Eddison's First Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Little Captain!!! I can't believe a year has passed since you joined our little family. I suppose technically - since I'm writing this blog at 1 a.m. (don't ask!) - there are a few more hours until your exact-down-to-the-minute birthday.

For the rest of you: Here's the recap...I know you all are just dying to read it, right? :-) Humor an emotional Mommy, okay?!

Last Year At This Time:
At this exact time (again, 1 a.m.), I was downstairs rocking back and forth on a yoga ball and watching a King of the Hill marathon. It had been two hours since I was awakened by a pretty strong contraction and had been having them every fifteen to twenty minutes...I *knew* it was the real deal, but didn't want to wake Justin or call Nellie (who was going to watch Jack for us) just in case my contractions stopped and my intuition was faulty. So I rocked. All night. I can clearly remember the feeling of anxious excitement - like Christmas Eve, so I didn't mind being awake. In fact, I doubt I could have slept much if I had wanted to!

Finally, at around 5 a.m., I decided to get in the shower and get ready for the day. My contractions were still about ten minutes apart and fairly uncomfortable, but I wanted to see if getting in the water would slow them down (as it can). Justin found me flat ironing my hair in the bathroom when his alarm went off and I said, "Good Morning! Think today is a good day to have a baby?" (Any residual sleep in his system was vanquished at that point. :-) I was still having to stop to breathe through my contractions, but in the interim I felt perfectly perfect so I cautioned him that we may get sent home, but I did feel like it was 'time'! Once we were both ready (he was shaved, dressed, packed, and ready to go in about four minutes...) we hung around our house as I made sure everything was picked up, bags packed for all of us, bed made, etc. I was stalling so as not to wake Nellie too early (she was pregnant with her son, Tyler, at the time and I hated to wake her!). Finally - around 7 a.m. Justin made the call to tell them we were going to be dropping Jackson off and then heading to the hospital to get checked out.

While driving my contractions slowed, but were still timeable. We dropped our firstborn off and I made sure to have Justin tell them it was probably false labor, but we wanted to just see if anything substantial was going on. The 20 min. drive to the hospital proved to slow my contractions even more and when we arrived I was debating whether we should just go back. However, I figured I might as well get checked to see if my overnight contractions had done anything. After being checked in and put on the monitors (which were not reading ANY contractions - even though I had started feeling them again), we were informed that it was probably false labor, but that the doctor was going to be in shortly to check for dilation/effacement (the nurse had done a quick check and thought I was about 2 cm. dilated - no more than I had been a week earlier at my 35 wk. appointment). I couldn't believe the monitor wasn't picking up my contractions which had become stronger again...I remember thinking, "If it's not picking these up than what exactly do they need to feel like to register?!" I was also disappointed that after contracting all night I had made no progress in dilation.

When the doctor came in fifteen/twenty minutes later, she looked at the printout, then at me (during a contraction), and lifted my gown to reposition the monitor ON MY abdomen... The nurse had placed the sensors too high... It was a great feeling of validation when I saw the monitor lines furiously capturing a REAL contraction (finally)! Dr. Palermo then did an internal exam and - after I had laughed about my fear of being sent home since according to the first nurse nothing was really changing - was surprised to find me at 4+ cm. dilated, 80-90% effaced, and a solid Eddison head pushing down hard. She announced, "The only place you're going is to Labor and Delivery!"

Once in our Delivery Suite I called Nellie - who was going to be meeting with a bunch of our friends as we had planned a birthday lunch for her that day -and said, "How do you feel about sharing a birthday?!" :-) I then kept a running update going via text message (cell phones being 'prohibited' in the hospital - I bent the rules a bit ;-) with my friend Julie, who would then pass on the news to the rest of the girls.

About two hours after being sent to L & D, Dr. Palermo broke my water to help speed things up naturally... It worked. Two hours after that, despite my desire to try and wait as long as possible, Justin was on the phone with the nurse's station telling them it was time for me to get an epidural. (He doesn't really handle pain well. Specifically watching me in it...) Once the epidural was in (around 12:00 p.m.), Pitocin was started to augment my contractions even more. About three hours after receiving my epidural - which had been a low dose (explanation later) - I started becoming really uncomfortable during the contractions. Long story short - (despite Justin's repeated requests to ANY hospital personel that came into my room or in the hall ;-) - the anesthesiologist was unable to come in time to redo the epidural so I got to feel every lovely contraction for the last two hours. Additionally - my blood pressure is low. Always. Epidurals generally lower blood pressure, which is usually no problem. Unless you have really low blood pressure. Even with the low dose I was given, it became necessary a couple of times to administer epinephrine (i.e. speed) through my I.V. to get my heart working a little harder. I felt fine, but apparently they didn't believe me. (My biggest hang-up with this was that Eddie was getting whatever I was given...and I hated the idea that he was getting any amount of drug! ESPECIALLY a strong stimulant!) Through all of this I discovered and/or reaffirmed the following:

1. When faced with extreme pain I become very quiet. The very idea of yelling seemed like way too much work!
2. When faced with extreme pain I become very funny. Though my contractions were right on top of each other, and tears were streaming from the pain, I was still trying to make light of the situation...(I like this quality. I do the same thing when I'm under stress or faced with situations where I'm not sure what to say/do...which can sometimes mean I say completely inappropriate things and end up with a mouth full of foot.) Again - for the most part I unintentionally pulled a Katie Holmes-Cruise and was all about the silent birth thing, but I'd like to think I at least made one nurse laugh...once.
3. I LOVED having a mirror! I had insisted and loved having one with Jackson and again with Eddison. I'm convinced just the visual of seeing the baby's head right there helped me get my boys out in record time. (Jack - 6 pushes, 2 contractions; Eddie - 4 pushes, 1 contraction). FYI - Eddie actually came out with what they called a 'nuchal arm' - meaning his hand was on top of his head as he came out. It was SO cute! *ok - here come the tears!*

There you have it! At 5:32 p.m., 17.5 hours after my first contraction, Eddison Justin Wilde made his debut. 5 lbs. 14.9 oz. (not 12 lbs. like I had continuously dreamed about!), 18.5 inches, and carrying on the Wilde Boy tradition of peeing on the doctor straight away...

Eddie has brought SO much joy and love to our home! Jackson adores him just as much as he adores Jack...And there is nothing sweeter for a Mommy to see than her children being kind to and loving one another. I am amazed each day at my beautiful baby boy and give my utmost thanks to Heavenly Father for allowing me the opportunity to raise such a perfect little spirit. I am so grateful for the divine calling of Motherhood that offers more rewards and blessings than I could ever hope to deserve! I am grateful for the Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley and for the example he set for the world...For the lessons he taught and for the work that he did to help share the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Likewise I am grateful for our new Prophet Thomas S. Monson. I know that he has been called of God to lead and guide our Church and that the work he will do and lessons he will teach (and has already taught!) will influence generations to come. And above all I am grateful for the knowledge that, "Families can be together forever, through Heavenly Father's plan."

I hope you enjoy Eddison's First Year video! And if you've read this whole post AND watched the video - you totally deserve a medal...or at least a trophy made from tootsie-rolls.

LOVE YOU!