Bryce is Born!

Bryce Richard Munnerlyn (Birdie)
Surprise Surprise! Due October 30

Born September 30th, 2013

4:55 pm

6 pounds 10 ounces. 19.5 inches

     Monday morning was a great morning.  I woke up very early and I had the energy to jump in the shower right a way. Then I put on my favorite maternity shirt, and fixed my hair. It was a great hair day. Next I made breakfast while the rest of the family got ready for the day.

     Sam was really optimistic about doing chores today. He did an excellent job of making his bed and emptying the garbages. Sam was excited to earn his quarter for the day. His plan was to go to Smith's and spend it right away. He wanted to buy a little car from the quarter machine. 

     James and I were both in the mood to clean up the house real nice today. It was a sunny day and everything just felt perfect. After we got everything organized and cleaned up,  James went to work down stairs and I took the boys to Smith's.

     At Smith's around 9:00 a.m. I started feeling something really different in my belly. Also my energy level really started to fade away. Maybe because it was a pretty busy and productive morning so far. When we got back home I walked down stairs to tell James that I was feeling something really different. He said, " That is exactly what you said the day you delivered Sam." We looked at each other, and both said "Nah", then we laughed it off. We thought No way, not a month early, we are going full term baby. James said, "call the Midwives and talk to them". I said, "no I am just going to wait a while to see what happens".

      I tried my best to hang with the boys, and keep them entertained. But as I was watching them jump on the tramp, I realized I really couldn't do it anymore. I was all out of energy and out of patients, and my body was acting not so normal. I called James to say, "I am sorry, I just can't do the boys today. I am feeling way to tired out." He said "Ok",  then he came up stairs to help out with the boys.

     I decided to get on the internet and search the terms "contractions" and "Braxton Hicks", because I really needed a clear definition and description of each term. I learned Braxton Hicks happen very randomly and real contractions happen very regularly.  Just for entertainment I decided to start keeping track of each belly pain I was feeling. Sure enough, every 10 minutes I was feeling this belly cramp. 

      I read about real contractions a bit longer because I was in total denial. For an hour I sat at the computer reading about contractions, and writing down on my hand every time I felt a belly cramp (Every 10 minutes). I asked James to read some of the material that I had found, then I showed him my hand with all the cramps that I noted. At this point James said, "You call the midwife". 

     The Midwives  said at this point we will not stop labor because you are only a few days away from what we consider full term. If your contractions get 3 to 4 minutes apart we will send you to the hospital to get checked. We were totally surprised, and in denial. We thought for sure this baby had another 3 and a half weeks to cook. We decided to head to my mom's house to get ourselves a little closer to the hospital. And to get our kids somewhere, just in case. We started to call it our "dress rehearsal". 

     We left the house totally unprepared for what was coming. We forgot to grab Luke's favorite blanket (the one thing that he cannot sleep without). We didn't grab diapers and  didn't grab any clothes for the kids. We forgot clothes for us, and forgot a new little baby outfit, blanket, and a car seat for the new baby.  We totally forgot about grabbing a video camera. Luckily my wallet with my ID was already sitting in the car. 

   We got to my mom house, and by this time my contraction were about 6 to 7 minutes apart. All along I am thinking this is not happening, this will just go away. I didn't want to get my hopes up if this was false labor. 

     While hanging out at my moms, bearing through contractions and keeping track of the regularity, we decide it was time to make a plan just in case this might be it. We decide to call Tyson home to help mom with the kids, because she just had surgery and cannot lift more that 8 pounds. And my mom finally got a hold of "GG" to come over to help as well. Luckily uncle Evan was over at my mom's house. I turned to Evan and said, "I might be asking 3 weeks too early but would you and James give me a blessing?"

I received a beautiful and helpful blessing for the healthy arrival of this baby and for an added strength throughout delivery.

     After I was given a blessing, we decided the next most important thing to take care of was Luke's missing blanket. We searched online where we might buy a new "Aden and Anais" swaddle blanket. Luckily right at ThanksGiving Point in the gift shop they sell these wonderful blankets. And Luckily, Luke doesn't really care what the blanket smells like, and he doesn't care what sort of character or shape is on it. He just recognizes the soft, white,  cotton muslin material that it is made out of. By the time James got back my contractions were 3 to 4 minutes apart. It's time to go to the hospital, right?

     I am still in denial, I don't want to get my hopes up during this false labor. I tell James just head to the Midwife clinic. James is thinking ok the clinic is right next to the hospital, lets just head that direction. On our way, I gave Melissa a call to say we are headed to the Midwife clinic to check things out. Melissa asked, "how far apart are your contractions?"  I answer, at this point they are 2 to 3 minutes apart. She says, "You are NOT going to the clinic, you are going to the hospital!" I say, "ok that sounds like a good idea." I then told James to get on the freeway and head to the hospital. James was thinking he was already on he way to the hospital and just about to pull into the American Fork Hospital parking lot. After a quick reminder James realized that we are delivering this baby at Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem. And we are in the wrong hospital parking lot.  James changed direction to Timpanogos Hospital.  Then James said, "Let me drop you off at the doors." All this time,  I am still in denial.  I said to James, "No I can walk, just park the car." He parked the car, and we both walk in to the front desk to check in. At that moment I felt a real intense contraction coming on,  so I used the wall right next to me to bear down. 

     The nurse directed me to a room and said, "we will send someone in to check you in just a moment." A long Twenty Minutes later someone came in to check me. I was dilated to 7cm. Then they realized this was really moving along, the baby is about to come, and the midwife is not going to make it in time. 

     Luckily Dr. Parker from the midwife clinic was at the hospital and he came to check me. I was dilated to 8cm, and the monitors were finally hooked up and detecting my baby's heart beat. Everything sounded great until my next contraction came, and the baby's heart beat dropped dramatically. Beep . . . . Beep .   .   .   .   Beep .      .     .     .     .  Beep        .       .       .         .     Beep.          This was NOT good!

     At that moment Dr. Parker placed a monitor directly on top of the baby's head to get a more accurate reading. Then he looked at me with a very serious face and said, "You need to push this baby out now." But I was in the "baby delivery zone" – A very cloudy, out of focus zone. A place where I cannot really hear anyone specifically, I cannot really hear orders, and I cannot make any decisions. The doctor could see that I was still in denial and not even trying to deliver this baby. He turned to the nurse beside him and said, "We might need to prepare for a C-section." That exact statement is what I needed to hear. And it's a good thing I heard it, because it switched on my brain and I realized it was time to push this baby out. 

     Doctor Parker broke my water and the next contraction came with some serious force. It also came with a wave of water. I truly thought the baby had come out. I asked the doctor if he was here. The doctor said no but he's close. The next contraction came with a baby delivery. 

     We really liked Dr. Parker and felt super good about his experience as a doctor. He told us that he was about to retire and that he was delivering baby number 7,777 for FREE and our baby was number 7,568. Doctor Parker is a great doctor, and in fact Dr. Parker was the Doctor that delivered me 30 years ago. 

     We feel so blessed to have Bryce as a part of our family. He has truly become a part of us, and we are so lucky to have him.