And so it begins

Labor, it's a funny thing. Apparently 90% or so of people go into labor before or within a couple of hours of their bag of waters breaking. Well, from the very start Gayle (my wife) decided that she was going to buck the system... so to speak. Let me explain...

Gayle had a small tear in her bag of waters Tuesday at 8:00 am on her morning trip to the bathroom. We went into the clinic to make sure that it was her water breaking and they said hmmm, sure looks like it, but it's not the right PH (according to her litmus paper) so we went to get an ultrasound later that afternoon to make sure that it wasn't her water (that continued to leak out for 6 hours). When we got back from the ultrasound, we were feeling pretty punk, and weren't too happy about everything since we had just had all this excitement and then we were being told it wasn't her water, but we decided to walk around the block because she continued to leak and we were sure it must be her water, but there weren't any contractions that were coming on yet, and when they checked her at the hospital she was only dialated to 1 cm.

So just before 2 pm, as we awaited the ultrasound results, we decided to walk around the block, since we were on a 24 hour time frame if it was her water that broke at 8 that morning, because we were having a hospital birth. Having not even made it to the corner on the block there was a mighty rushing water feeling that Gayle had and that was it, we were absolutely certain, her water had broken then, and we went back to the clinic before we had received the results of the ultrasound and said, "check it again". So they did, and the paper didn't change much, but there was so much there and the paper changed just a little and finally we were able to convince them that this was the real deal.

Ok, that took us till 3, and so we called our dula (Jemima) who was amazing during this whole thing I have to say, and let her know that the water broke, but that we haven't been having any contractions. I told her that we agreed to go into the hospital at about 6:00p and we would go from there. So we started walking and walking and rolling on her exercise ball, and walking and so on. Nothing was really bringing on labor and I began to worry because I felt this looming timeline that was bearing down on us and feared that we would have to be induced ( something we were trying to avoid ).

Well, 6pm rolled around and, we (Gayle) had only had a couple of contractions in that time, but nothing was really happening and so we said that Gayle should rest for a bit and we will go into the hospital after she gets up. At about 7:30p Gayle was up and moving and we were going to go to the hospital. We arrived and got checked in about 8pm, and then we hooked Gayle up to some monitors to see what was happening. Well, it turns out she was having contractions, but they were appearently doing little if anything according to the hospital because she was still only dialated to 1cm and was still mostly posterier facing with her cervix ( needs to be anterior facing, and she was 70% effaced, the same she'd been for quite a while).

After speaking with our Mid-Wife Avis, we decided to spend the night at the hospital, and see how things went, but if nothing had happened, we would begin a pitocin drip and antibiotics the next morning at about 7am. We spent the night there, however that did nothing but help us not sleep well ( should have gone back home :(, but we didn't and we did get some sleep atleast ), and nothing happened all night but some tossing and turning. 6:30am rolled around pretty quickly on Wednesday and we hadn't had any noticable contractions to that point, so we unhappily started a pitocin drip and antibiotics to help stop any possible infection from starting in, and by about 9:30 gayle started having contractions pretty consistantly.

So now we're finally beginning laber, and gayle is doing great. The nurse comes in and checks the contractions and doesn't like seeing some of the "biphasic" contractions, so they keep upping the dosage. Finally they have upped it so high that she begins to have constant contractions for 10-15 minutes without a break inbetween, but the nurse is good enough to take the suggestion that they reduce the pitocin and gayles contractionathon subsided down to 2-3 minutes apart. Gayle went through some pretty strong contractions and was really doing fantastic, but these pitocin induced contractions were very strong, and with all that pitocin coursing through her, she was only able to handle it for so long. At about 4pm Gayle ended up getting an epidural and while this made me quite sad and disapointed with the whole situation being so not what we had hoped for, I can't begin to stress how much I was proud of Gayle for doing so well for so long, all this while she was throwing up every half hour or so and was really really miserable, I felt so bad for her :**( .



In order to get an epidural she first got sterilized, and then she had to get a topical anesthetic and then she had to be completely still in the midst of a labor of having contractions, the hiccups, and throwing up pretty consistently. She did it just like there was nothing happening, and once they made the first injection of a narcotic to give her instant relief the babies heart rate dropped ( normal rate was between 135 and 165, and 100 is the line where it's the danger zone where it can require a C-Section ) to 105... 100... 110... 105. I was praying under my breath pretty heavily, but after about 10 minutes, he started getting back up into normal ranges, and then things were feeling good for a little bit, however there was still a lot of throwing up, and after the narcotics wore off, gayle was only getting relief on one half of her body and by the time it was time to push, she could feel basically everything.

At 3:30p ( just before the epidural) Gayle was dialated to a 3-4. After the epidural at 5p, she was dialated to about a 5cm. I was a little worried, that this meant about 5 hours of more laboring before going through transition and hitting the pushing phase. I began praying that these last 5 cm would dialate quickly because I was concerned that Gayle may get worn out, and tire out too soon.

I have to say a thank you to all our friends that I txt'd and or msg'd in some way with updates who were praying for us, I really can't say how much it was appreciated.

Gayle started getting more and more sick and was throwing up quite a bit, and was just horribly miserable. 6:30 came around, and we wanted to see if these contractions were getting the job done, so we got anther vaginal exam to find that gayle had dialated to just having a posterior lip left on her cervix from 5 cm at 5p to 9 3/4cm at 6:30p. It was great when she said how the cervix had dialated that much and gayle just looked in stunned disbelief saying... what??? are you kidding? ( and she was serious when she asked that too, it still makes me laugh to think about it ). 45 minutes later, Gayle started pushing. and everything was going great, until we got to a certain point in the pushing where Gayle was trying a couple more positions where she was using more gravity to help move things along ( sitting up and even squatting ). What we didn't realize at first was that these positions were strangely enough, not helping, even though they made her feel like she had to push more (there she goes bucking the system again). What happened was that the way Aaron was positioned, when gayle sat up and when she started squating, it was actually pulling him back and so she wasn't making any progress. She started laying down more, and all of a sudden, Aarong started moving forward at great speed. 5 or 6 more pushes, and he was out.

His head came out, and Avis told her to stop pushing while she pulled the cord off of his neck (it was wrapped around), and then she said to push on her next contraction and there he came... right out.

As soon as he was out, Avis put him on gayles tummy, and the first thing he did (apart from breathing and making a little noise) was to pee right on me ( all over my left forearm to be specific). The funny thing is... that made me happy, I knew that his kidney's were working and I didn't give it a second thought for several minutes as I got to wait for the placenta to stop pulsating ( now that's a weird feeling ), and then cut the cord for my son. Then he went over to the warming bed while a few quick things were done with Gayle, and I was right there with him. They did a couple quick things to check him, and suck out a little extra amniotic fluid. Gayle started getting sown up ( she tore during delivery), and we got gayle Aarong on Gayle with some skin to skin contact keeping him warm and letting them bond. I can't begin to explain the feelings you have when you become a father. It's an overwhelming sense of joy and pride and something you've never felt before.

We drank our orange juice ( something we did because we had gone to bradley classes ), and then I finally got to go out and tell the family that the baby was born. Little did I know that soon to be grandmothers, were waiting out by the door and listening to hear what had been going on (sneaky :) ).

Alright, So that's the story... and I'm stickin too it.

Aaron David Hadden
Born 10-29-08 at 9:23pm
8 lbs. 10 oz. 20.3 in.
Already sticking his tounge out at the world.

Aaron David Hadden - My Son

(just the facts version found below)

"That's IT!!!", I thought, as we were having a comprehensive ultrasound done on what I now know is my son. Just then Gayle said, "is that his...", as the nurse spoke up and said, "yep, those are his boy parts."

I have a son... a son... my mind raced forward to seeing a little version of me pretending that the floor was lava and jumping from couch, to chair, to cushion, and back to the couch again, bringing the springs and supports one trauma closer to breaking with each leap, just like I did when I was a little tyke. Then 8, 10, 12, playing catch in the back yard, throwing the ball back and forth. Then high-school, then marriage, and then it all just started to sink in, and I realized that I'm the dad now, and right then and there, I was praying in my head that God would bless my son, and keep him from harm, and the anointing of God would pour out over him and that he would be a blessing to the Lord for all his days.

I can't begin to explain how it made me feel to watch the 4 little chambers of his heart beating there right in front of me, and how my heart leaped with excitement when I saw him make little swallowing motions with his mouth. It was awesome to see him making a little fist and moving around, and being able to count 123.... 10, yep ten fingers..... and there are all 10 of his little toes, to know that he's my boy, that I'm his father, and that we're going to have this little life right in front of us in our very own hands in just a few months.... it's one of those moments that you want to drink in, and seal up, and never forget, never lose any little bit of it.

So now that all that emotion and such is out of the way here are a couple of pictures for ya :)

And just in case you were wondering... no, he's not sucking his thumb, he's got his fists up in front of his face (gonna be a boxer some day)

(Just the facts ma'am...)
So the word is that my boy is not a small one ( only appropriate ), 80th percentile in size to be exact, and it would seem that he's taking after his dad already... he's got a big head. (cue laughter) ok, so really what does that mean? It means that there are any number of things that could cause this to happen, (apart from just having a big head like much of both sides of his family do), but it's nothing to be concerned about at this point. Later down the line, closer to birth they're going to give him another ultrasound to make sure that his head, which is just on the normal side of big, is staying in that normal side of big and not swelling due to some sort of fluid build up or something which could really give him a big head before his skull fully sets, and that's just one of hundreds of possibilities, but that's the one that would give them the biggest concern. At this point, he's 14 oz. so that's almost a pound right now, he's moving around a lot, and I've been feeling him push and kick several times already. Well, it's getting late here, so I'll have to sign off now, but until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

~Dave

Glasses

So, today I went and picked up my glasses. I'm slightly farsighted and I have a minor astigmatism to boot, so 10-15 hours of work a day in front of a bunch of big computer screens makes for a headache or two, and that leads to trouble staying focused which leads to even longer days
(it's a vicious cycle, I know :) ).

Anyway, I just threw this picture up from my webcam while I was working on my laptop, so you'll have to forgive the lousy image.

I've been working a lot getting ready for NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Convention and it'll be interesting this year as I'm in a little bit different position than I have been before, and there are probably greater expectations on me than in the past (ya, I'm sure I'll keep them happy, but lately it's been a little tough because everybody is stressed out and deadlines are quickly approaching).

Gayle is at 10 weeks now and after having taking very nearly a month off from work for morning sickness we think that the pills she's taking now are making things good enough to get back to work which has me much less stressed since while she wasn't working we had about $900-$1100 of money that wasn't coming in and things are getting pretty tight, but God will provide he always does, whether he makes gayle well enough to work or gives me more, I know know he will take care of us :).

Well, I'm going to go back to editing, hope you all have a blessed (insert amount of time here until I post again), and hope you're doing well.

God Bless

BABY PICTURE!!!

Alright for the first time, I've just gotten to see my baby :) . He or she is about the size of a large peanut and probably barely discernible even with my (make it as easy as I can for everyone enhancements) on the picture. It strikes me funny that many peoples very first picture of their child is very similar to many kids drawings (only a parent can tell what it is). The doc said that we were there early (just shy of 9 weeks), but we were still able to see the baby ( and I even saw a little flutter of the heartbeat ). Gayle said I was smiling pretty big, but all I know is that's my baby in there, and I'm excited. On Thursday I was at the church helping them to prepare for some special Easter activities and there were a bunch of people that I knew there (and I had just come from the ultrasound appointment that morning and had the baby picture on my phone) so I had to show him/her to everyone :). Man, Easter is fast approaching and I feel very busy lately, not to mention that the NAB (National Association of Broadcasting) convention is coming in a few weeks ( middle of April ) and that means that I've gotta get my taxes done :). I thank God for my last year of work, it looks like I had the best income so far since my business started and I'm sure that's in no small part thanks to the big renewable contract with the company I do work with in Utah. Fortunately I buy lots of things for my business :), so I'm able to reduce my income and make taxes a little more bearable. I'm also no running a constant deal at the church for 8 hours a week for the next few months (so that I don't have to keep turning in hours for every little project I do). We'll see if that's an accurate average of my weekly hours or not.

Suddenly I'm getting tired ( it's a wonder I haven't been until now) but I figure you gotta jump on the opportunity when you get it.

Until next time :)