The Boulton Blog: Ezekiel Joseph Boulton

Tuesday September 22nd, we woke up bright and squirrelly. We were supposed to be at the hospital by 7:30, so we woke up at 5:45, ate breakfast, showered and dressed, loaded 2 groggy boys into the car and headed to my parents house.

We dropped the boys off there, got some pictures taken of my nice rotund belly, and Byron and my Daddy gave me a blessing. I was nervous, though not as anxious as I thought I was going to be, as Byron and I gave the boys hugs, got back in the car, and headed to the hospital. I had no idea what I should expect. I had scheduled the induction with a different OB than I had met with the previous 2 weeks, and hadn't asked any questions. In hind sight I would have done some things differently, but it was too late now.

We got to the hospital a couple minutes early, and got checked in. We had decided last minute to change his middle name from Dmitri to Joseph, so we asked for the paperwork we had previously filled out to make the correction, then they took us back to my labor room. We met our nurse, a somewhat tired looking woman named Jen, I thought they must be about to do a shift change when she came in the room looking like she had been run ragged, but I found out later she had just come on duty. She asked what kind of induction I would be having (as if I knew hahahahahahaha) and started setting up the room. Another nurse, Brenda, came in to help, and she really brightened the room quite a bit. Together they worked quickly and steadily until I was all set up with my ever so flattering hospital gown, an IV and pitocin, and had let Dr. Wood know I was there.

He came down about an hour later, checked my cervix (no change from the previous week's appointment urgh!!!) and broke my water. Jen checked on me frequently, making sure I was comfortable and happy. She hung around enough that she was there very soon after the contractions became intense enough that I was breathing through them instead of talking and called in the anesthesiologist around 10:30. She worked quickly, getting the needle placed within 10 minutes of coming into the room, and Byron was grateful they had asked him to sit in the OB's chair instead of having to stand in front of me, which would have given him a perfect view of what was going on (Byron hates needles)

Dr. Wood came back around lunch to check my cervix after another delivery and said I hadn't dilated anymore, though I was "maybe" softer and lower. They took the monitor off my belly that was picking up contractions and inserted an internal one that would tell them how strong they were instead of just how frequently they were coming. I was starting to get scared at this point. I knew that since he had broken my water that the clock was ticking on a c-section, and my past 2 labors had barely made it in the given window. Jen helped me turn onto my side to try and help the baby drop and Byron turned on a movie to try and take my mind off things. I ended up sleeping through most of the movie, waking up a few times to marvel at the contractions the monitor was picking up (some spiked way off the chart and I was thanking Heavenly Father I couldn't feel them.) and to turn onto my other side. Around 3:40 she came in to check on me and said I was complete!

She called Dr. Wood and left a message, then we began to wait...I could feel the pressure building, knowing I would need to push soon, and another nurse came in to assist with delivery. She mentioned calling the other OB that was on call for the hospital and I sent up a silent prayer that Dr. Wood would call them back soon. They ended up calling him again and he was there in about 5 minutes or so, though upon walking in the room he asked in his quiet voice if I was complete, then explained he had a c-section to go to but would be back shortly. I thought he was being serious, and it must have showed on my face since the nurses all laughed and explained he was kidding. They got me all in position and Dr. Wood started cracking jokes with the nurses. I explained that I had really lame ab muscles but he said the laughing seemed to be working so they just kept going with the jokes. At 4:32 pm, after some more laughter and 2 short pushes I could see my beautiful baby boy.

They let me pull him up onto my torso and I clung to him, running my fingers over all of his tiny perfect features while they finished up their work. I had a 2nd degree tear that required some stitches, and he waited until the umbilical cord stopped pulsing before clamping it. Byron doesn't like all of the messy side of birthing, and has not, with a single one, cut the cord, so I did this time. After nursing him for a bit and calling or texting family, my parents showed up with Caleb and David and all of my brothers and sisters. My wonderful mommy got pictures of Caleb and David with their new baby brother, of the nurses cleaning Ezekiel and taking all of his measurements, and of everyone getting to hold him for the first time. It was amazing, wonderful, and miraculous, and was over before dinner time!

Ezekiel Joseph Boulton

Born Tuesday, September 22nd 2015 at 4:32 pm

Weight 7 lbs 14 oz

Length 21 inches