Welcome to the world Grady Allan Darrington! The week before
we went in was a mix of being so excited and being so nervous for what was ahead of
me. Tuesday morning Keegan headed to Kaci and Ryan’s house and Shelly took
Bryke to preschool and we headed to the hospital. We walked up and I said we
needed to check in and they asked if I was Sarah, told them yes, and they were
like we’ve been waiting for you! I was so confused because Dr. Coleman told us
8 am and we were right on time. Well he must have told the nurses I would be
there at 6 am because they thought I was two hours late or had changed my mind.
Then I get all hooked up and my nurse checked me and asked if I was sure that
the baby’s head was down? This totally through me off. So Dr. Coleman comes in
and he and the nurse kind of had an awkward exchange about the time we came in
and then the baby being head down. It seemed like they didn’t like each other
and it just left a weird feeling in the room. That sounds so weird but I don’t
know how else to describe it. Then Dr. Coleman checked me and said that Grady’s
head wasn’t far enough down to just break my water and gave me the option of
going home and coming back in a few days because he said we weren’t in a rush
and we were basically inducing me because I didn’t want to be pregnant anymore
(this made me really upset and I told him no it was because I was worried about
having another big baby) or to start Pitocin. I was pretty devastated. The last
thing I wanted to do was get Pitocin because of the bad memories of having it
with Bryker. I think I went into the day thinking I’ll walk in they’ll break my
water and I’ll walk around and then push for maybe half an hour and wha-la we’d
have a baby! Basically the Keegan experience and instead we ended up with more
of a Bryker experience. So I was not going home the boys were all taken care of
and we were having a baby that day one way or another. So I got hooked up to Pitocin
and then the waiting game began-this was at about 8:30. Oh and they missed my
IV the first time and had to try again-it was a rough start to the day. Then we
hung out until the contractions started to get harder and move the baby’s head
down then they came and broke my water around 1 and the contractions got pretty
intense really fast and I went to an 8 really quick. I got the epidural (man
getting an epidural hurts SO bad-and it didn’t even really work!) pretty quick
after they broke my water but it never had time to fully kick in because I was
dilating so fast. It was weird though because everything was numb except for
the area that actually needed to be numb! Ter rubbed an ice cube on my stomach
and I couldn’t feel it at all but I could definitely feel the contractions. Dr.
Coleman came back in and checked me and I was just about ready to start
pushing-well so were 2 other ladies, one of them was also Dr. Coleman’s
patient. So he left right when I started pushing and that made me so nervous. I
thought oh geez he must think this is going to take forever because he just left!
Well he delivered the other lady really fast and was right back in in about 20
minutes. When he got in he said that the baby was posterior and was going to
have to turn him. Oh my goodness worst pain ever but he got him turned! He said
that if he hadn’t have been able to I would have probably pushed for a couple
hours and could have ended up with a C-section. So we got over that hurdle and
once he was turned I got his head out and then his dang shoulders got stuck,
the little stinker! With Bryke and Keegan I remember the pain of getting their
heads out and then the very next push the rest of the body came out and the
relief. With Grady, his head was out and then it was awful I could not get the
rest of him because his shoulders were stuck. I was exhausted at this point.
The pain of feeling the contractions and just being so tired from pushing I was
ready to give up. But Dr. Coleman took charge and in about 4 or 5 more pushes
Grady was here! The poor little Mr.’s face was {so} bruised he was basically
purple but other than that he was perfect! Thank heavens we did go a week early
because we had another little chunker-he was 9 lbs 3 oz, 21 inches long and
born at 3:20 pm on January 6th. I remember still being in a lot of pain after
Grady was born but once the placenta came out things got better. I got stitched
up and then got to love on my sweet baby. He latched on right away and just
snuggled right up-another little perfect baby boy that Heavenly Father has
trusted us with and we are so thankful!
Ter was absolutely amazing again! I seriously could not have
made it through without him. He was so funny, when I had just started pushing
he was holding my hand and looked at me and said, “Why do you want to do this
again?? This is awful!!” It made me laugh :)
Then the visitors started coming. We saw Cheryl, my parents,
Laura and Carson, Jill and Kaci came. Cheryl brought Bryke and Keegan up and
they were pretty excited to meet their new brother but all the cool stuff in
the room quickly became more interesting. They stayed for just a bit and then
headed home to be spoiled by Grandma D. Bryke had a pretty rough time that
night and was so sad to leave me in the hospital. I think just all the change
and a long day had him pretty worn out. We went home the next day and the boys
stayed with my parents. Ter went back to work on Thursday and Friday and me and
Grady just snuggled and rested. We finally all were back together again on
Friday night and started our adventure as a family of 5!
*I’m writing this as Grady is a month old and sleeping next
to me on the couch while the boys play legos with their dad and just thinking
this is our new normal. It seems weird to think of a time before Grady. He is
such a sweet little boy who really only cries when he gets his bum changed. He
still sleeps most of the day-thank heavens because it has made the transition
to having 3 not so bad. I am so incredibly grateful for my family. I can’t
believe I have 3 little boys but I wouldn’t trade them for anything!
 |
| Our first picture as a family of 5! |
 |
| look at those giant smiles! |
