Levi's Birth Story

My water broke around 5:45 am Sunday, March 7th. Trevor and I were so happy that it happened after we had gotten a good night's rest and Calvin happened to wake up at 6:00 am that morning as well (he usually gets up at 7). I called my midwife and she told me to go to the hospital immediately because I needed to get a penicillin IV. I tested positive for Group B Strep and have a history of fast labors, and the penicillin has to be running through the body at least 4 hours before delivery, otherwise they have to test the baby to make sure he is okay. I must say this really was an answer to my prayers having my water break. I was so worried about knowing when to go to the hospital. I knew I needed to get there soon enough to have an IV for 4 hours, but didn't want to be sent home because it was too early or was false labor (especially after sending Calvin to stay with someone else).
We dropped Calvin off at a friend's house in our ward which was conveniently along the way to the hospital. After waiting for a while (honestly, why did we rush to the hospital?) they put my IV in around 7:30 am. I wasn't having contractions yet, which was fine with me, so Trevor and I just hung out at the hospital. Around 10:30 am, the nurse gave me permission to start walking to get contractions going. Trevor and I did about 10 laps around the labor/delivery floor of the hospital in addition to squats, rocking back and forth, and rocking/sitting on a birthing ball. That certainly got my contractions moving along!

I was handling the contractions fine until around 2:00 pm or so and then they were starting to get more painful. My midwife, Olga, stayed with me from then on to help me through every contraction. I was so grateful to her (and Trevor) and all the tips she gave me to work through the contractions. I honestly don't know how I did it by myself when Calvin was born. I must have had angel midwives massaging me or something. Anyway, with a hot shower, massages, and Olga helping me work through the contractions, I was able to go through labor without pain medication. I was also progressing really fast by the end and by the time I wanted an epidural, I just felt like getting Levi out as soon as possible and not having anything slow it down. I started pushing at 4 pm and he was born at 4:20! It was a great experience (besides all the pain) and I'm so happy I decided to go with a midwife.

I must clarify that I'm not against using pain medication. For me, my labors are so fast that I don't feel it's necessary. I also think I have a high pain tolerance--it might be due to all those stomach aches I had when I was younger. I've learned to deal with pain in my abdomen.

We chose the name Levi because, well, we liked the name. Levi's middle name, William, is named after William Morley Black (Lindsay's ancestor) who joined the church in 1849 when he stopped in Salt Lake City on his way to the California gold rush. He ended up staying in Utah after being baptized and never made it to California. Ironically enough, he was baptized by a man named Levi. Pretty cool, huh, for not even planning that!

Now all I need to talk about is the ridiculous cost of an uncomplicated, vaginal delivery at this hospital. I'll have to do that in another post later on...