All Things Stradling: *Meet Lexington Jo Stradling*

*~October 3rd 2012~*

(Getting closer to being caught up!)

Wednesday October 3rd 2012, we welcomed our beautiful little angel Lexington Jo.

She weighed 6lbs 9oz, and was 21 inches long!

Perfect as they come!

THE BIRTH STORY:

That Wednesday was SUPER crazy! So the Tuesday before, I was having pretty regular braxton hicks, so I kept timing them and they were getting 6-7 minutes apart!! But I felt zero pain.. So I knew it wasn't "real" labor.. But I kept praying.. cause at 38 weeks, I was ready for her to come! I couldn't sleep all that night, due to nerves and just being so uncomfortable from the BH. Wednesday morning I just felt like something was wrong, and I didn't want to be annoying calling the nurse AGAIN.. (I swear they probably hated me, I called ALL. THE. TIME!) So I made Louis call.. They told me exactly what I predicted they were gonna say... "Why don't you just have her come on in and we will get her hooked up on the monitor and check the baby movement/heart-rate, but bring an overnight bag..just in case." I was pretty nervous at that point because my intuition was telling me something just wasn't right. So I called my mom that morning around 8:00 A.M. letting her know she might have to leave CO...but to keep her phone by her just in case this was the real deal... I did a couple laps around the complex, not by choice, Louis said, "You better walk as much as you can, because if we don't have this baby today I need you to be out of the doctors by 9:45 a.m. so I can make it to class on time!" What a gentleman...;) So I did.. I walked... I even walked up the hill to the Dr's office to make sure it would cause BH again, so they knew I wasn't making it up!

They hooked me up to the monitor, and everything was going great! Our Dr was about to send me home after 10 min and prescribe me some benadryl so that I can sleep... I still didn't feel like things were o.k. so I pulled the "Priesthood" card on him (He is a bishop). I told him that I trusted his and my husband's decision, and since they were worthy priesthood/temple recommend holders I would trust their decisions. Apparently that did the trick, and the spirit told him to check the monitor again, and this time I was right...things weren't right. Without telling me what was going on, he sent Louis and I to the hospital right away to break my water, all he said was, "Meet you at the hospital in 10 min, we are gonna have this baby today!" YIKES! My nerves were sooooo crazy at that point, mainly because I knew something was wrong by the way he was running and acting.

Louis and I got to the hospital at 8:30. I BARELY had enough time to call my mom, change, and have Louis give me a blessing before our doctor was changed and in our room ready to break my water. I didn't even have enough time to tease Louis for not being able to make it to class! ;) (Luckily I was already checked it, so all they had to do was show me what room to go too)... I would say the time was literally about 10 min, seriously it was fast! I could tell by how my DR was responding to the nurses that that he was in a hurry, not because he was impatient, but because he was worried about the baby too. He broke my water, and if you have never experienced that, its not as beautiful as they make it look in the movies. Louis was so pale watching him do it, and it didn't help that my DR said, "Jodi, I know it feels like I'm trying to touch the back of your throat, but hang with me here..." I could have smacked Louis for laughing,... but how could he NOT laugh! After he broke my water, the babies heart rate was dropping VERY fast! That's when I started to panic... The Dr couldn't find a heartbeat after trying with several internal monitors, and he next thing he said was "we need to get that bay out NOW, get her prepped for surgery...NOW"

My heart sank, I couldn't hold back the tears, I couldn't stop my body from shaking. All I was thinking was, "What if this is it? What if my baby doesn't make it, what if I don't make it? Louis is by himself, Where is Louis I need to kiss him and tell him I love him....

I wont forget that kiss, because at that time I didn't know if it was going to the last kiss I would give him. (You're probably thinking I'm being dramatic... but things were happening sooo fast, you would be scared too! Plus, I already had a HUGE fear of c-sections, so that didn't help!)

After our kiss, I was wheeled into the surgery room, while my husband had to sit in the empty hallway by himself. =(. There were about 10 people in the surgery room running around, trying to get things ready. I cant remember much, other than the anesthesiologist yelling at me for my name, I was shaking so much I could barely think and respond, "Jodi Stradling" Then I was out. 9.10 a.m.

I woke up several hours later in an empty hospital room, not quite sure what had just happened. I kinda started to panic a little after feeling my empty belly and looking around the room for my baby girl. My thoughts were, Where is my baby? Where is Louis? Did she not make it? I want to see her...NOW! Louis came back and gently kissed my forehead and said, "Lexington is good, she made it... they are keeping her in the NICU... She's OK Jo, get some rest I'll be back soon." Relief swooshed over me, and I was able to breathe again.