Bates Family est. 2008: Cole's Birth

Fresh from Heaven

Cole was born in Cocoa Beach, FL. Since the hospital is about a 45 min to 1 hour drive (depending on traffic) I was slightly paranoid about not making it in time, since Jack came just 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital in Cedar City (only a 10 min drive). Lucky for us, we made it. It was another fast and furious birth and Cole arrived 30 minutes after we got to the hospital. George and I were both very thankful not to have a car birth!

At my 39 week (Aug 21) OB check-up I told Dr. Caplan that I wasn't sure I even wanted to be checked because I didn't want to 'stir anything up' since my mom wasn't going to be in town until the 26th. We decided to check and see if I was dilated (I was at 3 cm) and then while she was checking me she stripped my membranes...WHAT?! I was irritated with her because I had just told her I didn't want to start anything by getting checked in hopes my mom would be around. But whatever. She normally listened (I thought) so I'm not sure what happened there. Anyway.

On August 23rd I started timing contractions in the afternoon. They weren't hurting or anything, but seemed to be fairly regular and we wanted to err on the early side of getting to the hospital so I was being more diligent paying attention. My contractions stayed about 6-10 mins apart lasting around a minute, but not painful. After we put the boys to bed, we decided to head to the hospital just to be on the safe side. We stopped and got a milkshake on the way. When we got checked in to our 'suite' I was at 3.5 cm. They kept us for a few hours to monitor me, but I wasn't progressing so we headed home in the wee hours of the 24th. We were both tired and a little disappointed, but decided it was a good practice run. Even though we had a long night we went to church that morning. I was still having contractions every 10 minutes but nothing painful. Around 5 that night I started thinking maybe I was progressing. But the contractions still weren't that painful, and we were all tired from being at the hospital earlier that morning and didn't want to wear ourselves out with another 'practice run' so I decided to wait and see what happened. By 7:00 p.m. there started to be some painful contractions so we decided to put the boys to bed, and line up our friends to come watch the boys so we could head to the hospital again. We got out the door by 9 and my contraction were consistently 4 minutes apart. They continued to be painful for the drive to the hospital, but I was calm and not moving so was able to keep collected. I got scared/nervous driving to the hospital thinking that George and I would now be outnumbered, yikes. What were we thinking...three kids?! No turning back at that point though ;)

When we arrived at the hospital and walked in (through the ER because it was after hours) I could barely walk anymore and things were getting extremely painful. We had done all the paperwork junk the night before so it was supposed to be a breeze for us to go right up to labor and delivery, but of course it wasn't. So they made George stay there to fill out the same paperwork we'd already done the night before and someone took me up to L&D in a wheelchair. They recognized me from the night before and were pretty casual when they saw it was me again. When I tried to walk into the room to put on a gown and dropped down to the floor in pain the nurse realized it was going to be fast. I tried to get on my gown (never totally did) while she rushed around calling the doctor and getting things ready. I was dilated to 7 cm. George showed up shortly after I had gotten on the bed. I just remember dreading each contraction and feeling so, SO hot. He blew on my face which felt really good. The nurse insisted on jamming a needle in my arm for an IV even though I didn't want her to. That was annoying and it felt like she was hitting the bone on my wrist. She poked me a few times until she finally got it (and I was being very still). I couldn't even tell when my water broke (it was just a few minutes before Cole was born) and it turned out there was meconium in the amniotic fluid. I dreaded the contractions each time and when it came time to push I didn't want to. The doctor and nurses made me anyway, haha.

But alas at 10:28 p.m., just 30 minutes after arriving to the hospital, our big guy made his entrance. He did one short little cry to clear his lungs and then was very quiet and content after that. His cheeks were enormous and he had an adorable double chin! I couldn't get over the chubs, he was SO cute! He was definitely a 'bruiser' already ready to play with his big brothers. I still can't believe his stats... 10 lbs. 5 oz and 20.5" long! He latched on right away and has been a great eater ever since :) I tore in one spot, but overall felt great just not being pregnant anymore. They had to check Cole's blood sugar levels every 3 hours since he was so big. The first two were fine (in the 60's) and continued to rise. Turns out he's just a big guy, not anything to do with diabetes. They were going to make us stay 48 hours at the hospital, but we talked them into letting us walk free after 36 hours. We were ready to be home as a family of FIVE! Welcome to the family Cole, we love you!