Friday, March 26, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Special Delivery
One of my many failed attempts to nap
It was about 9 pm and he guessed that I would be at 10 centimeters around midnight. If I were to opt to turn up the epidural at this point, it might end up being longer. It looked as if little Jacob would not make his way into this world until March 16th. The doc left to go home again, letting us know that he would be back around twelve, and Josh said that the epidural decision was up to me. Feeling like I still needed that nap, I told him that I would hate to prolong this process any longer (it had already been 27 hours since we started this adventure), but I wanted it turned up. We called the nurse and she came in to give me some sweet relief. I'm not sure what prompted her to look, but before she turned it up she took a look at my back. She said, "I'm not sure how to tell you this, but the epidural is no longer in you." Say what?? I tried to stay calm (well, Josh tried to keep me calm as I had a minor panic attack for a moment) and she went to call the anesthesiologist again. Apparently when he had adjusted it, he forgot to tape it up my back again and somewhere along the line it had fallen out. Because my right side had been so overly numb to start with, I was still feeling the effects of it in that side only, but my left side had already started to wear off completely. Josh helped me relax through the contractions while we waited for him to return. When he finally made an appearance again, the nurses checked me to make sure I was still within that magical epidural window and... I was at a 10! Hallelujah! The good news was that it was time to push, the bad news was that it was too late to readminister my epidural, but I did not care. I had gone from 7 to 10 centimeters in 25 minutes and it was music to my ears! They called the doctor to come back (he had just made it home... again!) and we started to push without him.
I remember looking at the clock when I started pushing and it was 10:05 pm. When the doctor came in I told him that I was not going to push for more than an hour. He told me that it could take much longer than that since this was my first baby, but I was bound and determined to get him out of me within that hour window... the process had been long enough as it was! In my opinion, I would choose pushing over contractions any day! Having a "job" to do kept my mind focused on something other than the pain. I did ask at one point why in the world my left side ached so badly and the doctor told me that at this point I was feeling natural labor on the left side of my body and labor with the aid of an epidural on the right side. Most women have to go through labor twice to know the difference (having one baby with and one without an epidural), but I had a perfect comparison right there in my own body! So maybe I did not have the natural labor I had planned on originally, but half natural isn't half bad if you ask me! At some point during the pushing stage I threw up yet again, but the doctor assured me that this was a good thing and actually aided the process. I looked at the clock and it was 10:03 pm... my hopes of being done in an hour were about to be dashed, but that just refueled me and made me work harder. I told myself I had about three more sets of pushes to go.
When the baby started crowning, Josh suited up and prepared to be the catcher. Since our doctor is so awesome (and since we have a friendship with him that goes beyond just being our doctor), he walked Josh through everything from that point on and let Josh do everything to actually deliver our son. Unfortunately for me, I was in my own little world at this point so I kind of missed seeing Josh's reaction to it all. He caught our little one and cleaned him off a bit, which allowed me to snap back into reality again. As soon as he handed that sweet boy to me, I started bawling and could not believe the overwhelming joy and love that swelled up inside of me. I just kept saying, "Hi baby" and "Hello, little one" over and over again... it was certainly one of the greatest moments of my life and one that I will always cherish and remember. I'm not sure how long he laid on me, but after a little while I reluctantly gave him back to Josh so that he could go with the nurses to get him all cleaned up. Since my epidural was completely gone by this point, I was able to get right up and clean myself up before they came back and before visitors came in to see us.
First family moments... it doesn't get any better than this
We spent that night (obviously since I delivered at 11:20 pm) and the next one in the hospital and just soaked it all in. It was such a sweet time that I would not trade for the world as we spent time with our new family, welcoming visitors when they stopped by. There is no greater feeling in the world than holding your baby for the first time.
On St. Patty's Day we packed up our things and headed home. Part of me was sad to leave the hospital as those two days had been so quiet and peaceful, but we also looked forward to taking our son home. I rode in the back seat (as most new moms do I'm sure) and Josh drove the speed limit as we now had precious cargo in the vehicle. It was the perfect spring day, made even better by our new sweet little one.
I can't say that I'm ready to go through it all again any time soon, especially since we are having way too much fun getting to know this little guy, but I do know that it's an experience that I will look forward to in the future. Josh was wonderfully supportive and I have never experienced anything like it in my life. I have heard that loving your child can be a form of worship and after this first week home, I finally understand what that means. The entire labor and delivery process and every day after it has made me understand God's love for us. And that love is one that gets bigger everyday. I am so in love that I can hardly stand it.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Oh Happy Day!
Resulted in this!
I'm hoping to catch up on some blog posts today... labor and delivery, the first few days home, and all that fun stuff. I have a whole new respect for moms who blog now... those priorities change quickly, don't they? But until then, just know that I'm enjoying our first week home and soaking up every minute.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
The waiting game...
Our due date is still set at March 22nd and we will still be induced this week as I am now officially at 39 weeks. It felt like this week would never get here! Even though we've been anxious, I never really expected to go any earlier than my induction date since kids in this family tend to come late. But now that it's all coming to an end, I can't help but feel mixed emotions. For nine months this little one has been solely in my care. I've felt every bump, every kick, and every roll that sometimes seemed to crush my ribcage. I've talked to my belly, rubbed it constantly, and in some ways it now feels like it's a part of me. And even though I'm ecstatic that I now get to share him with my husband, a part of me doesn't want to share him with anyone else! However, I've spent every night for the past few weeks imagining his sweet face, wondering what he's going to look like and what he's going to grow up to be, and completely overwhelmed by how much love this heart already feels for him. Women always say that it's a love you don't understand until you have your own child, and I'm already beginning to see how true that is. And at some point this week, I will understand it even more. Oh how blessed we truly are!
This will probably be my last post for awhile, or at least until we are home from the hospital with the little one, so please be patient as I am not sure what day that will be. And if any of you know how to fast forward the whole labor part of this deal and magically get this kid out of me without having to go through it, please comment and tell me your secret!
Logic
- It can't be that bad, can it? I mean, if it were so terrible women would not be willing to do it multiple times.
- I can totally do this. I'm pretty athletic and flexible, so this will be a piece of cake.
- It's just like a marathon I'm sure. There will be a point when I want to quit and then I'll get over it. If I can run 26.2 miles for a shiny piece of metal, surely I can give birth to end up with a baby.
- My guess is that I'm probably one of those genetically strange women who won't really feel contractions. The nurses and doctors will all be amazed by my smooth and easy labor.
- My body was made to do this. I probably won't even have to do any work at all.
- It's only 24-hours of my life... it will all be over before I even realize it began.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Happy Birthday to...
Being up for anything, not matter how wacky the idea,
And as I mentioned, before... always making me laugh. So as a gift to you, I am going to post a picture that I know will make HER laugh even though it pains me to do so. You see, a few years back I went camping with her family and was in charge of being the s'more artist. The boys would bring me their marshmallows and I would sandwich them between the graham cracker and the chocolate. I tried to play it off that I wasn't sampling in between, but the next day when we looked at the photos in the daylight, the evidence proved otherwise.
Which remind me... the next birthday post that I will get to do will be for our Little Baby Jake... due any day now! I certainly look forward to that one!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Happy Birthday to...
Many people in this world have sisters, but I'm fortunate to be best friends with mine! Even though she's still in Florida, I had the gift of 5 wonderful years living right around the corner from her and I wouldn't trade them for the world. Mindy is one of the most thoughtful, genuine, kind, quirky (in a good way) people that I know and I am blessed beyond belief to have her in my life. She's a phone call away and is there for me anytime I need her. Not only that, but she's more of a sister to my husband than he could ever ask for. Unfortunately I don't have any embarrassing pictures of her growing up to post (although I should do an entire post on great hair-moments in history of this woman!) but I do have a few favorite things about her to share.
Her behavior is sometimes inexplicable, which makes her very funny
She's a great party planner
And I love that we got to experience pregnancy together
And that we could both sport cute little bumps
And mostly, I love knowing that if she could do it, I can, too. And that she's going to be a great mommy to my nephew.
Mindala, we miss you dearly and hope to see you very soon.
Now I need to go dig up some photos for the other sister tomorrow... I love that I get to do these two posts back-to-back. Very convenient, ladies!
Oh, and I guess I should mention that it's Teeny's birthday, too... the red heads have to stick together I guess. Have a happy birthday!!!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Dog For Sale
Sure, Teeny has run away before. Usually she runs to the neighbor's yard or down the street and then she comes back.... not because I call her and she listens, but because she is done exploring. First it was for five minutes, then maybe fifteen, and at the worst it was an hour. I was a wreck during that hour, but old faithful came back home eventually. I used to run after her and then eventually resorted to hopping in the car and trying to follow her as she likes to "go for a ride" and will usually jump in. But last night, at 9:30 pm, this 9-month pregnant mommy wasn't having it. I was done. Besides, she bolted so quickly that I couldn't even see where she went (which was a first... usually she sticks to the same path). So a half hour went by and I was fine. I was sure she'd be back soon. Then another hour passed with no sign of her and I really wanted to go to bed. I went to the back yard, whistled a few times, and did not see or hear her anywhere. Fine, have it your way, I thought. Let's see how well you handle sleeping outside.
So into bed I climbed. All was well until Josh said something totally unrelated to the dog and all of my pregnancy hormones took over in full effect. "The... dog... ran... away" I managed between sniffles. "I... hate... her... so much." I sobbed. Josh offered to go look for her, but I told him not to because I wouldn't even know where to begin to look. She could've been miles from home by then.
Somehow I managed to fall asleep, but between not sleeping well anyway due to the bowling ball I swalled and knowing that my dog was out wandering the streets, it wasn't very restful.
Then... I heard it. Barking. Lots of barking. And then Minnie heard it and ran downstairs. She was back! I glanced at the clock and saw that it was two in the morning! That dumb animal had been running amok for four and a half hours!!! Of course I let her back inside, but then what? Do I kill her? Reward her for coming back even though she worried her mama sick for hours on end? Tie her up and make her sleep outside? Since I was half asleep and had zero energy, I just opened the door, let her in, and went back to bed. Way to be the alpha. It's no wonder she doesn't listen to me.
I wish I didn't love that stupid animal so much. I really do mean it when I say that I hate her because every time she bolts on me, I really do. There is a voice in my head that tells me that it would serve her right if something happened to her. Then, as we found out last night, there's the outpour of tears that tell me that despite her naughty behavior, I love that dumb animal. I can't even imagine how much stronger that love is going to be when it's my own child... it's terrifying and exciting at the same time. And there is no way I'm running after that animal with an infant at home.
So maybe I'm not entirely serious about giving away the dog, but what I can say is this: my mom is coming this week and if she runs away again, there will be a dog in her suitcase on the way home. She's the only person in this world who loves that naughty animal just as much as I do!
**And just as an update (as of 3:15 pm on Tuesday, March 9th), she has escaped once again and is currently roaming the neighborhood. I'm officially back to hating that stupid dog again.***
Friday, March 5, 2010
Showers of Happiness
The gift we've been waiting for! THANK YOU, Connie, for the incredible quilt. It turned out so beautiful and this will be in the family forever! This one got a round of applause when I opened it.
Seriously? Is my belly really THAT BIG???
Thanks to my fabulous hostesses! Katie... you're next!
Alright Jake, we're just waiting on you now, buddy!