Slade's Birth

I knew I would be in labor within a few days when my doctor said that I was dilated to 3cm on March 31st. Every day I tried to have everything ready to go and cleaned up to head out the door for when my water broke and/or contractions started. I didn’t want the baby to have an April Fool’s birthday, and that day came and went thankfully. But then I didn’t want the baby to come during General Conference weekend a few days later, but of course this baby had an agenda of its own!

Saturday, April 4th, at about 8:30AM I noticed I had been leaking some fluid. Not nearly enough to be considered my water breaking (that’s a LOT of liquid) but enough to cause concern. I texted my parents to let them know that it might be today. The water breaking can happen in a slow trickle so I just paid attention to see if it happened again, and it did an hour later. I texted my parents again and said come on over! The girls were very excited to see them!

We arrived at the hospital at noon and the only available entrance was outside the emergency entrance. There was a shade set up and a few security men with masks on and a few small groups of people waiting to get in. They were asking each party if they had been experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms and if they had traveled within the last 14 days. While we were waiting for our turn (there wasn’t a line with the social distancing rule in place just the groups of people all spread out), we saw two people walk up and one of them fell to the floor. The other person said that she was having a seizure so they were taken in immediately. The person that let us in told us that the person experiencing the seizure had COVID symptoms so it’s a good thing we weren’t standing in a line! 

We went to the labor and delivery check-in window and they told us that Rainier had to be in another room while I was confirmed to be in labor. They checked my dilation and I was at 4cm and I told the nurse that I had been leaking fluid (and continued to leak) which is the reason I came in. She said that she could still feel that my water hasn't broken yet, but it could be slowly leaking, or fluid from on top of the baby (hence the slow speed of it) so she took a sample to check what it was. While I was waiting, alone, Rainier texted me and said he heard a nurse talk to another nurse about my current condition (leaking fluid, 4cm, and 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant), and the other nurse told her to admit me. I guess she wasn’t going to check me in! It would’ve been awful to get sent home after all of that! This “checking” took about an hour and a half!

We needed to wear masks during the delivery and I had to take it off during contractions because it was so hard to breathe!

We went to the laboring room and got settled in. Everyone in the building was wearing masks because of the virus so it was difficult to understand what they were saying sometimes. They put my IV in and gave me pitocin to get things going and I got to 6cm pretty quickly after that. They could feel something else inside of me and said it was lumpy, so they had the OB check and he said it could be placenta but it turned out to be nothing (or it was the placenta and they just didn’t tell me). The contractions weren’t bad yet and they knew I wanted an epidural so they went to contact the anesthesiologist and I could hear them saying that he wasn’t answering his phone. They told me he’d be here in 10 minutes, then 15 more minutes, and the contractions were really hurting and happening every 2 minutes. We found out that he was stuck in the OR and couldn’t have his phone on him because he was in a hospital suit so he got here as quickly as he found out. (There is usually a back-up anesthesiologist but he wasn’t there that day.) As long as I can get it in time then I’m happy! I got the epidural around 4:20PM and it seemed like it was more painful than the last two times. It felt like 4 different shots and they all hurt versus one shot that wasn’t as painful. I’m probably remembering wrong but I am still so happy I was able to get it! Soon after the epidural I was at 8cm and once it was fully kicked in the nurse had me do some pushes to get the baby down further. During my pregnancy they could see through an ultrasound that the baby’s head was already super low (37 weeks) so I knew it wouldn’t take long to be ready. A few minutes after those pushes the nurse took one look and said frantically to herself, “We need the team,” and she ran out the door and said loudly, “We need the team!” Everyone rushed in like the baby was falling out and the baby was out within 10 minutes!

I asked Rainier to stand by the doctor so he could tell me the gender and the doctor said to stand by me and as soon as the baby was out he held the baby up like a reenactment of the Lion King! It was a boy! 

Slade Joshua Frost

04/04/2020 at 5:31PM

7 lbs 1 oz 18 inches long

I only tore a tiny bit but still needed some stitches so recovery should be pretty mild! We ordered dinner as soon as we could because we only had until 6pm to do so until they were closed for the night. I’m so glad he came out fast or I would be starving! (I had snacks in my bag just in case of course!) I ordered chicken strips twice during our stay and I had chocolate milk at every meal. It was nice! Slade struggled to eat at first, but when he was hungry he knew exactly what to do!

Around 8PM we were taken to the postpartum room. It had a few chairs and one chair turned into a bed for Rainier. Normally he would go home to sleep, but because of the virus he would have to do the screening again so he just stayed. It was really nice to have him there and help with the baby for that long night! The epidural wore off around 11PM which was awesome! With the girls it took much longer to wear off because I needed more of it since their labors were longer. I was really impressed with the nurses! They were very attentive and quick to get me everything I needed. The uterine contractions started that night and they were intense! At first they were bearable, but they became really painful within an hour. These were just as bad as the birthing contractions but they lasted longer and the epidural wore off so I was in a lot of pain! The nurses gave me Motrin and it helped for a few contractions but then it wore off way quicker than it should so I got stronger medicine. Those contractions are NOT fun!

At around 6AM I started the paperwork for the birth certificate. I was awake and able to sit up so I wanted to get it done. We still hadn't decided a first name so I left it blank until a few hours before we left. We were never told why, but every time we called to order food, Rainier had to tell them which meal was going to be mine and which was going to be his. They could probably figure it out by looking at the amount of food - I ate almost twice as much as him at every meal and I loved it. It's so nice to have food delivered to me and I didn't have to share!

Slade had swallowed fluid so sometimes it was difficult for him to eat. We had to keep him upright and use the bulb to suck it out. Once he got enough out he would eat!

Because of the virus, the discharge class was done a little differently. The educators came into each person's room to discuss everything and we also watched a video about safe sleep. The hearing test was done around lunch time and we also had our "celebratory meal" for lunch. (We brought home one of the Martinelli's for the girls to try!) We told the nurse that we wanted to get home as soon as we could and they made it happen! At 5:30PM was Slade's 24 hour mark and they got him all tested and done quickly! We were eager to get home early so the girls would be able to meet him before they went to bed. We also wanted them to be the first to know the gender and name. (When we got home, they weren't even mad that he's a boy! Heidi had been saying for months that she wanted a girl baby but all of that went away when she saw him.)

We ate an early dinner in between all the nurses and doctors coming in. We were able to make it home by 7PM and we let the girls stay up until 8 to spend time with Slade and we could hang out with my parents. Heidi was a bit nervous to meet him but Haylie was instantly in love! The next day Heidi warmed up to him and loves him so much! We are so happy to have him in our family and to be home!