That One Time When I Had a 4th Child

Introducing Leonidas Jacob Naugle

He is now 3 months old and looks like this.

Yes. THREE months. I feel like I have zero time to do this blogging thing but I refuse to give up on it.
I want to tell his "birth story" (Im not sure why but it bugs me to call it that) but Ill be honest, its not the cutes story ever. Feel free to just look at the cute pics and skip the story.
 I was scheduled to be induced on the 13th of July. I had tested positive for group strep B and we knew there was a good chance that I was going to have a pretty quick labor so the plan was to have me arrive at the hospital about 2 hours early so they could start me on the antibiotic and then about 2 hours in they would break my water and see if that would get me started. I tried to convince my doctor that I needed to be induced a little earlier but she wasn't having it.
On thursday, July 7th I woke up with the kids. Andrew was still in bed so I was getting them drinks and breakfast. I took a quick break to head to the bathroom since you know, I was really pregnant and hadn't peed yet that morning. So I sat down, did my business, wiped and then stood up.... at which point fluid leaked down my leg. Now Im frustrated and Im thinking to myself "Ok I literally JUST peed and I know I was dry down there, I JUST wiped!" and then it dawns on me that it could possibly be that my water broke. However 2 things are deterring me from jumping to that conclusion. 1) I don't go in to labor on my own. I have said those words SO many times its not even funny. I have been induced with all three previous pregnancies without ever experiencing so much as a braxton hick. 2) I have seen the movies guys. I know what it looks like when a womens water breaks and its not a little trickle leaking down her leg. Its an explosion down under. One that generally warrants the women letting out a little squeal. But to be safe I decide to call the only person I know who has had her water break before going into labor, my sister Amber. She tells me that when hers broke it was just like that. I little trickle that she ignored until it happened again about 15 minutes later. Guess what happened to me about 15 minutes later? So I got back in to the bathroom to clean myself up and tell AnDee to go wake her dad up and tell him I think my water broke. Andrew stumbles into the bathroom a minute later and asks if Im ok. "Oh yeah. Im fine. I just think my water broke"
"What??" He is obviously skeptical because like I said before. I DONT go in to labor on my own.
After a little bit of discussion we decide to wait until my appointment that morning. It was only about a half hour before I was supposed to be there anyway. So we get dressed, get the kids ready and head to the appointment.
Side note: AnDee had decided that she wanted to be in the delivery room when the baby was born so we brought her with us just incase this was the real thing. The  boys stayed with Gayle.
Im totally fine until we pull in to the parking lot of the doctors office, at which point I experience another (really wonderful!) gush. Ew. We get out of the car and head to the building. As soon as we hit the front doors I have my fist contraction. We make it up to the 3 floor and into the office and I tell the lady at the front desk that I think my water broke. She gets really pale and tells me to hurry back the exam room. I have another contraction. 5 Minutes apart. Nurse asks me what happened. I recount my wetting myself experience. She runs to get the doctor. The doctor pops her head in and says "Why are you here? Go to the hospital. Ill see you there in a little while" We walk out the door and  I have 3rd contraction in the hallway. 5 minutes apart. We make it down to the main level and out the door. 4th contraction. 3 minutes apart. We are lucky at this point because the hospital is literally next door so we just walk it. We hit the hospital lobby. 5th contraction. 3 minutes apart. We make it to labor and delivery. 6th contraction. 3 minutes apart. They get me to my room and tell me to get my hospital gown on. Contractions are coming at 3 minutes apart but the nurses have disappeared. Im walking around my room working through contractions and starting to worry a little cause we are down to a contraction every 2 minutes and there are no nurses anywhere to be found. About 15 minutes later they come back. They start asking me the standard questions. Im answering the best I can through and between contractions. Finally the nurse asked the golden questions. "How long was your last labor" "about an hour" and there it is! The look of panic I have been waiting for! "Oh! We better hurry!" Ya think?! While one nurse is hooking me up to monitors and trying (in my opinion in vain) to get the antibiotic hooked up (its supposed to run for 4 hours before I deliver. Yeah right.) the other is preparing the tray. They finally get around to checking me. Im only at a 7. We are good. "Are you going to get an epidural cause we need to do it now if you do" "No. I think Im going to try to go without." This was the best part. My nurse is understanding AND supportive. She tells me about how she delivered her last without an epidural and explains to me that when I get to the point that I think i simply CANNOT handle anymore pain, that is the beginning of the end. I have made it to transition and I only have a few more minutes left. I thank her but Im DYING!! I am seriously going to die. Oh... is this what she was talking about? And in fact it was. They check me, Im a 9. Get the doctor here asap! The doctor arrives and they let me start pushing while she suits up. Things are going well. I want to die but no one else knows that. Im quiet and handling the pain all on my own. AnDee is in the corner looking a little worried but she has been quiet and observant. The nurses keep asking "are you SURE you're ok with her being in here?" Yes! Good grief! I wouldn't have brought her if we hadn't thought long and hard and made a decision first.

Back to me. Like I said, things are going pretty well, Im pushing and handling the pain without anyone knowing how much I want drugs right now and then it happened. The doctor got involved. Now let me explain. I have struggled with this doctor through the entire pregnancy. I have felt like I was just a number to her and that she really isn't concerned with much other than just getting me through the assembly line. I miss my old doctor that delivered my other 3 babies. Why oh why did he have to drop his OB practice right before I got pregnant?!

Like I said, the doctor sits down and gets "involved" now when I say involved this is what I mean.... everytime a contraction hits and I start to push, she takes it upon herself to shove her hands in my downstairs and push really hard on my cervix. Like really hard and this is multiplying the normal pain of labor by like 12 thousand. I want to kick her in her stupid face. I don't know what she is thinking. My best guess is that she doesn't often deliver babies without the epidural. I asked Andrew if our other doctor had done this with my previous deliveries and I just didn't notice because I was numb (I wasn't ever that numb but maybe I had missed it somehow?) He told me that "No he would never do that. He would just check you and then he would back off and let you do the work"
Im too focused and too much of a weenie to tell her to get her flipping hands outta my business so I just deal with it... in a pitiful way. I start whimpering "ow ow ow ow" this is making AnDee a little nervous so she turns and stares out the window. Mom isn't supposed to show that kind of weakness. The doctor responds in a rather snotty voice. "Maybe we need to take a break cause you aren't even really pushing down here" Im going to MURDER her! Her hands being in my business is stoping my ability to push. I can't focus past the pain she is causing. Thats it. I have to end this. The next contraction I push for all I'm worth. One more and he is out! But I hate her. Oh I hate her SO much!

I will never forget that feeling. The feeling of him actually coming out. I guess its kind of gross for other people to hear about but it was so weird and so cool and so painful all at the same time.
As you can probably gather, the antibiotic for the group strep b was not in for the desired 4 hours. Not even close. I don't think I was on it for even 45 minutes. Had the doctor kept her hands to herself I would have only been on it for maybe 20. So now Im worried. Is he ok? I know there can be some serious life threatening effects from the group strep.

He is fine. Totally healthy and crying. 7 lbs 11 oz! Almost an entire pound bigger than my previous biggest baby! I ask if I can nurse him before they give him his bath. The little dude latches on and nurses for 45 minutes. He likes to eat. He still likes to eat.

Im in heaven, Andrew is in heaven and it turns out that AnDee actually REALLY REALLY loves him, even if he is a boy and not the sister she had hoped for. The boys really like him too.

The next day we were on our way home!

Isn't my little family completely perfect?