"First we had each other, then we had you, now we have everything"

Well...
 say hello to Peyton Lisa Dustin!

She made an early first appearance on July 25th, 2017 at 8:18 am. She came in at 20 in and 7 lbs 1 oz with a gorgeous full head of hair and beautiful eyes wide open! 

Peyton's birth story is definitely not what I expected at all. Labor and delivery were much calmer and frankly less scary than I expected. It also feels like it oddly came and went out of nowhere so even though I had been anticipating it for months and planned all the ways I'd cherish it and live in the moment it seemed to slip away from me before I could even blink. 

It all started when Christopher's family decided to go to Palisades lake for the first time that summer on Pioneer day which he just happened to have off. I told him I was nervous to go clear out there with spotty service so close to my due date. Especially since I had been losing my mucus plug over the previous couple of days which I had read is one sign that labor is getting closer. But, since that was literally the only sign things were progressing that direction at all (and really because I wasn't given much choice ;p ) we headed out along with them. Thankfully we at least took our own car. 

So we spent the day on the lake with everybody but Zach and Kodi (missed you guys) and there I was sitting on the dock around 2:30 or 3:00 when all the sudden I leaked a little! Gross I know! But it had been quite a while since my pregnant self had used the bathroom so I figured maybe I had to go more than I thought and I asked Todd to take me back to the main dock for a minute. However, the wet sensation continued sporadically to the point where I was sure it was very obvious to anyone who could see my rear end. Still, I wasn't in any pain or having any contractions so it couldn't be my water breaking right?!? I discreetly explained to Christopher what I was feeling and how I didn't know for sure but it could be that maybe... He asked if I needed to leave and I felt guilty because he was having such a great time but my pants were soaked so I said we'd better and on the the way home (around 4 or 4:30) we called the Dr. to ask what we should do. They instructed us to go get checked out at the hospital since we wouldn't make it clear to Rexburg in time to go to their office. 

Well, because I felt fine and had no contractions we decided to stop by home and clean up real quick first. We both were pretty convinced that as anti climactic as this was we would probably get sent home to wait for things to progress. However, after we showed up at the hospital (6:15 ish) where they confirmed that indeed my water had broken the Dr. decided to have the nurses admit me and start some pitocin to help move things along so that we didn't risk any infection to the baby now that her protection was compromised. We couldn't believe it! They moved us to a labor and delivery room and got me all settled with an IV and what not. Bless my sweet nurse, Reba, she even got me a sandwich to eat because once the drugs start you can't eat until its over and theres not telling how long that will be! 

So, once I ate they went ahead and started the pitocin (8:45) and the wait began. It took a couple hours to start feeling anything but once I did the contractions came on strong to say the least. I think I asked for the epidural around midnight ish and got it probably about an hour later, maybe a bit less. It only took 15-20 min before that miracle drug kicked in and all the sudden I couldn't even tell I was having contractions any more! However, that only lasted an hour or two before they came back with totally different but still highly uncomfortable pressure like sensation. The pressure got continually worse and close together until finally around 5:00 am the nurses declared me "complete" (dilated to a 10 and 100% effaced) but apparently I was still supposed to "labor down" for an hour more to see if my body could get the baby as ready as possible on its own. So around 6:00 they decided I was ready for some practice pushes. As soon as I tried pushing they were all astounded and said the baby would probably be here super soon with how well I'd done and how much she'd moved in just those couple pushes. So we did one or two more then decided it was time to get the Dr. called. 

At this point it was so close to shift change that Dr. Codd ended up coming instead of Dr. Meredith who had checked in on me the night before. But, unfortunately the nurses predictions weren't quite on and I ended up pushing from 6ish to 8ish. Precious little Peyton was a bit stuck on my pelvic bone and I wore myself out trying to get her past it so around 8 we decided to have Dr. Codd use the vacuum to help pull as I pushed. He also ended up needing to give me an episiotomy which actually went amazingly well and meant that I didn't have any additional tearing! But, with the help I was able to bring our sweet miracle into the world at 8:18 am. 

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to put into words the feelings I had as they placed that baby girl on my chest for the first time. It wasn't at all what I expected and honestly was so surreal it was hard to really absorb that it was happening. Of course I immediately started crying and felt such happiness (and later a bit of jealousy) at the thought that she looked like her daddy because I knew how much it would mean to him. I wish we had someone there to capture it but am also grateful to have shared that with just Christopher. We were both so stunned that all the sudden in a matter of seconds this out of reach dream of ours was fulfilled! We were literally experiencing the very moment we had doubted may ever come and yet here it was. Here she was! Our beautiful, perfect, angel daughter. 

They had to take her away for just a second to suction out her airways and get her crying a bit more but then I got to experience utter bliss having her skin to skin with me for quite a while. The nurse helped me breastfeed her for the first time as well which went great but just holding her there against my chest was the best of all. Although seeing her Christopher hold her next was a close runner up. 

The next 48 hours was just crazy and flew right by. The mom and baby unit was full so we stayed in labor & delivery for quite a while. After our skin to skin time we started notifying our loved ones and trying not to miss anyone, I got breakfast, the nurse helped me shower (yes... awkward) and we tried (I failed) to get some sleep, they brought me lunch, my friend Jenessa stopped by and then we finally moved to the mom and baby unit right before dinner. I have to admit, I definitely preferred the labor and delivery wing. There was just more continuity with my nurses and pain meds and everything there. They brought our "stork" meal to us but mine was put on hold so I could nurse and then so we could take Peyton for her first bath. They tried to do her hearing test but because she was so alert and awake it didn't quite work as it was supposed to so we headed back to our room. My Aunt Glenda came to visit for a minute and then Christopher's parents and emma came that night too but again, didn't stay long. We tried again to get some sleep that night but Peyton got pretty fussy at that point and wanted to do nothing but nurse. The night nurse got me a binky which helped but I still couldn't seem to get her to calm down. Not until they came around 2AM to see if she was calm enough for her hearing test then. Turns out she wasn't but they did seem to get her calmed by the time they brought her back. We just had to take her again before we left the next day in order to get an accurate reading and everything was fine along with the other tests they had to run! Our little angel was perfectly healthy. Wednesday morning was pretty uneventful, Christopher ran out to get himself something to wear and pick up my breast pump. Dad and Denise got there that afternoon though and both were absolutely smitten of course! They stayed the rest of the afternoon except when I needed to nurse and when we got our discharge instructions. Brandi got to come too, right before dinner which was really nice! Then after dinner we got ready to go home! 

Taking her home was absolutely as surreal as the rest. I sat in the back with her to make sure everything was ok and her little head was shaking/vibrating what seemed like really really hard to me. It freaked me out pretty solidly and I started bawling to Christopher that it scared me and that I can't believe they let us take her when we have no idea what we're doing. And then he started crying because he was so emotional about it all too. Dad was cute and took our pictures and a little video when we got to the house. Christopher and I got right to it and headed to bed as soon as we could for our first sleepless night as parents! Poor daddy had to be at work at 4:00 AM the next morning :(

Dad and Denise stayed for the next 5 days and were so extremely helpful! Not only did they stock us up with Costco stuff and groceries but they were willing to take Peyton whenever I let them. I took advantage of it a couple of times when she wouldn't sleep between her last feeding of the night/early morning when Christopher left for work. Her days and nights were quite confused for the first several days which was tricky. It was really amazing how willing they were able to sacrifice for me. I really enjoyed having them as company at the least, it was really hard and frustrating to be without Christopher so soon. He did get a few days off a week after she was born but its just not quite the same. 

Anyways, thats her birth story I guess! She's already a month old now so I'll need to write another post with our other adventures since. Because oh what an adventure it has been! 

Never has anything been more worth the wait