Cannon's Birthday Story

In a nutshell: Cannon was delivered on his own, without induction. Perfectly healthy boy!


If I could write the way I would love for the delivery of my last baby to be, that is what happened. Since this pregnancy has kept us on our toes from the beginning, it was no surprise when Louie kept flipping to the breech position in the last weeks before birth. With his situation, the Dr. told me she would try a version and induce immediately to keep him from needing to be delivered by C-section. With the induction date scheduled for February 26th, my parents drove up from Utah two days earlier to be there to help with the kids. Prior to Feb 26th, Kent and I felt a little nervous being induced with Louie not being quite 38 weeks. We went into our appointment on the 26th with intention of finding out the weight of the baby and if my body was showing any signs of delivery to make the induction go more smoothly. The ultrasound showed us that he was still in correct delivery position (thanks to Jory) and he was approximately 6 pounds and 6 ounces. The Dr. checked to see if my body was preparing for delivery and told me I was dilated to a 4. Dr. Iovino also told us that we could go ahead with the induction and be in a good situation. We discussed our concerns of inducing before his lungs might be mature enough, but the fear we had that he would flip to breech position if we waited. She advised us to wait just a few more days and then be induced the following Tuesday night. We felt good about that decision and went home to get our last days of shopping and "going out to dinners" in before the big day. It was nice to be able to get a few more last minute items, spend time with my parents, go to Ethan's basketball game and attend church. After my Dr. checked me on Friday I began having irregular contractions at 7 minutes apart. They never got closer but sometimes they did get stronger. They lasted throughout the day and then stopped when I went to bed. Sunday night, the contractions got more painful but nothing to be concerned about. We had Jory and Kathy's family come over for some yummy homemade cinnamon rolls my mom had just made. Every time I'd have a contraction, Kathy told me "you have the look" that I was ready. Well she knew what she was talking about. We all went to bed and at 2:30 in the morning I started having contractions strong enough to wake me up and keep me awake. They were coming every 5-6 minutes but I could talk through them so I wasn't sure if this was "real labor" or not. I didn't want to bother my Dr in the middle of the night if it wasn't for sure so I hung out for a few more hours, relaxing in the tub, curling my hair, putting on make-up and getting my bags ready. Around 5:30 they were now every 3-5 minutes but still manageable. The last thing I wanted was to be sent home from the hospital for false labor. Since we live about 30 minutes from the hospital, I decided that we should go now so if they did send us home, Kent would still be able to make it to work on time. We got to the hospital around 6:30 and I felt silly because I had done my hair and make up and walked in feeling ok to tell the nurse "I think I might be in labor." They brought out the wheelchair and Kent and I laughed at each other because I did not need a wheelchair so I must not be in true labor. As we walked back to the room, the contractions were getting stronger and I was crossing my fingers they weren't going to send me home. The nurse wanted to check to see if my body was doing anything before she called my Dr to the hospital. When she checked me she said, "We are going to keep you here and call your Dr. You are dilated to a 7." I was surprised and excited. Contractions continued about every 3-5 minutes but I could handle them and Kent and I were still joking and having a great time. My Dr. came in about 20 or 30 minutes later and broke my water. I was told that I could get an epidural at anytime so I decided to wait since it was tolerable and I didn't want the epidural to slow things down. The anesthesiologist had a surgery that would last only 20 minutes then he would come check on me. As soon as my water was broken is when the joking and laughing stopped. The contractions started getting stronger and right on top of each other. I no longer had the option of having the epidural because the Dr. was now in surgery. I kept getting very hot so I would ask Kent to fan me off. He was fanning to quickly so I told him to stop fanning me. Then my back was hurting so bad I asked Kent to massage it. The second he touched me, it felt so painful that I told him to stop touching me. It was then that my Dr. turned to Kent and comforted him. "In every delivery, there is a certain point when the woman becomes very irritable. She doesn't mean to be, but it is completely normal." Was she apologizing for me? Oh boy. Well, the time came for Cannon to arrive and he did. We were so thankful that our adorable, little wrinkly man has been brought to our family. Meeting his eyes with mine for the first time was one of the most rewarding moments of my life. I am so thankful for Kent being such a great coach and putting up with my irritability. I am thankful to my Heavenly Father for trusting us to be parents of this precious little spirit. We already love him so much.