Happy 1st Birthday Chase~A birth story

Monday April 13th,


I woke up having contractions around 3am.  They continued off and on for several hours.  I was able to go back to sleep but I was wondering if this was the start of labor.


They went away and all that day nothing more happened.  Once again Tuesday night they started back up and nothing. They continued for the next few nights.

I kept thinking to myself that if I didn't have this baby by Wednesday night I didn't have time to have him until Sunday.  You can read all about that HERE.  Carter had a big doctors appointment that Friday morning in Knoxville and then that afternoon my mother was flying in from New Mexico to help out with Bryson and Carter.  I was also coaching Bryson and Carter's T-ball team and their first game and the opening of the season was on Saturday.  In that post you can also see my big belly, and it was big.


Sunday April 19th 2:00 AM

I woke up with contractions.  I was scheduled to have an induction later on that morning, so I tried to roll over and go back to sleep but no such luck. I get up, shower, get dressed and grab my things. {My husband was deployed so I told my mother that if I went into labor in the middle of the night that I would borrow the neighbors car(who were out of town) and drive myself down to the hospital and call her later.}  I walk out the door and pull it shut, and head across the street to my neighbors truck.  I unlock the truck and open the door when the alarm sounds off. By now its 320 AM and the alarm is loud.  I try to turn it off and realize there is no battery in the alarm receiver.  I just locked myself out of my own house, and I start to panic for a few seconds.   I run into my friends house and search for a battery.  I find one head back to the truck and turn it off.  Good...all is solved. I get in the truck and turn the key over....click, click, click. Seriously??  The truck battery is dead.


Now what to do??  I can either wake up my mom and both boys at 3 in the morning to drive me to the hospital or I can walk.  I choose to walk. It wasn't but a few miles away and I wasn't in excruciating pain.   I thought if anything I can walk to the security forces building and ask them for a ride over to the hospital.  I walked about a mile to the security forces building and went inside. This is where it gets funny!


I walk to the front window and the guy working there asks what he can do for me.   I tell him that I am in labor and that I was wondering if anyone could give me a ride to the hospital.   I explain the whole story of the truck being dead and locking myself out of the house and not wanting to wake up my family. You should have seen the look on the guys face.  He yells to the guys in back...I have a woman in labor up here!! In the time it took me to turn around the whole lobby was filled with guys wanting to see what was going on.  They ask for my ID and that was the moment I knew the whole base would find out.

They told me to sit down and wait and about 20 minutes later the ambulance showed up.  They escorted me to the ambulance and said that they couldn't give me a ride but the ambulance was here to take me to the hospital.  They ambulance lady also asked for my ID and I just had to laugh to myself.   I also explain the whole story to them while they are filling out a patient chart on me.  Another 20 minutes later we are on our way to the hospital.


The good thing was that I got a door to door drop off service. They even escorted me up the elevator and all the way down to labor and delivery.


And about the whole base knowing. The next morning Joe's boss calls me and said that I made the police blotter. (Which is like a police report of everything that happens on base, and it's sent out in an email to all the higher uppers.)  He did print it out for me to add to Chaser's baby book.

Once at the hospital I sat in Triage for hours upon hours and finally they moved me into my own room around 12pm.  My labor had stopped so I was hooked up to pitocin and then it was a slow process after that.   My epidural was awful and I was only numbed up on one side.   Just after midnight on the 20th it was time to start pushing and Chase was born at 12:19am.   Joe had been calling all throughout the day and called just minutes after Chase was born. It was perfect timing.

I am so thankful that we decided to have Chase. I feel that our family is complete. Chase has brought so much happiness into our lives and we all couldn't imagine life without him.


Chase this last month has been bitter sweet. It's so exciting that you are getting older and your little personality is coming out. You are a little firecracker, but with each day you leave infancy further and further behind.


At a year old you weigh 26lbs and are 30.1 inches. You follow your dad around everywhere and when I need to make you smile all I have to do is tell Bryson


You have the cutest curls, I think you get them from your Papa. Your eyes are green/hazel. They are very light and change colors just like mine.


We call you the fry boy. You love french fries.


You love to play patty cake and start clapping as soon as we start the song.


You are in a size 4-5 diaper, 2T shirts, 18 months jeans, and a size 5 almost 6 shoe.


Thanks for joining our family Chase.  We love you so much!