Parker's Birth Story:

December 4, 2016:

A day that changed our lives in the most wonderful way ever. Welcome to the world, Parker James Pasterfield.

My baby is practically 5 months old. That's almost HALF A FLIPPIN' YEAR. How did that even happen!?!? How has he been out of my belly that long? It is unreal how fast the time goes. It is unreal how fast babies change and grow. Literally. You blink. and BOOM. Life changes. "Sixty seconds now feels more like thirty, tick-tock, won't stop, and round it goes. Sand through the glass sure falls in a hurry and all you keep trying to do is slow it down, soak it in, keep trying to make the good times last as long as you can, but you can't- cause it goes too fast, way too fast." - Luke Bryan. 

I really wish I would've written this out earlier, when the memories were still fresh in my mind, but I'll try to recap as best as I can. I mean, it was a pretty monumental moment in my life so I feel like it's pretty engrained in my mind. But! Here we go! So, at 38 weeks pregnant I went for my check up, where my doctor told me I was almost 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. He did the sweep and told me that if it were to work, I would go into labour in the next couple of days. So crazy. So that appointment was a Wednesday night. Fast forward to Saturday. I was feeling fine. Tom and I went to a lovely Christmas party, and got home around 10:30 ish? I was in bed by about 11 pm, and woke up an hour later to go pee. I thought. How annoying. But when I woke up my body felt different. I don't even know how to explain it. I just remember sitting there being like. "Am I going into labour?" I literally sat there for an hour trying to figure out what my body was doing, and texting my mother in-law who thank goodness was still awake at that hour. Finally at about 1 am, I go back to bed and wake up Tom. I was like, "Tom, I think we might be having a baby in the next 72 hours." And Tom is so sweet and is like, "wow, that's really lovely, honey. We should probably try to catch some rest. Come back to bed." and I'm all: "Yeah Tom, but I don't think I can sleep. I think we might have a baby in the next 48 hours." Still, Tom was convinced we needed to go back to bed. My response then turned into "Tom, I think we might have a BABY in the next 24 hours." And Tom was like. Huh. That's cool. So. Hear me out. Those of you who know me well will not be surprised to know that it was my goal to have my hair and make up done for labour and delivery. What a surprise, right? So. There we are, 1:30 am, and I'm like. Tom! Dang nabbit! If I'm having this baby and we have to go to the hospital in the middle of the night I WANT TO SHOWER. At this point, I had no pain and no contractions. My body just felt WEIRD. Like, a lot of pressure in my lower regions. So. I crank the shower on, full heat, and hop in. About half way through that shower, it was VERY clear I was in labour. I started getting contractions that were flooring me. I stayed in that shower for a long time. We also went to prenatal classes where they teach you deep breathing/massage and relaxation techniques and things your partner can help you do during labour. So Tom was super sweet and trying to help coach me through it and practice everything we learned. He's the best. I finally hobbled out of the shower and I immediately called my mom saying, "Mom, I think I'm in labour." That's really all I had to say and she said, "Okay, I'm on my way to Edmonton." So, at 3:00 am, my mom hopped in the Mome Su and came to Edmonton. 

After hanging up the phone with my mom, I was convinced I needed to get my make up done. Well. I was standing at my counter, trying to put on my make up. But the contractions came on STRONG and FAST. I was still kind of in denial that I was even in labour. I mean, this baby wasn't supposed to come for another 2 weeks! But the contractions literally took my breath away and made me fall to my knees in pain. What a crazy experience. So, I'm doing my make up, in agony, and Tom calls the hospital (our doctor told us to call labour and delivery when we thought we were in labour). Tom thought, "This is something I can do! I can call the hospital!" So he calls, and he goes "Hello. My name is Thomas. My wife is in labour." Bahahahahahahaha. I love him. They go, "Okay, put your wife on the phone." He hands the phone to me and I slightly glare and take the phone. They ask me how long and far apart my contractions are. I'm like. Lady! I have no idea! Who knew it would be so difficult to time contractions? (at this point it was around 3:30 am). The nurse continues to ask me, "How long have you been in labour?" I was like. "I don't know! My body started feeling weird around 1 am, and contractions started around 2 am." So, the nurse advised me that, especially since it's my first baby, I likely will labour for a long time and to just stay home and labour at home as long as possible until the contractions are "unbearable." In my mind I'm like- THESE ARE UNBEARABLE. But, Tom and I had no idea what we were doing or what to expect. 

After we got off the phone with the hospital, I really wanted to do my hair. I had successfully gotten my make up done. But my hair was still soaking wet as I lay naked on the bathroom floor moaning in pain. My mom gets to our place around 4:30 am. She goes "JENNIFER JEAN GET YOURSELF TOGETHER WE ARE GOING TO THE HOSPITAL!!" And I'm all like, "Mom, they told me to labour at home." She goes. "Jenny. I've had 4 babies. They also told me to stay home. If I would've stayed home, you kids would've been born in the bathtub. GET SOME CLOTHES ON. We're going!!!" Tom always says that labour felt real to him when my mom was coming to Edmonton. He was like, if Grandma Parkins is coming to Edmonton, this means serious business. So. Anyways. My mom grabs a nighty, pulls it over my head, Tom grabs the hospital bag, and I put on a head band, my silver sparkly Toms, and off we go. Picture this. It's 4:45 am in the morning in the beginning of December in Canada. It's freezing. My hair is wet. My make up is done. I'm a huge whale. I'M IN A NIGHTY THAT IS MUCH TOO SHORT CAUSE MY BELLY IS HUGE, I have silver sequin shoes on. I refuse to wear my winter coat cuz I'm too hot. My goodness. #hotmess. There was obviously no traffic, so my mom was speeding to get me to the hospital cause guys these contractions seriously were taking their toll on me. I think I said very strange things like, "holy guacamole. holy bananas. Sweet mother." Things along those lines. My mom also wanted to run red lights, but I was there in the back all like, "MOM!!! DON'T RUN THE LIGHTS!" So, she didn't run any red lights, but she did speed. And got a photo radar ticket. So silly. But. Mom drops me and Tom off at emergency. I waddle into emerg at almost 5 am in the morning. I rest my head on the glass, and the nurse goes, "baby time?" I just look at her and nod. She quickly gets me a wheelchair, where another nurse wheels me up to labour and delivery, while Tom fills out all the paperwork. 

They immediately put me on the toilet and started taking off all my clothes (well, I only had a nighty on. So that was pretty easy.) While on the toilet, I lost my MP, and they got me in that beautiful hospital gown, and into the hospital bed. They checked me, and told me I was close to 7 cm dilated. They said if this were my second baby, I likely would've had the baby at home. I had no idea. Everyone told us that with our first baby we would likely go to the hospital TOO early and be sent home. Anyway.  I immediately started begging for an epidural. I had heard that sometimes if you're too far along in your labour they won't give you an epidural, so I was trying to make it clear that I really wanted one, ASAP. At about 5:30 am the anesthesiologist came in, and was fantastic, and gave me the epidural. People scared me beforehand saying it would hurt, but honestly I think I was in so much pain from my contractions (the nurses kept telling me to breathe, but it was really hard to breathe through those things), that I was SO focused on getting that epidural in for some sweet relief. I honestly don't remember any pain while getting the epidural. Maybe like a pinch and pressure, but that was it. Within 5-10 minutes I felt SO MUCH BETTER. Oh my word that epidural was my BEST FRIEND. Seriously. BEST FRIEND. I could finally calm down and RELAX. I actually really started to enjoy my labour now! And I was getting so excited to meet my sweet babe. I had unreal nurses, seriously so amazing. They took such good care of me. Answered all of my questions and gave me time with my family. It was really nice. It was cool to be hooked up to the machine and hear baby's heartbeat and see my contractions. It was interesting, because with the epidural I thought I wouldn't be able to feel anything, but I could still feel my contractions - but they were manageable. They felt like. You know when you do squats, and a lot of them, and your butt muscles burn? That's what every contraction felt for me. Like I had done 1000 squats. It was so weird. So. At this point I also hadn't slept. I had been up since midnight. I tried to catch some sleep but I was just too excited/anxious I couldn't. Tom got me ice chips, we chatted, weird things with my body happened, my water broke, nurses checked on me, I texted my family/friends/work that baby was coming today, and the time actually FLEW by. 

I loved just chilling in the bed knowing I would meet my baby that day. The coolest feeling. I was so curious when we would meet him, or when I would start pushing. The nurses weren't really telling me anything, so I had no idea how long we had to wait this out. They kept telling me I would start pushing when I felt a deep pressure, and had an urge to push (the nurses told me it would feel like I needed to poo, haha). I finally had that feeling, and told my nurse. They were quickly trying to get my doctor there, and I knew baby was coming soon. My doctor literally walked into the room, put on his gown, and immediately got me to start pushing. I felt so caught off guard like, "WHAT, WAIT, WE ARE DOING THIS NOW? WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME!! GAHH!!" The nurse quickly instructed me how to push, and so there I am, pulling back my legs hanging on for dear life and trying to push as hard as I could with each contraction. I started pushing at 11:30 am. I had three "sets" of pushing with each contraction. Baby came fast. Tom said, "Jenny! I can see his head!!" Parker James Pasterfield was born thirteen minutes later, December 4, 2016 @ 11:43 am, weighting 7 pounds 13 oz | 21" long. Thomas and I knew the minute we found out we were having a boy that we would name him Parker. We decided on Parker because my maiden name is Parkins, so that's kind of a cool way to honour my side of the family- and back when Tom and I had been dating for like, a week, we for some reason talked about baby names and somehow decided we liked the name Parker. So back when I was 19, and Tom was 23, we had decided what the name of our firstborn would be. Hahaha. So funny. Such sweet memories. 

They immediately plopped Parker onto my chest. Thomas was bawling. I was in shock, and awe. I looked up at my husband, then down at my baby and I started bawling. I couldn't believe we created this beautiful human together and that after all this waiting, he was here with us. It was honestly such a spiritual experience. I was proud of me and my husband for working together, I was proud of my body for sustaining this baby and being the conduit for him to come to this earth, and I was seriously in awe that we had a baby. Parker was pretty blue so they had to take him off of me and clear out his airways and lungs, but once they did that he was good. The nurse helped me get him latched for the first time and try to breastfeed. I had literally zero clue what I was doing, I didn't even know how to hold my baby. Hahaha #new mom reality. Once me and Tom had some time with Parker, we had my parents, Tom's parents, and my brother Jordan there at the hospital. We were moved to the postpartum unit where we continued to get to know our little baby. Parker was so so so calm that first week. TIP TO ALL MOTHERS - make sure you pack a flipping pony tail to the hospital. I didn't have one. and I was going crazy. They kept us in the hospital for 1 night, and we were discharged December 5 around 1:00 in the afternoon. Dressing a newborn baby is serious business, you guys. Tom and I were trying to dress Parker and I felt like we were going to break him! It was scary. And getting him in the carseat? This little squish! Looking back on all these memories, I just laugh. Such newbs. Parker had just been living in my womb for 9 months and his skin was peeling and cracking like crazy. Poor boy. He was born the week that we got our first cold freeze in December too, so we were paranoid about keeping him warm. He was so little. It was only 5 months ago but he was so, so little. 

I absolutely loved all the hair he had when he was born! And he would always hold his hands  together and have them up by his face. I have to think he must've always done that in the womb. He is such a sweet little baby. Tom and I feel honoured to be his parents. He has taught us SO much in these past 5 months. He's taught me what true service looks like, and that at the end of the day, family is one of the most important things we have in this life. And that we need to work everyday at creating meaningful moments with the people around us. I'm far from a perfect parent, and I pray to God everyday for strength, and to help me know how to be the best mom to Parker that day, cause heaven knows I can't do this motherhood thing on my own. 

"I talk to God about you, and I ain't even met you yet. Everybody's waiting on you here. I can't wait to feel your heart beat when I lay you on my chest. I'm already holding back my tears. I wanna be the mom that my mom was, I hope I don't mess this whole thing up. I pray you love like your daddy, and that you forgive just like he does. And when this life knocks you down, I hope you get down on your knees, cause that's what I do, when I pray for you. I know you're gonna grow up some day, but don't forget to take your time, and take the time to call back home. It ain't always gonna be easy, it ain't always gonna be fair. I know you ain't always gonna need me, but I promise that I'll always be there. When this life knocks you down, I hope you get down on your knees, cause that's what I do, when I pray for you."