Finally at 7:00 am Friday morning I woke David and told him I really needed to go back to the hospital. I threw up in the car from the pain and when we got to the hospital I called my doctor and asked her if she thought we should go back in to get checked because I was really scared of getting sent home again. She said if I was in pain I should and so we went in and got shown to a room and checked again. I was 2 cm dilated, which was completely frustrating after the intensity of the previous night. But the nurse called my doctor and she instructed them to admit me because I had progressed from the night before and I was in a lot of pain (I think she admitted me partially because I called her before going in).

The nurse started an IV with some anti-nausea meds and some pain meds and I kept breathing through the contractions. I was able to drift off a little between contractions because I was so tired from the lack of sleep, but once again the pain meds didn't really help with the contractions. My doctor stopped by to check on me and she broke my water to help me to progress more quickly. I told my nurse I wanted to wait until I was at a 4 or 5 for the epidural because epidurals can sometimes stop your progress and I wanted to avoid a c-section.

Since we were just hanging out waiting, I told David to go home and get a shower and eat breakfast. After he left my nurse checked me again and luckily I had progressed pretty quickly after my water was broken and was almost at a full 5 cm. My nurse, Maggie, told me I could get an epidural and that sometimes it even speeds up your progress because you're able to relax and let your body do it's thing. So I agreed and was so grateful because the pain was getting really intense even with the medicine and the breathing distraction technique was at the end of its effectiveness. I told the anesthesiologist that women who go natural are warriors but that I was really happy to see him, haha.

David came back surprised to find my epidural done and me a very happy, pain-free camper (see Snapchat picture, haha). Epidurals basically make you feel like you've been to the dentist and been numbed but from your waist down. I couldn't believe the complete relief while looking at the monitor and seeing I was still having contractions. We invited my mom to come over and hang out as I progressed. We all talked and I was able to doze some more. The baby's heart rate looked really good during the contractions and everything was going well.

At 1:00, Maggie checked me and told me I was already fully dilated (I went from 7 to 10 in a half hour) and that she would let my doctor know. The doctor instructed us to hang out until 2:00 and let the baby "rest and descend" without pushing, which is a benefit of an epidural. But then the doctor stopped by and checked me a little while later and said the baby was already at station 2 (meaning lower in the birth canal) and said I could start pushing. So I started pushing at 1:30 and I couldn't believe we were so close to meeting her!

David and my mom held my legs while I pushed during contractions. My contractions were pretty far apart so I would drift off between them and David and my mom would sit down and wait for the next one. After the first hour of pushing I was kind of disheartened because she hadn't moved much. With your first they'll let you push for longer, but if the baby isn't handling the pushing well or you go over three hours they start thinking about a c-section.

But my doctor came by again and coached me a little and during the second hour I started making some real progress. My doctor came back at the beginning of the third hour and the nurse explained my contractions were so far apart we didn't have as many chances to push. My doctor had the nurse start me on some Pitocin so the contractions would come closer together. Scotty's heart rate still looked great even though we were into the second hour so that was awesome.  

I was starving at this point since I hadn't eaten since Thursday night and had thrown up and I was getting tired from pushing for a couple hours. But luckily the Pitocin helped and David and my mom were encouraging me and telling me they could see her head. David took over coaching me through each push from the nurse.

Eventually Maggie brought a mirror over so I could see the progress the baby made during each contraction. I could see Scotty had a head full of dark hair which was amazing and unreal at the same time. I couldn't believe I was living the birth videos you watch in junior high, haha! While her head started being more and more visible, I got really in the zone and the contractions were happening right on top of each other. But I also started running a fever, meaning I could possibly have an infection, so my doctor ordered me some antibiotics, which unfortunately didn't arrive in time before Scotty was delivered.

My nurse had advised me not to do a booster of the epidural so I wouldn't be completely numb but had enough feeling during pushing so I could be in more control. It turned out to be awesome advice as I could feel what was going on with my muscles and it was slightly uncomfortable but I was able to push effectively.

My doctor came in from delivering another baby and was surprised to find I was ready to deliver. David later told me he was getting a little nervous right before that because the doctor wasn't there and the nurse wasn't paying attention as she was getting stuff ready for delivery in and out of the room. He said it looked like with on really strong push the baby would have come out and there was no one but him and my mom right there, haha. But the doctor came and there was a rush of activity as they reassembled the bed and the room and my doctor pulled up a stool to catch the baby.

With a final push at 4:13 pm, my doctor told me to open my eyes as she lifted up Scottlyn Mae Hatch. I started crying my eyes out when I saw her and how beautiful and perfect she was. They put her on my stomach and wiped her off.

She came out angrily crying and peed on the doctor a little which was funny because I did that when I was born as well. When they took her to the side of the room to get weighed she went to the bathroom again and my doctor even commented, "the plumbing's working" which is what the doctor said at my birth.


Talking with David later, it turns out we both checked and made sure she was actually a girl when she came out, just in case. She got a 9 on her Apgar and weighed in a 7 lbs 5 oz and was 20 inches long.


I got to do skin to skin with her for a long time while the doctor stitched me up (I heard her mention second degree tears to the nurse) and everyone enjoyed looking at the her. 

The nurses brought me a sandwich, grapes and chips, which I'm still pretty sure is the best food I've ever tasted.  I pushed for about three hours and luckily her heart rate looked perfect the entire time but I was pretty tired, hungry, and greasy from no sleep, the fever, and all the pushing.


This was my awesome birth team of my nurse and doctor, I had such a great experience because of these two ladies. And David was so wonderful and supportive the entire time, I'm so lucky to be married to him and to have him be an awesome dad to our girl. This is our first family picture with Scotty.



We moved down to the mom/baby floor and watched Scotty get her first bath and shot. Unfortunately since I didn't get the antibiotics soon enough before birth, Scotty had to get blood drawn and antibiotics as well. It wasn't fun watching them poke her and she had to have an IV for the days we were there.

We enjoyed family coming to visit our new girl in the hospital and fall in love with her as well. Nothing could have prepared me for the tidal wave of love I felt when I saw her. It's overwhelming to lock eyes with this tiny person who you realize you already know because they've been inside you for so long and there's already this connection.

Scotty's arrival was like people describe when they talk about feeling this instant increase of love. But I felt it in more ways than just towards her. I love David more now because I love him as an awesome husband and as the father of our baby.

I love my parents more because now I finally got an understanding of how they feel about me. I love all our family with more intensity because they make up this support system of love for her. My love and gratitude towards my Savior grew as I now have another huge reason to be grateful for the opportunity to be together as a family forever.

I've always loved birth stories, so when it came time for Scotty's arrival I wondered what my experience would be like. Birth can be a scary thing to anticipate and I feel so blessed that I had an amazing experience.

Scotty was due Sunday, April 10 and I was hoping to go into labor around Friday or Saturday. So for the last few weeks every evening David and I would go for walks around the block in an effort to get things moving. Monday at work I didn't feel great and I was hoping that meant something was happening. But that night we walked and I had some contractions but they really weren't consistent.

Tuesday I felt great again all day with no contractions and my friend Alex came over to share the details on her engagement and we walked around the block and then hung out and talked. I was having some sporadic contractions that evening as well and remember complaining to Alex about how I just wanted to go into labor.

Wednesday at work my boss commented that my belly looked really low and predicted I would go into labor that evening. I thought she was going to be right when after our walk I started having consistent contractions around 6:00 about 7 minutes apart. I was still having them when we went to bed at 11:00. I had told my mom earlier that day she should change her flight from Thursday to Sunday because nothing seemed to be really happening so I called her and told her it looked like she really should come Thursday.

I got up at 3:25 am (I have a contraction tracker app) had some cereal and noticed the contractions were now 10 minutes apart which was kind of disappointing. But I was encouraged they were still consistent. I didn't go to work that morning because I was assuming I would keep progressing and I had my last doctor's appointment at 10:00. But as I got up my contractions seemed to have stopped completely so David and I walked around the block before we went in to see if they would start again. My doctor checked me and said I was only 1.5 cm dilated, which was only half a centimeter more than the previous week. She said I would probably have the baby in the next few days but to make an appointment for the following week just in case.

David decided to go into work since nothing was happening anymore and I didn't want to go in to work and start having contractions again so I stayed home. At 11:30 I started having contractions again and this time they were closer together and longer. They were uncomfortable and I was all packed and ready to go so I spent most the day watching a really cheesy reality show to distract myself while tracking my contractions and breathing through them. I did my hair and got ready thinking we would have a baby that day and at least I would look decent. I wasn't sure when exactly to go to the hospital and was basically just waiting until the contractions seemed painful enough I didn't want to deal with them on my own.

David came home from work early and stopped by In & Out and got us some burgers on his way back. Then he kept working on his door updating project while I hung out. I opted out of our evening walk because I just kind of knew it wouldn't be fun and that this wasn't the pre-labor I'd been having off and on since Monday.  David took a break while the door dried and watched a Modern Family episode with me at 9 pm and I told him the contractions were getting kind of intense and told him we should leave for the hospital at 10 pm. My contractions were five minutes apart and 30 to 40 seconds long.

When we got to the hospital they had me get hooked up to the monitors and checked me. I was so disappointed to find that I was still only 1.5 cm dilated after all those hours! I couldn't talk through the contractions and was having a hard time dealing with them. We were told if I progressed in an hour we would be admitted, otherwise they would send me home with something for the pain.

At the end of that painful hour there was no change and I got a shot of morphine and another pain med that was supposed to last 6 hours and told me to come back in the morning. They wheeled me down and sent us on our way.

Thursday night was the longest night of my life; the pain meds didn't touch the contractions but they made me really sleepy. I got maybe a couple hours of sleep but the contractions were way too intense for uninterrupted sleep. Any position in bed was uncomfortable and I finally got some pain relief bending over our bed swaying. But then I started getting nauseous from pain and moved to all fours on the bathroom floor in case I needed to throw up. David found me there and convinced me to move back to the bedroom and brought me a bowl. He later said this was the low point of my labor- finding me on the bathroom floor, unwilling to leave it. David also coached me on using breathing to distract me from the pain which was how I got through the contractions for the next few hours before returning to the hospital.

PART 2 HERE

 She was 7 pounds and 5 ounces and 20 inches long.

She is so loved.

My Aunt Allison is a pretty crafty lady. Crafty as in she makes wreaths like a boss and constantly has cool projects going. When she told me she wanted to make a fabric headboard I said, "Count me in!" because I happen to LOVE fabric headboards. I've looked at them in stores and they can be pretty pricey. Alli found a tutorial that looked pretty user friendly and I felt confident that David had the tools we needed.

So here's the step-by-step in case you too feel the need for a fabric headboard. I think it ended up costing around 60 bones (the blogger said she made hers for $20... she must be thriftier than us). Also I would pick a fabric color that contrasts with the wall color if I was doing this again. 

MATERIALS NEEDED

One piece of plywood sheathing cut to size (Home Depot/Lowes will cut it to size for you for free in the store, just ask a worker)

One 2' by 4' (for the legs)

Screwdriver & screws (to attach the legs to the plywood)

Mitre/chop saw (to cut the legs)

Staple gun + Staples

Upholstery Fabric

Padding/batting

Buttons

STEP 1:  DIAGRAM IT!

Figure out the width of your bed and how tall you want the headboard to come up. The basic idea is to figure out how tall you are going to make the headboard so you can buy the right amount of fabric.

I took the diagram with me when I went shopping, which was really helpful. We got our fabric at Hobby Lobby because they had some sweet sales. We got the wood at Lowes.

STEP 2: COVER THE WOOD!*

Cover your wood with the padding. In retrospect I wish I had bought more padding, but it's expensive so I would spend more time shopping deals or finding alternatives.

Then you cover the wood and padding with the fabric, pull it tight and anchor it to the back with staples.

It's kind of tricky to pull the fabric tight enough so the front looks smooth and taut.

*see step 2b so you don't make the mistake we did!

Step 2B: DON'T FORGET TO PUT THE LEGS ON!

We had to go back, take off the fabric, screw on the legs and then restaple the fabric back on. Opps. Really you should screw the legs to the headboard, put the padding and fabric on and cover it. 

You have to cut the fabric so you can wrap it around the legs and staple it down.

Then after you attach the 2 by 4s to the plywood and cover them with the padding and fabric, you can precede to Step 3 (placing the tufts and buttons).

STEP 3: MAKE TUFTS

We measured and used pins to mark how far apart to staple. You staple through the fabric and padding to create the tufted look.

I found some buttons I liked and then hot-glued them over the staples to hide the staples/add some interest to the headboard.