Baby Gage

Gage Corey Green

Born @ 2:16 pm on 

Feb. 25, 2012

7lbs 10 oz

20 inches

My friend Noelle Murray took these newborns and family pictures for us. You can check out her blog here http://photographybynoelle.blogspot.com/ She does such an amazing job and I appreciate her so so much.  The best gift ever! Thank you so much Noelle.  

Here's the story from the journal entry I wrote.  Warning: It is a lot of reading and sorry if it's too detailed. It's kind of more for myself)

 Our newest addition arrived last weekend.  One day before his due date!  Friday night at about 11 I started having some pretty painful contractions.  So I started timing them and they were about 10 minutes apart.  This happened all night long!  I kept dozing in and out of sleep as I was having these contractions, but they never got closer than about 7 minutes.  (By the way, I was by myself because Corey was in Pocatello for his brother's state wrestling tournament.  Ahhh!)  So at about 5 in the morning I'm trying to decide if I should call him to come home or not.  I didn't want him to get home and have the contractions stop and then he'd miss his brother's matches for nothing!  So I waited till 7 and they started coming about every 4 minutes.  By then Emery was awake and I had called Corey to tell him he'd better get goin.  I was just about ready to call my mom to tell her I was ready for her to come get Emery for the day, when she called me first.  There was a blizzard that day and she called to say that there was no visibility and they couldn't make it!  I started to freak out just a little.  Corey's parents were also at the state tournament, but I'm so thankful for our good friends Zak and Noelle who came to get Emery and watched her all day till my parents could come get her.  Thanks you guys!! 

 Corey got home around 10 or so that morning.  I waited it out until my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart.  By then I was just ready to get out of the house, so I said "let's Go!"  We got to hospital at noon and I was at a 5, about 90% effaced.  30 minutes later my midwife Helene came and said, "Let's break your water and get things goin!" I kinda hesitantly agreed.  Right before they broke my water (30 mins from the time we arrived) I was at a 6 and 100% effaced.  After they broke my water I decided to get into the Jacuzzi tub to help me relax through the contractions, but there was NO relaxing to be had....those contractions came so hard and strong that I almost past out before I even got into the tub! haha I had about 4 contractions in there and then I told Corey to go tell them I needed the epidural!!  Oh! I forgot to mention that I wanted to try it natural this time, because I felt like crap after Emery was born with an epidural.  So I was really trying hard to stay strong.  And I told Corey that he had to support me and not just tell me to get the epidural.  So he kept saying positive things to me, but then he saw how much pain I was in and asked if I was sure I didn't want the epidural.  I totally gave in.  I was already having the urge to push when I got back to my room. They checked me and I was at a good 7, and my contractions were one right after the other.  I thought I was gonna die! I was gripping the side of the bed so hard as they tried to get the I.V. in for some other meds, and the anesthesiologist was going through the list of questions.  But none of that mattered because he was ready to come out.  It was time to push.  As I started to push I kept saying "what did I do to myself?", "I should've gotten the epidural", and "I can't do this!"  And my nurse said "Yes you can and you ARE! I can see his head already!" That gave me a little extra strength to keep going.  It was crazy to feel how my body just knew what to do, I just followed it's lead.  I pushed for about 25 minutes (a little more than an hour less than with Emery, which was nice.) but those were the worst 25 minutes of my life!  It was seriously an out of body experience (like my mom described it).  The pain was so bad, but I knew I had to push.  I wanted it to be over so I knew the better I pushed the faster the pain would be over and I'd be holding my precious little boy.  I wish I could say that I didn't yell or make much noise, but that is not the case. Haha.  I kept telling Corey in my annoyed voice to "keep pushing harder on my back!" While he was saying, "I can't push any harder babe."  I didn't really scream,  but I did sound like I was fake crying...I laugh now thinking about what it must have been like for everyone around me..haha.  I pushed a few more times, and prayed a few more times than that, and on the last push I said in my mind, "Heavenly Father, Please. I cannot do this anymore, let him come...and then I heard his little whimper and gurgling cry.  He was here.  I sunk into the bed. I had no more energy.  I held him skin to skin, and oh my, he was so sweet.  He reminded me so much of Emery.  

Corey was a good coach through the whole thing; reminding me to breath, and reassuring me that I could do it.  He told me he teared up at the end.  Not because Gage was finally here, but because the pain was over for me.  He felt so bad.  Oh my sweet hubby...He cut the cord this time! (Good job babe!) He was too grossed out the first time..haha..so I did it.  

Then the after pains came.  I only had a few stitches this time which was great!  (It was awful with Emery, I tore every which way there was to tear...:(  I felt so great after this delivery.  My endorphins were flowing and I just felt so much better this time.  More excited and able to feel the joy surround me...instead of feeling groggy and out of it and not able to get out of bed for ever.  I was able to get up easy and walk around great.  I think it was a mixture of no epidural, shorter pushing time, less stitches and tearing, and just the fact that it was my second.  Emery paved the way! haha (not to mention her head was huge and weighed a little over a pound more than Gage.)

I honestly don't know if I could do it naturally again, but it would be amazing if I could.  When all was said and done, it was awesome.  I'm proud of myself that I was able to get through it and experience natural child birth at least once!  Maybe next time I will get the I.V. of meds first and then go from there!  I honestly don't know where the strength came from to do this.  People ask all the time, "How did you do it?!" and I say, "Honestly, I don't even know."  I do know that my loving Father in Heaven had a part in helping me through, and I am so thankful to him for that, and for sending such a sweet spirit to our family.  

These just melt my heart.  Emery adores her little brother, and is maybe a little too helpful at times.;) At first she didn't know what to think and then she loved holding him and looking at him.  Don't get me wrong, she went through a HUGE adjusting period...especially because we moved to North Carolina shortly after he arrived, so all the changes were hard on her.  But I think we're finally getting the hang of things.  

Corey is more excited than ever to finally have a son.  He always talks about how he's gonna be such a stud wrestler. (Just like Daddy!)  It's crazy to think that he is already 3 months old!  He is growing too fast.  I wish he could just stay this age forever, but i'm also excited to see him grow up, and see all of his accomplishments he'll make along the way.  I'll post more pictures soon.