Birth Story of Joel

Labor and Delivery                                          

Remember my mention of aches and pains this last week? yeah, Kent teased me that i was crying wolf so Saturday morning when I woke early, I still felt achy so I took a bath. I thought, that's funny my back hurts, usually it aches after a long day of activity. So I started counting and curiously watching the clock. Okay, real contractions, sounds good, wait a minute these are getting stronger not fading away... So after two hours I called Kelsey and asked her to come get Owen. I nicely woke up Kent and said no false alarms; We are having a baby today! 

I told Owen he was going to his best buddies house and that Mom and Dad were going to the hospital to have baby Joel. He asked if he could hug Joel and then hugged my belly. Aunt Kelsey was the best at confirming my thoughts to go in and she came all the way from Nyssa to take Owen for the duration. He went to the park, swam and had a sleepover with Kara, Katelin, Kass and Kenn at the Peterson's which gave Kent and I peace of mind. I had a lot of contractions in the car but we still gassed up, called about Kent's test and I even shaved my legs before finally getting to the hospital. I had to stop twice in the parking lot and catch my breath and I could sense Kent's urgency as he held my hand and hurried me along. The nurse in triage was my favorite, very efficient, instead of going through checkin questions she checked my dilation when I told her I came in at a 5 with my first one. Turns out I was at an 8 and she hurried to call my doctor. She didn't think I had time for antibiotics for the positive strep b, but when I told her I wanted an epidural she conferred with the doctor and they kept me pregnant(not breaking my water or pushing) so one bag of antibiotics could go through me. And the epidural kept me calm so that we could wait. Everything was very different than with Owen. My water had broke and I felt the need to push and the epidural didn't mask that intense pressure and I pushed for hours and they had to use the vacuum. This time, Kent said I was smiling and nice and we had time to just sit and be excited. I had pretty bad shakes and chattering teeth which they said was normal as my body was having strong contractions. Three hours from checkin it was time to push and after eight sets, beautiful baby Joel was born! Loved how they put him on my chest and I got to see his fingers and toes and cutest cheeks and nose! Kent was overwhelmed but attentive as they fixed up Joel to be held by Dad!