A Most Surprising Day: Blake's Birth Story Part 1

Friday, July 13th was a very surprising day.

But it didn't start out that way!

I woke up at a completely normal time.

Decided that since I had finished up all my finals the day before that it would be pretty pointless to go to class.

So I stayed home.

Spencer left for school though.

I ate two Eggo waffles for breakfast.

and sat down in my messy bedroom.

I only had two assignments left to turn in before my semester would be complete.

That was on the agenda that day.

along with cleaning up the apartment that had gotten a little out of control.

Friday, July 13th was the day before my due date

So anticipation was at an all time high!

of course I couldn't focus at all on those last few assignments.

Instead I got on Facebook and posted:

"This baby BETTER come tomorrow!! I'm too anxious to wait any longer than that!!! :)"

Even though I wanted him to come so badly on his due date, I knew there was no way in the world things would work out THAT perfectly.
Especially since I had no signs of contractions or any dilation going on.

To further distract myself I decided to take a picture of my massive baby bump!

Before I knew it, it was already 11:15 and I had successfully distracted myself enough to get absolutely no homework done.

It was time for my doctors appointment.

I grabbed a really quick snack because I was running late,

I brushed my hair, didn't bother to put on any make up and rushed over to the clinic.

I had every intention of coming home, eating a big lunch, finishing assignments, cleaning the apartment, and doing my hair before Spencer got home.

The appointment started out like they always do. I peed in a cup, got my blood pressure taken and stepped on that awful scale.

The difference in this appointment was that because it was so close to my due date (one day!) they wanted to monitor the baby's heart beat for a while, just to make sure that everything was okay.

So I laid on the bed attached to some cords and a machine, with one awkward pillow shoved under one side of my back, listening to my sweet baby's heart beat.

I was there for what seemed like an eternity!

first the heart rate monitor ran out of paper so they had to start over.

Then the machine started beeping really loudly and nurses kept coming in and looking at it with concerned faces, but of course telling me nothing.

Then they made me drink apple juice and started zapping my belly with a little vibrating thing.

Still they said nothing, and kept coming in and out.

Finally they told me they were going to get the doctor.

He did the same things that they did.

listened to my heart beat, and didn't say much.

He told me to come to another room that they were going to do a quick ultrasound.

By this time I was pretty freaked out.

During the ultrasound he kept saying things to the nurse that I didn't quite understand

never really saying anything to me.

I think that's when the tears started flowing.

He checked my cervix

and said something along the lines of

"Nope... hmmm... Well that's not good news"

I waited a little while longer, thinking that something, must be terribly wrong,

and then finally he turned on the lights and said

"You're going to have this baby today"
...

THE most shocking news I have ever heard.

He went on to explain that they had seen a big drop in the baby's heart rate for a little while.

They weren't sure if it was the monitor picking up my heart rate for a minute, but they were concerned enough and wanted to play it safe.

Because it was so close to my due date they decided that the best option would be to induce me as soon as possible.

I was terrified

and completely unprepared.

He told me to call my husband to let him know,

and then drive straight to the hospital.

I went into the little room to change back into my regular clothes

and started bawling.

I called Spencer.

Texted my mom to get on her way.

and then I drove over the block to the hospital.

luckily Spencer found a ride and showed up at the same time I did, so that I didn't have to walk in alone.

We made the scary walk up to the third floor where the labor and delivery unit is, Spencer got me all checked in, and the nurses started getting me changed and hooked up to machines and IVs.

Spencer gave me a blessing.

and then the doctor showed up.

Dr. Evans explained things a little better, telling us that everything should be just fine.
They were just playing it safe.

At 2:00pm he started inducing me.

He put some sort of balloon thing inside of me to start my cervix dilating, and then we waited.

Painfully.

Well at least for me, thanks to those wonderful contractions that started right away!
And as soon as they told me that the only thing I could eat was ice chips... I started regretting those two measly Eggos, and the small snack I had instead of a lunch...

Here are some VERY flattering pictures of Spencer feeding me ice chips :)