Wow, can't believe I never posted that!

I found this in my blog archives that I never posted.....

Briggs Harlow Daniels
September 17, 2011
8 lbs. 1 oz. 21 in.

My little sister, Kelsi, is leaving on her mission on Wednesday, so my goal was to get this little guy here before she left so they could meet. I usually go early, and my body was progressing normally, so I decided to help things along.

I researched ways to naturally induce labor, and tried pretty much all of them. I could tell it was helping, but I was being impatient. So I bought castor oil. First off, GROSS! It definitely does what it is designed to do! But all of the stomach irritation led to contractions, and I finally started to have some consistent, contractions, and I knew I was going into labor.

I tested positive for Strep B again, so my doctor had given me a loooong talking too about coming in WAY earlier than I did for the girls(I had Emma 4 hours after getting to the hospital and Maddie after 2). It was nice to only be in labor at the hospital for a couple of hours, but the downside was that we had to stay for 48 hours because I hadn't had the antibiotic for Strep B in time. My Dr. was also concerned about how close my pregnancies have been and was worried about complications because of that. He ordered blood in case I started to bleed out and needed a transfusion. He tried to downplay it, but I could tell it was a real concern.

Jared got home from work and I told him I wanted to take the girls to the park so I could keep the contractions going and take my mind off of it. The park we WALKED to was a little less than a mile away. Walking there definitely helped, and the contractions became closer and closer together. By the time we got there, I was having some contraction 90 seconds apart. I sat down on the park bench, and they would slow way down, like 3-4 minutes apart. But every time I stood up, they sped up again. I was trying to listen to my Dr., so we decided to call Jared's mom so she could come and get the girls and we could go check in at the hospital. She didn't answer, but we got ahold of his sister Mandee, and we started walking back to our house. Mandee met us at our house, took the girls, and we headed to the hospital. We also called Connie and her cousin Randee works as a labor and delivery nurse, so they knew we were coming.

We arrived at the hospital around 7 PM. Since I have my babies so fast, the staff in labor and delivery were nervous and very prepared for us to get there. Luckily I went in early enough that I was only at a 4 this time. They wanted to slow down labor so I could get all the antibiotics I needed, so I basically just laid down and got comfortable. We had the anethesiologist come at around 10 PM when I was about a 6 so he wouldn't have to come from Blackfoot(?) in the middle of the night. I was the only one in labor in the whole hospital that night, so I was very well taken care of. It also helped immensely that Randee made sure I had the best nurse there.

I didn't progress much after my epidural, and they decided that not only was he a BIG baby, but that he was posterior, so things weren't progressing as quickly as they should. My Dr. still didn't want to break my water because they wanted to get 8 hours worth of the antibiotic drip into me. My nurse told me to try to get some sleep since my epidural was working and I was really comfortable. So Jared and I both slept. Well, I dozed on and off for a couple of hours, Jared was totally out. They kept coming in and checking vitals, etc., but my nurse was awesome and she just tried to let me rest as much as possible.

Around 3:30, she told me she better check me and see how I was progressing. She kind of gasped and said that he must have flipped and was ready to come. She called my Dr., and he had gone home to get something to eat. So we TRIED to wait for him, and he walked in, I pushed twice, and our little guy was born at 4 AM exactly. 8 lbs. 1 oz., 21 inches long. SO cute! And they cleaned him off and gave him to me, I tried to nurse him, and he latched on and never stopped eating. :)

The rest of my stay at the hospital was very easy, too, with my friend Randee calling ahead and talking to the nursing staff for me. Seriously, I've never had such a great experience at a hospital. We were dishcarged after just a day since he had gotten his antibiotics and was doing so well. My recovery has been the easiest by far!

Love our little man!