Life with the Johnsons: Cruze David Johnson

On Monday morning I woke up feeling really anxious and nervous. I had my 38 week appointment and was hoping to find out a little progress. When I got to my appointment at 11am, they weighed me and we saw I had lost 3 lb. the nurse said that was a great sign and likely meant labor was around the corner. I laughed and said don't get my hopes up :) my midwife checked me and I hadn't changed from the prior week, which was kind of discouraging cause I had been cramping like crazy and contracting off and on. She offered to strip my membranes and I gladly accepted! She said her glove had some blood on it which was a great sign. I didn't want to get my hopes up and be disappointed. So we set my induction date for next Friday. (1 day before my date). My midwife said she would be extremely surprised if I didn't go before then, if not within the week. So I put a countdown on the fridge and decided to start getting ready for my baby on the 29th. My mother in law came over to watch Nixon during my appointment. I told her I wanted to walk around to see if it would help me start contracting or not, so I ran a few arrondissement for her and went shopping at the mall for a few hours. By 3 I made it back home and was playing outside with nix and talking to my mother in law. I started having some pain in my back but didn't think much of it, until it started to come and go somewhat regularly. So I decided to time them, assuming I was just wanting labor to come and was imagining them to be real labor contractions. They were about 12 min apart, but weren't unbearable, if I laid on my side I could feel them come and go but could easily talk through them. So me and Nix cuddled on the couch and started watching Toy Story. My mother in law decided to stay for a few more hours just in case the contractions got worse. I text Danny to give him a heads up, but told him not to get his hopes up cause they weren't unbearable like the ones I remembered having with Nixon. After about 45 min they started to come every 8-9 min and last about a min. These ones were quite uncomfortable. But I kept telling myself it was probably just in my head. About 20 min later they were every 5 min and hurting bad. I told my mother in law I was gonna go take a hot shower to see if that helped, if not We should head to the hospital. Well I barely made it into the shower when they were now 3-4 min apart and unbearable. THESE were the ones I remembered having with Nixon. I know immediately I needed to get to the hospital and fast! Nixons labor was 6 hours start to finish, and my midwife said to expect half that time with my second delivery. I threw on clothes and ran out to Shirley (my MIL) and said (crying of course) we need to go now, they are 3 min apart. She jumped up and grabbed nix and started buckling him in the car. I slowly made my way out between contractions and off we went. I texted Danny and said we're having a baby. Meet us at the hospital ASAP. We got there at 5:15. We made it into labor and delivery and they slowly led me to a shared room and told me to put the hospital gown on and pee in a cup. I did so as fast as I could, came out to no nurse. After 3 really hard bad contractions and still no nurse in sight, I had had it! I marched over to the front desk (in my gown, butt probably showing) and said "I need to be checked NOW I am having contraction every 3 min, I go fast and I NeED an epidural now!" A nurse jumped up and ran with me into the room checked me, I was 5+ and 90% effaced. She yelled into the hall, get a wheel chair and find me a room. They wheeled me into a labor and delivery room, hooked me up to the monitors and an IV and got fluid pumping in fast so I could get the epidural. Moments later the anesthesiologist came in. I seriously could have kissed him! He went right to work, by this point the contractions were hard coming every few min and lasting over a min. I thought I was gonna die when he was poking my back right when a contraction began! As soon as he finished they had me lie on my side so it could spread evenly. A few min later my midwife came in to brake my water, I was an 8+. She made sure I was ok, finally able to relax. The epidural was kicking in and the unbareble pain was now just hard pressure. My midwife said "I was gonna go grab dinner then come back, but I have a feeling were gonna have a baby shortly. I'll go get my scrubs on and be back you should be fine call have the nurse Paige me if you have pressure. I'll hurry" off she went. Literally 5-10 min later I said, "I could be wrong but I feel like I need to push" they called my midwife and she came in. Told Danny to hold one leg and the nurse to hold the other, checked me and sure enough there was a head. 4 pushes later, at 6:43 Cruze was born :) my parents had barely made it out of the SLC valley. :( i kept saying to Danny, is this real? Did this really just happen? :)

Here I am before my appointment. Who woulda known few hours later I was gonna have that baby in my arms :)

Cruze David Johnson

Born at 6:43 pm

Weighing: 5 lb 10 oz

Height : 19"

Getting his bath

Completely in love with this little guy!

Nix came in right after he was born. We were all wondering how he was gonna respond, he LOBED him immediately. He kept hugging him kissing him saying "nix's baby" :)