Rosemary's Birth Story

Well, this beautiful little girl is now in my arms instead of in my belly :) she came so very quickly and 10 days early, I still can't believe how it happened!

Saturday, June 4, we went to clean and redecorate Kyler's bishop office. (He had just been called as Bishop of our ward the Sunday before.) Shortly after we got there, around 8 or 8:30pm, I started to get painful braxton hicks contractions anytime I moved. It was weird. They were just in my belly but they hurt, so I tried to sit still while Kyler finished things. I was 38 weeks and 3 days along. (Henry came at 38 weeks 2 days) Then we went home and I was starting to feel so much pain anytime I walked, it was so so weird! These pains literally came out of no where, I had been just fine the whole day. (besides tired.)

Kyler did Henry's bedtime routine by himself at 9pm and I went to lay down because I felt so sick. I noticed the pain was coming regularly whether I moved or not, and it was starting in my back and moving to my belly, which is how I remembered real contractions were with Henry. I told Kyler and we let Sandy know (our sitter for Henry and dear friend in the ward-seriously she's the best!) and I jumped in the shower because I wanted freshly washed hair if this was the real deal. :) (for some reason I've always remembered that was one of my regrets with Henry- I should have washed my hair the day before he came but didn't! I guess clean hair is high on my list of priorities when in labor :) )  I had contractions about every 5 minutes at this point but they weren't too uncomfortable while laying down.

Once I finished my shower things became more intense and I was feeling more pain and it was closer together. It was probably about 9:30/10pm right now. It was hard to do some last minute things to get ready. When my contractions would come, Kyler would put hard counter pressure on my back and that made to easier to handle the pain. (I looked up tips for natural ways to get through contractions, and this one was a life saver for me.) They were getting closer together, about 2 minutes apart. Poor Kyler had to to run into the room when I yelled for him with each contraction, so I stalled his own packing process quite a bit. He was seriously so great and just did whatever he could to help ease my pain! 

Sandy came at about 10:35pm and Kyler went to put our things in the car. Sandy was a saint and helped give counter pressure on my back during the contractions, she is the best! She just jumped right in to help!

My contractions were becoming so painful and so close together-probably every minute and a half at this point. We headed to the hospital. Kyler drove skillfully (and a little faster than normal :) ) - luckily we live 5 minutes from Utah Valley Regional so we got there so fast! My contractions in the car were terrible because Kyler couldn't really do counter pressure while driving. We got there and he got me a wheelchair and we went straight to L&D!

The nurse took me back into a room asap and had me change into a gown so she could check me. I was a 4! She said it was obvious I was in real labor so they admitted me asap and got me an IV (they had to try three times but it finally worked) and an epidural right away. (BLESS THEM!) I was grateful I was admitted so quickly, because it took awhile to be admitted with Mr. Hank! By now the contractions were so painful and so close together that counter pressure from Kyler wasn't working anymore. To speed things up the anesthesiologist gave me some medicine to make the epidural work asap, but its side affect made me itchy for 5-6 hours afterwards. I'd much rather itch than be miserably in pain though! I felt AMAZING once I got the epidural. I had never been so happy to have tingly, numb legs. :) This was all around 11:15/30 pm.

At Midnight I was dilated to a 6+, and she said my cervix was paper thin. At 12:30 am I was a full 10! Doctor Savage came shortly after to set things up. She was super woman because she had just gotten back from her ward's youth conference that day, and she was probably exhausted. Once things were set up, she told me to start pushing. I only had to push three times in one contraction and boom! Out Rosie came! My epidural wasn't quite as strong at that point so I could feel it all a little bit, bit it wasn't painful. I actually liked it!

Rosemary Pay was born at 12:47am on June 5, 2016 weighing 6lbs 8oz and 19 inches long! I was 38 weeks 3 days pregnant when labor started but was technically 38 weeks 4 days when she was born. Henry came at 38 weeks 2 days and weighed 6lb 7oz and was the same length. I'm so happy she decided to come early (and was tiny) like her brother! 

I had one tiny upper tear and needed only one stitch, yay! I could walk just fine about 30 minutes later. My back was a little sore from Kyler's counter pressure during contractions but I'm so grateful for his help!!

After Rosie nursed for the first time (she did great!) and I ate as well, (why are those little sandwiches they give you after birth so dang delicious?!) we eventually were moved to the postpartum wing. She got a check up and a bath- she cried during the whole bath, poor thing! That was the most she cried during the whole stay though, otherwise she rarely made a peep!  We finally got to sleep around 4 am. 

My nurses were all so great. They were really considerate with my wishes for sleep and they let me do my own thing for the most part. It helped that this was my second babe! I had a much better hospital experience this time around, but it did help that I also knew what to expect. 

Kyler picked Henry up from nursery (our sweet ward friends took him to church for us) around 11:30am and he came to meet Rosie! He said "baby!" about 400 times and loved touching her and giving her kisses. :) He looked so HUGE to me when he walked into the room. It was instant - he wasn't my little baby anymore, he was Rosemary's big brother. 

Our first moments all together as a family of four were fun - we had a mini birthday party with hats and party blowers! Henry opened a gift "from Rosie" and was so excited! We had a few visitors throughout the day and then Kyler went home to spend the night with Henry. We had a pretty uneventful night, and were able to go home the next day by 11 am. 

Rosie is such a calm, peaceful little girl. She is far easier than Henry was, which is really saying something because he had been pretty darn easy as well! It's a testimony to me that Heavenly Father knows me and is taking care of me with this new situation of Kyler being Bishop. He knows what I can and can't handle right now, and has more than blessed me in this situation. I have recovered well (I was able to stop taking medicine 4 days later), Rosie nurses well, and for the most part we are getting enough sleep. I'd say the only tricky part is keeping Henry's love for her under control so he doesn't accidentally smoosh her. :) We have been truly blessed, and we are so grateful for this precious little girl!  (click the picture below to see more)