**Our Labor Story**

Friday October 22, 2010
I worked all day, but through out the day I would get these little feelings of pain. My belly would tighten and I would feel a ton of pressure down lower. These pains only lasted maybe a minute and then they would go away and wouldn't return for hours. I just figured it was Brantley trying to move so I didn't think a thing of it. After I got off work I went home and David and I packed our things for the deer hunt and left. On the way up I was getting those pains about every 15 minutes, they would last about a minute then go away. I told David that I think this might be what false labor is. David was getting worried and said multiple times "we are turning around" but me being stubborn me, said no. When we made it up the where the rest of my family was the contractions had stopped and I didn't think about them again until I woke up.

Saturday October 23, 2010
I woke up while David was getting ready to leave, still no pain. I had even kind of forgot about the night before until about 11:00am when the contractions started again and not only did they start they were about 10 minutes apart. I still wasn't to worried. I had been expecting to get false labor pains. I just didn't know how to expect them. No one told me how they were supposed to be. So throughout the day when they would come on I would freeze where ever I was at until they passed. About 3 I asked my mom about labor pains and told her about mine. She kept saying to me "mine were like that", 'we can't have a baby up here" needless to say I had her worried, but still I felt like everything was okay. David got back around 7 HE SHOT HIS BUCK, congrats David! and when he got there I told him how proud Brantley and I were of him and that I was having contractions about every 5 minutes. David almost picked me up and put me in the truck right then, but again me being my stubborn self instead that I was fine, but not only that I was hungry. I had waited and waited for him to get back. So I went back into the trailer while David and my brother Cameron hung their deer in a tree. While they were hanging the deer David told him about my contractions (My brother Cameron has three children, his wife when she was pregnant was always having false labor pains. They told me that they practically lived at the hospital, but every time they went she got sent back home. Although during all their visits they learned that not drinking enough water, going to higher altitudes things like this can bring on false labor. I hadn't had hardly anything to drink so my family had me down about 4 to 5 bottles and David decided that we were going home. I finally agreed but not without first having a blessing. David, Cameron, and my dad went and cut the deer out of the tree and then came back in to give me a blessing. (Cameron cut down his deer so he could follow us home and make sure both of us made it over the snowy pass alright. David's truck is going out, and so is Cameron's durango. So we thought it would be best to follow each other as far as we could.) The blessing was beautiful. David did a wonderful job. In the blessing he said that the baby would not come at a time when the needed medical attention was available and that also I would have time to prepare to have this baby. After the blessing we got in our vehicles and left. We all made it home safely. When I got home I took a warm bath, this was another thing that was supposed to help, after I was done with that I took a quick shower and when I got out the contractions had not stopped in fact they had increased from 2-4 minutes. I decided that maybe I would try to sleep, it worked other times for cramps and things but around 2 I decided I had had enough.

Sunday October 24, 2010
Around 2 we left the apartment, with the contractions still around 2-4 minutes. As we drove I could feel the contractions spacing apart and by the time we got to the hospital they were gone. We sat in the parking lot for at lease 15 minutes trying to debate whether or not to go in. I was so afraid that if I went in, they would just send me home and I would have to pay something like 500 dollars to see the doctor just to hear him say "it is just fake pain, your not in labor there is nothing to worry about". I hadn't had a pain in 15 minutes so I told David to just go home. They are going away, he nicely said lets wait for a few more minutes. I am glad we did, I had a contraction not even a minute later and it was a bad one. So I consented and we went in. They had me wheeled right up the labor and delivery room. Had me undress and put one of those beautiful gowns on. Then I laid down on the table. A super sweet nurse came in, took a test that would show if I was going to deliver with in the next two weeks and then felt my cervix. Her face kind of went blank and she didn't say anything, but when she stood up she said that she might have felt "little feeties" but she wasn't sure and was going to get a second opinion. So the next nurse came in and definitely felt something your not supposed to be able to feel. She informed me that I was dilated to about a 5 and 90% effaced. I asked about when they planned on sending me home or if they were going to take the baby. She wasn't sure whether or not they would take the baby, but I definitely wasn't going to leave. They would either keep me in a room trying to pro-long the birth for as long as possible or they might take him tonight. We just had to get my doctors opinion. So they called the doctor, he got there in about 10 minutes. The baby was still breech and after he felt me he stood up and said well were going to have a baby tonight, we are going to do an emergency c-section. David and I were both so worried what would happen to Brantley being 8 weeks early. The doctor was very optimistic and told us that he thinks the baby will be just fine. He will just have to stay in the NICU for a while. The next couple of hours were a blur. I got an epidural, multiple other shots and inserts. They took me to the surgery room got me all set up and delivered baby Brantley. He didn't cry when he came out, maybe that was because they took him away so fast. David got to go with him. He was born at 3:46am October 24th, 2010. He weighed 4 pounds 6 ounces. Lots of dark black hair, David's forehead and my families nose. He is so adorable and I still can't believe he is all mine. They kept drugs in me for most of the day and I was so tired. David kept the tab on the baby and how he was doing. My mom drove down and has been wonderful to have around. We have received a ton of calls and prayers on our behalf and I am so grateful to everyone. We have definitely been feeling the power of prayer.

Monday October 25, 2010
Brantley is doing SOO well. They took him off the ventilator and he has been breathing on his own and doing very well. The nurse was worried about some bruising on his arms and finger tips so she took a text and it turns out Brantley has a low blood clotting factor. Which means it just takes him twice as long for his blood to clot. They were thinking of taking a brain scan to see if his head was bleeding, but we aren't quite sure if they did the scan or not. But we did get to go hold him, and I got to change his diaper. I have pictures I will post a little later. So far everything is going well. I am super super sore but Brantley is worth every pain. He is continuing to do better and better maybe we might be able to take him home sooner rather than later. We have had wonderful nurses, and doctors. I am so grateful to everyone that has helped David, Brantley, and I out. Whether it be through prayers, a phone call, a text message, or what all the nurses and doctors have done or whatever else THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU it really means more than anyone will ever know.