October 10, 2013...
Up to this point, as far as my pregnancy was going, I hadn't
been feeling many contractions, just a lot of pressure. My due date was Friday October 4th and I was still going to
volleyball practices and games. On Thursday morning, the 10th of
October at 5 am I woke up to a new pain in my belly that I hadn't been feeling.
Being six days overdue and knowing my parents were leaving in 3 days, I really
wanted this to be the day. I couldn’t sleep and tried to time the new
contractions I was experiencing. I have heard from so many people that 2nd
pregnancies and labor come more quickly. Because of this, I was beginning to get
a little nervous and asked Colten to stay home from school and told him we should
probably head to the hospital. Around 7:30 am, I woke my parents and told them
we were going to go to the hospital. This made them excited because they had
been at our home for a week already to see this baby and he still was not here.
We arrived at the Rochester Methodist Hospital around 8 am
and they checked us into triage. A short time later I was checked by a junior
resident who thought I was maybe dilated to 3 ½ or 4 and 50% effaced. Not much
different than what my doctor (Dr. Creedon) told me at my previous appointment
the Monday before. (Dilated to a 3 and 50% effaced). The decision was made that
they would come back into the room in 2 hours and recheck me. Colten and I
walked down to the cafeteria and got some breakfast. I was having slightly
painful contractions but much to my dismay, they weren’t consistently regular.
Around 10am I was checked again and given the news of 4cm dilated and same
effacement. We stayed another 2 hours to be checked again to see if this was real
labor and I could be admitted or if I was in false labor. Colten and I left the
room and went walking outside around the block and then down in the Subway for
over an hour. At this point my contractions were very consistent, happening
every 3-5 minutes and lasting 30 seconds. I was feeling a lot of pain and was
certain that I had made more progress. We were rechecked again around 12:30 pm
and we were told that nothing was different and I was in the early stages of
labor. I really didn’t want to go home and asked if I could be induced and have
my water broken. The resident came back with the consultant and said that this
was not going to be possible and that all we could do was go home. I was
frustrated because my contractions were painful and I didn’t understand how I
was supposed to know when it was time to come back to the hospital. She said to
make sure the contractions were at least lasting 45 seconds and occurring
regular.
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| Maybe a little too happy for a woman who "thinks" she's in labor! |
So feeling defeated, tired and a little embarrassed, we headed home. We stopped at Subway to grab some lunch and surprised (not in a good way) my parents at the house around 1pm. They were bummed to see us for obvious reasons. I ate my lunch in pain and the pains just kept getting worse and worse. I headed to my bedroom and tried to lie down for awhile but the pains were really getting much worse. I started timing them and soon the contractions became very regular. At 2:30 we decided to head back to the hospital, hoping to not get sent home again, I just knew I needed something for the pain. We parked in the parking garage and the contractions were so painful I could not walk while having one. We tried to walk fast during each break I was having and finally made it to triage. The same nurse that was there that morning saw my face and said, “You’re back and you don’t look so good.” I told her I was in A LOT of pain. We checked into the same room and soon a different resident than earlier that day entered and checked me. He said I was dilated to a 7 and 90% effaced. From there, they quickly admitted me and by 4:00pm I had my IV and epidural in place. I finally felt some relief. Because I was Group B Strep positive, they like the antibiotic they give to be in for 4 hours before birth so I was told that I would be checked again at 8:00 pm. So we just spent the next few hours in the room and my parents brought Talya down around 6:30 to visit. Talya is normally a momma’s girl but she did not want to get close to me while I was laying in the hospital bed.
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| It's a go this time! Really happening and the epidural has me feeling good. |
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| Talya did not want to sit by me. |
Around 7:30 I started feeling a little pain during a contraction just on my right side, front and back. I was starting to get really nervous that I would feel the whole labor on that side. Around 7:50 the midwife came in to check my progress. At this point, my parents took Talya and left to go get some dinner at KFC. Right around 8:00 pm I was check and was 100% ready to go. The midwife broke my water and at 8:03 I gave one practice push and was stopped half way through because they started seeing his head. I heard them all say, “Whoa… Okay… Let’s get gowned up!” There was a female nurse holding one leg, a female ER resident holding the other leg, the mid-wife and Colten in the room. Colten wanted to deliver the baby so he did! The mid-wife stayed down by him and talked him through it. I did 2 pushes and a few small 1 second pushes and out he came. Beautiful and healthy. Colten cut the cord and the nurse took him to the warmer and quickly brought him back to me. He had dark hair and was finally here! Time of birth… 8:08pm!! (My parents hadn’t even gotten all the way to their car before they got the text that Ty was born.) They came back after dinner around 9pm and I was trying to nurse for the first time so they didn’t come into the room until 9:30 and stayed until 10. Talya was adorable!!! She loves him so much. I wasn’t quite sure how her reaction was going to be, but she just loves him. That night at the hospital she said, “Oh Ty, he’s so teeny teeny. Now he can play!”
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| Talya's first time seeing her new little brother! |
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| Our first family picture with Ty. |
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| Grandma Hunt with Ty |
Our first night was great. He wasn’t interested in eating much so Colten and I slept most of the night. I felt great and our next day was great too. My parents spent most of the afternoon there in the hospital room. Brant and Katie Nikolaus (friends in the Ward) and Brittany Weidman (coach at CHS) were additional visitors that day. Our second night was a little different. Ty went through a stage they call clustering and wanted to eat every hour from 11 pm on. I was glad when they finally came to do all his check-ups and I chose to have them do it in the nursery. At that point Ty had never been away from us. We finally got some sleep and woke around 7:30 am. We were discharge from the hospital and arrived home around 1pm on Saturday.
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| Getting his first sponge bath. |
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| He loved having his hair washed. |
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| Ty got Talya a present that she opened at the hospital, a new baby (named Ty) and new pajamas. |
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| Talya, Baby Ty, Brittany and Ty |
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| Grandpa Hunt with his "Bracken" grandkids. |
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| Our friend Katie... |
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| ... and Brant. |
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| Getting ready to go home. |
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| At home with Princess Talya. |
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| Talya's taking care of Ty, Cubby, and Baby Ty with her blankie. |
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| Snuggles with Grandpa... |
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| ... and more with Grandma. |
Our first night at home was like our second night in the hospital, only worse. Not a lot of sleeping on my part but we all survived and I still think Ty is so beautiful and I love him so much.
Unfortunately my parents stay came to an end and Talya and Colten had to take them to the airport in the cities early this afternoon. It is always so hard for me to say good-bye and I have been teary-eyed all day when I think about them gone. They were so helpful with Talya these past few days and I wish they could have stayed longer but it was so fun to have them here for as long as we did. We are now approaching our second night at home and I know it can’t get much worse than the first. Cherish this days, right?!
Tyler Colten Bracken was born on 10-10-2013 at 8:08 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 13 oz and was 21.5” tall. We love him so much!
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