Matthew's Arrival: The Extensive Edition

The miracle of life is so utterly impressive, awesome and just completely miraculous to witness. This week my little miraculous wonder was talk of the town! Matthew Dallan Simper was born Wednesday December 2nd at 3:01 am, and this is my story... with all the juicy details!

After a week and a half of miserable contractions, aches everywhere and just the feeling of overall doneness, I was feeling ready to do anything I could to have my body back to just being me. My family was dragging me on hikes down the mountain, we were raking leaves, going for walks, Dallan even one night convinced me to do a lunge (which was a big mistake!). Tuesday I had my complete emotional breakdown, and the tears flowed almost all day. I decided there was NOTHING I could do to encourage my baby to come, and so I gave up and SAT all day, and cried. All that self inflicted pain seemed like a complete waste. So, Tuesday was rough.

That night before bed we reminded the girls, yet again, that if Mommy and Daddy weren't in their bed when they woke up, that Grandma and Grandpa would be there, and baby brother would be being born at the hospital. And so my sweet Amelia said her prayers, and whether she was just having her own selfish desires spoken for, or she sensed my exhaustion, she prayed that baby brother would be born, TONIGHT. We kissed them both and then went downstairs, sat on the couch and started a movie.

Dallan had work to do and I sat up after the movie at my computer before waddling to bed. Around 11:00 I finally gave in to sleep. At 1:35 am I was abruptly awoken with a contraction that didn't feel terribly different than others I had experienced, but it hurt and lasted. Once I could get up, I went to the bathroom and then crawled back into bed, when another painful contraction hit. I looked at the clock and it had been exactly 5 minutes. So I sat up and stared at the clock, waiting to see if it happened again. (Now, I had done this on previous nights and had 2-3 consistent contractions but went back to sleep disappointed when they didn't continue.) Another lasting and painful contraction did come, however, and so at 1:50 am I decided to involve Dallan in my clock watching. Within the following 10 minutes it was the general consensus to go downstairs and get ready to go to the hospital. I wasn't curled over in pain yet, and was honestly a little hesitant still to call the neighbor and parents for fear that the contractions would end and I would have disturbed everybody's night for no reason. But alas, I trusted my instinct and we made the phone calls. The neighbor came by 2:15 am, and we were out the door.

Dallan has always had a secret desire to be driving his pregnant wife to the hospital, speeding through traffic, when a cop tries to pull him over and ends up escorting us to the hospital. Okay, I have to admit it sounds exciting, but the sirens sound like just another obstical between me and the hospital I'd rather NEVER experience. But seeing as the streets were empty at 2 in the morning, Dallan was all for speeding and running red lights. I believe he ran every stop sign and red light between our house and the American Fork hospital! Luckily most of the people in Utah county were asleep, so the streets really were empty. We called the doctor and repeated over and over to him, "this will probably be fast..." and "you need to meet us at the hospital..." and so the doctor finally agreed he'd stop at AF hosptial before going to another hospital he was already in route to go to for another delivery.

We arrived in record time at the hospital door, Dallan pulled up to the curb and ran in to get a wheelchair. The pain was just now becoming extreme. Dallan got me inside, and a doctor at the elevator saw us coming and held the door open for us. I share all these details to illustrate the LACK of delays between us and the delivery room! At 2:45 they had me in the bed, in the labor and delivery room, and discovered that I was dialated at 9 cm.

The next 15 minutes were quite a blur. There was a lot of running around, a LOT of pain, and a lot of moaning and screaming on my part. The doctor was found very quickly and I thought my water had broken because I was really feeling ready to push. The doctor explained that the baby was head down, but possibly turned a little and he wanted to check with an ultrasound. The machine was brought in and I believe he checked (although I have no recollection) just before I yelled out "I really need to push!" So everything was thrown to the wind and the pushes began. It was then the doctor actually broke my water for me and the real pain began! Wow! I have never been in so much pain! I could hear them saying to pull my legs in, to lift my back, but I felt paralyzed and had to push. I think I pushed 2, maybe 3 times, counting to 20 each time and that last push just giving my all and he was out!

Time of contraction starting 1:37 am.

Time of birth 3:01 am.

And the most incredible part, the baby was sunnyside up (which is much more painful and can often result in hours and hours of pushing) and when put on the scale weighed in at, can you believe, a solid 10 LBS! The doctor said more than once, "I'm glad I witnessed this. I wouldn't have believed it had I not been here," and the gossip among the nurses in the hall left me laughing out loud all morning!

Yeah, I was pretty shocked and also proud of myself to have pushed out a 10 pounder without any drugs! Wohoo!! Okay, but I don't know that I would repeat it or wish it upon anyone... but it was a shocker!

He's beautiful and strong and healthy. Everything a mother could ever ask for. And I'm sure I made this story much longer than you ever asked for. But it makes for a good story, don't you think?