*Our Simple Adventures*: My story: Griffin Hal Johnson

Introducing Baby Boy #4: Griffin Hal Johnson born on June 18, 2014 at 10:50pm.

He weighed in at 6 lbs 9 oz and 19 3/4 inches long.

Disclaimer: Now is the time you can skip reading and just look at the pictures if you aren't interested in my super long labor story ;)

I woke up in the middle of the night with some strong contractions. I knew it was coming as these weren't the typical braxton hicks contractions. So after a couple of hours of keeping track of them, they were about 5-10 minutes apart. I started packing my hospital bags and woke Justin up to call his mom around 5:00am. At that point I didn't feel like we needed to be in a huge hurry, but I get nervous knowing it would take a while for Donna to get there and then another half hour to the hospital. She arrived around 6:30am and we headed to the hospital, and as we were headed out the door I had another really strong contraction and I knew it was the real deal.

Justin asked if we could drive thru McDonalds to get him something to eat and I said sure. As we were in line a police car pulled up behind us in the drive thru lane. Justin made a dorky comment about, "Oh no, we have a cop behind us", and the next thing we know the police turns on his lights and motions to Justin to pull over out of the drive thru lane. Justin pulls into a parking spot as the cop pulls up behind him. He comes to the window and says, "Are you Justin Johnson?... I just ran your plates and there is a warrant for your arrest." Justin informs him that he must have the wrong Justin Johnson and gives him his licence. I'm just sitting there half laughing hysterically and half crying wondering what the heck is going on. He comes back, apologizes and says he indeed has the wrong Justin Johnson. We just laugh and say, "Well this makes a good labor story!"

We got back into the lane and got some food. At this point I hadn't had a single contraction since the one leaving the house. After driving a ways toward the hospital we decided to pull over at a park and walk around to see if we couldn't get the contractions started again. After an hour of that and only two strong contractions we decided we jumped the gun and went back home. I told Donna to go home and get some rest (since we woke her up so early) and that she would need to be on call cause I was certain something would be happening in the next 24 hours. In the meantime Justin went to work and I packed up the three kids and went grocery shopping and on with the rest of my day. All the while I was having these hard contractions, but nothing consistent. I finally called my Dr's office to just come in and check if these contractions were even doing anything or not. I went in at about 4:00pm and the Dr checked me and told me I was at 4cm. She told me I was likely in the early stage of labor and to go into the hospital as soon as the contractions started getting more regular.

Justin called his parents and told them to come get the kids and just take them to their house overnight. Well, by the time they got to the house to get the kids (it was about 6:00pm) the contractions had picked up to about 5 minutes apart and we were getting anxious and nervous to get to the hospital. Again, once we started driving the contractions slowed down. We got there and hooked up to the monitors and they were back to about 10 mins apart. The resident Dr (who was working under the mid-wife--but MY mid-wife wasn't not call) checked me and said I was 5cm. Since I had progressed since being at the clinic that afternoon she said they would likely keep me. Well, after she talked to the mid-wife she came back and said they wanted to get the contractions closer together and told us to get up and walk around for an hour and they would check me again.

So from 8:00-9:00pm we started walking around the hospital. And lo and behold, as soon as I started walking the contractions were every 3 minutes, the entire hour. They were hard, and painful and I had to stop and breathe through them. We found a little terrace that we walked back and forth on that had a railing that I found if I could hold onto that and rock back and forth and breathe it helped me. Justin talked me through them and told me how awesome I was doing. I used my sister-in-laws approach and just focused on the fact that the contractions were doing their job and they were getting the baby there. We figured that with these regular contractions I had to be getting pretty dang close, and started to wonder if I could just do this thing naturally. I felt like as long as I could move around, I could handle the contractions pretty well.

We got back to the triage room and once again, as soon as I layed down the contractions slowed down!! I couldn't believe it. The resident Dr checked my cervix again and she admitted she was having a hard time since it was so "stretchy". She said she could stretch me to an 8, but that isn't how you are suppose to check for true dilation. She said she felt like it was the same, still at a 5cm! Again, I couldn't believe it! The resident then started talking about possibly giving Pit to get them more regular etc, and left to talk to the mid-wife. After she came back she told me that she was probably going to send me home. At that point my contractions were so hard and knowing I hadn't progressed I figured this labor could still go on for a long time and I was at the point that I was ready to have an epidural! I just started crying and asking them how in the world I was suppose to do this at home! I told them I was in so much pain and I was too scared to go home and deal with it. Justin also asked how we were suppose to know when to come back if everytime we get up and walk around they are regular contractions. They kept trying to convince me that I was only in the early stages of labor and that if it was real labor they wouldn't slow down even if I was laying down. I just couldn't bare the thought of going home, because I knew I was in real labor! The nurse luckily told me they would let me lay there for a while and they would keep monitoring the contractions.

They started to get a little bit more regular and the nurse came back in and told me that she talked to the mid-wife and just asked her if they could keep me and she gave in. Thank goodness!! She told me all the delivery rooms were currently full or being cleaned and she was going to start my IV there. Well one room opened up and so she started to take me there. Once I got in the room she immediately started to work on the IV and my contractions got insanely intense. I didn't think I could handle it any longer and was having a hard time even breathing through them. She was having a hard time getting the IV in and I asked her when I could get my epidural. She told me they had to get a whole bag of fluid into me first. I just started crying again, wondering how I was going to be able to go on with this! At that point I still thought I was at a 5 and that I had hours longer of this. She was still working on the IV and I started getting frantic telling her that something was coming out of me!! She kind of looked and said she didn't see anything and wanted to get the IV in and then would check. I kept yelling, "No, something is coming out of me!!" (At this point I was in a mental fog... I felt hot... I felt like I was going to pass out... I was scared...) So she grabbed a glove and as soon as she put her hand down to check my water ruptured. The next thing I know she is telling me it was just my water bag (and I was thinking what?! All of that was JUST the water bag?!) and she was calling the mid wife and more nurses in stat. They got there and she said, "She ruptured and shes complete. We are having a baby!" The staff was trying to set things up when I started yelling that I had to push. The midwife said, "No Haylee, small pushes." and I screamed "NO!!! I'M PUSHING!!!" And at that point I started screaming at the top of my lungs (literally--like what you see in the movies) and in one push he was out! The mid wife was grabbing him by one hand!

Right after he came out, I immediately came out of that "mental fog" feeling. I did feel a lot of adrenaline and was shaking all over. I was so shocked about the screaming that I apologized and said something like, "I didn't even know I could do that!"

It was literally about 10 minutes from the time I got into the delivery room, before she even got an IV into me, that he was here. The mid wife said, "Well, its a good thing we didn't send you home. You would have been delivering a baby in the car"... UH YEAH, YA THINK!?! ... I was a bit frustrated with that mid-wife.

When it was all said and done, I felt a little bit of empowerment for doing it all naturally, and it was actually a really great feeling when it was done. Justin felt very involved in the process and he was an amazing support to me! It was actually a really, neat and intimate bonding moment with him as well.

The worst part was obviously that last few minutes of the "transition phase" at the very end. Because I wasn't prepared in any way for it, it was kind of scary. I feel like I could do it again, especially if I had been more prepared.

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Our family of SIX!