at Mrs. Cassie's because mommy and daddy would be at the hospital with baby brother.  Emily asked a few questions, and then I saw the light bulb go off for her.  She understood that the baby was about to come out of my belly, and she got very excited.  I knelt down by both the girls and held each one in each of my arms, trying to soak up my last sweet moment as a mom to 2 girls.  I said a prayer with them and then said that the next time they saw me, I would have their baby brother to show them.  I loved those last 5 minutes with Emily and Claire.  My two sweet girls.  

As Devin and I drove the 15-20 minutes to the hospital, we didn't really know what to say to each other.  It was surreal.  We had done this two times before, but it still felt just as surreal as when we drove to have Emily.  In a matter of hours we were going to meet our son.  I was no longer going to be pregnant.  We would have 3 kids.  We just held hands and I told him the girl's reactions.  

And then we were at the hospital.  Every labor room was filled, so I spent the first 2 hours in the triage room.  Not ideal, but I was glad to be hooked up to a fetal monitor.  The big reason I decided it was time to go to the hospital was because I stopped being able to really feel the baby move and I wanted to be reassured that he was safe.  Call it a mother's intuition, but as soon as I had the first few contractions with the fetal monitor strapped to me, we could tell that his heart rate was dramatically decreasing (it sounded like his heart was about to stop, it got so slow) at the peak of each contraction.  I was thankful to be in a place where he could be monitored, and so were the nurses!

Once we moved into the labor/delivery room, things really got moving.  Because my contractions were still more than 5 minutes apart, the nurse and I decided to give a small dose of pitocin in my IV to see if it would give my body the boost it needed to speed up the labor.  (It was about 4pm by this point.)  The pitocin did just what we had hoped it would do, and I was in very active labor shortly after it started.  I did most of my laboring on the exercise ball this time around.  I spent some time on the ball when I labored with Claire as well, but not near as much as I did with James.  From the time I had my first few contractions after pitocin, until the time I was transitioning and ready to deliver, I was on the ball.  I liked being able to rock back and forth and side to side, breathing deeply, closing my eyes and trying to remain as relaxed as possible while listening to the soft hymns I had playing in the room.  I really loved the environment Devin and I had created in the labor room for Claire...so we did the same thing this time around too.  Having soft hymns playing made me feel connected to Heavenly Father and my mom, and helped put my whole experience into perspective.

I felt like I did the best I could have done to make the labor experience as good as it could be...but the bottom line is that labor and contractions are so painful and hard and feels like it is never going to end.  It is relentless and completely out of my control...those contractions came no matter if I was ready for them or not, and they grew in intensity as my mind and body grew weary and tired at the same time.  From about 4-7pm I endured what I consider to be the hard labor.  Devin did a great job being supportive and being my my side.  It must be a completely different experience for him...watching me going through such a physically and mentally engaged experience and having no control over it, but just having to be as supportive as possible.  He did great.  I think we have both gotten better and better at this, making James' labor and deliver the best yet, as far as working together goes.

At about 6:50ish, I looked down at my legs from the exercise ball and could see and feel them start to uncontrollably shake.  The shaking, mixed with my mental struggle to stay in control and on top of the pain told me that I was transitioning and near the end of this whole process.  They nurse had not checked me since I entered the hospital several hours earlier, and I was ready for her to do so now.  If I knew my body like I thought I did, it was time to get the doctor and the room prepped for delivery.  At 7pm, the nurse confirmed what my body was telling me.  I was an 8.5 and I quickly informed her that the baby was going to come fast, and she should get Dr. Page asap.  (Both Emily and Claire were born within a half hour from the time that my body went through the transitioning process, and James followed right in line with that schedule as well.)

I was finished on the exercise ball, moved to the bed and became very emotional.  The emotions surfacing through tears caught me by surprise.  I wasn't crying because of the pain.  I wasn't crying because I felt out of control.  I knew what I needed to do to stay relaxed and to let the contractions flow through my body without fighting them.  I don't really know why I was crying, but the tears were flowing silently, and it felt so good to release whatever it was that was causing me to be emotional.  For about 20 minutes, I embraced each POWERFUL contraction, as I lay on my left side, nestled as closely to Devin as I could be.  I felt very connected to Devin, this was probably my most favorite time spent with Devin of all 3 labors.  And after each contraction left, the tears would flow silently.  I knew I was going to meet my son so so soon, this marathon of natural labor was going to be over and I was so ready.

Dr. Page came in the room, commented on how nice the soft music was and then broke my water.  (My water has never broken on its own!)  Without going into too much detail, but still wanting to record the experience for posterity's sake...Dr. Page was a dream of a doctor during the delivery process.  She was definitely the best yet!  She worked with me and coached me on how to push (different from what my previous 2 doctors had told me) in order to prevent any tearing.  The pushing process took no time with the girls.  Emily was out after pushing through 2 contractions, and Claire was out with literally 2 pushes during 1 contraction.  This time, Dr. Page had me do short, quick and hard pushes for about 5-10 minutes while she worked her magic down there as I did so.  And then with the last 2 pushes James' head and body were out and he was born at 7:33pm.  Just writing about it gives me the chills and makes me cry all over again.  What a magical and miraculous experience that is child birth.  And it is the same level of magic and wonder no matter how many times you do it.

I am so grateful that I have a healthy and capable body to endure and produce such a miracle.  Being pregnant for 9 months and then enduring and producing the end result of a perfect little human being at the end is truly my greatest accomplishment.  I am so thankful that I have been given the opportunity to experience such a wonder 3 times now.  I have tried to express myself as best as possible, but really there are no words to describe it all and there is no other life experience that parallels it.

James weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and measured 20.75 inches.

Life with James has been so sweet!  He has brought so much love into our home.  I absolutely love my late night and early morning snuggles with him when the house is quiet and we are the only ones awake.  I have loved watching the girls get to know him, care for him and "babysit" him.  They sure do love their baby brother!