A Baby Story

This post might be coming a little late, but I have been waiting to get our pictures before I posted. Our photographer is crazy busy so we have yet to get our pictures but I thought it was about time to post about the new addition to our family. This will be long, as my posts tend to be, so take caution. I understand if no one reads it, but this is my journal. So here is Hayden's "A Baby Story" story.

For some reason both Todd and I thought for sure we would be having this baby early. We kept hoping he would make it to October (mostly because I want to do Halloween themed birthday parties), but we just had this feeling he would make his appearance way ahead of time; we were a tad wrong. I started dilating near the end of September but remained the same for three weeks. I really wanted my mom's help at home with the baby so we made an induction date for Tuesday the 11th. By this time, we had a feeling that he would not be coming early or on his own; we basically had no idea what was going on. Our plans once again changed early Sunday morning. The night before was no different from any other night. We had gone shopping early that day and that night, went to Wal-Mart, I made dinner and we watched the BYU game (well, I fell asleep). I woke up around 2:30am with some really bad upper abdominal pain and upper back pain. I had experienced the same pain earlier that week, but a warm bath and a heating pad relieved the pain. About two hours later, I was feeling no relief and finally woke up Todd. I knew I wasn’t in labor but I also knew something was wrong. Todd called the Mayo Clinic and the nurse told us to get to the hospital as soon as possible. We were out of the house and to the hospital in nothing flat (I think Todd thoroughly enjoyed driving like a mad man). I swear we waited in the ER for forever and no one else was in there. The nurse took forever to come and get me and I was in so much pain and not very happy. When the nurse finally came, she kept asking how far apart my contractions were but I kept telling her these weren't contractions (it was a constant pain and totally in the wrong area). After she hooked me up to monitors and checked my dilation, she too, decided I was not in labor. Everything seemed fine, no labor and no high blood pressure, but I swear I was in pain. She then gave me vicodin, which I was scared to take, but I guess they wouldn't give me anything that would cause harm. As soon as the nurse left I told Todd I was going to get addicted like House on HOUSE (don't worry, I'm not). The pain left and I was happy and ready to leave but that was not going to happen. After two rounds of blood work, the on-call doctor came in and told me something to the effect that my liver was shutting down and my protein levels were low... I had developed preeclampsia. Todd and I really didn't understand what was going on and kept asking if we could go home because I was being induced tomorrow. The nurse told me I could have a seizure and that my doctor wanted me to be induced today (apparently I was severely preeclampsia but no one told me that till after the delivery). After the seizure talk, we decided it was best to stay at the hospital. I wasn't induced till 2:30pm on Sunday. The day was spent having my blood being drawn, eating some and watching TV. Contractions really didn't start till 9ish that night and they didn't get bad till after 10ish, but when they came, they came with force!! Labor, not so fun. Come 1am I was in a lot of pain and thought for sure that it was time to push... but alas, I had no change. I was a little distraught which didn't help with my pain management. I'm not so sure what happened after that but apparently I wanted no one to touch me, I wanted them to cut me open immediately and take the kid out and I might have taken our my anger on the bed. When the nurse came back to check on me, about an hour later, I did not want her to check me; I couldn't handle more bad news. Luckily I was to a three and she was going to order my epidural. The nurse had given me some other drug so by the time the wonderful epidural man came, I was a tad out of it. Epidurals are easy peasy, and that's saying a lot for someone who is scared of needles. The epidural kicked in not to long after that and I was one happy girl. We finally were able to sleep some. The next time I was checked, which was two hours later, I was 8. It didn't take long after that till I was a 10 and this little boy was ready to make his appearance. Pushing was easy peasy as well and we all kept making jokes and laughing. My delivery nurse was English and I loved having her cheer me on in her English accent; it was great! At 9:15am baby Altom made his appearance. My first statements were "I made a baby", "I did it!" Having a human come out of you is a very surreal experience. Todd's first was "He's so CUTE!" For those of you who are wondering, Todd did not cry, but he did get teary-eyed and had the biggest smile on his face. It was such an amazing experience and we couldn't believe this boy was actually here. He weighed 7lbs 9oz, was 20in long and had a lot of blond hair. At first the nurse said he was 9lbs 7oz, which we were all a little shocked about, but apparently she was dyslexic. It took us about an hour to finally decide that baby Altom would be named Hayden Jack. 

His clothes were so big! We had to make a shopping trip for newborn clothes

We spent a full 3 and a half days in the hospital so I could be monitored and have more blood drawn. At one point, they told me to not get excited, weird directions to give a new mom. Our stay at the hospital was as nice as of a stay at the hospital could be. We loved on our sweet little Hayden and enjoyed having a few visitors. When the day came to finally leave, I was so happy but so scared at the same time. Being a mom is a very emotional experience but I am so happy to be the mom of this little boy. 

Love my cute boys

This is what I do best with him

Todd is an amazing daddy. While he was home for a week I swear he did everything for Hayden and I. I think I only changed one diaper the first week of Hayden's life. It is so fun to see Todd interact with Hayden; he sure loves his little boy. Both my parents were able to come out and they very much enjoy being grandparents. They were very sad to leave, but the good news is we will be home in less then a month. A few days after my parents left, Todd's parents came. We have felt so much love from our families and friends and are very appreciative for everything that everyone has done.

Hayden, Gus (who is adapting well to the new change) and I, are now all alone and we are doing well. Hayden has slept great the last couple of nights and is a very calm baby, until he realizes he is hungry (he gets that from his mom). He is such a sweet little spirit and Todd and I feel very blessed that Heavenly Father trusted us enough to have him. We have a lot to still learn and a lot more memories to make and I can't wait (although I must admit I cried everyday for a week when it was 9:15am, and when his umbilical cord fell off yesterday, haha, weird, I know, but it's crazy how fast time is going and how fast he's growing). 

 He didn't like doing this

Shocked Hayden

Cute boy!