Section D: Children Part 1

Describe the birth of your children -

With Tarah, I was living with Bill (Mike Jones brother, Barrie and Larry's second son)
I woke up and needed to go to the bathroom. Tried to sleep but had to go to the bathroom again. Not really in any pain but going to the bathroom twice in such a short time span was unusual for me. Bill woke up and saw that I was uncomfortable so he called the neighbor lady over. I told them both they were out of their minds, no pain was involved. But she said it could be, something about the way my stomach looked then versus when I got there a little over a week ago. (dropped maybe, but I do not remember as it made no sense to me then) So we hop in his car, and head down Sepulvada Blvd. (Tom Petty sings about this particular Blvd.) and Bill is getting out and telling people to move. This is laughable since this is the heart of LA, but something about his face had them moving. We arrive at LA County and they put me on a gurney and I got sick. Still no pain but the nurse said I was close. I still thought everyone was insane but then I felt it and I told the nurse I had changed my mind. She said, probably, but it is too late now. So Tarah was born shortly thereafter. It was 4.5 hours from time I started having symptoms without pain.

With Chrissy, they had given me 2 ultrasounds. 1 at 3-4 months because I was so huge they thought I had twins, then at 7-8 months because my uterus was doubling every month and they thought they missed it the first time, but alas, it was just her! My due date was March 12th but they thought I would be early because of the size, they were wrong. So not only was I late but I felt extremely late because of them being sure. My mom had flown down and was visiting so she could be there and it was almost time for her to go home! We made plans on Sunday to have a dinner after church, and of course, as babies do, plans were changed. I woke up Donovan because my water had broken, and off we went. 4 hours later we were holding our 10.2 ounce baby.

Then Kimberly, wow, I was so done being pregnant with her. I was big and miserable and we were 10 days over when I decided I would jump on the trampoline because the other methods people recommended did not work. Later that night my water broke but labor did not start and I was scared I broke her. So we paced around and around the hospital trying to do what we could not do earlier, so they did not have to take her. She decided that she would make an appearance then. She was my first night time baby. Still born in the 10 o'clock hour, but at night not in the morning. 3 for 3 at 10 something.

Ashley was different. We lived in Provo by the temple and had to go to AF. My water broke so we called Dr. Cory and told him that we were in process so would be there soon. But I had to take a shower to get the water off. By the time we arrived at the hospital Dr. Cory was fit to be tied and we literally gave him time to catch her. She was born 15 minutes after we  arrived so they barely got me undressed and on a gurney before she was born. She had a BM coming out that got caught in her lungs so she had to be suctioned and have oxygen and she was so happy about that! That child screamed for the first 12 hours. When she continued screaming for years, banging her head on table, wall, or floor, I told Dr. Cory that he broke her. We had asked if we needed to do anything, testing etc. to see if she was in pain, but when we described what and when she was doing, he said we would wait. She settled down between 5-6 and after 7 she was quiet as a church mouse. Not sure what changed, but since I thought she was no longer in pain I was okay.

Then Amanda...Dr. Cory was still unhappy with me and the lack of time I gave him with Ash, and now we had moved further away, so he insisted that he induce me. I told him I had the first 4 natural and did not want that, that I had read that inducing could double your labor. He gave me a funny look, and said really??? I do not feel bad for you at all...No empathy lol, should not have gone with that argument. So we scheduled it for the afternoon, He started the process. Said he was going back to the office, but since he knew my history he would get into scrubs before he left. He did not get further than the corner and they called him back. She was born in 50 minutes. So...no empathy on length at all!! However, because of inducing based on easy schedule, she was my only baby that was not born naturally, or in the 10 o'clock hour.