Spencer's Story

We were so blessed by the early arrival of Spencer Auden on July 14. She was very unexpected so soon, and I truly think that her surprise arrival was God's way of helping to minimize any anxiety on my part.
We were told a week before she was born that no progression towards labor had been made. I didn't feel as if I were about to have a baby in the days leading up to her birth. We had been pretty relaxed about the impending birth. I was taking some summer classes with the school district, I hadn't packed my hospital bag, and we even drove an hour away from Greenville to the ARP Church camp two nights before she was born.
I woke up on Tuesday at 4:45 and it looked as if my water had broken. I wasn't sure, though, so I told Wes to stay in bed. I was slightly worried that my hospital bag wasn't packed, so I decided to get all of my things together just in case it was time. More clues at this time indicated that my water really had broken. I waddled back into the bedroom to let Wes know that we were going to be heading to the hospital. We took our time getting ready and Wes packed random items that I called out to him while I was taking my last pregnant shower.
I knew that it would be a long time before I got to eat anything at the hospital, so Wes stopped by Dunkin Donuts on the way. I had to get one more sweet in while I still had the excuse of being pregnant.Wes at the drive thru ordering my donuts

Once we got to the hospital, we went to pregnancy triage and they were pretty quick in getting in to assess me. After they finally believed me that my water had broken (three times by my count), I was admitted. I was just now starting to feel some irregular contractions. All of the nurses were great and they quickly set me up. I got a very painless IV, and I was able to make my opinion about an epidural very clear. It was nice to know that the nurses would make this happen as soon as possible.
The day actually went by pretty quickly. My mom and my sister came to visit around lunchtime, and Wes and I just hung out and talked. I got my epidural early, so most of the day was pretty painless. The nice drug lady had to crank the epidural up a few times because I kept regaining feeling in one side of my body. I was very pleasantly surprised by the epidural. I had been terrified to get a catheter inserted into my back, but it wasn't bad at all.
Even though the hours seemed to fly by, it really was a long day. Over fourteen hours after arriving at the hospital, it was almost time for Spencer to be born! At about 8:00, feeling came back into one side of my body again, but this time the new, mean drug man would not let me have more epidural medicine. I was told that I would begin pushing without a redrugging. Yikes! I also developed a crazy huge neck cramp that was worse than any contractions I was feeling. I don't know what happened, but it was extremely painful. I'm not proud to admit that I lost my composure a bit at this point. Poor Wes...he was so great in dealing with me when I told him that I was going home and I was not going to have this baby.
By the grace of God, we got through this, and Spencer was born at 9:46. It was such an amazing feeling to see that little Wes Page clone lying on my chest.
I was soon after given heavy narcotics in my IV for some birthing issues. Sadly, I don't remember much else about the evening. Seeing our family in the room is a fuzzy memory for me, as is anything else that happened later that night. All I really needed to remember is that Spencer had arrived!