Life's A Payne: Brecken Andrew Payne

Brecken decided he was ready to make an early arrival into the world on Tuesday, October 6! My due date was October 26, so Brecken was three weeks early. However, Michael’s convinced that he was really only one week early because my original due date was October 12, but my doctor changed it to the 26^th after my first ultrasound. Anyway, here’s the stats everyone asks about:
Arrival Time: 11:08am
Weight: 6lbs. 10 ozs.
Length: 19 ½ inches

Here’s how it all went down…the previous Tuesday (September 30), I had my first OB appt where they checked my progress. Imagine my surprise when at 36 weeks, my doctor told me I was 2cm and 80% effaced! However, I’d heard plenty of stories where women walked around like that for 3 weeks, so I wasn’t expecting to go into labor any time soon. Brecken, however, had other plans!

I woke up early Tuesday morning October 6 for what I thought was just another routine bathroom break. But actually, my water had broken. Either I wasn’t convinced that my water had actually broken or I was just half asleep because it was like 4am or something (or maybe a mixture of both) because I didn’t look at the clock or try to figure out if I was having contractions…I just went back to sleep. Those of you that know me well aren’t surprised by this – I highly value my sleep. J

At 5:15am, I woke up again and realized that I might actually be in labor. At this point, I intentionally tried to go back to sleep trying to get as much rest as possible. Around 6am, I called mom and told her she should probably start packing her bags. I believe the conversation went something like this: “Hello?” “Hi, mom.” “Are you in labor??!!” “Possibly. You should probably start packing your bags just in case.” “Ah! Okay! Call me back when you know for sure so we can get on the road!” My parents live in North Carolina about 7 to 8 hours away and my mom was supposed to be in the labor/delivery room with me. I had another doctor’s appt. scheduled for 11am that day to check my progress again. I was supposed to call Mom after my appt so she could decide when to come to Nashville based on my progress. I never made it to that appointment.

I was home alone when all this was happening. Michael had worked Monday during the day, but then he was asked to pick up the night shift that night also. Given it was three weeks till my due date, we didn’t think twice about him picking up the extra shift. I guess we should have! I decided not to try and contact Michael at work since he was supposed to be home at 6:45am. I did call and leave a message on his cell phone: “Hey, it’s me. When you get this, come straight home. Don’t stop, don’t pass Go, don’t collect $200. I’ve got a little surprise for you when you get home.” Unfortunately, Michael didn’t check his messages because when I called him again at 7am trying to figure out where he was, he told me he was picking up breakfast for me to take to work! I quickly informed him that I didn’t want breakfast – I wanted him to come home because I was in labor!

Michael came home and helped me pack my bag (one of the many things on my pre-labor to-do list that never got done!). We made it to the hospital around 8:30am when my contractions were about 4 minutes apart. I was 3cm when I arrived so I settled in thinking I’d probably be there for awhile. Little did I know!

I was hooked up to electronic fetal monitoring until they established that Brecken was fine and labor was progressing normally. Michael commented on a noise that kept popping up on the monitor with the hearbeats…it was Brecken hiccupping! After they moved me to the labor/delivery room, they checked me again and I was at 5cm. Thirty five minutes later, the pain was getting pretty intense (okay, that’s an understatement) so nurse Amelia checked again and I was already to 9cm! Not long later, Brecken was born at 11:08am! The whole process took about 6 or 7 hours but I was only in the hospital for 2 ½. He was born naturally, without any pain medication. Michael was a champ and so supportive in helping me with pain management techniques. Mom obviously didn’t make it in time to be in the labor/delivery room with me. I’m fairly sure Dad drove a little (lot) faster than normal, but Brecken was faster! My little overachiever…already taking after his Mommy!

Brecken, of course, was perfect. He had a full head of dark hair and gray/blue eyes. Ten fingers, ten toes, and a loud squall to let the world know he had arrived. Michael cut the cord and when they put him on my chest, my first thought was that he actually did look like his last ultrasound picture. Because Brecken took us all by surprise by arriving so early and so quickly, I think both Michael and I were slightly in shock trying to let it all sink in. Regardless, I was in love. It didn’t take much.