Bringing Home Russ

On Tuesday, August 6, 2013 at 8:06 am, Russell Kyle Daniels was born, weighing in at 8 lb. 8 oz and measuring 20 inches long. The days surrounding his birth were quite busy at our house! The Saturday before he was born we headed up to Ogden to trade in our truck, upgrading to a 4-door. The entire process reminded us of how much we hate car dealerships. The kids were very patient the whole time we were there, so we decided to stop in at the Hill Aerospace Museum and let the kids run around a bit. Rhett really likes airplanes lately, so we thought he'd especially like it.

 

 The day before Russell was born we took a drive in our "new" truck up in the mountains for FHE. Grant even prepared a tithing lesson, including a short video on his phone. We followed a little hiking trail for a bit and found a small river that the kids threw rocks into.

 Tuesday morning I woke up at 4:30 am with contractions (Side note: I've never gone into labor on my own, always been induced overdue. I've never even had pre-labor contractions with my other pregnancies, so this was new for me). I'd been having contractions for a few weeks, so this didn't seem like anything unexpected, even though I was 3 days overdue. They were strong enough to wake me up and continued for about an hour, so I decided to start timing them. The contractions were 8-9 minutes apart, so I figured if it was real labor, I still had plenty of time. By this time Grant woke up because I turned on a lamp to read (since I couldn't sleep!), and he wanted to call his Mom to come. My mom was flying in that night, so his mom was on call in case I went into labor. I didn't want to call and wake her up if it was false labor, so I was hesitant. The contractions were much stronger than what I'd experienced in previous weeks, so I finally agreed--he called his mom and she was on her way. I took a shower, finished up the dishes, packed a few last minute things in the hospital bag, and continued timing contractions. By the time Cyndy got here they were about 6 minutes apart. We headed to the hospital, and contractions were about 4 minutes apart in the car. Grant wanted to use valet parking, but I said no, I'm fine, let's go park the car and walk in ourselves. I had to stop in the parking garage during a contraction, then we were on our way again. Now looking back, if I had known how fast it was all going to happen, I probably would have opted for the valet! We made it to the labor and delivery floor, and the lady at the desk checked us in super quick and got us a room. After Russ was born, she came back in with some more stuff for us to sign. Grant asked her why we didn't do this when we checked in, and she said she could tell we needed a room, and fast! I guess she's worked there long enough she can tell when it's getting close.

We got settled in our room around 7:30 am, the nurse checked and I was dilated 5 cm. I thought it would still be a few hours at least before the baby came. Boy was I wrong! Being induced is so different! After the got IVs in, fetal monitors connected, etc., they asked if I was ready for an epidural. I said yes! The anesthesiologist was in the next room, so he'd be with us shortly. All of a sudden contractions were coming on nonstop and much more intense. I was dilated to an 8 and they asked if I still wanted an epidural. I still said yes, starting to panic a bit. I hadn't prepared for a natural birth! I wasn't sure I could do it! The anesthesiologist came in and started to place the epidural. He got the initial dose in and was going to insert the catheter when all of a sudden I felt the baby coming! They told me not to push, but I couldn't stop it! The baby was coming, and I couldn't do anything about it! The anesthesiologist had to move aside so my doctor could deliver the baby! It seemed like only about two pushes later and he was here! Born at 8:06 am on 8/06, Russ practically delivered himself. About 20 minutes later I felt the epidural start to kick in. Big fat waste of money. Oh well. At least it was super fast, so the pain didn't last very long. Actually, if I could guarantee that every labor would be that short, I would go natural for all the rest of my pregnancies. It was a really nice recovery! And I would much rather experience that kind of pain again than the back pain I had last year. That was absolutely miserable. It was a very intense 30 minutes, but so worth it. Russ is such a good baby. So sweet and patient. He definitely lets you know when he's hungry, but will still wait if he can have a binky. He's got some handsome blue eyes and tons of blonde hair with a little bit of curl on top. We love him. And now for an overload of pictures, long overdue.

Going home

Within minutes of arriving home, the kids showered him with gifts. :)

Already a BYU fan! We start them young.