Wes Michael Manning

Born July 5th, 2015 (exactly 2 weeks before due date)
2:07 pm

7 lbs. 6 oz.

20 inches long.

My contractions started on Saturday night (the 4th of July) around 10 pm. We had a great 4th of July and ended it having a BBQ with our friends, going swimming and doing some fireworks. I had no clue I would be having a baby the next day haha. My contractions started and were uncomfortable but not very painful at all, and were about every 10 minutes apart. They weren't very consistent in length or how far apart they were, but they did keep coming. I got no sleep... I tried, but they were uncomfortable enough to keep me from sleeping. I laid in bed... was on my phone... bounced on the exercise ball... walked around the family room... it was a long night haha. Finally around 4:30 I woke up Thomas and said that they were getting closer together (3-4 minutes apart) and were pretty painful at this point, so I wanted to go in. I was hesitant because I didn't want to be turned away, but I was sick of just waiting at home. We got to the hospital and I was at a 1-1.5 cm and 70% effaced. So the same that I was at my appointment like 2 weeks before this. What the heck! I was so frustrated and bummed. We stayed for an hour and they monitored my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. She checked me after an hour and I hadn't progressed, so I was sent home :( Worst news! We went home and just hung out at home a while... I bounced on the ball and walked around. They progressed and were getting definitely more painful. Around 11 they were hard to walk through. Thomas went to get the camera and lenses from Stephen so we could film/take pictures at the hospital. I had my mother-in-law come get Jayne and pretty soon after Thomas got home we left to go back to the hospital. I was hesitant to go back because I did NOT want to be sent home again! But the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and were intense. I felt lots of pressure and thought we needed to go in. The nurse checked me and to my surprise I was at a 6! No wonder I was in pain. I had dilated quite a bit at home! This was the best news :) I got to be admitted! They gave me my IV which took a while... and was not fun. I hate that feeling! The contractions were so painful at this point. And they were happening so often! It was NOT fun let me tell you ha. I was so excited to get my epidural but annoyed because it was taking forever! I finally got taken up to the delivery room and the guy pretty soon after gave me the epidural. I was having contractions during it... Which is so scary because you can't move while you're getting the epidural. I was sitting there and all of a sudden I was like "uhh... either my water just broke or I peed" haha. But yeah it was my water. Totally broke during a contraction while getting my epidural. Weird feeling! Finally the epidural kicked in after forever and I didn't feel any pain. Hooray! I was a different person haha. The nurse checked me and I was at a 7. This was around 1:00 I think. Thomas went to get lunch in the cafeteria at the hospital. Very soon after he left I felt a lot of pressure... I felt like I needed to push. I remembered that feeling with Jayne. I called the nurse in and she checked me and sure enough I was at a 10. It happened so quick! I hurried and called Thomas and told him he needed to come back. He was waiting for his chicken tenders to be done cooking haha. I told him to just try and hurry once he got them because I was going to push very soon. With Jayne it was mostly just me, Thomas and the nurse for almost the whole birth. The doctor came in only for the last few minutes. This time, since Jayne was born under 30 minutes, the doctor was in there the whole time. Oh, so my obgyn is Dr. Huish. Well, he was out of town. He was on his way home from California ha. So the doctor that delivered Wes is named Dr. Bickley. He was AWESOME! I really felt good about him delivering him. I trusted him and didn't have any problems with it. I was a little sad that Dr. Huish couldn't be there, but Dr. Bickley was great. It was an incredible experience. The doctor and nurses were so relaxed. I loved the feeling in the room. The nurses and doctor knew this was my second so they were just like ok you know what to do, let's do this! They let me push when I felt like I needed to push. Four sets of pushes and he was out! It was so quick! I didn't have an episiotomy this time (I did with Jayne) but I had a tiny tear. The doctor stitched it up but said it would have been fine if he didn't. They handed him to me right away, but only for a second because they had to take him and get stuff out of his mouth. It took him what seemed like forever to cry. Finally he did and that was so good to hear :) They handed him to me and I breastfed him very soon after I think. I wish I could remember every tiny detail. It was such a great experience. It's so easy to forget the pain once you are holding your precious baby in your arms haha.
We got moved to a recovery room soon after. It was just me, Thomas and Wes for a while which was nice :) We had some family come visit that night and the next morning and afternoon. Taryn, my parents, Thomas' parents (with Jayne), Carrie, and my grandma came and visited. Dr. Huish even stopped by the morning after he was born. He felt so bad and was so sad that he couldn't make it to deliver Wes. He is such a nice guy.
Jayne was so funny when she came in the hospital room. She didn't care much about Wes haha. I expected that. She's too young to understand that the baby is her brother and will always be with us. She cared more about the remote for the hospital bed... the graham crackers... etc. But she finally sat by me and gave Wes a kiss. It was so cute :)
We got to come home Monday later afternoon, around 4 or 4:30 I think it was. So just a little bit over 24 hours after Wes was born! It was quick. I could have stayed another night if I wanted. But I just wanted to get home...
I will be uploading the pictures from my phone soon and Thomas is making a video that I will post when it's done :)