MORE ON MORRELLS: Baby Gavin's here!!!

We're parents!!!! Can not believe it! It's still weird to even say that...

Here's the story of baby Gav.. (I won't go into detail, I promise its safe to read)

Alright...

On Sunday night I had thought my water had broken but I never started feeling any contractions. There were other things going on so I thought it maybe labor?? I didn't know, I've never had a baby before. So Monday morning came around and I asked some friends what they thought. They were saying the same thing happened to them and they went straight to the hospital and had the baby that day. So I finally gave in and called the hospital. (I hate calling the hospital) Of course they told me to come in just to make sure. Jake came home from work and we were off to the hospital around 11:30 a.m. Of course we had to pack the car before we left, just in case. So we got to the hospital, waited, waited, and waited for what seemed like forever. When we first arrived there my midwife Rachel was there. Two or three hours passed and Rachel came to see if we were still waiting and we surely were. Apparently the L&D gets super busy and there aren't enough rooms... So Rachel told me I could either stay and wait, (which takes about 3 more hours once you get in the room) or I could meet her at her office in about 5 min and she could take me right in! We went straight to her office! She checked me and she stripped my membranes (a way to get labor going) and said she'd see us soon! She had me set up another checkup for Friday but said she'd see me before then. That was crazy! She could tell it was go time soon...

Jake took me back home and went back to work. On Monday around 3:30, I had started to feel contractions. I didn't know they were contractions at first, I just felt sick. They weren't very regular and only lasted about 20-30 seconds. I was so ready!! As the day went on they got closer and more intense but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. That night I got tired pretty early and went to bed around 7. I woke up at 9 with bad contractions, got through a couple more contractions, and went back to bed. I then woke up at 11 with contractions about every ten minutes and they lasted about 30 seconds but were more painful than before. I tried so hard to go back to bed and had to give up. I laid in bed for about an hour and let me tell you, contractions hurt so much worse while laying down. I ended up out in our family room and sat in our glider chair with blankets and pillows surrounding me trying to pretend like it was a bed. Throughout the night the contractions got closer and stronger. I got to the point where I needed another blanket to get more comfy and decided to wait for Jake to get up cause I didn't want to move out of my position. Jake got up at 4:30 for work and I got my blanket!! By then I was in enough pain and SO tired I asked Jake if he would stay home from work for the slight chance that it was time. He came and sat on the couch with me and we hung out till about 6. Weirdest thing happened! The contractions all of a sudden stopped. I was so frustrated. Jake put me to bed since i got no sleep and hung around for a bit to see if the would start up again. Nothing was happening so he left for work around 7 or 8. I woke up at 9, still very frustrated and started doing my normal routine. Around 9:30 I started feeling contractions again!! This made me more frustrated cuz I had already gone through this for about 15 hours and I didn't want to go through it again for nothing. I told Jake they had started up again but just like they had the day before, very spread apart and I just felt sick. Around 2 pm, Jake showed up at home and told me he got sent home. I thought he was in trouble at work, ha ha! He said his boss had asked him how i was and he told him i was in pain so he sent him home. Nice guy. A while after Jake got home he called the hospital and told them what had been going on and they said we should come in. Not again! I had been to the hospital to many times and they took forever! I did not want to go just to get sent home. Jake talked me into it anyways and we got there around 4. We went straight to the L&D, and it took a while, because I would have to stop walking every time I was feeling a contraction. When we got there, I was able to handle the pain, and I knew i wasn't showing that i was in much pain. I was walking by myself, smiling... Jake always makes fun of me cuz I can hide any pain from anyone but if its just me and him I let him know everything. Anyways, the nurse at L&D said all the rooms were full and put me in the family waiting room (basically the hall way) and said they would come get me when they had a room. Are you kidding me!? I had been in labor for 20+ hours now and now I have to labor in the waiting room. I thought they wouldn't take too long this time since I was actually in labor this time, they should get me right in or at least put me in some other room in the hospital. I was wrong! There was a girl in the waiting room before me and i could here her talking about how she was there just to get checked. I thought they will surely take me in before her, right? I was wrong. I was getting so mad at this point. We had been waiting about an hour when they took the girl in before me. I kept telling myself I was fine, my contractions might possibly stop again anyways. Although at this point my contractions were about every 3-4 min apart and lasted about a min. I was getting so uncomfortable on those chairs I got down on all fours and tried some of the laboring techniques they had taught me in my class. Yep, I was that weirdo in the hallway on all fours swaying back and fourth. I had asked Jake if he would get my pillow out of the car and the second he was out the door they came and got me to put me in a room! Only 2 hours later! I blame it all on the fact I came in too cheerful. I'll remember that next time. I'm not bitter about this at all... It was about 6 when we finally got in the room and the nurse got me all hooked up, took some tests, and a few min later told me I was having the baby tonight!! WAHOO! Now at this point Jake had gotten back from the car and we realized this baby still didn't have a name! This is how the conversation went...

Jor-"what should we name him?"

Jake- "you know i don't like Reldon as his name, but we can name him that if you really want to"

Jor- "So should we name him Gavin?"

Jake- "Are you sure?"

Jor- "yep"

Jake- "alright"

Yeah, that's how we named our kid. Rachel came in right after that and asked if we had picked out a name, finally we could say yes! When Rachel came in she asked me if I was going to try and go natural or get an epidural. I told her I had decided to get the epidural and she said that was a great choice for me and that I can get it whenever I wanted. I had originally wanted to try and go as far as I could without getting it but she said it wouldn't change things if I got it now or in a couple hours. She thought I should get it now since I had been laboring for so long so I could rest before everything happened. I said okay and had the epidural by 6:30. The nurses helping me this whole time kept making comments on how I was really nice during labor and they thought it was funny how smiley and talkative i was. Jake of course had to bring up that its cuz they were there and it wasn't just me and him. Once the epidural kicked in i was on cloud 9. Can't believe how heavenly those things are. Jake asked me at one point why I was so happy and not irritable. He thought that's how I was supposed to be throughout. Silly Jake. For the next couple of hours we watched the election. Yes that was our entertainment for the night, sadly. around 10:45 Rachel came in and checked me and asked if I was ready to have this baby. Heck yeah I was! Right after she said that some alarm went off and Rachel went to go check what had happened. There was a baby in another room being born that needed the nurses from the NICU. When we had first gotten into our room Rachel had checked me and said that baby Gav had had his first meconium, his first poo, and the NICU nurses would need to check him out before we got to hold him to make sure he didn't swallow any. Rachel said we would have to wait to have baby Gav so the NICU nurses could be in the room with us. They came back in about a half hour later and said they were ready! I said alright lets do this. They got me all ready and had me start pushing. I pushed for about 10 min and baby Gav was born at 11:32 p.m. on Nov. 6th. Rachel handed Jake the scissors or whatever they use to cut the cord and it was a done deal. The NICU nurses took him for about 10 min checked him out weighed him and what not and handed him over. 10 pounder. That's my boy. Can't even tell you how in love with him we were from the second we saw him. Weirdest part was when he was actually born. I just kept thinking that was it... he's here. What am I suppose to do now? ha. It was the weirdest feeling I've ever had. But there's the story of our little Gav. Enjoy the pic's!!

Our cute little boy :)