He's here!

THE SHORT VERSION:

-Steve and I got just 24 hours before he was born.  Tough choice on same-day tickets but obviously we chose right

-Vanessa's water broke during the night and we all were speeding to the hospital.  Baby was very near to being born in on the roads of South Jordan thanks to our freeway exit being closed.

-1 push and baby was out.  Very literally.  I turned to tell Steve I see his head and by the time I turned back around he was out.

-Spencer was born at 1:06am 6 lbs 4 oz and 18 1/2 inches long.   Healthy as can be.  

-Vanessa is doing great other than severe arm pain which we were hoping would resolve with birth

-Absolutely magical experience.  Loving our sweet son.  

I decided to come to Utah a bit more than a week early (had tickets for the 6th).  Vanessa was in her doctor's office doing paperwork stuff when she saw her doctor passing by and he asked if she wanted to be checked.  Were it not for this check he did, I never would have made it to Utah on time.  3cm dilated and 80% effaced.  She had another appointment in 2 days so at first S and I decided we would just wait until then and then make decisions on travel plans.  I had checked on train tickets and there were none available until the 4th of july.  But, the next morning I re-checked and there were 3 (I needed 3 for me and my girls) for that very day.  I bought the tickets at 11:30am and I left for Utah 5 hours later after some frantic packing....without waiting for that 2nd appointment results.

The train ride takes 30 hours.  The next morning while on the train I got the news from Vanessa about her being 4cm and 90%.   So then S. and I have to make the decision on if we should fly him out now or wait.  $700 plane ticket and he is supposed to be at work on Monday.  I felt strongly that he should come so he too bought same-day tickets.  

My train was re-routed through wyoming due to the fires in Colorado.  Delays are not appreciated when I knew it could potentially mean I miss the birth of my baby.  I was pretty stressed.  Vanessa promised to take it easy and thankfully it worked and she didn't go into labor.  The only thing I could think to do was just pray.  Of course my initial thought is "I need to ask Heavenly Father to not let him come for the next 12 hours".  But of course praying helps put things in perspective.  The only thing that I could pray for is that my baby would be healthy and safe.  I just couldn't bring myself to ask the Lord for more than that.

Me and my kids arrived in Utah on Saturday at 12:30am.  Steve arrived at 3:30am.  That day we went to lunch with Vanessa and Clark.  Then we managed to get some pictures together.  We planned on spending the evening together but I backed out because I was so exhausted from 2 nights on a train.  

I went to bed at 7pm.  Of course that means that I woke up at midnight and was done sleeping.  I was laying there in bed thinking "maybe I'll go clean the bathroom" when my phone rang.  My heart skipped a beat when I saw it was Vanessa and my mouth went dry as she told me her water broke.  

We had to make an instant decision:  go to the closer hospital (with no insurance coverage for baby) or make the 20-30 minute drive to the hospital that insurance would pay for.  Ultimately I gave the decision to Vanessa so she opted for the further one and there was no time for discussion.  We got in the car and started racing to the hospital.  We cautiously ran about 5 red lights and intended to speed all of the way there.  Unfortunately, we got right behind a cop.  I knew I would be able to explain fast enough if got pulled over...."we're going to the hospital!  Where having a baby!"  "um......"      

As luck would have it, our exit in SLC was CLOSED.  Vanessa called and told me about 1 minute before we got to it.  They did not have a GPS but we did so I told her we'd catch up to her and we'd guide the way.  But once we were there we could not reach Vanessa by phone.  It went straight to voicemail.  I was going absolutely nuts thinking to myself "the only reason she would turn off her phone is if she was having the baby right now".   We managed to get to the hospital where we discovered her car right out front with the doors open and empty.  I'm dashing full speed through the hospital trying to figure out where she is at wondering if my baby has already been born.

He wasn't there yet but she was at a 10 and the nurses were telling her not to push since the doctor wasn't there. It was very weird to be bed-side to someone going through such terrible pain in my behalf.  Very humbling for sure.  I wanted to help-- but my contribution was holding the ice chips. After a few minutes of her in terrible pain begging to push they let her.  I saw about a golf-ball size amount of hair and turned to tell Steve to come and see his son's head.  It literally took 2 seconds and by the time I turned around he was laying on the bed.  He came out on the first push!   

I was so overwhelmed with emotion.  Even more so than with my babies that I gave birth to.  I think when you give birth yourself you are still in that "labor and delivery amnesia" a bit and things don't fully register or something.  The emotion I felt was the same emotion of when I was kneeling in the temple being married to the love of my life for time and all eternity.  I was sobbing over the alter just overcome with the fact that my eternity was permanently changing....for the good.    Same feeling seeing my sweet baby boy for the first time.

This entire thing has been so miraculous to me.  Were it not for Vanessa's doctor running into her while she was doing paperwork at the office and volunteering to check her on the spot we would have never known how quickly she was progressing and never have made the decision to buy same day tickets to come out here.  Baby was born just 24 hours after I arrived and less than 24 after Steve arrived.  I feel like this is one of those "tender mercies" that the Lord gives us.  Yes, it would have been fine for us to miss the birth practically....but I REALLY wanted to be there with Steve and have this magical moment together.

So at this point me and baby Spencer get to hang out together in our hospital room.  We are next door to Vanessa so we've spent plenty of time in there going over the excitement and craziness of it all and awing over my sweet son.  It is fun to have such a great relationship together.  I can't imagine how it would feel to have a surrogate who wasn't really my friend.  I think this postpartum part of it would feel very awkward.  Being in the same hospital unit but yet not wanting to spend time together because you are not really close.  

Vanessa, of course, exceeds her wonderfulness and within 8 hours of giving birth she is doing a photo shoot for us.  

What an absolutely beautiful experience.  I love my life and my sweet baby son!  And we all are living happily ever after......not the end.