Birth Story of Colt and Kade

    I'd been having sporadic contractions that wouldn't get going regularly off and on for a few days.  I had an appointment with my doctor first thing on Tuesday morning.  When he saw me he said he was surprised I hadn't gone into labor yet.  I told him I was ready to have the babies, as pregnancy was very uncomfortable at this point.  We went ahead and had an exam done which showed I was already 5 cm. dilated and realized we were closer to having them then I thought.  Jeff and I discussed our options and we decided to go to the hospital after lunch where the plan was to have the doctor break my water to help get labor going.  We went home had breakfast, puttered around getting things ready to go to the hospital, got supper going in the crockpot, and had lunch.  While I was fixing lunch I felt a contraction or two and thought I hope this keeps up and won't have to have my water broken.  By the time we headed to the hospital I'd had a few contractions, but they still didn't seem to be getting regulated.  After we checked in and they hooked me and the babies up to the monitors we found out the contractions were regularly coming 8-10 minutes apart and I just wasn't feeling all of them.  After struggling to get 20 minutes of the twins heart rates, which seemed to take more like 45 minutes because twin B kept kicking the monitor off, I was allowed to get up and go for a walk.
    After the walk, we returned and they hooked us up to the monitors again.  The contractions were in the 6-10 minute range and I was just starting to feel them a little more.  The doctor came in around 6:10 and we decided to head out for another walk to keep things going.  We headed out onto the skybridge, which connects the building where we were with the main hospital.  Shortly after starting out to walk I had a stronger contraction and stopped for it to finish before I kept walking.  Jeff had gone to meet his sister and get something from her that she was bringing him.  My mom and Jeff's mom were walking with me.  I walked a little farther and then began having a contraction that just didn't seem to want to stop.  During this contraction or maybe I should say series of back to back contractions, Jeff and his sister came to where we were.  Jeff looked at my face and asked me if we needed a wheelchair.  I said, "Yes," but as he started to walk away I said "That's a pushing contraction."  Jeff took off running for the Labor and Delivery ward and called for our doctor and a wheelchair.  Our doctor heard him and took off running for where I was.  I remember looking up and seeing our doctor sprinting as fast as he could up the skybridge with Jeff not too far behind.  Following them was the rest of the labor and delivery ward nurses coming in what looked like slow motion.  The doctor called for a gurney after he got to me.  It was time to push though.  One of the first nurses to get to us helped lower me down toward the floor.  We thought the baby was going to arrive there, but the gurney arrived and between pushes the doctor, Jeff, and two other people lifted me onto the gurney and Colt was born a few seconds later.  They put him up on my belly and he was just precious to look at. 
    They raced me back to my labor room.  Jeff was handed the scissors to cut the cord, which he did for the first time of any of our babies.  Then my doctor broke my second bag of water and felt for the position of the baby.  The cord had prolapsed and he shoved it back inside while he got ready to help twin B come into the world.  I heard him say, "I feel hands and feet," at which point he asked if we were sure we were only having two babies.  I told him that we had only ever seen two babies on the sonograms and it would be quite a surprise.  If there were still two I told him I hoped one was a girl.  I thought maybe he was joking around.  He pulled Kade out feet first with the next contraction, five minutes after Colt was born.  Then he told the nurse he needed to check to make sure there wasn't another baby.  There wasn't ;)  WHEW!
    We were excited to have our boys born healthy.  Usually, twins are delivered in the OR because of the potential for an emergency c-section, but I guess Colt had other plans.  Jeff's sister hadn't expected to get to be there for their births, but her timing was perfect and she was very excited to be able to be there, as were both Jeff's mom and my mom.  We were the talk of the hospital and the first to have a baby born on the skybridge.   Colt was 9# 2 oz. and 19 3/4 inches long and Kade was 8# 6 oz. and 21 inches long.

Welcome, Colt and Kade!

Colt (orange) and Kade (yellow) with Daddy

Our Twins Have Arrived!

The twins were born tuesday at 39 weeks 2 days. 
Colt was 9 pounds 2 ounces and 19 3/4 inches.  Kade was 8 pounds 6 ounces and 21 inches.  They arrived healthy and safely and with a bang and a lot of drama.  Sometime soon I hope to get the birth story written up for those of you who like to read about births.

Quinn's Birth Story

    On Thursday, January 25th, I kept experiencing stronger contractions off and on through the day, but they didn't seem to be leading to anything very quickly.  Thursday evening they spaced out evenly around 3 min. apart, but they weren't as strong as actual labor should be.  We called the mid-wife and she said to walk around for a while and call her in an hour if they got worse.  They stayed the same, so I sent her a text to let her know that they didn't seem to be going anywhere for the moment.  After several hours I went to bed.  I wanted to be sure to be rested if they did turn into the real thing.
    Friday morning when I woke up the contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart, but still not very strong.  My mid-wife called me to see how things were going, as she had some other things she was needing to do that morning, but wanted to make sure she wasn't needed before she started them (it was her scheduled day off from the office).  She said to go into the birthing center to get checked and see if maybe we could get something started.  When I went in I was dilated to a 2 and it seemed like maybe something was going on, but it was still to early to tell.  The mid-wife on call stripped my membranes to see if it would encourage labor and sent me home to walk and pump and see if anything would happen.
     My mid-wife called to see if anything was happening around 10:30 am.  At that point it was still hard to tell, but the contractions were about 10 minutes apart and seemed to be getting stronger.  She said she would come over to our home in about an hour and see how things were going then.  When she came I had dilated to a 3 and she thought we would probably be calling her to come back around 3 in the afternoon and have a baby by evening.  We've had a history of having some quicker labors, so that is what everyone was expecting.
    I continued to pump, walk and rest to help keep things moving along.  By 2 pm the contractions were starting to be about 5-10 minutes apart and definitely working, but not super strong.  Jeff's mom came over to be here for the birth and help with kids if needed.  I didn't feel like it was time to call the mid-wife until around 4:30-5 pm.  When she got there I was dilated to a six, but I felt like I should have been dilated more.  Things seemed to be progressing more slowly than my past few labors.
     Jeff's mom took care of ordering dinner for everyone.  It smelled good and I kind of wanted to eat mine, but it seemed to me like the baby was going to come sooner rather than later, so I thought I would wait and eat after the baby was born.
     I continued laboring, while listening to the conversations around me and playing a mindless game on the computer.  I kept losing the game, so apparently it wasn't as mindless as I thought, but it helped distract my thoughts from the contractions and relax better.  By 8:30? pm, I was only dilated to 7.  We finally sent the kids to bed.  They were a little disappointed that they wouldn't be up when the baby was born.  I continued laboring and it seemed like things were getting close and I was ready to get in the tub and have the baby, but around 9:30 pm I was still a 7.  We decided to go ahead and break my water to help expedite labor.  Then I got in the tub expecting that it wouldn't be much longer.  By this time I was tired and just really ready to have the baby.  My thinking clarity was also decreasing.  After laboring in the tub while the contractions got worse, my midwife thought I should get out and try walking around a little to see if it would help the baby to come.  I wasn't real keen on the idea.  Even though I had been drinking water and pregnancy tea throughout the evening I was really tired and realized that I probably should've eaten dinner.  I was hungry, but wasn't sure that I wanted to eat something at that point.  I did think I should have something so I asked Jeff to get me some sprite, thinking maybe the sugar would help.  I did eventually get out of the tub.  I was dilated to an 8.  My midwife decided that due to me being tired and knowing that the baby was big we shouldn't have a water birth, because the risk for potential complications was increasing.
     The contractions became almost unbearable at this point.  I don't think I've had contractions like that since maybe Kent's birth.  I remember squeezing Jeff's hand, I think so tightly that it probably hurt him, but he just kept on encouraging me.  We tried a warm rice sock on my back, which felt nice for a short time and then I was yelling to get it off me, because it was too hot.  Shortly after that the pressure became intense and it was time to push.  I didn't even realize that it was time to push until it was time.  They had to get my shorts off for me.  Then they wanted me to push harder and I didn't feel like I could, but I think I just needed to breathe and then I could push again.  Jeff said he could see an ear, that was encouraging so I pushed harder and soon the baby was born with a giant gush of water behind it which seemed like water spraying from a fire hydrant.  It was Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 12:17 am and the midwife placed the baby on my tummy.  Someone, I think maybe Jeff said it was a boy.  I was so glad that he was out and there were no complications.  After a while they weighed him in at 9 lbs. 15 oz., but my mid-wife first misread the scale and said 10 # 15 oz. and both Jeff and I were like "what?!?".  Then she read it again, realizing that she had read 10 first because Quinn was so close to 10 pounds.  He was 22 inches long and his head circumference was 14 1/2 cm.  As soon as I was feeling a little better after the birth I was ready to eat my supper sometime after 1:00 am.  The chicken quesadilla was SO good!  We were able to finally get a little sleep starting around 3:15 am.  Around 7:15 am, Katy and Kaomi showed up to see if we had the baby and when they found out it was a boy which they quickly went and shared with Kent.  A little later the older kids went in to see Felicity and Clark and we heard Felicity loudly ask, "Is the baby born?"

Quinn several hours old, being held by Kent his oldest sibling.

Quinn Hezekiah has a lot to live up to; his name means wise one whom God strengthens.

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Kent's Birth Story

     The pregnancy had been good without complications or unbearable problems.  We also had chosen not to have any sonograms.  My "due date" was Tuesday, April 20th, 2004.
     On Sunday the 18th we went to church and had the usual questions and comments like, 'You still haven't had that baby!' and 'When are you due?'.  I just responded that I guess the baby would arrive in God's timing and that it could be anytime.  That afternoon Jeff and I finished doing our stuff for our Small Group Study, then I laid down to take a nap before we had to leave.  I woke up just before 6:00 pm and it was about time to leave.  Jeff said I needed to hurry up or we'd be late.  I wasn't really feeling like I wanted to go, but staying home would just make everyone wonder what was going on, besides we were signed up to bring the snack and I had no real good reason to stay home.
     I got up and went to use the restroom and get ready to go.  While I was in the restroom my water broke.  I thought that was an odd thing, but wasn't really sure about it, so I continued getting ready to go, then Jeff asked me to smash his back and while I did that he felt his back get wet.  At that point I was sure my water had broken and I told him I didn't think that we would be going to Small Group, because my water had broken and we were going to try to have a baby instead.  I hadn't been feeling any contractions so I wasn't in any hurry to go to the hospital.  I know the doctors say if your water breaks you need to go to the hospital right away, but I also knew that most first time pregnancies can take a long time for labor and I didn't want to be there forever.  I told Jeff to go ahead and take the snack over to our small group and I would get things ready to go to the hospital for when it was time to leave.
     While he was gone I started to feel contractions, but they weren't very close together.  When Jeff returned from small group he said they were all surprised to see him just come over with snack.  They also sent word to me that they would be praying.  Our small group leaders wife was a labor and delivery nurse and she told Jeff that we really should be on our way since my water had broken.  When Jeff got home he wanted to take a shower before we left, I said fine and that I wanted to take one when he was done.  By the time he had finished I didn't want to take a shower anymore as the contractions were getting stronger and uncomfortable.  We left shortly after that for the hospital.  We got to the hospital around 8:45 pm and I called my parents as we were pulling into the parking lot to let them know they would have a new grandbaby soon.

     After we got checked into the hospital and they checked my I was only dilated to a 2, but since the contractions were getting stronger and closer together we knew it wouldn't be too long before we had a baby.  I figured that since I was only dilated to 2 that it would probably be a long time before we had a baby.  They hooked me up to the monitoring machines and did whatever they are supposed to do when someone comes in.  We had our birth plan handy and gave it to the nurses so they would know that we were wanting a natural birth with no medications, etc.  My midwife wasn't on call, but she had put in my chart to have them call her when I was close to having the baby.

     Jeff had called his parents and they came over to the hospital to be with us.  Several of the wives from our small group also came over for a short time, hoping there would be some action.  There wasn't much going on except contractions.  They were getting pretty uncomfortable.  I had dilated to a 5 and I thought for sure I should have been dilated more.  Jeff was a great encourager through the hours in labor.  I just liked to have him close by.
     After several hours of just concentrating on getting through the contractions they checked me again and I was just barely 8 cm.  Right after that I started to have the urge to push.  The nurses were yelling at me to not push, I needed to be checked to see if I had reached a 10.  How can you not push when your body is doing it naturally?  I told them I couldn't stop the pushing.  My midwife had arrived and they called her and the midwife who was on call to come into the room.  I was ready and not too happy about trying to have to keep from pushing.  After 40-45 minutes of pushing, we welcomed our baby into the world at 1:58 AM on Monday, April 19th.  It was a boy and we were so excited and I was so glad to be done pushing and done with labor.

On a side note:  We weren't impressed with the hospital birth.  We didn't like the pressure we felt we were under and the nurses yelling at me.  The recovery was really hard as well.  When we found out we were expecting baby #2 I looked into other birth options, so we could avoid the hospital if possible.



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Clark Walter

Yesterday I woke up around 3:30 am having contractions that were definitely real, but had no pattern to them yet.  I went back to sleep and let Jeff know in the morning that he didn't need to go to work as the baby was coming.  All morning the contractions continued, but again didn't really get a regularity.  Jeff kept asking me, "Is it time to go"?  Before lunch we took walk around the block to see if we could help get them going in the seemingly right direction.  After we returned home, I made lunch for everybody.  Then the contractions started to be more regular and more intense.  I sent all the kids for quiet time around two, and laid down for a little while myself.  Around 3 pm the contractions were getting to be 7-10 minutes apart so we knew that we would probably need to go soon.  I called a local friend and asked if they were available to watch the kids in a little while and we made arrangements to drop the kids off at their house on our way to the birth center.  We had been kind of planning on having a home birth, but knew that our midwife wasn't available to do a home birth yesterday and that we would need to go to the birth center.  I called the birth center and let them know that we were leaving shortly and had to drop the kids off first.  We dropped the kids off and continued to the birth center.  Jeff was in a hurry to get me there and I kept telling him, "its okay, slow down, we'll be there in time".  We arrived at the birth center about 3:55 pm and they took us right back.  I was already dilated to 8 cm.  I had no idea, but I knew when the midwife on duty said that, that it wouldn't be much longer.  We went to the birthing room and started to fill the tub with water for a water birth.  After two more contractions I knew I was going to need to push soon.  The tub wasn't full enough to have a water birth yet and I just said okay, lets not have it in the water then.  Clark Walter was born at 4:09 pm.  We spent some time snuggling and after a while they weighed him and did the assessments they needed to do.  He weighed 8# 14 oz. and was 20 3/4 inches long.  We were back at home around 7 pm and Jeff picked the kids up a little later.