Our Newest Family Member

Sawyer Lincoln Guzman

Born 7-10-2009 @ 2:03 pm

6 lbs 9 oz

19 inches long

16 days early

Here's the full story if you're interested...

I woke up at 7:00 on Friday the 10th with my lower back and abdomen sort of aching. I didn't think too much of it since the pain was bearable and Sawyer wasn't due for 16 more days. I was supposed to go to tea with my mom, our family friend Kyle, and my sister up in San Juan Capistrano that day. My mom and Kyle were going to pick me up at 10:00 so I started getting ready for that.

At about 9:15 I started having sharp pains in my abdomen but noticed that they didn't last long. I still didn't think too much of it since I knew Braxton Hicks contractions were common and I was still so early to be having the baby. The doctor had said to go to the hospital when the contractions lasted a minute and came every 5 minutes for an hour. These were only 30 seconds or so long and they were coming about every 5 minutes, and the pain was, for the most part, tolerable.

My mom and Kyle arrived at 10:00 to pick me up but I decided that just in case, I didn't want to be 45 minutes away from home or stuck in a car with these uncomfortable pains. They decided to go without me and meet my sister up there as long as I called often and kept them updated.

At 10:30 I called Willie and told him what was going on but that he didn't need to leave work because it was probably just false labor. At 11:30 I called the doctor and told them this had been going on for over 2 hours but they were still only 30 seconds apart and the pain was bearable. They wanted me to come in to see if I was dilated so I left and drove myself to the doctor's office (which was luckily right next to the hospital). On the short drive there I had 3 contractions that felt much more painful and longer than all the rest, and when the nurse checked I was already dilated to 5 cm! For those of you who don't know, when you get to 10 the baby is ready to come out!

The nurse put me in a wheelchair and pushed me across the parking lot to the hospital as I called Willie (who was 30 minutes away) to come straight to the hospital. I called my mom and sister and my mom asked if they had time to eat their lunch since they had just ordered. I turned around and asked the nurse who was pushing me and she simply replied, "No, they don't." I'm somewhat in shock at this point but really in a lot of pain with each contraction now.

So into the hospital I roll by myself at 12:30 but met shortly after that by Jennifer, her mom, and Anna. Willie got there at about 1:00 and my mom adn sister shortly after that. Unfortunately, the doctor and the anesthesiologist were busy doing a C-section so I couldn't get an epidural yet but was assured that as soon as they were finished they would come give it to me. I REALLY wanted it...let's just leave it at that. The doctor finally came at about 1:45 and I was already at 10 cm so the epidural was out of the question and it was time to push. 15 minutes later we met our little bundle of joy...it had been only an hour and a half after I arrived at the hospital!