Daxton Oliver Gunter

It all started Sunday morning, July 15th. It was 530 AM and I was waking up to go potty...again! As I went to get up I felt a little pop and a gush. I ran to the bathroom and started to wonder. Had my water actually broken? That never happens to me. I went back to bed and waited for something to happen. Nothing did. So, I went back to sleep. We got up and got ready for church. I let Walter know that either A. my water had sort of broken or B. I peed my pants this morning. I asked him not to tell anyone, because what if the answer was B?!? As I was getting up from the floor (that's where I do my make-up, don't ask), I felt another gush. I decided to wear a heavy duty pad because either I had lost all control of my bladder or I had a slow leak. After church, still nothing had started. I decided to call my midwife to see what we needed to do. We decided that if my water had truly broken, I would be in sometime that night in actual labor. If I had only peed my pants, at least I didn't waste anyone's time. I had my regular appointment scheduled for Monday morning and we would check things out then. So, we went to bed that night. Nothing was happening, so I was pretty sure my answer was B. Walter got up and went to work and I got the kids ready. I dropped the kids off with my friend and picked Walter up so he could go to my appointment with me. At my appointment they ran some tests and confirmed that my water had broken/started leaking. They did some blood work to make sure I didn't have any infections going on, did a Non Stress Test to make sure the baby was doing good and sent us on our way, with an appointment in 2 days to do it all again. We also had received strict instructions. Once your water has broken, or is leaking, there are certain things you can no longer do. Like, take a bath, or try to get the baby out using the method used to get him in there. The only thing I could really do is start homeopathic drugs. So, I started taking cimicifuga and caullophyllum. They didn't seem to do a whole lot for me, but at least I was doing something. We decided to take this opportunity to have a last date. We went to Red Robin for lunch and picked up some birthday presents for Trae. His birthday is on July 19th and I was pretty sure this was my last chance to get him some gifts. We also decided, since we were already at the mall, to get some reflexology done. I was hoping it would start labor, but the lady didn't exactly speak English, so she didn't understand when I asked her to kindly put me into labor. She didn't work my uterus spot on my foot much, but it was a nice foot rub. We picked up the kids from Carol and headed home. That night I started having some contractions and they were pretty bad. I continued to leak and started to see some blood. We called the midwife at 11 and he said to give it an hour and if things were continuing to progress, we'd head in. Well, an hour later (and about a minute after Walter posted to FB that we were having a baby) everything stopped. Well, the contractions stopped, but my baby kept moving like crazy. He was kicking and moving and it was very painful. Walter informed my mom that things were happening and she should probably get here soon. It was now Tuesday. She got herself ready and headed to the airport. Walter stayed home from work that day and we all went to our Adventure Days playdate at Francesconi's. I had a few contractions but nothing exciting. My moms flight was going to get in around 4 and we were halfway to the airport, so we decided to go find some stores to walk around. I was planning a Birthing Center birth, so we also stopped at Walmart and got some snacks for during labor. I still wasn't convinced that I would actually give birth at the birthing center, but at least I was prepared. We picked up my mom and headed home. We got all settled in for the night and went to bed. I had a few contractions that woke me up in the night, but they were 30 min apart at their closest. We enjoyed a relaxing morning and talked about how maybe Walter should go to work tomorrow, since my mom was now here and nothing was really happening. It was Wednesday, 2 days since my last appointment, so we were due for another appointment at 330 that day. We decided to take the kids early to Carol (she deserves an award!) so we could go walk the mall and help things along. We got to her house and I remembered she is really good at foot massages and knows the reflexology points. So I asked her to rub my feet, as if she hadn't done enough already!! I had a few contractions while she rubbed my feet and then we headed to my appointment. About 5 minutes down the road I realized I hadn't given my kids hugs and kisses. I mean, they might grow up while I'm gone! So, Walter turned the car around and we headed back so I could check it off my mental 'it's ok to go into labor now' checklist. So, we were on our way to my appointment. We got there and they did the NST again. The nurse that was doing the test was very surprised at the baby's activity. He was still all over the place. She had to stay and hold the monitor on him because he kept moving and kicking it off. He appeared to be doing great. We met with the midwife, she drew my blood to make sure I wasn't starting to get any infections due to my water breaking and was ready to send us on our way. She gave us some ideas on how to start labor, including castor oil. She gave us a recipe for a castor oil root beer float with a reeses chaser. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about castor oil, but we were going to at least go find some. As we walked into Safeway I had a nice contraction, but they didn't have any castor oil. So, we headed to Whole Foods. I had a few contractions in there, but the only castor oil they had was for external use only. I had never heard of that, but they told us to try a pharmacy. As we went to leave Whole Foods and big storm blew in. It was raining sideways and we couldn't get to our car. Walter ran to get the car while my mom and I went to the underground parking to wait for him to pick us up. We drove from that underground parking to the Target parking garage and continued our hunt. Target had NO CASTOR OIL! Seriously?!? How do people get their babies out in this place?!? So, we headed to the mall to find a vitamin shop. Walter dropped my mom and me off in the parking garage and he went to park. As soon as I got out of the car I had a nice contraction. I hunched over between 2 cars, survived the contraction and walked into the mall as if nothing had happened. I got quite a few looks. :) I had told my midwife at my appointment that I was really feeling the contractions in my back. She recommended a belly belt to help hold my belly up so the baby would get in the right position. Walter had been begging me to get one of these for the last 4 months, so with just hours left in my pregnancy I bought one. It completely changed my contractions. I secretly wish I had listened to that man a while ago. At least I had it now. We then resumed our castor oil search. We checked Vitamin World, no luck. We checked GNC, no luck. But, at GNC the manager did offer us something else. He was pretty sure we'd be all excited about it, too. It was a male sexual enhancement pill. REALLY? His selling point was that it had 8 different kinds of sperm in it. Well, considering only 1 kind of sperm got me into this mess, we decided to pass on the sperm buffet! We decided to look to Amazon to see if castor oil was even still being made. We found a local store that carried it. We called them and asked about it. It was the exact same one as the one at Whole Foods. Even though it said not to consume it, they thought we should. We went and found my mom at the Apple store and I found a nice stool to sit on. Getting those 2 out of an Apple store takes an act of congress, or a woman in labor hunched over the 'personal setup' table, breathing heavily. after 3 employees asked if I was OK, we were on our way again. We headed back to Whole Foods to get the non internal castor oil. The plan was, if this baby didn't come by morning I'd have my root beer float for breakfast. We decided to get some dinner, as it was now about 7. My contractions were getting closer, but weren't consistent. I picked California Tortilla for dinner, bad idea. You know, beans and rice don't exactly go well with digestion. So, I ate my chicken fajita burrito, sipped some root beer, and took breaks to have contractions. At one point I was up on all fours on the booth bench breathing down Walters back. I would finish my contraction and sit back down and resume eating. I'm sure people were staring but I didn't notice them. Finally, I told my mom and Walter that I didn't want to be there anymore. I didn't care where we went, but I needed to move. We packed up my moms dinner, cause she eats slow, and went to the car. My contractions were about 3-7 minutes apart so we called the midwife to see what we should do. I finally expressed to her my concern. I was on the fence about the birthing center because I had this fear that I was going to have a repeat retained placenta. I had one with Grady and my midwife that time had to scrape it out of me. I was so glad I had an epidural that time. Big babies are a cause of retained placentas and I was sure this baby was a 10 lber! She suggested we meet at the birthing center and check me, then make a plan. Because of my broken water they didn't want to check me much, out of fear that it would introduce germs and cause infections. So, we planned to meet her in 20 min (9:00) at the birthing center. We were really close so we decided to head to Best Buy, cause that sounded like a good place to have a baby. ;) Once we got there I had a few contractions in a row. I did not want to go into the store, and it was almost time to go meet the midwife. Given my uneasiness about my placenta, we decided to say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help me make the right decision. If I went to the birthing center, then I'll have to get back in the car and come back over to the hospital, which was right down the street from where we were. I also didn't want that option taken from me, if I was too far along. As soon as Walter finished praying I knew I needed to go to the hospital. So, I called the midwife and told her I had decided to just go to the hospital. She let me know that once checked into the hospital I couldn't leave, since my water was broken. If I stopped having contractions we would have to resort to Pitocin. I made sure she would still be the one over my care and headed to the hospital. They got me into triage and checked me. I was at a 2! :( I was so bummed! I as sure I had progressed. I was at a 2 at my appointment on Monday. She said I was 50% effaced and at a -2 station. SERIOUSLY! My contractions were doing nothing, except teaching me patience. We got to our room and settled in and did the monitoring. Once I was done with that we started walking the halls. My contractions would come and go. We went back to my room and got on a birthing ball. My contractions were getting stronger and I had started to bleed again. This was a good thing. At midnight I asked my midwife to please check me. I had to know I was progressing. She checked, no progress. They warned me that this labor would be different because my body didn't seem to be getting the message. Then I did what no woman ever does...I asked for Pitocin. I wanted pain for a reason, not just for practice. As Walter put it, bring the rain! That was the end of nice me. Those contractions were KILLER! I remember telling Walter I wanted to leave the hospital, that I didn't want to do this anymore. I also told him I wanted to throw something. At one point, I told him I was going to bite him! He's so lucky!! :) I could feel the baby moving down and I was sure I was making progress. I didn't even think to ask to be checked, all I knew was that this was not fun anymore. After 1 hour of pitocin I asked for my epidural. I know, I see it too. I went from natural birthing center birth to hospital pitocin and and epidural. They said the anesthesiologist was in a c-section, but would be out in about 30 min. I figured I might live that long. I don't think anybody realized I was watching the clock, but I was. After an hour, I asked where he was. That's when they told me another lady was at a 10, so he was with her. He would be there in 25 min. Walter did the math for me and said, 'Only 5 more contractions, you can do this!' Well, an hour later he walked in. I would have punched him in the face for taking so long, but he was a really buff guy and he did have my epidural for me, so I refrained! So, after about 3 hours of pitocin, I got my epidural. It was a beautiful thing. Walter and my mom both tried to get some sleep, as it was now 3:30. I turned on my hypnobirthing and tried to relax. I couldn't sleep. I was too uncomfortable. My midwife came in at about 5 and found that I was completely dilated! yeah!! So, we started pushing. At 5:35 he was born. The chord was wrapped around his neck twice, so they slipped it off of him and put him on my chest. He was silent and a little purple/blue. They rubbed his back and cleaned out his mouth and finally he started to breath. I have never been emotional at this point in labor, but this time I did cry. I was so happy he was finally here! All I could think was, he doesn't feel like 10 lbs. He felt tiny! We did some skin to skin contact while they got ready to cut the chord. I asked them to wait for it to stop pulsing. My midwife informed me that it had already stopped. It didn't pulse for long. It was a really thin chord. About as round as a pencil. I've had some healthy placentas and chords in the past and this thing looked nothing like them. It was yellow and skinny. It was now time to deliver the placenta, so the nurse and Walter took our baby over to weigh him and suction out his throat. He still sounded congested. My midwife, Jessica, asked me to push while she pulled on the chord. Then I heard a little pop, followed by a gasp and a couple of 'oh no!'s'. The chord had snapped off of the placenta, leaving it inside. The mood in the room changed completely. Jessica asked the nurse to call for the OB. She then told me what happened, but assured me I wasn't bleeding out. The OB came in and said, 'I'll try it once, then we head to the OR.' If he couldn't scoop the placenta out in one try then I would have to head straight in for a d&c and possibly a blood transfusion. Luckily, with one swoop he was able to get it out. It wasn't stuck to my uterine wall like Grady's was. I made sure to take a look at the placenta. I wish I had taken a picture. It was DONE! It looked like a partially cooked steak! Pretty scary, actually. The good news was I hadn't ripped much. I only needed about 2 stitches, but the bad news was that I had lost about 800 cc's of blood. They ran some blood tests to make sure I was ok. Thankfully the tests came back with good numbers and I was all clear. We stayed there for breakfast and then headed up to recovery. Oh, I almost forgot. Dax's stats. He weighed in at a tiny 8# .8 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Walter headed to Carol's to get the kids and my mom and I (and baby Dax) tried to nap. We were all exhausted!! Walter picked up the kids and took them to get the baby and I a present. He also picked up pizza and cupcakes because, after all, it was Trae's birthday!! Trae got the biggest present he was asking for...that I would have the baby on his birthday! I finally got my twins, the easy way, 6 years apart! July 19th will forever be a BIG party at our house!