Sawyer's Birth Story

A short version of the story illustrates how crazy fast Sawyer's birth was. The nurses made it clear that it was unreal for it being my first baby.

8:45 am Water broke and immediate contractions
9:30 am Checked into the hospital at a dilation of 4
11:00 am Received the epidural, was dilated to a 10 and ready to go
11:54 am Started pushing
1:11 pm Our baby was here

That made labor and delivery a total of 4 1/2 hours. Fast and furious. 

The longer version only includes the part of Christmas day because I'm convinced that my body was making major preparations that day. It wasn't actually part of my labor but I want to remember it all. Without further ado, Sawyer's birth story...

On Christmas morning I woke up around 2:45 am to some unpleasant contractions. I got up to use the bathroom and experienced other obvious indicators of upcoming labor. I started timing my contractions and they were consistently 7 minutes apart with the exception of the first few. I waited for about an hour and then decided to wake Dillon up.

"Don't freak out, but we may be having a baby today. I'm not sure how fast things will speed up so I vote we do Christmas presents now."

Dillon and I opened presents and checked out our stockings. Meanwhile, contractions kept coming at 7 minutes. They were unpleasant but not extreme yet. Dillon went back to sleep for a little while and I packed our hospital bags (cue the procrastination remorse). 

Around nine o'clock we decided to head to my parents house to do our present exchange with them. Contractions were still 7 minutes apart and hadn't gotten any worse. While at my parents, contractions slowed down and became very sporadic- 20 minutes, 6 minutes, 45 minutes. We relaxed with family and took it easy. By the time we returned home, around 5 o' clock in the afternoon, contractions were only showing up once an hour. The next morning they were completely gone. 

I didn't experience any pains or labor signs during the following day and started to think that maybe our little man was going to stay put for a while after all. Then things got real.

December 27th I woke up close to 7:30 in the morning and decided to start making breakfast for Dillon and myself. I threw a load of laundry in the washer and went about getting breakfast made. While cooking, I started to feel like I might throw up which was not uncommon for me during this trimester. I tried to hold it in but my body was having none of that. At 8:45 I turned to the kitchen sink as I didn't have time for anything else and threw up, hard. With every convulsion of my stomach, a gush of water ran down my legs. For a few seconds, I wasn't sure what in the world was going on but then I connected the dots and realized my water was breaking. As I cleaned up some, I noticed there was a green tinge to the water which I knew wasn't a good sign and meant there was meconium in there with our baby.

I woke Dillon up and let  him know it was the real deal this time. My contractions were coming every two minutes and they.were.mean. We took a little time to gather last minute things and put on actual clothes/get ready. We got in the car and I've never been more thankful that the hospital is only 7 minutes from our house. Three contractions sitting in the car was enough.

At 9:30 we walked into labor and delivery (me taking breaks along the way as I couldn't even walk through the contractions anymore) and checked in. I know the pain was making me more ornery than usual but oh the front desk nurse almost made me lose it. She seemed almost bored checking me in and took her time. "Who is your provider?" "How do you spell your name?" (Any freaking way you want lady!).

I got changed into a gown and paced the room waiting for the nurse to come in. Nurse Cynthia walked in with an exclamation of, "You don't look happy." Polite chuckle from me on the outside...screams of, "I hate you!" on the inside. (Not fair, I know. She ended up being a really great nurse.)

She had me sit on the bed which brought on a new level of hurt and checked me. "Well you're at about a 4/5 so you're a keeper." (Hallelujah!) First words out of my mouth, "That means I'm good for the epidural, right?" Because I knew from our prenatal class that 4 is usually the magic number to be okayed for an epidural. She smiled and let me know that was in fact the case and they'd let the anesthesiologist know. 

Nurse Cynthia went about getting things ready- my IV so they could get a platelet count for the epidural (which wouldn't give enough blood but thankfully the phlebotomist popped in and took it from a different spot), a few basic questions etc. My contractions were turning me into a noisy whimperer and being told to breathe through them almost sent me through the roof. Thankfully Dillon was there to let me squeeze his hand and to provide sympathetic expressions.

Around 10:30, nurses switched so I had Nurse Carolyn (a woman I've known my whole life and was from my home ward---I thought it would be weird but I was so glad she was there, along with Phyllis who came later.) She walked over and gave me the best, comforting hug. I had a few more miserable contractions and rather than just telling me to breathe she simply told me in a soothing tone that she was sorry that I was hurting so much (that is how it's done folks). She then mercifully suggested Fentanyl to help with the pain while I waited for the epidural. They plugged that into my IV and I still definitely felt the contractions but I wasn't whimpering anymore (all hail Fentanyl).

Close to 11:00 Carolyn helped me get into position for the epidural and talked me through how best to situate the curve of my back to make it easy for the anesthesiologist. My favorite person walked in and gave me basic step-by-step information on what he was doing as he was doing it. The initial place he chose wasn't working out after he gave me the numbing shot and I panicked for a brief moment thinking I wasn't going to be able to have the medicine at all. It was all okay though because he picked a spot one vertebrate up to try and it worked just fine. 

The relief I felt as the epidural started taking effect was unreal. There was literally zero pain. I was a normal person again who didn't feel like shooting daggers at any nurse that dared smile at me. 

Carolyn checked me again and let out a, "Oh, you're complete. She's complete!" (Say, wha?) My body doesn't mess around. I had gone from a 4 to a 10 in an hour and a half. All of the sudden the room was busy; people in and out bringing equipment and prepping. Then Carolyn checked the monitors and the room was busy with people muttering and being concerned. They called the anesthesiologist back to give me a shot of Ephedrine. Apparently, my blood pressure had dropped, like 70 over 40 (I think that's what I heard them muttering) dropped and that made the baby's heart rate drop. My body was digging the epidural a little too much. This made sense because I started seeing stars about the time Carolyn checked the monitors. But they were so quick with the Ephedrine (which causes blood vessels to contract, or in other words do the opposite of the epidural according to the anesthesiologist) and giving me oxygen that I bounced back quickly and so did the baby.

Dr. Gatherum came in to check me and decide if it was time for pushing. Sure enough, things were ready and I started pushing at 11:54. 

After the first few sets of pushes, my contractions weren't showing up on the monitor anymore. I was still having them but this made things difficult because I couldn't feel them and they couldn't see them to tell me when to push. They set up some other equipment that monitors contractions from the inside and we got back on track. After pushing for a while, Dr. Gatherum left and had Carolyn stay with me. She had me turn on my side to push because the baby didn't seem to be particularly enjoying things with me on my back. Dr. Gatherum came back and I pushed on my back again for a while. We repeated this cycle a couple of times. Toward the end I started being able to feel when I was having contractions; not so it hurt but I was aware of the pressure. Looking back, this made me grateful that things happened so quickly because I had gotten the epidural only two hours before and it was starting to wear off already. 

At 1:11 p.m. I gave my final set of pushes and Sawyer was here and crying as they laid him on my stomach and cleaned him off. Dillon kept saying he couldn't believe how purple he was. I think Dr. Gatherum got a kick out of that. Dillon was pressured into cutting the cord; something he had already told me he didn't want to do and I was fine with that. But the nurses and Dr. Gatherum weren't taking no for an answer and Dillon took care of it. He told me later it wasn't actually as bad as he pictured it.

While Dr. Gatherum finished taking care of me, Dillon and I smiled at our new little family member that had made it into the world. He was so new and so were we, in our own way. And now that he's here, it's like he was always meant to be with us. 

Welcome Sawyer. You're loved more than you know.

Sawyer Dustin Thatcher
Arrived 1:11 pm December 27th, 2014
7 lbs 11 oz
20 1/2 inches long

Nearing the Pregnancy Finish Line

33 weeks

• How far along are you? 35 weeks
• Movement: Still a mover. I'm pretty lucky with my longer torso; he doesn't really kick my ribs (yet). I definitely feel movement much higher nowadays but none of the miserable rib-kicking other women have told me about. That's not to say I'm not uncomfortable. There is plenty of discomfort to go around. Little mister does seem to thinks it's fun to take looooong breaks from noticeably wiggling-like the whole weekend, every weekend. It keeps me on edge for sure. He's always back to moving on Monday morning though, stinker.
• Belly button in or out? Um..flat. It's making its way out but I don't know if it will reach that "turkey is done" status before d-day.
• General Mood? Still pretty good. The discomfort level lately has made me pretty unforgiving of middle school behaviors at work. Poor kids.
• Thoughts: I'm feeling overwhelmed the closer it gets. There's just so much to do and the list keeps on growing somehow. I'm still pretty nervous about labor but I'm starting to get into the stage where my attitude is becoming more of a "whatever we've got to do" outlook. I'm ready to be able to move without letting out squeaks of pain.
• Doctor Appointments: Well these have actually been semi-exciting. I went in to take my glucose test with piqued curiosity about the infamous sugar drink. I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted just like orange Hi-C. I thought it was delicious. And I passed! Woop! I had a kind of random "appointment"due to our crash with a deer. Baby moved some after the crash but then didn't move for a good 24 hrs so we decided to go in. The nurse-Phyllis-was a lady I've known my whole life which I ended up being grateful for. She has a fantastic bedside manner. She hooked me up to the monitors and we basically chilled for a few hours. She did tell me and Dillon that the change in barometric pressure probably didn't help. Apparently babies don't like when the pressure changes and they tend to not move as much. Phyllis said they anticipated an influx of worried moms that day and sure enough, they were busy. The monitor showed his lovely little heartbeat and we could hear him moving but I couldn't feel it which they thought was odd (they being Phyllis and Dr. Gatherum who was watching the screen from his house). They sent me home with instructions to come back if I didn't feel him within a day. Baby gave me some feeble moves the next day but the day after that was back to his usual self. The last appointment worth mentioning is more just funny than anything. Every appointment they ask you to pee in a cup, right? So I was in the bathroom trying to get situated when my cup folded in on itself of its own accord (seriously, I think a ghost kicked it) and fell in the toilet. It fell in pre-business but still, "clean" toilet water doesn't really exist in my opinion. So then I had to fish it out which got toilet water everywhere which led to me cleaning up their floor etc. as best I could. Much too long of time later, I washed my hands and tried again (and then washed my hands again). I walked into the other room and told Dillon and the nurse about my predicament. The nurse got a kick out of it and told me she wondered what was going on in there. What can I say? I live to amuse.
• Baby: Baby is pretty much fully formed with all of the necessities and will now just keep on putting on fat for the next few weeks.
• Symptoms: Well my stomach looks like a super awesome tributary system of shiny pinkness. Dillon got to experience poking my swollen foot and having his finger imprint stay in my skin. Freaked us both out. My poor, pelvic region hates all movement- all.of.it. Throwing up has revisited the scene. And all of the other typical aches of the 3rd trimester. All worth it, though. Worth it.
• Cravings/Aversions/Eating: Dr. Pepper for the last week or so. This is really odd as I pretty much never purposely seek out that particular drink. Apparently this little guy digs those 23 flavors.

Starting With a Bang

Well November started out with a bang, quite literally.

Dillon and I were headed over to the annual hunt/craft show event in Delta. Dillon gets to bond with his dad, the dogs, and guns for a few hours while I get to walk around a gigantic craft show and spend too much money while wishing I had brought more. But not this year.

The morning of November 1st we decided to take the back road to Delta (maybe not the wisest choice in hindsight?). Everything was smooth sailing until we came over a hill and Dillon had enough time to yell, "Deer!" and then bam!

We pulled over to the side of the road, our car leaking antifreeze everywhere. Have you ever smelled antifreeze? I never had and I was convinced that it was the poor, mangled deer bleeding everywhere. THAT is what antifreeze smells like-death.

Not even a full two minutes later, a man pulled over to help us out. He actually lives in Cedar too but we didn't know him and will probably never see him again but shout out to Skyler! He was so helpful and had the best chuckle which somehow made the situation more bearable.

He checked on the deer (the poor thing was not dead but was struggling- soooo sad; it did eventually pass on its own) and called dispatch for us. He then lined up a tow truck for us while Dillon was on the phone with my parents to see if they would come get us so early in the AM.

After that it was mostly a matter of waiting. Skyler kept us company and told about his work on the pig farms. That work is actually what had him on the back road. He drives that drive twice a day most days of the week. 

My parents showed up, we transferred our stuff out of our car, then highway patrol showed up, then the tow truck- all in pretty quick succession. 

We got everything squared away with insurance and the dealership where we had our car towed to. $6,000 in damage (so glad we have insurance) and three weeks later we're looking at having our car back on Monday. Baby and I are so excited (side note: we did have to make a trip to the hospital to make sure everything was a-ok, it was). Dillon's jeep has a broken window and pretty much zero suspension. I'm kind of surprised this kid hasn't been bounced out of me.

To keep me content, these two albums arrived in the mail a few days after the crash. No let downs here, love them both. (Bad Blood from T-swift is a fav).

All Things October

October was a super busy and super fantastic month. During this month...

I completed some "conference crafts" while listening to conference. I have to keep myself busy or I fall asleep on the couch every.dang.time. My favorite talks focused on standing up for your beliefs while being polite. Unapologetic, but polite. I appreciated that because I feel like sometimes I'm being told that I'm offending the general public by believing what I do. That's not really fair. My intent with my beliefs is to better myself, not to offend others. So unapologetic, but polite it is.

Before

After

This isn't finished yet in this picture. I started this dang craft during April's conference. Ridiculous. But who knew it would take so many stinkin' pearls?! It's done and hung up now though so, yay.

I enjoyed some delicious drinks. The Nesquik was discovered by accident but was so yummy. Happiness in a bottle. The glucose drink was like a cold, orange punch. I really did like that one too. And I passed the glucose test. Boom.

We went up North and visited our friends the Britos. Lindsay gave our hair some much needed lovin' and we got to catch up with her and Rob.

Fresh looking with our new hairdo's

View 1 of the bump

And view 2

We also started our 6 week prenatal course this week. Most people already know this story but...our first week was interesting. It focused a lot on breathing and relaxation techniques during labor. My personality is not a "breathe through it" type so I had a hard time taking it seriously. Then during the video we watched it panned to a nice, blooming pink rose and the narrator said, "Imagine your cervix opening like a rosebud." Wha?? It's a good thing Dillon and I were in the back row. Covered up laughter definitely ensued. Prenatal class 1. Maturity 0. Other than that week though I've actually really liked the class. The instructor is even in her opinions and truly just wants to inform all of us moms-to-be as best she can.

My mom invited me to go see The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn with her. It was really fun and their effects involving creating the underwater appearance were pretty impressive. The only down side was the lady who sat down next to us and let us know that she was super sick with an intense cough but not to worry because she brought cough syrup. Thanks lady. Me and my baby appreciate your cough syrup. Some people's children.

My dad threw a family baby shower for me. He kept it perfectly easy. Food, hanging and chatting, then presents. Top notch. He did an excellent job. Pro-shower thrower. We loved all of the stuff people were kind enough to get us and are seriously so grateful. These are some of my favorites:

That same day Dillon and I headed down to Tuacahn with his sister and mom to see Thriller. I liked 90% of the show. It was a fun atmosphere but that Giggling Girl could giggle herself right off the program and it would be just fine.

Dillon and one of the roaming zombies

Our friends Amy and Dan invited us to their house to do some pumpkin carving.

Dillon working on our pumpkin. He did all the work. It's really just his pumpkin.

Dan showing his pumpkin who's boss

Amy with her and Dan's cute, new baby boy Sammy

Finished product

Mr. Gnome

And finally, we were invited to a Halloween party at my co-worker's house. It was a lot of fun. Heather and her husband Bart put lots of effort into the party for the kiddos and adults. Dillon and I aren't exactly dedicated dresser-uppers but I was still proud of our last minute costumes.

My homemade Solar System t-shirt

Baby Sawyer being featured as the Sun

Dillon as an astronaut..on leave because that's all we had...and because Dillon wouldn't be an alien as was suggested.

Pregnancy News

24 weeks

• How far along are you? 27 weeks (almost)
• Do you know the sex of the baby? Boy!
• Have you picked out names? Drumrooollllll.... His name is Sawyer Dustin Thatcher. Sawyer has been a favorite on the list our whole marriage. There was another name I was really liking but when I looked it up on the internet to check its popularity it was clearly rising...on the girl list. So weird. I don't feel like it's a girl name at all but I couldn't name our boy that and have him be this generation's version of the boy named Ashley.
• Movement: I started feeling him around 21 weeks. It is so weird. I feel like the description of butterflies/popping popcorn is not accurate at all. For me, it seriously feels like my internal organs are pulsing. You know when you smash a finger and it has its own heartbeat? That is how my bladder feels when little dude uses it as a punching bag. Yes, pulsing organs is a much better description.
• Belly button in or out? In but I don't know how much longer that's going to last.
• General Mood? Pretty good. Definitely tired but I feel like I've been tired ever since I hit my teenage years so I'm not sure that it's pregnancy related.
• Thoughts: I catch myself smiling when he wiggles now. I guess I'm feeling more affectionate. And then two seconds later I'm experiencing extreme anxiety about it all- everything we have left to do, actually raising a kid, going through labor and delivery. You guys, I'm terrified of labor and delivery. Utterly and completely terrified.
• Doctor Appointments: These are still pretty run of the mill. Babe's heartbeat is nice and strong. My numbers look good. All is well. This last appointment the nurse talked to me about the flu vaccine and TDAP shot. Usually I'm pretty indifferent to the flu vaccine. I've seen people that got the vaccine and then turned around to get the flu (though to clarify I am pro-vaccine in general..vaccines are good!). However, I figured I should do what I can to avoid sickness and help little man avoid sickness so I opted to get both shots. My body took the TDAP vaccine like a champ. The flu shot definitely left me with symptoms- body aches, fatigue, though nothing quite like the flu. The weirdest thing was my arm that I got the flu shot in was ticked. It was so sore and had a giant red swollen bump for days. Everything looks good now though. Up next: my glucose test. I'm kind of looking forward to trying the infamous drink.
• Baby: Baby has hair and can hear. He is longer than a ruler-about 13 inches and weighs a whopping 2 1/2 lbs. He apparently is comparable to the size of a head of lettuce. All of this according to the internet.
• Symptoms: Things are so much better than the first trimester I really can't complain. One symptom that hasn't been so fun is symphysis pubic dysfunction. I started experiencing that one around 21 weeks and even my doctor was surprised it started so early. It definitely makes walking hard (hello waddle), stairs are fun, and sleeping at night (particularly rolling over) is a chore. There's not much that can be done about it though so sucking it up it is. My shoes are also becoming limited in wearability. My feet have become too fat for at least half of them. Those that do fit, fit in the morning but by afternoon there's some definite spillage of feet flesh over the shoe's edge. 
• Cravings/Aversions/Eating: These change on a daily basis. Smells of foods seem to get me more than anything else right now. I've definitely been craving sugar but I don't feel like that's related to pregnancy. I've always had a sweet tooth. However, now if I want to eat a whole cake people are totally fine with it, no judgement (don't worry, I've actually not felt the need to eat a whole cake. I'm sure that would bring my nausea back). Pregnancy perk.

Life Lately

The most recent haps in our lives:


I finally caved and bought a body pillow during July. It worked wonders then. I now feel like I need four more to be comfortable. 

Dillon and I finally hiked Kanarra Falls together with a group of my co-workers. We didn't quite make it to the natural slide because of the weather but it was still fun.  This is literally the only hike that I like because there's shade and water and good scenery. It's pleasant even in the super heat of summer.

I was called to be this years Girls Camp director for our ward. These girls are seriously the most easy-going, low-maintenance, no-drama group I've ever known. They made camp easy and fun. The actual camping part was an adventure. The heat (surprise) and lack of sleep made for some angry body symptoms which I can only assume had a lot to do with growing a little human.

One of the ladies in the science department (and my good friend) miss Jami got married! This, of course, made for some picture opportunities. Although, I didn't manage to get one with the bride..

We found out what exactly was growing inside that belly of mine. I drank a ton of water per hospital instructions and then found out that actually isn't as necessary as they make it seem. 

And we're having a little man! This is how I decided to announce it. I felt creative and had some people tell me that they indeed had not seen this idea before. If you have, don't tell me. I prefer to live in my bubble of creativity as that doesn't happen that often.

The little man was in a funny position the whole ultrasound. He was basically spread eagle the whole time but had both arms curved around his face. The technician acted like that was no big deal but my doctor called me later that day to tell me that I needed to get another ultrasound because they needed face shots. Those ultrasounds are certainly not cheap and we have to pay for two now (though it was fun to see our guy twice) and now we have learned a lesson: Don't leave that first ultrasound until they have gotten all of the necessary shots INCLUDING the face. The umbilical cord was covering his face the second time but the technician managed to get what was needed. All looks well for our babe so far.

We made a trip to Delta for all of the summer family birthdays. The Millard County Fair was going on while we were there and one of the events that we hit up was a concert by the band VanLadyLove. I actually really liked their sound and their songs. Fingers are crossed that they make it big.

This pup of ours is now a permanent resident of Delta. We actually took her over the July 4th weekend. She was just having a hard time in our yard. No matter where we put her, she was getting into neighbors' yards, onto our roof, or into things in the yard (all of this while on a chain!). We decided it wasn't fair to her to shorten her chain so she could barely move (which was about the only option we had left) and so asked Dillon's dad if he would mind a new addition to the farm. We both hated the idea and I definitely felt like a pet-owner failure but once we saw her again in August we knew it was the right thing. She is so much calmer and loves the farm. She has plenty of space and other animals to interact with. 

Dillon turned 24! He actually picked out and ordered some new shirts for his birthday and then told me about it. Which was completely fine, I just felt like I didn't do my job as I wasn't involved at all in his birthday present. He's happy so I'm happy. The day of his birthday we went out to the driving range to hit a bucket of golf balls which basically turned into me watching Dillon because I had no clue what I was doing...and maybe I was a bit distracted watching the prairie dogs run around. 

Every year Dillon picks something different that he wants for his birthday treat. He has never asked for the same thing twice. This year he decided he wanted to go to the french bakery in town and get one of their cream puffs. These things are the size of your face! And mmmm, so good.

And school is back in full swing. I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of things this year. Although, I am currently sitting at home with my first illness of the year. Blast those petri dish students.