He's Here!

I'd like you to meet my little boy....

Colson Scott

April 16, 2011

7lb 2oz      20.5in

"the story"

Friday, April 15th was "the day"....the big due date. By this point I had pretty much convinced myself that he was never coming out. My body had been playing tricks on me for weeks, acting like I would be going into labor but nothing would come of it. My best friend Lindsay was getting married on Saturday, April 16th and although I had initially thought we'd be going to the wedding with a 2 or 3 week old baby, it seemed as though I was still going to be able to be there, albeit ginormously pregnant. Lindsay had asked if I would read scripture during the ceremony (a job easily replaceable if I was unable to be there) so Friday evening, we headed to Harrisburg for the rehearsal. I immediately understood why I hadn't had the baby yet. It seemed as though everybody involved in the wedding came up to me and said, "oh I'm SO glad you're here! I've been praying you'd be able to be here!" It seems as though Lindsay's friends and family were praying a little bit harder than mine were. (I kid..haha) After an uneventful rehearsal and a fun dinner, we packed up and headed home to put the little ladybug to bed. On the ride home, I began to notice that the contractions I'd been having for weeks were starting to feel more regular....about 7 minutes apart. By the time we got home, put Emma to bed, and relaxed for a little bit, I was pretty convinced that this was the "real thing." Contractions were getting more and more intense and closer together. Around midnight we decided to call my doctor and she confirmed that we should make our way into the hospital. I really didn't want to get to the hospital sooner than I needed to be and I was afraid that because I hadn't been in labor that long (only about 3 or 4 hours) that I hadn't progressed and would get sent home or be barely dilated. Jarred convinced me that it was time and as we drove to the hospital, I knew he was right. Contractions were now 1-2 minutes apart and very painful. This was the real thing! Even though I believed this was really labor, I still wasn't expecting to hear the triage nurse tell me that I was already at 5cm. Thank you Lord!! 

I labored from then (2am) until around 6am with a wonderful Christian girl who is the daughter-in-law of a couple from our church. It was AMAZING to have a support system of my husband and a nurse who declared scripture and prayed through each contraction with me. At 6am, we decided to get an epidural and by 7am I was feeling much better! :) No more pain; however, we soon discovered that the dosage was too much for my body and so I was numb from the neck down. This made it difficult to expand my lungs to breathe deeply. They turned the epidural off for 30 minutes and after restarting it, I told Jarred to go get something to eat. I was planning to rest and sleep for a bit and I knew he'd be getting hungry. They dimmed the lights in the room and soon I was all alone to rest. Almost immediately I felt an incredible amount of pressure and at the same time, the heart rate monitor for the baby's heart decreased to a very very slow pace. All I could think was...this baby is COMING and he's in distress and my husband isn't here! I beeped to get the nurse back in and she quickly got oxygen on me and changed my position to help the baby while trying to get ahold of my doctor so I could push. A student nurse ran to find Jarred, but I was so worried he'd miss the birth!

Luckily, Jarred got back to the room just as I was set to start pushing. A short 13 minutes later, Colson Scott VP was born! I am incredibly thankful to have been given the opportunity this time to "help" deliver him and hold him on my chest immediately. Emma had some issues that needed to be checked out so we weren't able to hold her for almost an hour. I will never forget pulling my son onto my check and all of those first few tender moments. Birth is a miracle.

We enjoyed a few minutes with our new son as I held him in my arms and Jarred stood beside me holding my legs while the doctor finished the delivery and stitched where I had torn. A combination of no sleep, no food, hot lights, and watching his wife in pain suddenly caused Jarred to become light headed and out of nowhere, he fell onto my lap and slumped to the floor, hitting his head on the way down. Our peaceful, tender hospital room was immediately filled with 15-20 nurses tending to my husband, alarm bells ringing, and chaos. They took him to triage to be sent by ambulance to the ER for evaluation, all while I lay on the delivery table holding our new son whom he hadn't even gotten the chance to hold yet! He was totally fine, aside from a bruised ego (passing out in the delivery room isn't exactly macho for this tough farmer) and a sore head. It was several hours until he came back, and my heart broke for him as I knew he was dying to be with us and embarrassed at what had happened. At the time it wasn't funny, but it has become something we all laugh about and I can't wait to be able to tell Colson about his delivery someday! :) 

I will try to get more pictures uploaded soon and share some other things like why we chose the name Colson, how Emma's handling the transition to big sister, and all that other fun stuff! Thanks for celebrating with us!