Provision

Kincaid is now 3 days old! Every time I look at him, I am SO GRATEFUL that he is here (especially after experiencing birth) and no longer tucked nicely inside the womb! Jon nicely highlighted the day, so I'm going to share my perspective on how things went down...

As I think I mentioned on the June 6 blog, I was up and ready to head to work early since I had a dr. appt scheduled for the afternoon and planned to leave early. J was coming along so that I would have to drive alone should something come up. We decided at about 6:25 that I wouldn't go in early, and we'd just wait and see how things were at 7:30 when I typically leave for work. Well, once 7:30 rolled around, we decided that since I was only working a half day anyways, we'd play it safe and just stay home until the appointment - no big deal. At that point, since the real/false contractions had been going steady for 5 hours with some occasional 15-20 min lulls, we consulted the nurses at Hays Med. They weren't sure that it was real labor, but let us know we could come at any point to be sure - not helpful, but thanks :)

Sometimes, I'm too practical for my own good. All I was thinking about was the 40 minute drive to Hays that I didn't want to make unnecessarily that early in the day. I know, we were planning to go that afternoon anyways, BUT what if we got all the way there at 9:00am only to find out it was false labor and then had the next 6 hours to kill before my appointment?!?! I started to think about how we'd have to spend money on lunch, and that would make our food budget tight, etc.... lol I know, so silly, but like I said, sometimes too practical for my own good. Thankfully, I just sucked it up and decided that it would be in Jon's and my best interest if we made the trip just to see and we'd see how things played out after that! As we started to wrap up a few things at the house (grabbing last min items - just in case; picking up the kitchen, feeding/watering Grace) the contractions were much more intense as I was standing up and were occurring more frequently....I was glad we'd decided to go get checked out after that!

Once in the car, the contractions continued and averaged about 5-7 minutes apart, but again there were some random 9 min, 3 min etc in there. The change with the contractions is that I started to feel them in my lower back and in my abdomen. Previously, they'd all just been in my abs which had been part of the confusion when we were trying to distinguish between real/false labor! We got to Hays around 9 (I think), and Jon called the hospital to let them know we'd be there soon. All this time, I thought we'd just stop by, fill them in on what I'd been experiencing, they'd check me out and then we'd take off if needed. WELL - they had a room all ready for me when we got there, and told me I'd have to get into a hospital gown. I asked if somebody could just do an exam to see how effaced/dilated I was and that is when she said I'd have to be there at least an hour on monitors before we'd know. So...with a sigh, I changed and got cozy on the hospital bed. After the nurse got me hooked up to the monitors to track the baby's heart rate and another to monitor the contractions, she did an exam, and then Jon and I just chilled and watched AFV!

When we arrived at the hospital, baby's heart rate was 135, I was dilated to 3 and 100% effaced.

Not long after the nurse finished the exam and got the monitors going, I felt a big gush. Like, literally a gush, there was no trickle or small leak! It definitely surprised me, and we quick buzzed the nurse to let her know and now there was no leaving! That was at 9:50am. We were in it for the long haul and knew that we'd be meeting our baby boy/girl later that day! After realizing that this was the real deal, I immediately was relieved that I'd not gone to work that morning! I could just imagine my water rushing all over my office chair or in the car! While it would have made an entertaining addition to this story, I'm glad it's a detail that I didn't have to worry about!!

Let me just tell you, I had no idea what was about to occur. I don't think there is anything that can prepare a woman for birthing a child except for the experience itself. Every woman, every situation is so unique (which is super annoying by the way for a first time mom that just wants to know what to expect!!) that it is just not possible to wrap your mind around what is about to happen! For me, well, let's just say that I'm certain I was NOT the quietest or cleanest patient ever. I was ready to push once I hit 5 cm and just be done with it! I couldn't imagine the pain getting worse...but boy howdy did it ever!

Jon was awesome during the whole process! He was patient, helped massage my lower back (where most of the contractions seemed to be after my water broke), fed me ice, breathed with me through the contractions, was encouraging, stayed strong, and coached me through the contractions by keeping an eye on the monitor and letting me know when I was at the peak. I can't imagine not having him there and am so thankful for him!!

Here is a run down of how I progressed:

9:50 am - flood gates burst

10:52am - 5 cm

12:48pm - 6-7 cm

12:58pm - 6-7 cm (Abby checked me again because I insisted and it felt like it'd been an hour, not 10 minutes!!)

1:19 pm - 8 cm (and very ready to push)

1:33 pm - 8-9 cm (again checked so soon because I insisted)

1:44 pm - 9 cm (and I assured them I was not going to make it to 10 cm!! My body was pushing and there was nothing I could do about it!!)

sometime between 1:44-2:00-ish, the nurse realized I wasn't kidding about not pushing, and she very kindly helped the last bit of my cervix along and pushing began.

It was such hard work, and I was exhausted. I remember seriously being so close to falling asleep between contractions. However, once pushing started, it was all hands on deck and a rush of adrenaline! Jon was right there beside me and I was motivated by the excitement I could see on his face as he first say the baby's hair! He became giddy and his face was glowing with excitement! Once baby's head came out, he was so pumped! I was relieved to have the head out and ready to be done pushing and to meet this baby!! It was the most incredible feeling once our baby boy was born, seeing Jon's face, and having the baby put on my chest! Kincaid Mark Vande Kopple joined us at 2:19pm! He was perfect, healthy, had a full head of dark hair, deep blue eyes and content! It was so surreal!

So...why did I title this Provisions? Jon and I have had so many conversations about how God has provided for us in tremendous ways throughout this pregnancy! From the timing aligning perfectly with my getting a job that provided good insurance, Jon's job security, the baby being due right when Jon was finished with school for the summer. Not to mention how amazing my pregnancy experience was! No morning sickness, healthy weight gain, minimal stretch marks (that I got in the last week of pregnancy - ugh!! so close!), good energy, minimal swelling in my hands/ankles in the last couple weeks of pregnancy - only enough to keep me from wearing my ring 2 days. Finally, that the Lord didn't send us to Hays in a severe thunderstorm (yep - that was one of my big fears!!), that I went to the hospital Wed morning instead of work, that I was WITH Jon Wed morning and didn't have to call him to say I was in labor, and most significantly, how He gifted us the most precious, handsome, healthy baby boy! There are so many other ways that God has provided for us through this move to KS! This is just one of the latest!

More to come on some FIRSTS for Kincaid since he's been home!