Hayden's Birth Story

It's true what they say, with each child, time seems to go by faster and faster.  It is so easy to lose entire blocks of time if you do not take the time to write the important stuff down.  I mean I can barely remember how Charlie and Hayden came into the world!  It's not that I don't care, it just all becomes a memory and you focus on all that you have going on on a daily basis.  Since I had Charlie a week early, I really didn't know what to expect with Hayden.  I can't remember when my actual due date was with Hayden, but I know it came and went, without a baby to show for it.  I remember at my 39 week appointment, Dr. Bardwell giving me the days he was on-call the following week and told me to pick one of them for an induction date.  That basically if I hadn't gone into labor by then, I would know to report to the hospital that day.  Since Saturday was one of the days offered, that is the day I picked.  I just wanted it to be easy for both of our families to come and share in that time.  We had to call very early in the morning to see if we could come that day....to see if they were going to have a bed for me.  When I called about 6:30, they asked me to call back an hour later!  I remember being so impatient and wanting to know if I was going to have a baby that day.  Luckily when I called back, they said to head on over.  I don't remember what time we got there, but I remember Mimi and Pop coming over to watch Charlie and Nate and I heading to the hospital.  They got me registered and hooked up to the Pitocin to get things started.  I don't know how long it took for things to really get going, but I remember thinking it went a lot faster than with Charlie.  When they told me they were going to break my water, I decided to get my epidural because I knew it would all speed up after that.  The epidural with Hayden went much better than the one with Charlie.  I didn't get sick to my stomach and I could still feel enough to push effectively without being in too much pain.  When it came time to push with Hayden, I might have pushed 2-3 times and out she came, "like a linebacker", as Dr. Bardwell said.  She weighed 8#3. I remember the nurses saying, "Another big baby....we have 2 other family's that have just delivered big babies...a 10# baby and an 11# baby!"  Good grief!  I was just fine with my "big" baby :)  We were so happy to have a healthy baby sister for Charlie.

Hayden Kate Welch

February 21, 2009

8 # 3, 19 3/4"

6:31 pm