November 12, 2006

Our little Megan is here. Megan Julie Dick was born on November 6, 2006 at 2:05 AM in Henderson, Nevada at St. Rose Hospital Delima Campus. She was delivered by Dr. Stanczyk. Her due date was Nov 2, but I had several things going on during that week: Halloween (and I really wanted to take the other kids around trick-or-treating) and then Super Saturday for the Relief Society (and I was in charge of teaching a class on making frames for "The Living Christ") and then I figured I might as well get one more Sunday in before she comes. So even though I was pretty much tired of being pregnant, I really didn't mind being late with this one (in fact, I kind of hoped for it). I woke up early Sunday morning with contractions (about 2 AM or so). They weren't terrible, but they were definitely labor contractions. After several had come and gone I started to time them. They were anywhere from 5 minutes to 15 minutes apart, and some were stronger than others. This went on and on (never getting too much harder or closer together). I actually got up, showered and was thinking this was it, when they just stopped (at about 6 AM). Cold Turkey. No more. I was totally bummed out. I had never experienced that before (so many contractions and then nothing - in fact I rarely even have braxton hicks at all during any of my pregnancies). So, I got up and went to church with the family hoping that I would see some action later that day. I had an inducement date for later that week (Thursday), so I figured if nothing happened in the mean time at least I could see the end in sight. I continued to feel contractions all throughout the day (about 1 or 2 every hour) and a couple of them got pretty painful, but nothing was consistent. I went home and enjoyed the rest of the Sabbath Day. I was pretty tired by that evening (after being up 5 hours early that morning), and I fell asleep on the couch at around 8:00 PM or so. I woke up with a start at about 9:00 PM with a real whopper. It was a serious contraction. And from that moment on those babies came every 4-6 minutes like clockwork and they were serious. We called Aunt Heather to come over and stay with the kids and Sean and I headed to the hospital. We got there shortly before 10. They hooked me up and told me that I was definitely in labor. They checked me a little while after and continued with the admittance process. It wasn't until about 45 minutes or so after I had gotten there that they told me that I was already at a 6. YAY! The contractions were pretty strong. They asked if I wanted an epidural. I had mixed emotions about it (there was a part of me that wanted to tough it out because I was already far along), but I said to go ahead and have the anesthesiologist come in when he was free. It was at least an hour later before he got into my room. I was hurting, but still felt in control. I gave him the go-ahead. He tried and tried and tried and tried, but he just could not get that needle in the right spot. I was curled up in that little ball for about 40 minutes (dealing with some serious contractions) before he finally said that he wasn't going to be able to do it (which was just barely before I wanted to throw that dude off me...HE HE HE). So we carried on. The nurse checked me again and I was just about fully dialated and ready to go. They called my doctor and he was on his way. This was at about 1:15 AM. This was the MOST painful hour. He finally got there at around 1:50 PM and started pushing right away. It was just a matter of about three pushes and out she came. She was beautiful and loud. Even though she was born naturally I would say she was my easiest delivery overall (shortest, easiest recovery, no numbness, etc). They cleaned her off and weighed her and then I got to feed her for a few minutes before they took her away. She latched on quite well, but she only ate for about 10 minutes and then was out like a light. She was precious. They took her away to bathe her and Sean went with her. I got cleaned up and then just relaxed for a while. I caught a few winks of sleep before they eventually brought her back to be fed and be in the room with us (at which time I just wanted to hold her some more). Grandma Dick (Sean's mom) got into town later that evening. Aunt Heather brought the kids in to see her that afternoon. Ben and Caelan were in love right away. I got to go home first thing on Wednesday morning, and we have been recovering and adjusting well since then.