At the first of my pregnancy my friend Linda from church approached me and asked if I would like to have a doula. I had no idea what a doula was. Come to find out, a Doula is a person who supports the mother physically and mentally through labor. I knew I wanted to have an epidural so I did not know if I really needed a doula to help me get through it. On Oct 30 Linda came over to our house and we discussed a birthing plan. I think we were both wondering if her services were really needed, but we decided that even just having her support would be nice.
On Nov 2nd about 6:30pm I noticed my contractions were a little bit stronger than just the braxton hicks contractions I had been having. I also noticed they were coming regular. I started to time them and found they were every 4-5min.
Kenny left at about 6pm for his temple recommend interview with the stake pres. and then went to the school to study for a test he had coming up. Around 9pm I started to think this could be it. The contractions are not letting up. So I tried to call Kenny and found he left his phone at home. I started to panic, I started to picture my self having the baby in the home.( I don't know why I always start to think of the worst, but that is just were my mind went.) I called my friend Kira to see if her husband Paul was with Kenny studying. Found that he was with Kira, but they were on there way home so they agreed to go over to the school and find Kenny. (Thanks again Paul and Kira)
Kenny came running home and we decided that we would go up to the hospital. I called my friend Lindsay Whiting and she came over and spent the night with the boys. When we arrived at the hospital we found that I was only dilated to a 3. They wanted to keep me for a few hours to see how fast I was going. We were in a small triage room until about 4:30 am. When the doctor decided to keep us for good. I was still only at a 3, but the doctor said since this is my 3rd I could go really fast once I went. Kenny and I both went to sleep once in the regular room.
At at 8am the doctor came in to brake my water, and I also received my epidural. At this point I decided to call Linda my Doula. Come to find out, she was much needed, and such a blessing. Kenny had a lot of studying to do for his test, so Linda and I talked and talked. She made my day go by very fast. She helped me with Names for the baby, and breathing through each contraction. My epidural was weird. I was totally numb, but I still felt the pressure/pain of most contractions. So Linda helped me breath and concentrate on other things to get me through it.
Labor with Jude lasted a lot longer than it did with the other boys. The Dr. eventually put me on pitoson so I would have this baby.
Here are some pic's of Kenny and I through out the day.
Jude Phillip was born at 4:36pm on Nov 3rd. He had the cord wrapped around his neck and did not cry as much as they would have liked so they took him over to the side to work on him. This is a pic of him just looking at his dad. (I love this picture)
Once they found he was OK, they weighed him 7lb 5oz and 21 in long.
Then it was finally my time to get him. We both could not take our eyes off each other. It was love at first sight.