Austin's Birth Story

The first day we were in the hospital after Austin's birth, David sat down and wrote a fairly comprehensive version of the events that had transpired the night before. I'm so glad he did, because it took me a couple of days for the shock to wear off and when I finally sat down to add my own thoughts it was so nice to be able to have a freshly recorded outline.

This story is jam-packed with details that most people probably don't care about, but we wanted to remember all of the tiny details. So if you don't mind reading all about the nitty-gritty, read on. If not, just know that he came super fast - but that everything turned out great in the end.

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Austin Scott Peaden was born on September 23, 2014. He weighed 7 lbs 3 ounces and was 19 inches long. He makes us a family of four and all three of us are thrilled to have him in our lives.

His birth story is so different from Lydia's Birth Story that it's hard to believe. We definitely weren't expecting such a fast and dramatic delivery, but everything worked out just perfectly and we couldn't be more grateful for all the tender mercies that happened along the way to ensuring the safe and positive delivery of our little man.

There are a few things you need to understand as background information before you can really understand the mind-frame that we were in during Austin's labor.
First: Based on the birth of Lydia, we are the kind of people who have really long labors (16 hours before the epidural and 4 hours after). We knew that since this was the second labor, it would probably go much quicker, but we figured that we'd still labor at home for 4 hours or so and by then we'd be dilated enough to get admitted. Also, my contractions came close together (3-5 minutes) for hours both before and after we went to the hospital for the first time.
Second: We went to the hospital after four hours of labor with Lydia and got turned away. This was easily the most painful and miserable hour of the entire labor, and quite possibly of my whole life. Being sent home was really rough and we had absolutely no desire to repeat that experience.
Third: We always kind of laughed at the movies/TV when there was a labor/delivery scene and the woman suddenly feels a contraction and says "The baby is coming! We have to get to the hospital now!"Because in our life experience most women labor for several hours before needing to head to the hospital. You have time to finish packing your bags, call a babysitter, sit in the bathtub for a while, etc... Granted - David's mom had really fast labors and absolutely had to get to the hospital quickly or else risk delivering on the side of the road, which actually happened with David's sister Amy. David's other sister, Wendy, also had very fast labors. So we did know real life people who had to hurry like that. But my mom always had about 6-7 hour labors and I obviously was one of the people who labored for a long time with my babies. I was planning about a 8-12 hour labor. (I figured cutting my labor in half with my second was... logical.)
Fourth: Lydia's labor was 20 hours long. Did I mention that?

Okay, now that you understand those things - back to Austin's movie-worthy Birth Story.

Some people get to 38 and 39 weeks and start getting really anxious to get their babies here. Spicy food, long walks, etc... But I was still feeling really good for the most part and we were happy to let our baby boy stay put for as long as he needed. We were trying to soak in the last few weeks of being a family of three. I was feeling pretty good during the day, but once it hit 8 or 9 at night I would start feeling worse and mostly just laid on the couch (sitting was uncomfortable because of the pressure of baby boy pushing and moving about). So I'd been feeling some discomfort (maybe some contractions here and there) and obviously my body was getting ready because at my 38 week appointment on Thursday, September 18th, I was already dilated to a two. I was pretty surprised when Dr. Cloward told me, because I was barely a two when I first went to the hospital with Lydia. We had no idea what to expect, because people can go for weeks at a two, but we realized that this birth really would probably go faster than Lydia's... we just didn't know how much faster.

David had to spend Tuesday (September 23rd) in Logan for interviews at Utah State because he is the campus liaison for hiring new students from USU. Since I was not in labor, David went up with the knowledge that he might have to come home if I started feeling like I was going into labor. We even joked about setting up code words that I could text him to let him know how things were going, i.e. "Code Yellow" meant I was starting to feel some contractions, up to "Code Red" which meant that they were strong enough to want David to head home. David left for Logan pretty early, and when I woke up and went to the bathroom I realized that I was starting to loose my mucus plug. I called David to tell him, and told him that I thought that meant the baby would probably be here in a few days. (I didn't write it down on the blog so I don't remember exactly when that happened with Lydia, but I thought that it was a few days before). Around eight am I started having a few contractions about 10 minutes apart. They weren't very painful, but they were noticeable. I had a busy day the day before, so I wondered if I had just overdone it. I texted David "Code Pale Yellow", hung out on the couch and drank lots of water.

After about an hour the contractions slowed to every 30 minutes and then even those faded. David said he would come home several times, but I was sure that they were just false labor, or maybe pre-labor. I called my mom and chatted with her, and she said that she had experienced pre-labor like that for a couple of days leading up to her labors - which put my mind even more at ease. I was excited that Austin was getting ready to come- but definitely didn't think that it would happen that day. Also, I had a visiting teaching appointment scheduled for 4:30 that afternoon and I really really really wanted to make that visit. So Lydia and I took it easy all afternoon, cuddling on the couch and reading books and watching Daniel Tiger. At 4:30 we headed to my VT appointment, then to the library to pick up some books for Lydia. We got home about the same time as David did, roughly 6 o'clock. I called my mom to tell her that the contractions had completely stopped and that she could go off of "baby watch". We ate some good dinner (Chicken Nachos), played with Lydia, chatted, and got Lydia in bed right about eight.

I had started having a few small contractions while we were putting Lydia to bed, about every 10 minutes or so, which I contributed to our active evening. We came downstairs and started watching one of our TV shows. We sat on the couch and I kept drinking lots of water. About 8:45 I realized that the contractions were getting a little harder and that I might be going into labor. I had gotten up and was kind of puttering around the kitchen, breathing through the contractions as they came. The contractions started to get harder and by the time our show was over at nine, I told David that I was going to go and get in the bath to try to relax. This is the time in my head that marks when my real labor began. Before that, I thought that the contractions were just as likely to go away like they had that morning as they were to lead us to the hospital. Around this time I said something like, "I'll labor here until midnight and then we can go to the hospital?" and David said that sounded like a great plan.

I got in the bath and David started putting the last minute items in the hospital bags. (Yes, bags- Shantel's bag, David's bag, Baby's bag and...as a last minute addition, the things we need while in labor bag. That bag had the camera, my makeup -which would mainly be needed in case I decided I wanted to put in my contacts before the actual delivery-, and David's blue bag with his toiletries etc. It also ended up with my shoes thrown in the bag at the last second.) David called his parents to tell them it was possible that we would be calling them sometime in the night to come and watch Lydia, and that we were putting them on watch. He also called my parents to tell them that he'd call if we went/when we were admitted to the hospital. (I took this picture earlier in the day - photographing our bags was definitely not a priority that night.)

Sometime around 9:30, David got dressed into his Sunday clothes and gave me a beautiful blessing that my body would perform the way it should and that I and the baby would be healthy. I was so grateful for that added strength and peace.  My contractions were coming just over 3 minutes apart (remember they came that close together for a long time with Lydia) and were getting stronger and more intense. I told David that maybe he should call his parents and offer to just have them sleep at our house so we could avoid calling them in the middle of the night. This ended up being a huge tender mercy, because I don't know what we would have done if they hadn't gotten there when they did.

There is another thing that you need to know at this point in the story to make it even better. So,
Fifth: Austin was born at exactly 11:00 P.M.

(We will now be breaking out the story into perspectives because things happened so quickly from this point on and it's important to capture it from both sides to get a full picture of this whirlwind.)

Shantel: Around ten, the contractions were super intense - I looked at the clock and asked David "Is it insane to want to go to the hospital after only one hour of labor?" It speaks to how horrible the triage room and being turned away from the hospital was with Lydia that I couldn't bear the thought of going through that again and decided to just tough it out for a little bit longer. Looking back, I can identify this time as my body going through transition. I had been in and out of the tub for a half hour or so, sometimes leaning against the wall in our bedroom, sometimes kneeling in the bathtub. I told David, "The contractions just never seem to stop- it's like they are overlapping." At this point, I realize that we should have headed to the hospital - but remember 20 hours! I kept thinking that maybe I just didn't remember how much pain I was in with Lydia, and the threat of being sent home from the hospital was always hovering in the back of my mind. David helped me relieve some pressure by pushing on my back and telling me how wonderful I was and that I could do it. About 10:15 I felt my body start pushing through the contractions. I thought "I don't remember feeling this with Lydia."

David: My parents got to our house around 10:15 and by that point I was getting things into the car. Shantel was in a lot of pain, but with Lydia she had contractions 3 minutes apart that were really hard for 16 hours, so we still thought we had a ways to go.

Shantel: I asked David to start timing my contractions again, because I was at the point where I didn't know if I could handle them. I remember telling him that a contraction was starting and he said out loud "10:32" as he wrote it down. I was in the bathtub and I started pushing through my contraction and felt a slight pop. I didn't notice at first, but when David said "There's blood in the bathtub - we are going to the hospital now", I realized that my water must have broken. (This is another huge tender mercy - I don't know that I would have recognized that my water broke without David seeing the small amount of blood and even just waiting five more minutes to leave would put us in a precarious position! I know that many people don't have any blood when their water breaks, so it's a huge blessing that I did.)

David: At 10:32 (We have it written on my paper we was using to track time between contractions) Shantel had a contraction and I saw some blood in the tub. I didn't know at the time that her water had broken (and she didn't tell me until after she had the baby), but I was already moving to get us ready to go and I immediately told Shantel that we were leaving right now. Fortunately I had already packed all of our bags in the car. I put on my shoes and then helped Shantel out of the tub, into her yellow bathrobe (Shantel specifically said, "I'm not going to be able to put my clothes on, I'm going to have to wear my bathrobe" and I told her that was just fine), and then to the car. I was ready to pull the car out and then Shantel told me she needed a towel to sit on so the car seat didn't get bloody. I told her that it was fine and that I didn't care if she bled on the seat- but she was insistent that I get a towel. I jumped out of the car and ran upstairs as fast as possible and grabbed a towel. We think we left the house about 10:37. (Note: The hospital is about 20 minutes away.)

Shantel: David is not known as the fastest driver, in fact, if we want to get somewhere fast we always joke that I better drive. But as we started driving I gave specific instructions. "David, I need you to drive really fast. Safely. But really fast." I didn't realize that I hadn't communicated to him that I thought my water had broken, or that I was feeling the urge to push. However, he was going fast enough that I didn't feel the need to chat about it or to try to convince him that I was serious when I said that I needed him to go fast. About halfway there I remember telling him that I was pushing and that I didn't want to have a baby in the car. (To which he frantically yet calmly responded "Just hold on, just hold on.") I also told him that I hoped that they wouldn't turn us away, so I was obviously not thinking super clearly at this point.

David: When we got in the car I was worried about Shantel and wanted to get to the hospital as fast as possible. However, I honestly did not know how close the baby was. I didn't know Shantel's water was broken, but I did know I wanted to get to the hospital and then we would just hope she was far enough along to get admitted. I sped the whole way, going 85 plus on the freeway and then speeding through American Fork. Just before the last stoplight before the hospital, I saw the police lights flashing behind us and reluctantly pulled to a stop (We figure this must be about 10:46). As the officer walked up I poked my head out and yelled that my wife was in labor. The officer looked inside and waved us on. I was hoping for a police escort, but was grateful enough that he just let us go. When we got to the hospital I told Shantel that I was just going to pull through the circle and park there. She responded that she did not think you could park there and to just drop her off. I honestly didn't realize how close we were to having a baby, and was anxious to do whatever she wanted. I was not about to argue with my about-to-have-a-baby wife and I knew that she wouldn't want me to leave to move the car once we were inside. So I pulled up and let her get out at the door and went and parked and ran back inside as fast as possible. We calculate that this is about 10:48-10:50. 

Shantel: As David pulled into the hospital parking lot, I knew that I wouldn't be able to walk all the way from the parking lot into the hospital so it seemed logical to have him drop me off at the door, park the car, then come meet me inside. Obviously, if we had known how close our baby was - we might have done things differently. But I maintain that it was the most logical solution and I am grateful that David didn't ever have to leave me to go back down to move the car.

Now, I will admit. I'm a fairly dramatic person. However, never in my life have I made such a dramatic scene/entrance. The next two minutes or so could have come straight out of Hollywood, and I probably would have been nominated for the "Best Dramatic Actress" at the Oscars. To set the scene, picture this: I'm in my bright yellow bathrobe. No shoes. No contacts. No husband. So I can see nothing and I'm all alone. The automatic doors open for me as I stumble through the entrance. I hear a man ask me if I need a wheelchair and all I can say is "I think my... water broke!" I shout-cry this statement and then an incredibly intense contraction hits so I lean over the railing by the doors and try to breathe through it. The man is asking me questions, but I am focused on getting through the surge. Finally, it eases back a bit and I find a wheelchair right by me. I say (again, in a shout-cry) "My husband is right behind me!" and then, "I think I'm having a baby. Right. Now." The man helps me into the wheelchair and starts pushing me toward the elevator while another man in the background is obviously on the phone telling the labor/delivery unit to be ready for me. As he starts walking, I politely insist that he hurries. It sounds something like this: "I need you to go faster, please! Please, go faster!" He hightails it into the elevator and we head up to the third floor.

David: I parked the car and ran toward the main entrance. Shantel was in a lot of pain, and I figured she would not make it far, maybe just to the entrance by the time I caught up with her. However, when I ran into the main entrance and looked around, it was empty. Shantel was gone, literally gone. I instantly panicked that I had either lost my wife and she was having a baby without me or that I had missed her out on the sidewalk and she had collapsed and was having the baby there. Finally, I saw a security officer who had just hung up the phone and asked if a woman in a yellow bath robe had come through and he pointed to the elevator and he said the other officer had already taken her up. The wait for the elevator to take me up seemed like forever.

Shantel: As the elevator doors opened, the labor/delivery team already had the double doors into the wing open. There were at least 8 people in the hallway running around preparing for me. (Bless the second man who called up to make sure they were ready for me.) They asked my name and my doctors name, but I was so completely oblivious/in shock/focused on my contractions that I could only shake my head. They wheeled me into a room, where I finally told one of the nurses "I think my water broke!" The nurse kindly, and matter-of-factly, said "Yes sweetie. Your water broke." At that moment I felt this huge sense of relief wash over me, because they won't send you home if your water has broken! (Ha. Obviously I was still a little behind on where our status actually was.) I was just so relieved that they weren't going to be sending me home.

David: I ran off the elevator and as soon as I pulled the phone off they asked, "Are you the husband?" I said yes and they let me in. I burst through the door and they said, "What is her name?" I told them her name and then they pointed down the hall and said "She is in room 2." I ran through the double doors and rushed into the room. When I got in, I saw that Shantel was on the bed and the entire labor and delivery team was in there setting up (This must be about 10:55). As I listened to the nurses talking to each other it became very apparent that the doctor was not going to be there for the delivery. One of them said to another nurse, "No he won't make it, we are just going to deliver the baby." They asked for Shantel's name again and some basic vital information (allergies, etc.) and made the first notation on her chart that she was complete at 10:56. (This is the only other time that we have an actual record of, besides her water breaking at 10:32 and Austin's birth at 11:00.)

Shantel: I was so relieved when David came through the door. He started answering all of the nurses questions and I was so grateful to him. I frantically told the nurses "I need an epidural!" and they said, "You don't have time to get an epidural, you just need to push." Wait. What??? Pushing? What are they talking about? I need an epidural! I just needed to be admitted to the hospital - I'm sure that once I get my epidural, things will calm down and I'll have a couple of hours to regroup before the delivery. I responded, "Wait, I didn't prepare for this! I need an epidural." I had so many crazy thoughts flying through my head - not the least that Ashley had taken Hypnobirthing classes and practiced affirmations and all sorts of other things in order to prepare for her natural birth, but that I hadn't done any of those things because I was just going to get an epidural! The nurses told me that he was right there and told me that I needed to start pushing. I was in shock and told them that I just needed a minute. I laid my head back onto the bed and breathed a few deep breaths - trying to adjust myself to my situation and prepare myself for a non-medicated birth. I leaned over to David and asked him to say a prayer. David said the most simple and beautiful prayer asking that I would be able to push, and that our baby and I would be okay. Then, with the nurses and David helping to hold my legs, I started pushing. I really wasn't sure that I could at first, it was all happening so fast, but I had one arm wrapped through David's arm and up over his shoulder and he kept telling me that I was wonderful and that he knew that I could do it. I started pushing, half-hearted at first, but then more intensely.

I will say, I would never have chosen this birth. It cut things much too closely and too many things could have gone wrong. I wouldn't have opted for an unmedicated delivery. But feeling his little body being delivered was something absolutely incredible. I wish I had words to describe the feeling of his head, and then his body, slipping into the world. I honestly don't remember any pain at this point. It was just such a miracle, such an amazing experience.

David: Shantel pushed, then she rested for a second and then pushed again. Then she pushed one more time and then a final half push and the baby was here at exactly 11:00 pm. Just about 10 minutes after arriving at the front entrance and only four minutes after the first note on her chart. Baby Austin was delivered by Leslie Haynes, one of the nurses.

Shantel: As soon as I saw my baby appear, I reached out my arms for him and the nurse handed him right to me. I pulled him up to my chest as tears filled my eyes and love filled my heart. I was still in a bit of shock because everything had happened so quickly, but I knew that he was my baby and I was filled with gratitude that he had arrived safely. He wasn't crying and I quickly asked the nurse if he was okay, if he was breathing, and she responded that he was perfect and was doing great. I just held him and thought over and over that he was magnificent. That's the exact word that kept going through my mind. It repeated over and over. Magnificent. (i.e. spectacular, majestic, awe-inspiring, or breathtaking.) My baby boy was here, and it was magnificent. He was magnificent. Even after our specialist appointment with Maternal Fetal Medicine at 22 weeks clearing him of any echogenic focuses, I still worried/wondered if something would manifest itself after his birth. Many, many prayers had been said on behalf of this tiny baby, and seeing him there - absolutely perfect was such a huge blessing.

I had thought a lot about how I wanted my delivery to go, especially how I wanted things to go after he was delivered. I'd done some research and thought that delayed/optimal cord clamping was something that I wanted to do. American Fork is big on Kangaroo Care, and I feel strongly about that as well - but I wanted to hold Austin even longer than I had been able to hold Lydia before they took him away to weigh him/clean him. I never wrote it down in a birth plan- but I definitely hoped that I'd be assertive enough to convey those requests to my nurses after we got to the hospital. Obviously, there had been no time to convey anything (other than my name) to the nurses but it all happened exactly the way that I had hoped that it would. It was absolutely perfect. I held him to my chest and time stopped. The nurses unobtrusively used towels to clean his little body, took his vitals/head measurement, and I'm sure a myriad of other tasks while I held my baby - oblivious to what they were doing. It was just me and my baby and my wonderful husband and for all I knew there wasn't a single other person in the room. After several minutes one of the nurses asked if we were ready to cut the cord. I nodded and said that I wanted David to do it, but then David asked if I was really ready - so we asked how long it had been. (Waiting just 90 seconds can make a huge difference in the amount of blood that flows back into their body, which means an increase in red blood cells and many other benefits.) The nurse said that the cord had stopped pulsing so we nodded and she clamped the cord right there on my chest and I was able to watch David cut through.

David: They immediately gave him to Shantel and set him on her chest. He was not crying at all, so Shantel asked if he was breathing, and they said he was perfect and doing great. (A few seconds later he cried for a second then calmed down resting on Shantel). I was so grateful and happy for his arrival. It was amazing to watch him come into this world. It was so perfect to see Shantel hold him and love him. I was so grateful that Shantel and Austin were both okay.  Just minutes after arriving at the hospital, we were holding baby Austin, sans the epidural.

Shantel: As I mentioned before, I don't remember the pain from the actual delivery - all I remember is the emotions I felt as my body delivered my little boy. However, after the delivery was a different story. I still had to deliver the placenta, get some stitches (I had three tears, one of which was a second degree tear), and endure the nurses pushing on my stomach to help my uterus start to shrink/contract up. I was also bleeding more than they like (I ended up passing a small blood clot) so they were working on that and giving me shots and other medication to help the bleeding stop. I'll just say that it was pretty miserable, and that an epidural would be worth it just to not have to go through that. The doctor on-call from my practice was Doctor Bryan Watabe, and although he didn't make it in time for the delivery - he was the one to take care of all of my stitches/post-delivery care.

After a good while, they asked if they could quickly take Austin to weigh him. I was amazed as David was able to pull out our camera. He's such a clear thinker, even in times of panic and remembered to grab that bag. It's a little thing that I'm very grateful for.

David: We spent about an hour until midnight in the delivery room and Shantel got to feed Austin for about 15 minutes. She asked if I wanted to hold him and it was wonderful to hold him in my arms. We spent much of the time asking ourselves what had just happened and laughing with each other about the whole thing. We were in a kind of shocked euphoria. Around midnight we went to the 2nd floor to our room and then I went with Austin while he got a bath and got checked out. Around 1,  Austin was all clean and we were back with Shantel and we all settled down to sleep around 1:30. Shantel woke up around 3:30 to feed Austin, but he was so sleepy he did not want to eat. He would latch on, and then fall right asleep. He was just such a sleepy baby and he wouldn't wake up and eat like he needed. Finally I sat and took a wipe with a piece of ice and touched his skin to keep him awake while he ate. I loved it because while Shantel is responsible for feeding Austin, at least for that very first feeding, we could  only do it together, as a team. There is something about sitting at 3:30 am, exhausted and having both of us doing whatever we can to take care of our baby. That is how it will be always, both of us sacrificing and working together to take care of and love Austin.

Shantel: The following two days were spent soaking in our tiny newborn baby. Some people don't like being at the hospital - but we just love it. We love being together in a little room where there is nothing that we need to do other than hold our brand new baby. We love the new baby smell, the reassurance that the nurses are right there if something happened, and especially the room service (we may have eaten their chocolate bunt cake with every meal). Lydia was well taken care of by her Grandma and Grandpa Peaden, and came by to visit us several times. The very first time she came, she was so excited to bring the little grey bear that she had picked out for her baby brother. She loved Austin from the moment she saw him, and I know that they are going to be wonderful friends. It was so nice to have her there with us at the hospital, but to know that she was happy and having fun even when she wasn't there with us was such a relief. We had lots of loving family come and visit us and we certainly felt the love from all of our family and friends.

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The whole experience seems surreal. I still can't believe how quickly everything happened. Our wonderful doctor, Dr. Cloward, came to visit us the second day in the hospital (we adore her!) and we all kind of laughed at how unexpected this birth was. She said that she had no idea that this labor would be so fast, but that next time we would have to talk about "some things" - like when to go to the hospital and what to do in case of an emergency delivery. We laughed, but yikes! Seriously, next time - David and I are headed to the hospital at the very first sign of hard contractions. If they turn us away, we are just going to camp out in their waiting room until they have to admit us! "Oh, not far enough along to be admitted, huh? Well, seeing how last time we made it to the hospital with barely any minutes to spare - we are just going to go walk around the building for a bit. See you in 15 minutes!" We'll be like the most annoying pregnant/in labor people that they've ever met.

As crazy sounding as Austin's birth story is - we really wouldn't change a thing. Sometimes thinking about the what-if's start to stress me out. (What if I had gone into real labor when David was in Logan? What if there hadn't been blood when my water broke and I didn't notice for another 5 minutes? What if the police officer had insisted on giving us a lecture instead of letting us go? A minute here and a minute there and we wouldn't have made it to the hospital in time.) But then I look at all of the tender mercies that allowed us to make it to the hospital in time for a nearly-perfect delivery for our sweet baby boy. It certainly was dramatic, and it's not like Heavenly Father stopped us from being pulled over at all, etc... but He cleared the way for Austin to be born safely and provided peace and comfort for David and I along the way. I will always look back on Austin's labor and delivery with gratitude in my heart for a loving Heavenly Father, for such a supportive and amazing husband, and for the safe arrival of my sweet Austin Scott.

{coming home}