We had the baby! In the kitchen!

Yes. I really did. And no, not on purpose!!
Here's the whole story...
On thursday I noticed my 'braxton-hicks' contractions were more painful then usual, but I didn't think much of it. I had an OB appt at 4 pm that day and was dialated to 3 cm, but, again, I was 3 cm for 3 weeks before I had Sophia so didn't think much of that either. After my appointment my contractions became even stronger, but not at all regular. I might have 1 an hour or 4 an hour. It wasn't until about 1 am that they became stong enough and regular enough (which was still only about every 3-10 minutes) that I thought maybe I'm in labor. I kept praying to know what to do, and wasn't getting any answer, except 'just relax'. So I took that to mean that I wasn't having the baby any time soon. Wrong. At 1:45 I decided to call the doctor and see what he said. He was already at the hospital with someone else in labor, so I spoke with an L&D nurse who told me that since my contractions weren't regular yet, to give it another hour and see. I told her that my first labor was 3 hours and my second was 2 hours so I was nervous and she said I could come in if I wanted to and they'd check me out. I decided to do that. But since it was the middle of the night, Travis and I thought of who we knew here that might be able to come over and stay with the girls who didn't have to work or take care of their own kids. There's a family in our branch, the Webbers, and we thought she didn't work, but we knew their son, JR, who's 19 and getting ready to leave on a mission only works in the afternoons and the kids love him, they're a great family, so we called them and by 2:30 both Sis. Webber and JR were going to come over (because she did have to work the next day, so he'd stay when she left). They live about 30 minutes from us, and to be fair, I don't think I warned her about my extremely speedy labors. Plus, I really believed at that time I had at least 2 or 3 hours. (I had been induced in the hospital with both my first 2 labors, so I didn't know what it felt like for me to go into labor on my own!) So I was sitting on the couch breathing through the contractions, waiting for the Webbers while Travis cleaned (I think he just didn't know what to do.) By 2:45 my contractions became regular (finally), every 2-3 minutes apart. And of course they were getting increasingly painful. I remember telling Travis and I was REALLY ready for my epidural now, and he said they don't make take home epidural kits, but he'd give me one the second we got to the hospital. At about 3:10 I felt like I had to pee, but I knew I couldn't get off the couch by myself and walk to our little bathroom off the kitchen, so I told Travis he had to come help me to the bathroom. This is when things got a little scary, but mostly for Travis, I think, because being a nurse anesthetist he knows everything that can go wrong. So he said, "Laura, women in labor don't have to pee. If you stand up you'll have the baby!" and I said "Just help me to the bathroom!!" (at this point my breathing was more like hyperventilating, and my upper lip had broken a sweat, which I've heard from people since means, yes, it's time to push!) So we walked through the kitchen to the bathroom and I'm in so much pain with this next contraction I can't sit down and then I can suddenly feel the baby's head! I told Travis "I have to push!" And he looked like a deer in headlights and said, "no! Get in the car!" And I said "I'M HAVING - THE BABY!" in my most strict mom voice. I said "get a blanket and pillow and put it on the floor!" He grabbed some and I crawled over a few feet and laid down while he went upstairs to get the bulb suction, towels, and a hemostat clamp (for the cord, why we have one I don't know). My water broke and her little head came out while I yelled like crazy (the girls slept through all of this somehow!) Travis came back downstairs and suctioned her mouth and then I squeezed out the rest of her. He rubbed her with towels to keep her warm and try to get her to cry. She was breathing, but not crying, so we were a little nervous. That took about 10 minutes. I just laid there shaking while Travis worked on her in a towel on my stomach. When we knew she was ok (she was just in shock, the same thing had happened with Holly) He clamped the cord with the hemostat and called EMS to come pick us up. Right after that Sis. Webber got there. I'm sure we gave her quite a shock! Luckily JR didn't come inside with her! I'm sure we'd have traumatized him! She got a few blankets to cover me up with. We didn't want me to deliver the placenta because that's when a woman can bleed to death. And Travis didn't cut the cord until EMS came and gave him a second clamp (you should only cut when both sides are closed off, apparently) They loaded Lucy and I into the ambulance and started her on some oxygen (it was just a little low) and kept a watch on her heart rate and such on the drive to the hospital. Adrenaline kept me pretty much pain free for a while, I just had those post labor shakes. At the hospital the OB delivered the placenta without problem and gave me 2 little stitches. And that's pretty much it. Travis stayed at the hospital with us for a few hours while we got settled, then about 6 am went back home to be with the girls when they got up since the Webbers had to leave. Crazy.
And apparently since she wasn't born in the hospital, we had to go around and get all these things signed to prove that I really was pregnant, and that she wasn't a stillbirth, and all of that. Travis will have to sign the actual birth certificate as the 'deliverer'. He's really proud of that fact. :) Her birth certificate will list the place of birth as "residence" and delivering health care professional as "Travis Chabo, father". Pretty exciting. Though I don't think I want to do it again. I did learn that natural labor is a lot less painful then being induced! And I really do want a working epidural sometime! I guess we'll have to see what happens next time. Hope this story didn't scare too many of you. I must also say that if your spouse isn't a health care worker, don't bother with much other then the calling 911 the second you know you won't make it to the hospital. I think a lot of husbands would faint and not make it to suctioning the mouth, etc... Thank goodness for my husband!

A funny thing happened on the way to the Temple...

So 2 weekends ago, my husband decided for my birthday and since we'd be having a baby in a month or so we should take a trip to our temple here in Columbus, Ohio on Friday October 10th. We got babysitters and everything lined up and ready to go the day before. Then that day Travis comes home from work with a surprise for me. He test drove home a new minivan for us! It was a beautiful silver 2008 Town and Country minivan. It was perfect for us. So we asked the dealership if we could test drive it again an hour and a half away in Columbus and they said sure. Everything for my birthday weekend was lining up great! I wasn't feeling that well on Friday, but anyone who knows me during pregnancy knows I never feel very well, so I chalked it up to Satan trying to dissuade me from going to the Temple. I was determined to win that fight! So off we drove to Columbus. About 20 minutes into the trip I started having contractions. But, as I was only a few days from being 9 months pregnant, again, I didn't think much of it...until I noticed that they were coming consistently 3 minutes apart...all the way to Columbus. I tried to eat something on the drive, but couldn't keep anything down. I was starting to get really worried. When we pulled up outside the Temple it was obvious to us that we wouldn't be able to go on the session. We called my doctor and explained what was going on. He encouraged us to get back to the hospital asap. We went inside and I was able to recieve a blessing. Inside the Temple I was able to recieve a blessing and felt like we'd get to Coshocton Hospital alright. I started to feel a little better (even though I still christened the waiting room toilet several times while we were there.) In fact the Temple workers were so nice, they gave us towels, blankets, and plastic bags to sit on since we were driving a car that wasn't even ours! All I wanted was for my water not to break in the dealerships minivan! I can't imagine having to explain that! So back we went to Coshocton at top speed. With Travis's hospital connections he called up to the nurse working overnight in L&D and let them know we were coming. It took about an hour and 40 minutes to get to the Temple and only about an hour and 10 minutes to get to the hospital from there, Travis drove that fast. We called the babysitter and asked if she could spend the night. (she did, and we found out later she was up all night with Sophia who had the same flu bug as me and threw up 4 times that night. I felt so bad!!) My contractions on the way back were about 2 minutes apart and a little stronger. Travis took me in a back door and straight up to L&D, no waiting around to check in downstairs for me! (it's really nice to have someone on the inside. :) ) We get up there and the nurse checks me. My water hasn't broken and I'm only 1 centimeter dialated. I was really surprised! I thought I'd surely be about 4 centimeters by then, but it eased my mind a bit. The contractions were still coming fast, but not too strongly. I was so dehydrated I couldn't even swallow. And of course all they'd give me were ice chips. But I couldn't even keep those down. They had hooked me up to an IV and were giving my fluids that way, but it was still the early morning hours before I was hydrated enough to swallow. But I did keep down the rest of my ice chips I ate all night. Then in the morning I kept down some toast and at lunch some mashed potatoes and grilled chicken and that's when the contractions finally stopped. I guess I had a bug and didn't realize it, and since I hadn't been able to keep anything down the baby decided she was leaving! But everything calmed down and in a few days I was back to normal. Crazy times. Now I'm 37 1/2 weeks pregnant. So I'm anxious for that trip to the hospital again! :) Hopefully this time we'll come home with a baby in that new car! (which Travis officially bought while I was eating breakfast in the hospital that next morning. And yes, I told him to go. Once I knew we weren't having the baby there was no reason for him to sit there and stare at me while I got rehydrated. :) ) So on my birthday weekend I got a couples stay in a private room at a place that costs about $1000 a night! And 'roomservice'! :) I'm a lucky girl. :)

I'm back!

Hello Everyone. I'm finally back with internet access. We've moved outside of Coshocton Ohio a few months ago. It was a gradual move, really. Travis started working at the hospital here July 1st. He stayed with a family in the local branch, the Binks. We moved up here with them in mid-August when we closed on our house in Greenville. Then we moved into our new house at the beginning of September. We didn't get tv or internet service till a few weeks later... so here we are! It's been CRAZY!! So many weird things happening that Travis and I have wondered a few times if we're really suppose to be here. But with prayer we feel that it's more that Satan is trying to convince us to NOT be here. So we're persevering. Coshocton is a small town of about 10,000. But there is a surprising amount of things to do. A large parks and rec system, library, movie theater, ....... walmart. But still, there are about 4 larger towns of about 100,000 within 30 minutes of us, and Columbus is only 1 1/2 hours away. So that's easy. There's an IKEA in Pittsburgh, PA which is only 2 hours away... so we're set, I think. Plus we're on the southern edge of Amish country and there's lots of neat shops and such there, and we're in the heart of Longaberger basket company. 15 minutes from the Longaberger homestead and 30 from the office headquarters (if you've ever seen a picture of a building shaped like a basket, that's it. It's amazing.) Several people in our church branch work for them. I don't have a picture of the building yet. I never remember to bring my camera with me when I'm driving out that way. But when I get one I'll put it on here. Our house is still a work in progress as far as painting and unpacking is concerned. One room we've already painted 3 times. I'm not so good at looking at that little square and knowing how it's going to work on the whole wall... so it's trial and error. We've gotten things mostly unpacked. The house is livable, anyway. Our goal is to get it done by the time the baby comes in early November. I think it's definatly possible. Probably. Ok, so now I'll put some pictures on here and I'll come back later.

Our house...is a very, very, very fine house.

Here are a few pictures of our house and our 'neighbors'.

Here's a few pictures of the girls at the pool, and some of them with Sis. Binks feeding their horses.

Movin' on up...

Well, we have officially moved out of our house in Greenville, NC and are temporarily homeless till Sept 1st, when we close on our house in Coshocton, Ohio. It has been an extremely busy and crazy few weeks. I'll post pictures of the inside of the house when we get some. Right now we're staying the weekend with family in the Raleigh area, then we're back to Ohio. Some friends at church are letting us crash with them till we can move into our new place. I can't wait!! It'll be nice to not be so transient anymore. (is that how you spell that? I guess so.) Anyway, I'll post more when I get a chance.

Sophia and Holly LOVE their new cousin. They would fight over who got to hold her next. It scared Aunt Susy.

Here's my babies with Susy and Todd's new baby, Lily. Uncle Todd is holding Sophia, Holly, and Lily. So cute!

Hello Everyone!

I decided it was time. Since we're moving away it's finally time to start a blog. I can't make any promises about humor, timeliness, (is that how you spell that?), pictures, or pretty much anything else that the usual blogger has. I'll just do my best and see how it goes. Maybe I'll become addicted, maybe I'll never post another thing. We'll just have to see.
So what's been going on lately is my sister Susy had a baby on Tuesday, July 15th. Lily Jane Estes, 8lbs 6oz. She's so cute! We also finally sold our house in Greenville that day!! I was so excited I almost cried. Seriously, I teared up. It hasn't been on the market that long, just since the end of May, so that's pretty good. But I definetely want to get our family all together in Coshocton, Ohio (where we're moving to). I'll see if I can link a map on here. Travis has been up there since July 1st when he started his job. We went up for the second week of July and had a good time. I've already signed Sophia (our 3 1/2 year old) up for dance and tumbling classes with Miss Jennifer's Dance Studio this fall. We've checked out banks, hair dressers, OB's (I'm due with our third girl in mid-November :) ), new cell phones, new house, etc...Coshocton's different then what I'm use to, but I think it's gonna be great. They have this unbelievable pool with 6 huge twirly slides, 2 'mushroom' fountains, a huge beach type entrance for the little ones and an enormous playland that shoots water, has several water slides and fun things to do. I'll definately post a picture of that when I get it. It's unreal. It's in this park complex with a great big fancy kids park, campgrounds, trails, a stocked lake (that you don't need a license to fish in), a huge rentable pavillion, soccer fields, baseball fields... it's awesome. Greenville doesn't have anything like it. It's funny. I've moved from a place with 1,000,000 people (Raleigh), to a place with 100,000 (G-vegas), to a town of 10,000 (Coshocton). Travis and I have discussed it and that's as small as I think I can go. Alright, this is already seeming a bit wordy, so I think this is it for now.