A Baby Story

So we had a baby. We are all home now and Morgen is busy "feeding" the squirt (Emma, to be explained later, is really just sleeping with a mouthful of bosom - something she's really good at) and Isaac and Lucy are busy climbing all over her "helping", I guess its up to me to tell the story. so here goes Daman's version....(morgen may be editing this later, i'll try to add all the details I usually leave out but that i know some of you care about - so this may end up being long)
The due date was Fri. We had already tried trampoline, wii hula hoop (super), long walks, and castor oil (aka drinking chapstick) to no avail and had basically lost hope of her ever coming(somebody must have told her it was 6 degrees outside Friday morn!). We got the kids down sat evening (after a long night of mall walking) and at 11pm started having real contractions. next came some exciting "show" at which point we were pretty sure this was it. so i got my coaching pants on, started a movie, and started saying "breathe". 20 minutes into the movie we realized it wasn't really that serious yet and so went to bed to try to get some sleep before things got ugly. From about midnight until 7:30 we were sleeping anywhere from 4-20 minutes at a hit before morgen elbowed me to coherence and I started saying "breathe". somewhere around 4am i think i was only actually coming to every other contraction, and even then was probably a pretty worthless "coach". around 8am we had some friends pick up Isaac and Lucy. Around 10:00 the contractions were rough and we got ready to get to the birthing center. we got there without any wrong turns by daman and within 40 minutes were on a bed hooked up to the monitor. we opted for no iv but still had to get stuck and have the tube hanging out of her arm "just in case". heart beat sounded great and we were at 6-7 cm. a little history is important here - the last two babies, after 8-10 hrs of laboring hard Morgen was at about a 2-3. very depressing. Being at a 6-7 at this stage was such great news - and i attribute it all to morgen who was amazingly focused and relaxed through contractions. She was truly amazing. after they found the babe was in good shape they let mo get up and walk around again. we had brought a gigantic exercise ball that we had used in previous pregnancies for shower sitting. a few minutes into the shower and I see that my feet (i wasnt in the shower, but in the bathroom) were in about an inch of water. turns out the ball was so big there was no way for it to not cover the drain - so we had to deal with the nurses making fun of our ball and not even getting the satisfaction of using it. after 40 minutes of sitting with 1000 degree water on her belly mo got back on the bed and nurse checked her - "8-9". we figured no reason to get up again and so got comfy (if that was possible for morgen - it wasn't). again, morgen was a champ - so focused and relaxed through some really intense contractions. its about at this point that things took a bit of a different turn (from going really well to, well, not so well). with isaac morgen pushed for about 40 minutes. 20 minutes with Lucy. they say it just gets quicker with each one - so we were expecting just a few hard pushes and hello baby. Morgen was having urges to push, but nothing like the "if i don't push i'm going to die" urges that come later. but considering what we were expecting, we just figured (and the nurse encouraged it) lets just start pushing and get this over with - should be a quickie. about 8 pushes and an hour or so later morgen was spent and baby had made very little progress. side note - I had a good view of the monitoring instruments and the nurses faces this whole time (i had spoken with a nurse earlier about where the readouts should be) and for about 20 minutes now the heart rate and oxygen had been dropping well below what they should have been and the nurses were showing more and more concern and anxiety. though morgen was picking up on a little of the urgency, she was not aware that things were looking pretty scary for the baby. she was exhausted and really wanted to just rest (and i think she would have jumped on it if Doc would have offered a c-section - she even told me later that she had faked some of her "pushes") from morgen's point of view we were just being jerks. at one point when i had been fairly severe telling her she had to push past the pain and get the baby out she HIT me. yes, morgen, hauled off and tight fist socked me as hard as she could - luckily she missed my face. it was clear that she was spent. at around this point I was really scared, not knowing how much to tell morgen about the critical nature of the situation. it was then that the vital signs flatligned. I can't put into words what entered my mind and heart in that moment. morgen did not see that part - but she did see a team of nurses, dr, and husband with fear and urgency pounce on her and basically command her to "Get that baby out NOW!". at this point morgen realized her child was in danger and I don't know where or how she found it, but in one hurculean effort she pushed the baby further than she had in the last 10 pushes. Turns out she had the umbilical cord around her neck, which was both cutting off her air/blood and holding her back from moving (nurses also suspect Emma was posterior for awhile, which also explains the severe back pains and slow moving). She came out blue, silent, and limp. again, there are no words for what this was like for us. she was quickly rushed to the heating table and quickly came to. in very little time she was doing fine. Morgen and i just sat there holding each other for the longest time. Morgen was amazing. Mothers in general are amazing. But especially Morgen. I'm so proud of her. just amazing. this is my third time going through this and the experience is just as powerfull each time. It is a beautiful, profound, overwhelming experience to work soooo hard and see a child enter the world, "trailing clouds of glory", and become part of your family. We are so grateful to so many wonderful friends and family who have offered prayers and support on our behalf. Thank you so much. We are especially grateful to a loving Father in Heaven who has blessed our lives beyond anything we could have imagined.




Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. and i put a lot because i think my family is just so beautiful - it's my (morgen's really) blog, i'll do what i want (they're in reverse chronoligical order - sorry).
p.s. here's all the info I forgot that people may want to hear: 8.7 lbs, 21 inches, a ton of hair (for our babies), a crappy nurser, and a capricorn. also, her name is Emma Bateman Reynolds. when she came out she just didn't look like a Nora. Emma felt better.


Isaac and lucy helping w/ feeding Isaac falling off again, for the millionth time.

The car ride home with the three kids (one of them with aspirations at being the first female Jonas Brother)

Sweet big brother

Sweet, and perhaps just a little bit crazy (you can see it in the eyes), big sister

Sleeping beauties

Morgen and our furr ball

Melodi and Caroline coming to visit - they have been super supportive and helpful throughout

Isaac not sure if he's up for this baby thing

that's just adorable

Shortly after birth

sleeping (clever, i know)

El burrito

beautiful sound of screaming

The laboring mother - so happy.

laboring away at home

the final link in our baby count-down chain. I really just wanted to show off my sweet where's waldo pj's