Believe It Or Not...HE Is Here!!!

Carter Steven Gappmayer quickly made his way into the world on Friday, May 15th at 4:34 am. He weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. The following story is true and somewhat graphic, but I had to write it all down so I didn't forget. The exciting part was supposed to be finding out if it was a boy or a girl, but if you keep reading you will see that that was just a bonus. It is pretty long so just skim it if you get bored.

It all started on Thursday. I started having contractions that afternoon, but only every 30-40 minutes. They were different than the occasional Braxton Hicks contraction that I had experienced so even though they were few and far between they got me excited. By that evening, they were coming a little more regularly. After my meeting that night, Eric and I watched "The Office" (like usual) and after it was over (around 9 pm) I told him, "It's not time yet, but I think we will have to go in tonight." He was working on school stuff so I told him to keep working so I could time the contractions a little better and I would let him know. Ashes had been sick with a fever and a cough so I just held her in the recliner and watched TV while I figured out what was going on with my body. At 10:30 pm, I decided it was time to call Eric's mom and go to the hospital before it got too late into the evening. I didn't want to have to call her during the middle of the night so even though my contractions were only 7-10 minutes apart we told her to take her time and come over. She got there around 11:30 pm. We got Ashes settled with her and we went to the hospital.

I knew when I got there that I probably wouldn't be that far along (with Tade I was almost a six and Ash was a C-section), but I figured we would check in, they would check my in an hour, I would be far enough to stay, I could get my epidural early, and just sleep until it happened. NOPE!!! Not how it happened. The nurse checked me when I got there and I was a 2 and 90% so she said that we would monitor for an hour and then recheck. By that time they were coming about every 5 minutes and weren't too bad. My blood pressure was a little high so they watched that as well. After a little over an hour I was still the same and my blood pressure wasn't as high, but the contractions were coming anywhere between 2-5 minutes so they decided to keep me for another hour and see what happened. The contractions were getting a lot worse and at this point I was ready for an epidural, but I was glad they at least weren't sending me home. The oncall doctor was on his way in for another delivery so I thought he would come in and say hi, but after another hour or so the nurse came in and checked me. I was STILL the same. She said she would talk to the doctor, but since I wasn't progressing they would probably have to send me home. I was so upset because the contractions were really hurting. She said that they would give me a shot of morphine and phenergan and that if when I went home I couldn't sleep through the contractions to come back. I was thinking, "Are you kidding me? I don't know how these contractions can hurt much worse." But of course I didn't say that out loud because I am a wimp. Well, she gave me the shot and sent us on our way. Every contraction I would have to stop walking and let it pass and I was crying because they hurt so bad. Looking back I should have been more assertive and said, "No, I'm not leaving." or "Tell the doctor to come check me.", but that is all in hindsight.

We got home around 3 am and Eric's mom stayed on the couch, Eric took Ashlynn downstairs, and I went to our bed to try and sleep. I figured if the medicine wasn't working by 3:30 am then I would give it about a half hour more to be safe and go back in. By 3:30 am it wasn't working AT ALL and I had started bleeding (more than just "show") and I kind of felt like I needed to push. I called Labor and Delivery and talked with my nurse because I was worried about the bleeding. She said that it was normal to bleed some after having been checked so many times, but if it was still hurting than I could come back in IF I wanted to. For about ten minutes I decided to keep waiting, but Eric had given me a blessing when we got home and he blessed me to know when I should go to the hospital and I heard a voice telling me to go so I stopped questioning myself, listened to the Spirit, and went to get Eric. He took a few minutes to wake up, but we were back on the road by 4:10 am.

By the first Springville exit I really was feeling like I needed to push with every contraction and they were really close together. Right before the second Springville exit I told Eric to call Labor and Delivery to let them know we were coming and that the baby was coming. I felt a big gush, which I thought was blood (but was my water, duh!) and I was really needing to push at this point. I was yelling and pushing and I could feel the baby's head. Eric remained very calm, but he kept fumbling with the phone and couldn't get through to the hospital. (This was at 4:21 am. We checked Eric's phone afterwards.) By the University exit, I told him to forget the hospital and call 911 because the BABY WAS COMING! He got through to 911 right before the Center Street exit. Keep in mind that I am screaming and yelling and panting and pushing this WHOLE time. (Poor Eric!) The 911 operator told him to pull over and give her the street address so an ambulance could come get me, but Eric knew Albertson's was right up the street so he said that he would go there. We pulled into the parking lot and a police officer pulled in almost right after us and then another. The 911 operator kept Eric on the line and the cop opened up my door and started asking me questions. The first one being, "How are you?" Duh! I am screaming and trying to push a kid out. What do you think? About 2 minutes after we pulled into the parking lot the ambulance arrived. At first they wanted my to get out and get on the stretcher, but there was no way I could walk so they lifted me out. Apparently, Eric was off the phone now and they told him to follow them to the ER. Inside the ambulance were three EMT's. They were trying to decide if they had enough time to take me to Labor and Delivery or if they should go straight to the ER. It seemed like it took them about 10 minutes to decide and start driving, but Eric said it was more like three minutes. They were about to go to L&D because they couldn't really see the head, but they only had my pants down to my knees. I remember yelling, "Take my pants off." Something I am sure they don't hear everyday, but once they did they realized that the head was right there and I was going to deliver any minute. They kept telling me, "Push if you want to. Breathe." If I want to? I don't want to; I HAVE to! And I think the "breathe" was because they wanted me to stop screaming, but I couldn't help that either. (Props to any of you who has had a baby without an epidural.) The head hurt really bad coming out, but once that was delivered the shoulders weren't too bad. At one point, I wished I could stop because I was so tired, but that is not how nature intends it to be. Once you've started there's no stopping. The whole thing seemed like forever, but really was about 15 minutes from when my water broke to delivery. I think I actually delivered as we were pulling into the ER parking lot, but I really don't know for sure. It took me a minute to even ask if it was a boy or a girl. I was really worried he wasn't breathing at first, but he was fine. He just didn't cry for a little while. (He still doesn't cry very much.)

Once there, they backed up to the ER doors and opened the ambulance doors where a bunch of people were waiting for us. They hadn't even clamped his cord yet. I could see Eric at the back of the group and I yelled out to him, "It's a boy!" I am sure everyone thought I was nuts, but he didn't know either and I wanted to tell him. They took him in after they cut the cord and then made me somewhat decent and took me in. We were both in the same Trauma Room. The NICU nurse and respiratory therapist were with the baby and the oncall to the house MD and a couple of L&D nurses (including the one who sent me home) were working with me. They had another emergency delivery upstairs and by that time my oncall doctor had come down to take over helping me. They fixed us both up and then sent us up to Labor and Delivery. We hung out there for a couple of hours and then eventually made it down to Mother/Baby.

It was a super crazy experience. Not something I want to have to do again. Everyone I tell gets mad they sent me home. At first, I wasn't, but then I was and then I realized I have to let it go and be grateful that I have an amazing, healthy baby. So Welcome Carter! We love you!!!