Daniel Charles Clayton Jr.

Daniel Charles Clayton Jr.

Born 7:10 pm July 29, 2012

He was 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 20 in. long

I wanted to try and remember as many details as possible so I decided I would write it out before I forget all of those little details.  The night before, July 28th was our 5 year Anniversary and we went out to celebrate with Ben and Shalyse because it was their 6 year Anniversary.  I work up several times during the night being sick.  I woke up Sunday morning and was debating on going to church or not. I had already made arrangements for someone to cover for me in primary. In the end I decided to go.  I spent all of sacrament meeting just not feeling well and wanted to go somewhere quiet to be alone.  I decided to go home to get some rest and returned to pick everyone up after church at 12 pm. I remember 'just not feeling right.'  We came home and everyone had lunch and then everyone went down for naps. At about 2:15 pm I started having contractions that were 5 min. apart.  I didn't think much of it because, hey, I'd been having contractions like these for several weeks.  After 30 min. of the contractions keeping up while I was resting we decided to go for a walk thinking it would help things along or they would stop.  It was 90 degrees outside, so we decided to go to a place that had A/C. Around 3:45 they had gotten closer and stronger.  And I felt like it was time to call the Dr.  I called their office and talked to the operator who said the Dr. would call me back.  Dan and I headed home and we let our moms know (both of our moms had flown in for the birth) and packed our bags.  We called and made arrangements with Ben and Shalyse for the girls and then waited for the phone call from the Dr. to tell us to come in.  The midwife finally called back at 4:30 pm. I guess she had been given the wrong number and had been trying to reach me. After talking to me she knew I was uncomfortable and told me to come on in to the hospital.  We dropped the girls off with Ben and Shalyse.  We arrived at the hospital and got checked in and delivered to our room at 5:15 pm.  The contractions were still coming but they weren't getting significantly stronger, so I was worried I was having false labor.  The nurse was unsure I was in labor because I seemed so calm with the contractions being only 2 min apart.  While she was asking us questions, I had two strong contractions that were 1 min apart at which point my water broke at 5:50 pm and there was no question..........I was definitely in labor.  It was interesting when my water broke because I felt a trickle and when I got up to use the restroom there was a huge gush of fluid.  It was the first time my water had broken on it's own and it was a strange feeling!   The nurse checked me to see I was 4 cm dilated, 80% effaced and my cervix was still pretty far back. We all felt it would be a while.The midwife came in to talk to me to figure out what my birth plan was for pain medication and such.  I told her I wanted to be able to move about and wanted to see how far I could go without an epidural. I asked them to bring in a birthing ball and then I spent the next hour on the birthing ball with Dan rubbing my back through the contractions. At about 6:50 pm I asked if we could try the jacuzzi because the contractions were getting to the point where I needed some relief and I wanted to try warm water before anything else.  Up until this point I was still able to talk in between contractions.  I decided I wanted to get up and started to make my way to the tub.  I only got 3 steps before I had a very, very strong contraction and was in so much pain I doubled over and told Dan I wanted the epidural.  Then another big strong contraction came and I could feel that the baby was coming. I shouted to Dan that the baby was coming and Dan called to the nurse in a frantic voice that the baby was coming.  The nurse and Dan had to drag me over to the bed.  It took all my will power to climb into the bed as I had a strong urge to push with each contraction.  The midwife came in and told me to slow my pushing and to use slow grunts as his head came out. I will never forget how it really did feel like 'a ring of fire' as his head came into this world. It all happened so fast they didn't have time to take the lower half of the bed down and put my feet into the stir ups.  The midwife barely had time to put the plastic bag under me to catch everything. He was born at 7:10 pm. I had no taring, which I am so grateful for.....it would have been so painful to have her stitch me with no pain medication. The placenta had a hard time coming out and she had to do a lot of painful pushing on my stomach.

I had wanted to go into labor naturally because I felt like it would be easier to make it through the contractions, if they slowly built up in strength over time.  I also felt like recovery would be easier if I didn't have an epidural.  My recovery was harder with Bella then Hannah and I think it was because I had gotten an epidural with Bella.  I will admit recovery has been pretty easy all in all so far, now that it's been 25 hours after delivery.  One thing I did not know was that the cramping after delivery would be so bad with #3. I guess with each baby it becomes more painful because your uterus has to work harder to return to normal size.  I also was very stunned after the quick labor and delivery, and the terrible cramping that it took a few extra hours to feel connected to my little guy.   I have found that skin to skin contact after each nursing session has helped me to bond with him.  I love him to pieces and am so glad he is here.  He has been extra sleepy the last little while and has been pretty easy so far. I'm sure that will change but for now he has been very easy going.  Tomorrow we head home!

* I remember with each contraction towards the end praying to Heavenly Father to help me make it through the next one. It would have been a lot harder without prayer.

* According to my mom, I was dilating as he was coming.  The midwife was telling the nurse as I was dilating what I was at (I did not remember this because I was concentrating on getting through the pain.)  I guess it took about an hour to get to 5 cm and then mere minuets to get to 10 cm.  The big contractions just pushed him down into the birth canal and then everything flew by from there! I had told that same midwife months ago that I have fast deliveries but she didn't believe me when I told her how fast the other two had gone. Next, I think they'll believe me :)

* Just to add some humor, when I asked Dan if I was screaming or making any kind of noise his reply was I sounded like a cross between a bear and a wolf :)  Oh thank you for the reenactment, Dear.

*Dan also cackled and cried like a school girl (his words not mine :)  as our little boy came into the world.  And he would have told me that he had hair like he did with Bella but he knew I was too concentrated on what I was doing to hear anything else.  He also said the little boy let out one loud cry and that's what started the water works.  My mom was also crying.

* Dan's mom had stepped out to get some food because we hadn't had anything to eat since lunch.  And while she was out she missed the birth and arrived about 15 min. after he was born.

* My friend, Tami Huntsman, was going to do a maternity photo shoot for us at 6 pm.  We had been trying to schedule it for months but something always seemed to come up.  We called her when we were at the hospital to let her know we would be having a baby instead.