One wild week!!

alrighty, well i guess its fair to say this has been the most intense week of my life. The crazy experience started Monday at my 35 week OB appointment, where i was checked for the first time to see if i had dialated. The doctor gave me the all clear that nothing was happening and things were right on schedule. Whoosh. or so i thought.... The next night at around 10 p.m. after calling Lane at 9:30p.m.(yeah, that late! he is one hard working farmboy!) to make sure he was on his way home so i could warm up dinner I started having some cramps in my back. I remember thinking, huh. thats weird. Then the pains started getting more frequent, and FAST! by the time Lane walked in the door 20 minutes later I was laying on the floor trying to cope with contractions that had spread to my abdomon and were 5 minutes apart! I remember saying, uh, lane. i think i need to go to the hospital. i'm hurtin. alot. He didn't even hesitate, just scooped me up and we made the 1/2 mile drive to the hospital, which makes it almost in our backyard. i love it! We got checked in and walked into one of the rooms of the OB department...and i froze. and slightly freaked out. yup, i was scared. It only took them 10 minutes to hook me up to the contraction machine, heartbeat monitor and IV - which btw hurt SOO bad, they burst a blood vessel trying to get it in. Pretty much it hurt more then my contractions...and checked me to see if i was dialated. I was at a 3!!!! Me and lane looked at each other and i remember seeing the stress in his eyes! The nurses scrambled to get medicine in me to stop the contractions - a shot and a pill with some CRAZY side effects, like making my heart pump real hard and sweating. all of which a nursing student gave me....which stressed me out even more...and slowly, SLOWLY like 4 hours later they started to subside to one every hour. That night in the hospital was HORRIBLE, nurses coming in all the time and me still trying to get through frequent contractions. At eight the next morning my doctor came in and laid down the law, no vaccuming, working out, NOTHING that would stress my uterus. and then discharged us, with contractions about 1 hour apart. Lane dropped me off at home and i rented a couple movies and vegged. That night (wednesday) I called lane at the usual time, 9:30, and he showed up 20 minutes later to me EXACTLY the same as last night. on the floor. wimpering slightly. Once again we didn't hesitate and headed to the hospital to go through the same ordeal all over again. except this time i had a nurse who didn't know when to leave the room...she just wanted to sit and chat. and i just wanted sleep! especially after the night before! I think i got 2 hours that night! and just like before i took the medication and waited a few hours for them to subside to one an hour again. By eight the next morning when my doctor came in i was feeling pretty wore out, and lane was DEAD tired - at least i had a couple of hours in a hospital bed! Lane was such a trooper, he pulled up one of the chairs and just napped in it all night. But i was encouraged when i was still only 3 cm. dialated. So we went home and i got the fourth twilight book which i hadn't read yet and spent most of the day lost in the world of vampires and werewolves. That night, just like clockwork, they started again!!! i couldn't believe it, but the funny thing was we were both so tired from the last two nights that before we got into bed, we told each other we'd just have a nap and then go over to the hospital. me and lane woke up the next morning to my contractions to about an hour apart. So...lane went to work and i tried to figure out another way to veg. This time i spent most of the day in front of my sewing machine making a nursing cover and crocheting some little booties, with contractions still an hour apart. Except that day my contractions that day (we're on friday now...) became a lot more strange, i had them about 15 minutes apart from about 3:00p.m. on, and EVERY time i stood up, they DID NOT go away. It was pretty much a constant contraction till i sat down again! The pain was starting to get to me a bit...obviously. at 5:00 i laid down on the bed, had a good cry, then called Lane to tell him i was going to the hospital to have them check me. So i crawled around on the floor trying to avoid the constant contraction, and actually was able to pack a small hospital bag, scoop up my purse, and drive myself to the hospital. The worst thing about that night??? the WALK TO THE OB DEPARTMENT - Oh my goodenss, why do they place it at the back of the hospital??? down the longest hallway in the world???? I had to stop three times because my contractions were getting so intense. At 6:00p.m. i was checked into a room and after i was checked the nurse told me i was dialated to a 6!!! This was another time i had a breakdown, especially since the nurse didn't look at my mental state close enough before she flippantly said, "well honey, looks like you're not leaving here tonight without a baby!!" not exactly what a first time mom wants to hear 4 1/2 weeks early!!! I called Lane and told him it was "go time", although he said he'd be about 30 - 40 minutes. yikes. About that time i started demanding an epidural, and all the pain meds i was allowed. Those contractions were getting INTENSE. I got the epidural in time, (hallejuya - no idea how to spell that) and funny enough i found out my delivery nurse and my anestiesologist are both in my ward. cool eh? So after i'd been numbed, drugged, and stuck with needles, Lane showed up to find me finally calm and collected. Lucky for him eh...I called skye who was on a date with her husband - anyone who knows her would know how extreamly RARE that is, i felt bad for breaking up their date night! But she cut things short and started to come out, but its a two hour drive! that was at 8:00, and by 9:30, after watching some basketball (the Jazz were playing...) and having a chance encounter with Lane's mom, i was starting to feel the pressure of the contractions, even though the striking pain was gone. The nurse came in, who by the way, i LOVED. she was so motherly, exactly what i needed with my own mom MIA. (she was decorating for Breanne's wedding, and didn't take a cell phone. I couldn't even get a hold of her to tell her i was having the baby!!!) and told me it was time to try a few pushes. Once again i had another breakdown, and told her she was crazy. The funny part was, she didn't seem surprised at my reaction at all! she just grabbed a leg, told lane to come over and grab the other one, which he did very obediantly - i remember he looked so serious. and confused. I don't think that was what he thought he'd be doing! and in the next twenty minutes, baby was born!! Locke Magrath Larsen at 10:00p.m. weighing 6.0 pounds, exactly one month before his due date, April 23rd 2010. The best moment of all was when they placed him immediately on my tummy, i was so shocked i almost didn't want to touch him. It just all seemed so sureal. They had to take him to the NICU because of some breathing issues and a low sugar level, which added to the "dream" - i wasn't able to see him until my legs un-numbed, which was about 2 hours later. Unfortunately Skye walked in 10 minutes after it all happened - next time i'll MAKE the doctor wait to break my water! but her and Lane were so cute, running back and forth to the NICU to bring me pictures and videos of him. By the time i was mobile again, we had already decided Lane would sleep at home and me and skye would stay up all night taking pictures of Locke and talking about babies. I almost couldn't believe it when the nurse wheeled him into the room and then....just...left. For the rest of the night. I was SOO SOOO SOOOOO glad Skye was there, she knew how to care for newborns!! i was so clueless, and glad Lane wasn't there, because sometimes i felt a bit embaressed that i didn't know what to do! But we got through that first night, and every night since...which is a miracle itself. Me and Lane couldn't be more proud of our little guy, he's already made it through some tough times! We just couldn't love him anymore - becoming parents to such a tiny yet strong little person is the most rewarding thing the could've ever happened to us. I can't believe that from now on we get to grow from a couple to a small family - its the biggest challenge we've ever undertaken and i'm so excited to see where things go from here!!!