Keri+ Jace and our two! : Our Baby Story

It was the morning of Tuesday, June 10th. It was 4:30 in the morning when all of a sudden a contraction hit...not just any contraction, and it was definitely no Braxton Hicks contraction. It was a painful one, a killer. At the time I was all snuggled up to Jace. Well as snuggled up as one could be with a huge basketball popping out in between the two of us. That contraction hit and all I could do it squeeze him tight and the words "ow-ow-ow-ow" came out of my mouth. All of that, and my sleeping Hubby didn't hear a sound. 6 o' clock finally rolled around and after an hour and a half of "ow-ow-ow's" I decided to jump in the shower and see if I could get them to stop. Well no way were they stopping. If anything they just got worse. I got out of the shower and all I could do is pace back and forth, back and forth. By the time Jace got up for work at 6:30 my pains were excruciating. Jace asked me if he would even be going to work that day and I told him I don't know..my answer quickly changed to I don't think you're going anywhere. Jace jumped in the shower and I called my mom. Mom asked me if I had been timing them and of course I hadn't been. A slight part of me thinks that I was too terrified that I was having this baby that I avoided anything that was a sign of labor. Jace got out of the shower and I had been timing to see how far apart they had been. The first two were four minutes apart and every one after that was about one to two minutes apart. Oh the pain! It was fall on the floor, pull my teeth and toenails out kind of pain. My contractions at this point were about a minute long every single time! I called my mom and she said it was time to go to the Hospital. But no way was I having this baby without looking, or at least feeling my best. I grabbed my makeup bag and I sat in front of my Cheetah mirror and what usually takes maybe 10 minutes took much much longer because with each contraction I had to stop! I finished up my makeup as Jace was finishing up his cereal. We grabbed the bags, and I ever so slowly made it to the car.

By this time I literally thought I was going to pass out because of the pain. You guys, it was like ~~nothing~~ ever before. I thought Menstrual Cramps were bad...but oh nothing compares. I had craved Ice my entire pregnancy. Cubed Ice, Crushed Ice, Shaved Ice, and especially the wonderful soft Ice (Zuppas, Burger Bar, and the gas station down the road has it)I just LOVE ice! So as sweet as my Hubby is he stopped at Taco Bell on the way up and bought me a Baja Blast Icee. I was in so much pain that I had tears streaming down my face, holding on to the door handle as tightly as I could, and trying everything I could to just breathe through the pain. We pulled in to the hospital and of course the elevator seemed to be as slow as ever. I felt like I was never going to make it to the 4th floor of that hospital.

My Doctors office is right down the hall from Labor and Delivery. Earlier in my pregnancy my Dr. had told me if it was open then to go there to keep from getting an extra charge. It was closed when we first walked up but then the clock striked 8 and the heavens opened and so did the window to the receptionist. I don't think I had walked so fast the entire morning or sighed a bigger sigh of relief in my entire life. Bending over, and trying to catch my breath I got my words out "Can I PLEASEEEE get checked?!" She asked about my contractions and got someone to immediately check me but first I had to pee in that stupid little cup. After walking out of the bathroom the sweet lady instantly grabbed me and checked me..She was quite surprised, and so was I. I was almost a five and she said my water was about to break! She went and called my Dr. and told her that she was pretty sure I was in active labor. That sweet lady walked back in to the room and told me I was having this baby today. She grabbed Jace from the waiting room and a very much needed and appreciated Wheel Chair. We got down to Labor and Delivery and they admitted me right in to my own room and got me a cup of ice along with some lollipops. Thank goodness, I had a little bit of that Icee because boy was I hungry.

SO much pain. When I think about labor that's the one word that instantly pops up in my head. PAIN! One of the nurses came immediately in to get the IV in my arm. Unfortunately it was not working. She poked me once in my upper right arm, once in my right hand, and once in my left arm. Luckily, the left arm was successful. I had to get some fluids in me before they would do my Epidural. Boy did I think I was never going to get that thing! You can imagine that by this point I was not holding up very good. I was a 5, my first baby, and no drugs. My mom got there, finally, and man did she get me through some of the toughest of times. She truly is an Angel that lady. I had been so nervous to get the Epidural it literally stressed me out. I don't do good with needles or shots and I had heard good and bad things about it. The Anesthesiologist came in and I couldn't be happier to see him. He had me sit up, (which was a challenge in and of itself) turn to the side, and hold on to Jace. (Any excuse to be closer to him, I will take) It was just like a Bee stung my back and it was over. It kicked in pretty quickly, and for the next 2 hours I felt like I was on cloud 9. I didn't feel a thing. I didn't feel them check me, I didn't feel them put the Catheter in, I couldn't feel my legs...everything quickly became so much better. My In Laws got there and my father in law went out in to the waiting room while my mother in law stayed in the labor and delivery room with us. The next time they had checked me I was dilated to an 8 and moving quickly. We all took guesses as to when this little man was going to be here..Looking back I am sure it was just to keep my mind off of things.

I was terrified. Seriously a tragic mess. I don't do good with pain and all I could keep saying was "I don't want it to hurt. I don't want it to hurt" Everyone kept telling me it wasn't going to hurt because of the Epidural. Time was passing, but the longer we were there the slower time passed. My water hadn't broken yet but every time they would check they would say it was bulging. Eventually they sent someone in to break it. Also there is a little button-trigger thing you push to release some more of the medicine in to you. After time, I started feeling less numb and more pain. Unbearable pain, all I could do is look at my Husband with tears in my eyes and over and over again say "I can't do this!" The sweetheart of a man was the most comforting thing. He reassured me each and every time that I can do this. And that I had said "I can't do this" when I was going through morning sickness and that I did it and I can do it now. My mom would keep coming over and talking to me. I couldn't have asked for anyone better (Other than Jace) to be there with me. She got me through and that was a difficult task to do. Thankfully my mother in law was there too! All three of these special people in the room with me brought more peace and comfort than I could ask and lightened the mood.

I was soon dilated to a 9 and all the nurses kept telling me how good I was doing for a first time Mommy. It got later and later and more and more painful. They kept asking me if I was pushing the button for more medicine. Man oh man did I push that button as much as I could...~~nothing~~ was working. The Anesthesiologist had to come back in twice to give me more medicine and nothing was helping. That cloud 9 feeling no longer existed! My worst fear was happening. My Epidural was not working. The nurses had told me that first time mommy's can push up to 3 hours. In my head I thought there is no way in heck I am pushing for 3 hours. There was no way! As time went on I got less patient. My mom and Jace would switch of with dabbing me with a wet cloth. Jace would feed me my crushed ice, and when he took too long I would do a waving motion to get some more. Haha! My mom talked me through the contractions and Jace kept reminding me to breathe. One thing that stuck out to me that my Angel Mother said is that there were so many Angels there helping me. Looking back now, I couldn't have done it without my Earthly or Heavenly Angels. My Dr. was in North Ogden so they wanted to wait to call her...for who knows why? They started having me push and then had me stop pushing to wait for my Dr. It finally got to the point that with every contraction all I wanted to do was push. In fact, it felt FAR better for me to push than it did for me not to. My Dr. got there and I pushed, and I pushed hard. He was coming, and he was coming fast. After half an hour, total he made his day debut at 4:14 that nigh. Such a beautiful baby made his way in to the world. Weighing 6 pounds 10 oz. and measuring 19.5 inches long. And then they placed his sweet little body on mine and my heart instantly melted. He was perfect, absolutely perfect and he was mine. I couldn't believe Jace and I had a baby, our very own perfect baby.

The after math is that instead of tearing in just a straight line, I tore in a 'W' shape..Which meant lots of stitches. My Epidural was not successful, and I felt way more than I would have liked to. It wasn't a very good experience, and giving birth was by FAR the most challenging, and hardest thing I have EVER done. But the blessing, the reward, it was and is the greatest I've ever had. Kyren Jace Ropelato forever changed our lives that day and opened our eyes to how much we could love.