Taya Pilar King Birth Story

Because we already had 2 out of three of our kids at 37 weeks, I have been planning my May and June around Taya coming 3 weeks early. We have been cleaning and organizing, I finished preschool a month early, and we even had Silas' birthday party a month early.  For the last few weeks I was pregnant, I tried to take it really easy so that we didn't have a baby too early.  My goal was to make it at least to Friday, May 8th when I would be 37 weeks.  I made it!

Then about 9 pm that night I started to think that my water might be trickling out slowly.  I would go to the bathroom and then it would stop.  But I would get up and a few minutes later some more would just trickle out.  This happened the rest of the evening, but no contractions to accompany it.  I tried to sleep that night but I was pretty much just wide awake.  I would get more water trickling and I was about 90% sure it was my water and that we would be having a baby on Saturday.  So I gathered the "grab right before we go stuff" for my hospital bag.  And I had a snack.  I slept a few hours, but really I was just awake.  Then about 6:45 a.m. I went back and sat on our bed and all of a sudden I felt the gush.  Yep, that was definitely my water breaking and it was now a puddle on my bed.

So I waited to see if contractions would start, and they didn't really.  I would feel like one mild contraction every half an hour or so.  So I stood up and didn't sit down at all.  I walked up and down stairs several times, I mopped the kitchen floor, tidied the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher.  (These were all things I was trying to avoid over the past few weeks).  Slowly I felt like I was getting a little more activity.  I called Mom and Steph to let them know we'd probably be going to the hospital within an hour.  I ate a bowl of oatmeal (I should have ate about 4 bowls of it because I was starving at the hospital!)  Tyrel went to Keva and got me a pineapple smoothie because that is supposed to induce labor.

By 8:30 am Mom arrived and I was starting to get contractions about 10 minutes apart.  Tyrel woke the boys up to tell them we were going to the hospital to have a baby.  Silas' face was priceless.  He was SO excited!  Logan was still a little groggy and I think he didn't want us to go.  Then he asked me if my water broke and I said, "Yes, go look on my bed, there's a puddle."  He thought that was hilarious and was happy after that.

So we arrived at the Labor and Delivery floor and I had called ahead so they were ready for us.  Our nurse Kamielle said, "So you think you're water might have broke?"  I said, "Yeah, I'm like 100% sure that my water has broke."  Kamielle was very funny and recognized that this was our fourth baby and treated us like we knew what we were doing after that.

I got changed and into the bed and hooked up to the monitors.  I was having a few contractions but they were still 10 minutes apart and not very strong or consistent.  When she checked me I was a 5.  I was starting to worry that my labor wasn't going to get going and that I'd have to go walk the halls or be put on pitocin, or wait all day long for my labor to start.  But then the contractions started to get stronger and closer together.  This part all of a sudden happened pretty quickly and all of a sudden they were like 4 minutes apart and I had to focus and breathe through them because they were getting more and more painful.

I decided to call for the epidural because it would still be about a half and hour before he got there and I didn't want to miss my window (although I did think for a second that maybe I'd try to do it without one).  The contractions were still not too terrible, but I got my epidural and then quickly went numb after that.  In fact I went very numb!  I don't remember feeling my belly going numb with the other ones, but it was.  I lay there and told Tyrel that I felt like Baymax from Big Hero 6.  Like I was a huge fluffy marshmallowy thing just laying there.  Pretty quickly I started to feel nauseous...very nauseous!  I felt like the whole room was just moving and when I tried to throw up, I couldn't, it was like the parts of my body that let me throw up were also numb.  I called the anesthetist to see if he could turn the medicine down some.  He did and he also gave me some medicine in my IV to help with the nausea and he gave me some alcohol pads to smell.  Soon I was able to throw up, the medicine kicked in, and I felt only numb and not nauseous.  The nurses decided to check me again and realized that I was complete and that was probably the reason I felt so nauseous.  They called Laura and we waited for a few minutes.  At this point I was so sleepy!  I just wanted a nap.  Laura came in and we tried a practice push, but I was so numb I couldn't feel any pressure and I didn't feel like I was contributing anything as I tried to push.  So we turned the epidural off and decided to wait ten minutes and try again.  I was able to get a ten minute power nap in at this point and it gave me what I needed to have energy and stay awake.  After 10 minutes we tried again but I was still so numb.  We waited another half hour and then I decided let's just try it and maybe I'll be able to push her out even though I still couldn't hardly feel anything.

So I started pushing and it was relatively easy, I couldn't feel any pain or any pressure, I only was trying to breath and push.  After 5 sets of three pushes, she was out!  At 1:50 pm Taya came out face first, very purple and slimy, and very screaming.  Right away we could tell that she was beefy and we didn't have to worry about our baby being too tiny even though she was 3 weeks early.  They wiped her off on my chest and then put her on my bare chest and we got to have skin to skin time which I love.  It is so amazing how it just calms a screaming baby right down, and it is so amazing how one minute ago this baby was in me, and now she is out and I get to love on her. 

I'm told she was very nice to me for a face-first baby, I only tore a tiny bit.  After a bit they took her and checked her vitals on the warmer.  We all were curious to see how much she weighed.  Laura guessed 7 lbs. and she was 7 lbs. exactly and 19 1/2 inches long.  Not long after the vitals, she came back for skin to skin and her first time nursing.  She figured it out pretty quickly and latched on.  The  busy room quickly became quiet and Tyrel and I were left alone for a while to enjoy our little angel fresh from Heaven.  I never cease to be amazed at how quickly I can love a baby who I just met as if I have loved her for a thousand years. 

A few hours later, Kamielle came in to give Taya her bath.  Boy did she scream!  She hated getting washed and being exposed and screamed the entire time.  Just like with Oaklee, when they put that little pink bow in her hair, it became real that we had a brand new baby GIRL.  She had dark hair like the rest of them, but we couldn't say, "she looks just like _____.  She had her own distinct look."
Later in the day, the rest of my kiddos came to the hospital to meet their new baby sister.  This is always my favorite moment of having a new child.  The instant love of their older siblings, and their awe at how tiny the baby is.  Nothing but the movie of this experience will do it justice. 

The day after Taya was born was Mother's Day.  I have never  been so overwhelmed in my life at the joy of being a mom.  I just felt absolutely complete having my 4 children and felt so richly blessed to be their Mom.  It was so weird to keep saying, "She's our fourth."  But it also felt so right and complete.  And it must be said that I couldn't even dream of being mom to my four children without my literal other half.  Tyrel did nothing but take care of me and love me and support me through the pregnancy and birth.  And now he is just being Super Dad taking care of his family of six.  Richly blessed and very in love is what I am!