My first son, everything was went really well and I really enjoyed the
experience, so I kind of expected the same with Austin. And it, and it was
very different. Both pregnancies though were really good and I also got
pregnant really quickly with both of them, but with Austin, everything
happened extra fast. I was immediately pregnant, so one try and we're done
, and which kind of upset my husband because he really liked trying to get
pregnant. Then the whole pregnancy went by really quickly because I was
busy with work and before I knew it, it was time to basically have Austin
in the middle of the night. I woke up and just like with Bennett, I
started to feel some contractions and they're mainly in my back. I was
like, all right, so I'm probably gonna wake up in a couple hours and be
ready to go to the hospital and it's all gonna kind of go smoothly like it
did with Bennett. So in the morning I got up and I called the doctor and
he said to come into the office. I had been having contractions in just in
my back for about every 7 minutes and so they put me on the machine. And
they came back and they're like, this is probably just pre-labor, which
kind of surprised me because it really felt like everything with Bennett.
I just felt like I was just gonna be going to the hospital after this, but
they sent me home. Throughout the day, I kept having these back
contractions. The only thing that started to worry me is that I never felt
anything in the front. I went through my day, I kind of worked from home
for half the day. I didn't go into work. My mom was there and we went to
Target, went and got our nails. Done the whole time I'm timing my
contractions because I just nothing was happening and, and before I left
the doctor's office that morning, he said, Well, just call me when
something happens. And I was like, well, I kind of thought that's what I
did. That's why I'm here. But OK, what, what else is gonna happen? And so
I'm waiting the whole time like, what? And I'm such like a good like I
just follow the rules and like I just wanna like impress my doctor so I
didn't want to like call him with anything else until something else
happened. Maybe 8 to 10 hours have gone by, so still the back contractions
, nothing else. I remember going back into my laundry room and got some of
my clothes, put it in the bag, still expecting pretty soon stomach
contraction will start and then I'll call the doctor. So I, I walked out
into the living room and I sat down on my sofa and my. My son who was 4,
was sitting on the sofa watching TV and everyone was kind of gathered in
the living room and all of a sudden I felt a stomach contraction, so I was
like, oh yes. And maybe 10 seconds later I felt a really strong stomach
contraction and I jumped off the couch onto my knees so I'm on my hands
and knees on the floor and my water just breaks everywhere. And nobody
understands what's happening. I started just screaming. I can't even walk
at this point. It feels like as soon as my water broke, it feels like
there's a head coming out. The whole plan had been for me and my mom and
Shawn to go to the hospital together and Dad and Bennett to stay home
together so that my mom could be there for the birth and, and videotape it
and everything. But at this point, I thought like the baby was coming out.
And I'm freaking out, so I, because my dad was, had delivered babies
before, I had him get in the car with us and, and this is like all rushed
, we all just jumped in my little car. So my dad's in the backseat of a
two-door car. I'm in the front seat and Shaun's driving. We get on the
road and we're driving towards the hospital, which is 20 minutes away. So
we have to get through. Downtown Scottsdale up the highway and over to the
hospital, but downtown Scottsdale is full of traffic because the spring
training games have gotten out. So tons of cars on the road. It's probably
7:15 at night. I can't even sit on my butt because there's feels like a
head's coming out. So I'm leaning over. I I'm like leaning on one but one
butt cheek. I got my hand against the door and my other hands holding on
to my emergency brake, but I didn't know it. So I'm screaming and my dad,
my dad the whole time is like, OK, so tell me what, how far apart of the
contractions, and I can't talk. And he keeps asking me and Shawn's like, I
don't, I don't think you should be asking her that. and Shawn's calling
the doctors and he's like, we're on the way to the hospital and dad won't
stop asking. me how far apart my contractions are. I'm like, there, there
are no contractions. It's like one big long contraction. There's no time
in between. And the whole time I'm screaming, Daddy, Daddy, the baby's
coming. And Sean's like trying to get through, we're, we're going through
all these stoplights. I'm panicked. I thought, I thought for sure I was
gonna have the baby in the car. And by this point, I realized I had had, I
was pulling up on the emergency brake cause I, I was just grabbing
whatever I could. So I, I let go of the emergency brake. I grab on to Sean
and he's getting on the highway and he's like, heck, I think he's up to 90
on the highway and I'm got a death grip on his arm and I'm biting his
shoulder and screaming, Daddy, the baby's coming. So we finally then get
to the Shea Boulevard exit and within a few minutes we're we're to the
hospital gate and so he somehow him and my dad get me. Out of the car,
into the wheelchair, but I'm still like in these, these positions where I
can't move and my flip flop is somehow wedged between the wheel of the of
the chair and I can't move my leg at this point now, I'm no longer
screaming daddy, now I'm screaming F words. All the way through the
hospital, so Sean starts running through over to the elevators and there's
all these people coming out and they all have smiles on their faces and I
, I, I just remember their faces because I look, I'm screaming F-bombs and
and grunting and sweating and, and I look at them and they're all smiling
and all of sudden all their faces kind of freeze and everyone jumps out of
the elevator and so Sean gets me on the elevator, we get upstairs and he
starts running. And my flip flops caught in the wheel, so it's like going
flap, flap, flap, flap, flap, flap all the way to where the maternity ward
is. And so I'm here, I can hear all these people laughing, but I'm still
in the middle of screaming the F word because it hurts so bad. It just
went from like my back to my whole body and it feels like the whole time I
was just so terrified because it felt like there was a head coming out and
I didn't want to look and I didn't want to put my hands. Down there
because I knew like I'd feel the head and I have no idea really what was
down there because I just didn't want to look. I was too terrified. So
Shawn's yelling, it's go time at the guy at the front gate or at the front
desk, and he said, Who are you? And Sean yells, Dooley. And so the guy
just opens the doors and they go flying open. He goes, Take your first
right and your first left and There's these two nurses standing there
waiting for us, so everything went really fast once we got there. It was
like they're totally prepared. We, they wheel me into the room, which is
kind of like your check-in room. They somehow get me on the bed. I don't
even remember how that happened. Everything's really painful, so it's so
hard to move and it's so hard to talk or anything. The nurse takes one
look and she says, she's plus. We got to get her into a room. And I'm like
, what does that mean? And so I look at one of the nurses and I say, Well
, can I get my epidural? because that's what I remember I loved so much
about giving birth to Bennet. It's like, once you got an epidural, it was
a party. Like everything was awesome. We were making jokes with the doctor.
Like that was fun and I really enjoyed that and the nurse looks at me.
He's like, oh no, honey, you're not getting an epidural. And I just
remember the look on Shaw's face because I looked at him like, What?
You've got to be kidding me. I can't do this. I can't do this without an
epidural. I'm totally freaked out because I'm so that girl that tells
everyone, you just get an epidural. I'll be all fine. And at this point,
my voice, I'm like crying. I, I'm like panicked. I can't get on that bed.
How do I get on that bed? And, and I don't even know. I did it. Nobody
touched me. I like crab walked onto the other bed. And it hurt so bad.
That's all I remember. I was in so much pain and so they, they take
another look at me and they're like, don't push yet. The doctor's coming
in. But there was no like I had been trying not to push since my water
broke. So I had been trying the whole time in the car not to push and I'm
in the hospital bed and I just have to push because at this point I've,
I've been like this for 35, 40 minutes now. So the, the another doctor
comes running in, my doctor's not there yet. Another doctor comes running
in and all I can remember remember seeing is she's hurriedly trying to put
on her gloves, and I got this one crazy strong contraction and I started
to let out this whale and then like my whole body just like let loose. It
started really loud and it got so loud that it hurt me. My ears, it
sounded like a jet engine taking off. It was like so primal. During that
whole yell, the baby just like came out. I felt like the doctor barely got
her gloves on. I had to like catch Austin. The one thing I remember, um,
right when the baby was coming out. Thinking, I can't believe that I'm
feeling this right now because you could just feel it. I felt like your
body was like dripping apart like down there. Like it just felt awful. It
felt everything like you thought it was gonna feel like times 10 and I was
so pissed that I had to feel it because I just wanted the epidural so bad.
So the baby's out and all of a sudden like my body is, it's like a total
180 like it felt. Amazing. All of a sudden I it was all gone. All the pain
was gone. They have the baby and all I remember hearing is the nurse say,
Hey, we've got a ginger baby. So I have this little boy with bright red
hair and the other nurses are like congratulating me and telling me how
awesome I did and next thing I know my dad comes walking in and he's like
, All right, we're ready to go? And the nurses are like, no, the baby's
out already. So my dad in the time. That they dropped me off at the front
door, parked the car and came up and I'd already had the babies. So I got
into the delivery room about 8007, 808, and I had the baby by 8:12. As
soon as he came out and like about the time they put him on me, the
adrenaline started kicking in and I was like totally shivering and shaking.
They had to cover me with a bunch of blankets because I think my body was
just in shock after all that. But I felt like I could enjoy it a lot more
when when they put him on me than with Bennett because with Bennett, I was
like so freaked out. About what that looked like, what a brand new baby
looked like, and it was like disgusting, but with, I was a little bit more
ready for it. So it was really sweet and I like immediately I could
immediately breastfeed him and he like he was such an easy baby.
Everything was easy. He immediately started breastfeeding. He, you know,
slept that night and so it was much, it was funny because with Bennett,
the whole. Birth was really fun and exciting and nice, but then, you know
, once I had the baby, it was crazy and dramatic and hard to do. But with
Austin, it was like the opposite. Once I had the baby, he was so easy and
you know, uneventful and just easy to enjoy and whereas his birth was
crazy and out of control, so it was like total. Opposites. That was pretty
much it. The next day I remember my doctor coming back to visit me and he
said something about how smoothly I went and I was like so aghast because
it was so dramatic for me. I didn't feel like anything went smoothly, but
when you look back on it, it went really smoothly like the baby just came
out. There was no complications. I was barely in labor for 35 minutes, but
it just felt like. A lot of drama and a lot of craziness and like I almost
had a baby on highways. For me it wasn't smooth, but I, I am glad that I
experienced it now. I'm glad that it went down the way it did and that I
actually did have a baby without having an epidural because now I know
what it feels like and I think that's kind of cool.