On Saturday, August 7, 3 weeks before McKay was due (Aug. 28), I went to bed late with a stomach ache. I felt what I thought were stronger than usual Braxton Hicks and kind of laughed at myself because I was just freaking myself out that I could be having real contractions. At 2:00am that stomach ache woke me up so I went to the bathroom and went back to bed. The stomach ache would not go away so I was up and down out of bed to the toilet continuously until 2:30am. During this time I noticed when I wiped that there was fresh blood and that concerned me a bit. I decided to walk around a bit and when I did, I found out that my water just might be leaking! I realized that this stomach ache was no ordinary stomach ache! I was in labor! Before I woke Les up, I decided to get on the computer and google, “How do I know if my water broke?” and “How do I know if I am in labor?” After doing some research until 4:00am, I decided to wake Les up. We thought it would be best to time my contractions, which at this point were 5 minutes apart, and then call the hospital to see if we should come in. They said to come in so we scurried around the house packing things up, showering, and looking for Les’ lost wallet, and finally made it to St. Marks at 7:00am. They checked my cervix and I was dilated to a “1 and a wiggle,” however, the nurse was not convinced that my water was broken, just that I had lost my mucus plug. Because I was only at a one, the nurse was about to send me home to dilate some more, but when she realized my blood pressure was high they did some blood work which was the miracle that kept me in the hospital! The nurse came back to check on me like 20 minutes later and I was soaking wet on the hospital bed and she said, "I think your water was ruptured and now it is officially broken! You are going to have a baby by sundown!" We couldn’t believe it! Three weeks early! We thought we were in for the longest day of our lives! So we called our parents and siblings around 8:00am and let them know the news. We told them to go to church, eat lunch, and stop in when they could since we probably wouldn’t have a baby until late that evening. I was checked into my labor and delivery room and by the early 9:00 o' clock hour I was asking for pain meds. They gave me a little something to take off the edge until I could get the epidural. At 9:30 I was dilated to a 3.5 and from there things got incredibly, incredibly painful! Although I had just been given that medicine in my IV, I kept saying that it wasn’t doing anything. My contractions were coming really close together and were lasting for a long time! Needless to say, the nurses just thought I was a total wimp! I kept begging for the epidural and they said the anesthesiologist was in with a c-section patient and will be in when he is done. They left us alone for a good 15 minutes and during this time I had Les say a prayer. By 10:00am I was crying and pretty much dying! I am pretty sure I almost squeezed Les’ hand off! I went straight from one contraction into another and suddenly I screamed to Les, "I am going to push! I have to push!" So he ran around the room looking for the nurse call button and said, "She says she has to push!" Within seconds, 3 nurses rushed into the room, along with my doctor, Bryant Brown, who just happened to be on the weekend shift. One nurse checked my cervix and sure enough I was at a 10! By this point I was kind of panicking and saying, "Where is my epidural! I want my epidural!" I have to say that I am really glad that only my husband was in that room with me because my mom would have been ashamed of my manners!!! I felt like I was having an out of body experience and could not control myself at all! The nurse said, "Oh honey you aren't getting an epidural! Your baby is coming in 2 pushes." I was soooo not happy about that! I was like, “I am having this baby natural?!?!?! NO WAY!!!! And the nurse was like, “Oh yes you are and you can do it because you have to get this baby out!” Les said he will never forget what my face looked like when I found out I wasn’t getting an epidural! He says he thought I would punch the nurse in the face! I was never one that even considered having a natural birth so this news scared me to death! I started hyperventilating so they gave me an oxygen mask and the doctor gave me a local anesthesia in the canal to numb me up a little bit. Those 2 shots were sooo painful but it was so worth it in the end because I didn’t feel the episiotomy when he snipped me, nor the stitches following the delivery. I remember during this time, although I was scared out of my mind, feeling an overwhelming sense of peace come over me and I was able to calm down. I was praying my whole way through this. The first time I pushed I couldn’t really feel what I was doing because I had all of the liquid from the shots rushing down kind of numbing me up. I pushed a second time and they could see his head crowning with dark brown hair. Les said, “I see him! I see him!”I wanted to see him so they brought the mirror down and sure enough there was his sweet little head. The nurse was watching his heart rate and it was going down so she looked at me and said, “Nicole, you need to get him out. His heart rate is falling.” That is all I needed to hear. I pushed as hard as I could and out came his head. We pushed again and out came the rest of little McKay. It was one of the most amazing experiences of our lives. He cried two short little wails and then they put him in a towel, right on my chest and in my arms. Les and I looked at each other and just cried! We were both saying, “He is here! We did it! He is so beautiful! He is safe!” We couldn't believe he was here and so perfect, healthy, and safe. It was such a relief to see him, and to not be pregnant anymore, and to have the intense contraction pains instantly gone, and to be able to breathe again after 9 months! It was so awesome! We sat and held him for a while and then the nurses told Les to get his camera ready so they could weigh and measure him. Les said, “He came so quickly the camera and all of our things are still out in the car! So Les ran and got the camera and was able to capture the nurses weighing, measuring, and poking him. He was 5lbs, 9oz, 17 in. long and he was born at 10:08am. He was so tiny and so beautiful! 
Weighing in at 5lbs and 9oz
Getting tagged, diapered, and warmed up
Mackie and momma
Chillin after his first bath...the only time his hair stays down like this is when it is wet...so precious!We went straight for our phones to contact our families and our awesome nurse said, “Just wait! Just enjoy this moment with your baby boy. You will have plenty of time to contact your families and then they will be here all day long.” We are so glad we took this advice and for the first hour of his life we just stared at him and took turns holding him. I even tried out breastfeeding for the first time which went pretty well. Within 45 minutes I was up walking around and was even able to go to the bathroom. When my nurse helped me to the bathroom for some reason I thought they were moving me upstairs so I asked her, “Is anyone going to see me?” And she said, “What do you mean?” So I said, “My gown is not closed and we are going to my recovery room and people are going to see me!” So she and Les laughed and she said, “Oh no honey! We are just going to the bathroom to get you cleaned up and changed!”
At 11:15 we finally contacted our families. They couldn’t believe McKay was here already! Mom had just finished teaching Gospel Doctrine when I called and she ran to get dad out of a Young Men’s meeting so they could get to the hospital. Mom said, “You didn’t wait for me!” I told her, “It seems McKay wasn’t waiting for anything! If they had sent us home when I was only dilated to a one I would have had a baby in our bathtub!” On that note, following the swift delivery, our nurse said, “When you have your next baby, stay close to the hospital!”
Les called his mom and they were at church as well so she ran and got all the kids and rushed to the hospital to see us. We were moved up to our recovery room and during this quiet time waiting for family to come, we were just holding McKay and started talking about what we were going to name him. We had 4 names we liked: McKay, Kaden, Chase, and Jaxson. As we looked at him and how special and sweet he seemed, Chase, Kaden and Jaxson seemed too rascally (at least for now, we’ll see soon enough though J) so we both quickly agreed that McKay fit him the best. It was funny because I had talked to people before he was born and I told them, “Everyone says you just know what to name your baby when you see him/her, but how do you just know???” And sure enough, we just knew McKay was the perfect name for him. So his official name is Lester McKay Essig. He is the fifth generation Lester Essig so we are carrying the tradition, but will not be calling him Les or Lester unless that is what he wants to go by when he is older. Our first day with our little boy was one of the best days of my life. I already love him so much and now I truly believe in love at first sight! I am the happiest and luckiest mom!
Monday morning in the hospital, I was feeling pretty good so I showered and got ready before the nursery could bring Mac back to us. Yes, I am that vain! Since I was feeling so good, (mostly due to the ice packsJ), we were worried they would send us home, but they didn’t! While in the hospital we enjoyed many visits from family, friends, and nurses, but by Tuesday morning we were ready to go home and start our new life as a family of 3. However, with Mac’s surprise appearance we weren’t prepared to take him home! We sent my mom out to get us a Pack ’N Play with a bassinet so he’d have a place to sleep, and Logan, Les’ brother, on a wild goose chase for a stroller, car seat, rocking chair, and other necessary baby items! Meanwhile, Mac was practically in a coma and was far too tired to eat. We tried to persuade him for 8 hours, but he didn’t want anything to do with food. By this point he was down to 5 lbs 1oz, so the Pediatrician wouldn’t release us until Mac had a good feeding. With the help of a persistent lactation nurse we finally got him to eat and were checked out about 3:30 in the afternoon. When we put him in his car seat I thought I was going to burst my stitches I was laughing so hard! He just looked so little in it! We also dressed him for the first time and realized we have a preemie and have no clothes small enough to fit him! So we stopped by Babies ‘R Us first to go shopping and then went home. The next few days and nights were so much fun holding, staring at and feeding Baby Mac. I am pretty sure I am obsessed!
Barely filling the car seat
Big Papa
First family pic!
Angel
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