Life So Far: A January Retrospective, Part 3

So we're in the hospital in Payson, trying to get my blood pressure to come down so I can go to Provo by ambulance. We kept talking to family on the phone while all this was happening. My mom came to the hospital for a bit before she had to go to work. I know I talked to Gretchen for sure. Erik ended up running home while all this was happening. They thought I would be leaving for Provo in the next hour or so and I was getting worried about Solomon at home. He hadn't been out since around 4:30 am and now it was 10:30 am or so. So Erik went home to quickly shower and really get dressed for the day, not just hurry and take my pregnant wife to the ER clothes. He was going to drop Sol off at my parents and then meet me at the hospital in Provo.

It ended up taking a little longer for me to leave Payson and I was getting a little worried that Erik would end up waiting for me in Provo. I really didn't want this to happen since I needed him to be with me as much as possible. It ended up that he came back to the hospital in Payson as they were loading me in the ambulance and was able to give me a kiss before they closed the doors. My nurse from Payson came to Provo in the ambulance with me which was nice.

It was weird riding in the ambulance. I'm laying on a gurney facing backwards and trying to judge where we were by the landmarks we were passing. There aren't many of those between Payson and Provo from that angle. At one point I realized we were passing a semi pretty quickly and asked if the lights were on. They were.

During the ride to Provo, one of the workers (EMT I suppose) called in to let them know what was coming. When we got to the Emergency Room there was a whiteboard telling them where to take me. Where they had to take me was on the other side of the hospital. So there I am strapped to the gurney getting wheeled past who knows what or who, looking my 4:30 am best. When I got to my room they moved me to my bed and the Provo nurses took over. Somewhere in this time Erik got to my room. This was around 1 pm.

We met with the doctor that had been consulted earlier. He said that it looked like we would be having a baby soon. How soon? we asked. Well, we were told, the anesthetist will be in around 3 pm for the epidural then we'll take you to delivery by 3:30. We were happy that I would be able to stay awake for the c-section because that way Erik could be in the room. If I had to be knocked out entirely, he would have had to wait out side the surgery room.

Epiduraled. Erik suiting up.
(Cell phone picture=bad quality)

During this time my family started showing up. After half a day at school, they were able to find a sub for my mom and she was able to get to Provo. My dad and Bridgett also came then. Bridgett and my mom had been crying because they were so worried about us all. During this whole time I wasn't worried about anything but that fact that we weren't ready yet. I just knew that everything was going to be okay.

My dad isn't the type to just sit around so he asked if there was anything he could do for us. He kindly agreed to go to our house and get our new camera which we had forgotten. When he got back, he and Erik gave me a blessing that really comforted everyone, I think.

Neither of us was that excited about a c-section. I had just been telling Erik a few weeks earlier that it wasn't like Alien. The baby wouldn't come shooting out. But you know what? It kind of was like that. The doctors were all pushing on me to push the baby up and out of the incision. Not to be gross, but there was splatter involved. Erik and I were both very grateful for the curtain that was up so neither of us could see what was going on. At 4:13 pm Max was born.