Our lives completely changed March 17, 2010, when we welcomed our son, Landon James Taylor into the world. He was four weeks early, but weighed a healthy 7 lbs., 6 oz. and was 20 in. long.
Here's his story...
My coworkers threw Jim and me a baby shower after work on March 16. We had a great time, and then went home and relaxed. After going to bed around 9 p.m., I got up to use the bathroom at midnight. When I was done, I heard a little "pop" and then felt like I was still going. I knew that my water had broken, but I was in total disbelief. I never thought Landon would come four weeks early!
After taking a minute to process the situation and take a few deep breaths, I woke up Jim. The poor guy was so caught off guard and was really worried about me. He called the midwife, who happened to be on call that night and she told us to come in. We knew that once we got to the hospital they would keep us, so we quickly tried to put the house in order and get things ready.
I had my bag packed and a bag packed for Landon, but Jim hadn't had time to put things together and was running around the house looking for clean socks. All he could say was "I can't find any clean socks." It was really cute, but showed just how nervous we both were.
We both took showers and cleaned up a few things and were on our way. The drive to the hospital was surreal. There were no cars on the road and it was really quiet. Jim and I kept looking and each other and couldn't do much except for hold hands and share nervous smiles.
When we got to the hospital the ER immediately called for someone from Labor and Delivery to come get us. By this time my water was really coming out. Luckily, I took the advice of a friend and was wearing and adult diaper, which really helped!
We were taken up to the 14th floor and I was given a gown to change into. There was no doubt that my water had broken, so the nurse called my midwife and received instructions. By that time, my contractions were mild, similar to menstrual cramps, but didn't bother me much. We basically just relaxed and did our best to enjoy our time together. We both e-mailed our bosses and left messages at work letting them know what was happening and that we wouldn't be in the next day.
We were moved to another room around 3 a.m. that had a more comfortable bed and a reclining chair for Jim. We tried our best to get some rest, but my contractions started to become more real around 3:30 a.m. I could still talk through them, but they were coming every two to three minutes and were lasting for more than a minute. Because my water had broken, the nurse didn't want to check my cervix until later, to help ward off infection.
My mom and Mike arrived at the hospital in the early afternoon to visit and check in on us, which was really nice.
I labored until around noon, and still hadn't been checked by the nurse or midwife. I told Jim how uncomfortable I was, so he nicely asked the nurse when I could be checked and have my epidural. She looked surprised and asked if I was ready for one. Apparently I was doing such a good job dealing with the pain that she assumed that I didn't need one. Wrong! I was dilated to 4 cm and was 80 percent effaced when she checked me. She paged the anesthesiologist and he arrived to give me my epidural.
I was really nervous, but the process wasn't bad at all. Jim was able to stand in front of me as I leaned against him, which really helped! The anesthesiologist told me that he was very impressed by me and that he wished all of his patients were as composed as I was. Props to me!
The epidural really helped and started working right away. I could feel slight pressure on the big contractions, but other than that, I was in total comfort. We were able to finally get a little rest while we waited to meet our little man. Jim was amazing during the entire process and really supported me and made me feel comfortable and happy.
The nurse checked me off and on and I had dilated to 6 cm by 4 p.m., but Landon's head was still really high up and hadn't come down into the birth canal. She manipulated my bed into a position where my head was down and my feet were higher up into the air in hopes that he would shift his position.
The on call doctor came in at 5 p.m. to check me and I was dilated to 10 cm and was 100 percent effaced. However, little Landon hadn't made any progress and she said that she would give us another hour and then perform a c-section. We really didn't want to have a c-section, but we wanted to be sure that we had a healthy baby, so we tried to keep an open mind.
Jim, Sue and Emily arrived around this time and came in to visit a little between checks by the doctor and nurses.
The on call midwife came to visit a short time later and we asked if we could have more time before surgery to see if his head would drop. We talked about the possibilities of him turning and/or me pushing and agreed that we would wait at least another hour before committing to the surgery.
There were two other patients ahead of us in the OR, so we were able to wait until around 7 p.m. before we were checked by the doctor again and decided to have the c-section.
The nurses came in to prep me around 7:30 p.m. and I had to say goodbye to Jim, who waited in our room until I was ready in the OR. I was nervous as they wheeled me away, but excited and anxious to meet our son.
The OR was cold and bright and although the medical staff were very nice, no one really told me what they were doing or what I could expect. I started to get really scared and asked when Jim could come back in. They went to get him and I instantly felt better, but had started crying and shaking and couldn't really stop. The shaking was caused by the medicine and epidural, but the tears were all nerves.
The medical staff worked quickly, and Jim alternated between kissing my face and staying by my head to peeking over the drape to tell me what was going on. At 8:20 p.m. on St. Patrick's Day, Wednesday, March 17, our son was born. Even though he was a month early, he was healthy and perfect. Our lives were forever changed.
The next two days were a blur of checks and exams, paper work, diapers, feedings and answering questions.
Landon was born during March Madness, so we got to watch our Huskies play from our hospital room. It was a nice "first" for our little family.
We were discharged to go home on Friday, March 19. It was so scary being wheeled out of the hospital, but we couldn't wait to leave. We were proud, scared and anxious, but both very ready to love and care for our new son!
My hubby is the big 2-9!