Rohan's Birth Story

Today, Rohan is two months old. I realized that I had not written down his birth story, though I've told myself about twenty times since he was born that I needed to do it! I was looking back through this journal to see what I had written about my pregnancy, and there isn't much, and they are unhappy words. I have to say, now, that we have been incredibly blessed and watched over. Yes, at first I did not want another baby. I was very depressed over the summer of 2019 and, honestly, up until about a week before Rohan was born. I prayed to Heavenly Father A LOT, sometimes in emotional agony, and I had Jared give me blessings several times because I didn't think I could accommodate another child in my life. But as I look back on that depression and the worries and doubts I had, I know now that my struggles made me stronger. Having Rohan as a part of our family is such a blessing, and he has done great things in helping Uriah and his sisters mature in ways I didn't think could happen.
The Lord heard my pleas and has blessed us tremendously. We were concerned about the expenses of having a baby. Our original bill was around $5,000. We applied for an application through the hospital to help us with our medical bills and we were approved, and the hospital is covering all but $1,000. We didn't have a vehicle big enough for our family once Rohan came. We had been looking for 6 months for the right vehicle and always came up empty handed. Then, just two weeks ago, we found someone selling an 8 passenger vehicle because they were moving across the country. We applied for a loan, got approved, and bought the vehicle in less than a week, and it's in great condition. All of that waiting, and times when I felt like we would never get another vehicle, were worth the wait for this one. In one of the hardest and most trying years of my life, I cannot deny the great blessings that have come out of our struggles. I do not want anyone who knows me to doubt that I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and that I know that he knows me, my husband, my children, and our trials. He is always watching over us. I love Him, and He loves me.

10 days before my due date, I was at my doctor's appointment where he checked me and told me that I hadn't dilated beyond a 1, which was where I was at at the appointment the week before. I told him that I had decided to be induced. Labor is harder and more painful during an induction, but since I was getting an epidural for the first time, I didn't see any reason not to be induced. I was also getting very tired of being pregnant! My doctor told me the earliest I could be induced was Monday, February 3, a week before my due date. We had the doctor make an appointment for us that day, but there was already an induction scheduled and we had to pick another day. We chose Wednesday, February 5th. The night before I was going to be induced, we had packed our bags and gotten arrangements made for someone to watch the kids. I went to bed and was woken up at about 11 pm with contractions that came about every 15 to 20 minutes for about 3 hours. I was able to sleep through the first hour or so, but after that I couldn't sleep through them. They were slightly painful, but they felt different than contractions I had had before. All the pain I was feeling was in my lower abdomen, just above my legs, instead of feeling the pain all over my belly. I wasn't sure if I was in labor or not, and I didn't think I should wake up Jared. The contractions eventually slowed down and stopped instead of getting quicker and more painful, so I figured they were just false contractions. We took KyLee and Eva to our sitter and dropped Uriah, Jordyn, and Bonnie off at the bus stop, and then drove to Mountain Home to have our baby.

We got to the hospital, checked in, and settled in to our labor and delivery room. Even though I had only had two contractions after the ones that woke me up had ended and getting to the hospital, I was dilated to a 4. The doctor decided not to use any medicines to induce my labor because I was progressing enough on my own. It turned out to be a good thing that I went into labor on my own because Rohan was not tolerating labor very well. His heart rate would drop very low during my contractions, and it was enough to make our doctor come and stay in the room with us. He told us about our options, that we could continue with regular labor and keep a close eye on Rohan's heart, or we could have a c-section. I told him that I trusted him and would do what he thought was best. He thanked me for trusting him.
I got my epidural about an hour after getting to the hospital (it wasn't as scary as I had always imagined, and it was amazing to not feel labor pains!) and we all watched the monitor that was tracking Rohan's heart. Every time his heart rate sank low, Jared and our nurse would rotate me from one side to the other. I lost track of how many times I got rolled over, like a piece of meat on the grill. There were a few times I got very worried, hearing Rohan's heart beat very slowly. I was so glad that Jared has the expertise to know that Rohan would be okay, and he would reassure me that everything would be all right.
The doctor came and broke my water after I got the epidural, and he said he felt me dilate 2 centimeters after he did. From that point on, the doctor stayed in the room with us and talked to us, watching the monitors and making sure Rohan and I were okay. I had to wear an oxygen mask, and I was told it was to get extra oxygen to Rohan as he was going through this labor. I'm not sure how long after my water was broken that the doctor said it was time to start pushing, but it seemed like it had only been an hour. I asked for the nurse to bring in a mirror so that I could watch Rohan come out. I wish I had done that with my other children. Because of the epidural, I could only feel light pressure, just enough to know that it was time to push. The doctor told me to start pushing and immediately told me to stop; it only took half a push to bring Rohan out. At 2:05 pm our doctor handed him right to me, and I held him on my stomach and chest. Boy, he was not happy to be out! He cried a lot, but he calmed down once we got him warmed up. He got to lay on my chest for the first hour after he was born. I just love being able to hold my babies on my skin after they are born, something I didn't get to do with Uriah, Jordyn, or Bonnie.
At the time Rohan was born, we hadn't decided what we were going to name him. I had been wanting the name Rohan since we found out he was a boy. Jared thought Logan was a good name. We still couldn't decide until the day we came home with him. Rohan is our only child who didn't have a set name before we had him. When we came home on the 6th, he had been given the name Rohan Roy. His middle name is from my grandpa Jensen, whom I loved very much.
Our lives will never be the same :)