We had decided that we'd go to Columbia to do some Christmas shopping (about an hour and a half away from home). We took the hospital bag with us and hit the road with Sully, the girls were staying with Grandma Sonya. I had been having contractions all morning but they didn't hurt and were relatively inconsistant. I had thought to myself that perhaps we shouldn't go shopping so far from home, but then I thought "What the hell. There are hospitals along the way if we need one."We made it as far as Macon, about 30 mins away, and my contractions had continued even though I was just riding in the car. I decided we should stop and shop at Macon Walmart to see if the contractions would continue or stop. As we walked they continued but remained inconsistant. I made the executive decision that we should probably head back home just to be safe.
By the time we got back home it was about 3pm and the boys were tired. They napped while I continued to time my contractions. They had ranged from 5-15 mins apart. I was getting sleepy and figured I'd take a nap too. If it was real labor it would wake me up. Well, I later woke up to nothing...bummer. Craig was rather disappointed too. We headed out to supper with Sully and then on to pick up the girls from Grandma's house. My contractions slowly returned but were no more powerful or consistant than they had been all day. We arrived at the in-laws to find that Scotland had the flu....great!
We got her home, I gave her a bath and the other kids went to bed. We kept Scotland downstairs in the family room so she wouldn't be around the other 2. In between her sleeping and puking I continued to time my contractions...while remaining skeptical that labor was close.
Finally, around 10:30 or 11pm I was getting more uncomfortable and the contractions were getting a little more close. I woke up Craig and we discussed whether or not to wake up our parents to have them come sit with the kids. Here's where it gets crazy!...
~at 11:36pm I texted my mom asking if she'd want to come in just in case it was labor
~at 12:00am mom arrived and I was circling the house rather uncomfortably
~at 12:10am Craig and I were leaving the house for the hospital, the contractions were coming every few minutes and I had 3 on our short drive across town to the hospital
~by 12:30am we were settled in the delivery room and they were checking my dilation and monitoring my contractions, I was at 8 cm!
~shortly after the nursed checked me they left the room to call the doctor (he was called at 12:44am), they also told me I could stand up if I wanted
~I stood up beside the bed and got hit with 2 strong contactions on top of each other, just after the 2nd one my water broke...all over my feet
~the nurses returned from calling the doc, saw that my water had broken, and told me I could get back in the bed if I wanted...I was pretty tired for the 2 contractions that came back to back and didn't really know what I wanted and/or needed
~I got back in the bed and BAM, 2 more contractions...at this point my eyes were shut as tight as I could shut them, the nurses were scrambling to get everything ready as I started exclaiming that Dr. Early was not going to make it in time and I had to push. My body was pushing whether I wanted to push or not. This was the scariest thing in the world as I had no time to even comprehend how fast everything was happening. I was not in control of anything going on at this point and after ~3 pushes Hogan was out and into the world at 12:55am!!! Only 25 mins after getting to our room!
The 3 wonderful nurses delivered him. He had the cord loosely around his neck and body but was healthy otherwise. Just beating Dr. Early into the room, 3 residents from the ER rushed in with eyes bulging as I sat there on the bed with a smile on my face. Pointing over to the warmer I laughed, "You missed it, he's over there!" Poor guys, I can only imagine the sight they saw being burned into their minds forever. Right behind them was Dr. Early, just in time to deliver the placenta. I felt so bad that he missed it. The nurses asked if I had tried to wait as long as possible before coming to the hospital...and that wasn't the case at all. I had simply waited all day to know that I was definitely in labor, I didn't want to go only to be sent back home to wait...we're just lucky this little guys wasn't born in the car on the way there!
Here are 2 of the 3 nurses who delivered Hogan
Here is the 3rd nurse
Proud big sis Paislee and big bro Sully holding Hogan for the first time
Scotland holding Hogan for the first time...she had to wait for us to come home since she had been sick and couldn't visit the hospital
Dad and Hogan taking a nap