Two Weeks Later

I thought maybe I would document Dallin's entry into the world. I will try not to go into too much detail for anyone who is feeling squeamish, but this is a labor/delivery story, so read on at your own discretion.

Induction is right for me because I am strep positive and need antibiotics for at least 4 hours, once I am in labor things happen fast, I have two boys at home that I need to make arrangements for and who knows where Brian will be working when it's time. So it is nice to have things calm and planned out.

Tax day, April 15th, 6:30am, I call the hospital to see if they have room for me to be electively induced. The hospital says, can you be here by 7:30? A shower and blow dry later, I am checked in. My nurse asks, "Are you ready for this?" Because this is #3 and I realize a little of what I am in for, I smile and say, "No."

At 8:30am, after a million questions, an IV is started with antibiotics and pitocin. Shortly after, Brian, who was waiting for his mom to arrive to care for the boys, arrives. Just a note about the IV, it was supposed to be the medium for pain relieving drugs later on, but that didn't work out.

The 1st 4 hours were easy and relatively painless. Then, of course it is time to break my water which is when things start moiving and hurting. An hour later, lots of pain. Probably a 9 on the scale of 1 to 10. But I still have a 20 to 30 second break between contractions. So I want to wait to save the medication until closer to the end. At just after 2:30, with Brian's persuasion, I am ready for DRUGS. Brian goes to get the nurse, when all of a sudden, something is changing. Baby is moving down. WHAT? You mean it gets worse than a 10??!! Nurse comes in, checks me, I am almost fully dilated. My wonderful supportive nurse suddenly turns on me, "You can't have any medication now because the baby will be born sleepy." Luckily my doctor just happened to be there, comes to check me but doesn't bother because he can see that it is time to push. He leaves to get scrubbed and dressed, and I am panicking. So bad, "I can't do this! Where is Dr. Strebel?!" Pretty sure I scared some first time moms who were laboring away down the hall. I am hyperventilating, sweating, shaking, finally the doctor is back, time to push. Did you know there is a whole next pain scale after the 1 to 10 scale? Now you do. But Brian is awesome, encouraging me and holding my hand.

2:59, baby boy is born. My doctor says "Look down, Tara," and there he is. Fingers, toes, hair! He is beautiful, 8 lbs 1 oz! I get to hold him right away which is so special. Within an hour brothers meet him.

Without an epidural, I can walk right away and I actually feel really good. And I avoided the needle in my back and all of the scary complications that can arise from that. I am not anti-epidural, I just didn't want it this time.

I am glad I did a natural child birth this time. But If I had to do it again tomorrow I would have had the drugs earlier. I think my nurse said it right, it is not the amount of pain, but the length of time you are in pain. For me, it was relatively short. But if I had to do that for hours and hours, an epidural would have definately been a possibility.

Dallin is getting bigger already and has been a huge blessing in our home. We are lucky to have him. His older brothers love him and are very sweet to him.

Dallin Brian Schwab

He is here! Born April 15, 2:59 pm, 8 pounds 1 ounce.




As you can see, he has hair! Kyle and Blake were mostly bald. Everything went really well, he has all his fingers and toes, and big brothers love him very much.

Spring

I have gotten behind on posting, so here is a mass update.

Kyle's 6th birthday party was really fun. He got lots of cool stuff.




I have always wanted to do a pinata. So, we did one. But I will probably never do one again. First of all they are not worth the money and second I think we were lucky to not have any injuries. But the candy was fun for the kids.

With all the beautiful weather we were having, we spent quite a bit of time outside. We even went to the Hogle Zoo.



Blake got tired.


Also, the boys have been helping me with spring cleaning.


What good kids they have been!

And the boys have discovered yet another use for their beloved dump trucks: Riding them down the hill at the park.



The best part of this was that they could push their trucks back to the top of the hill. So they were the ones getting worn out.

We are covered in snow now. But the warm weather was a nice break. So excited to start having my bulbs flower in my yard. Summer is coming!