Thursday, October 14, 2010
Splish Splash
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
My Baby Story
I have went back and forth on whether of not to write about my labor and delivery experience. Part of me feels like it may be too private of a matter to blog about, but I have had many friends ask me about it. So this is a warning paragraph... anyone who does NOT want to read about the birthing experience I had skip this post and report back later to read about cuter baby topics. Don't worry things won't get too graphic.
At 3:30 P.M. on Tuesday, Oct. 5th MM was hanging out at our worship leader's house about to play some guitar, and I was at home surfing the world wide web when my nesting urge fired up and I decided to head into the baby room for some satisfying organizing of baby items. While standing in the nursery I felt a gush of liquid... an actual gush like people see in movies. I called M to tell him to head home asap because my water had broken; upon getting a hold of my husband he wanted to know if I was absolutely sure I hadn't just peed myself. Now I understand that this is actually a common thing that happens, very pregnant women pee and think it's their water. But the liquid I felt was too much in quantity and came out too fast, so I was positive I had not become a victim of the pee!
A couple hours later we were admitted to Reynold's Army Community Hospital- blood work ran, IV placed, and first round of phone calls made. My contractions at first were mild, felt like menstrual cramps. I as only dilated to 1 CM; it was time to wait it out. By this time I had come to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to get the last 3 weeks of pregnancy to physically and mentally prepare for having this baby... he had decided his time was now. A million emotions ran through MM and I... we were anxious, nervous, excited, overwhelmed, overjoyed, and a little scared, at least I was a little scared. No amount of reading, classes, or conversations with mothers can prepare you for exactly what you will go through when you deliver a baby.
After 8 hours of laboring I decided it was time for an epidural. My contractions were getting so strong and coming a minute apart. Unfortunately the anesthesiologist was working on another patient and my wait time for relief was an hour. MM helped me practice breathing through contractions while holding perfectly still so that I would be ready for when the needle was being placed into my back. I think I was just as scared about the epidural as I was about delivering the baby. The thought of a big needle in your spine is always going to sound scary to me, but let me tell you getting the epidural was thankfully much less dramatic than I had made it out to be in my head. As the Fentanyl spread through my lower body I was finally able to relax. My muscles were tired from repeatedly tensing up during contractions. At this point in the night (12:30 A.M.) I was dilated to 3 CM. At 1:30 A.M. the nurse suggested that family leave for the night because as a first time mom I would be laboring all night before it would be time for Baby J to be born. She estimated that I would dilate a centimeter every 1-2 hours. Upon the request of the nurse MM's mom, sister, and Nana left the hospital to get a couple hours of rest at our house before it was time to welcome Baby J into the world.
My mom arrived at the hospital at 2 A.M, I started to feel contraction pain again and the pain grew and grew with intensity. I knew something wasn't working right. MM found the nurse to let her know about my pain and that we thought my epidural was no longer working. She came in to do a dilation check before dosing me up again... to her surprise, MM's surprise, and most definitely my surprise I had dilated the remaining 7 CM in just a short couple of hours and was at that time considered complete. When MM asked the nurse "are we really ready now?", she replied, "well you are, but I'm not, I have to hurry and get set up, I wasn't expecting this yet".
It was now time!! Problem with that is I was no longer experiencing any drug relief and I was past the window to get anymore. I was informed that I was going to have to have this baby the way mother nature intended... which is great for mother nature, but that was NOT the way I had intended on having this baby! I was terrified... I cried. MM handed my mom his phone to tell his mom she better hurry up and get back to the hospital asap. The next 15 minutes were spent trying to breathe through contractions and not pushing when all my body wanted to do was push, push, push! I can't describe the urge your body has to push when it's time, but trying to fight that urge goes against everything your body is attempting to do.
Finally things were set and the delivery process started. MM, my mom, and mom-in-law were all in the room. MM and I had decided about halfway through my pregnancy that we wanted to have just the 2 of us in the room for the birth of our baby, but when the actual time came I was comforted having more familiar faces around me and I know the grandmas were beyond touched to be able to witness the birth of their first grandchild. Something about watching your own babies bring babies into the world, I imagine to be a very full circle type of feeling... a sense of knowing what life is really all about.
The physically hardest 45 minutes of my life came to an end when Baby J made his way into the world on Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 at 3:30 A.M. Exactly 12 hours after my water broke. It's true what they say about the pain being worth the end result. I know the pain I felt, I know the fear I had, but none compares to the love I feel when I look into the face of my baby. This perfect human that is half me and half my amazing husband. INDESCRIBABLE!
Thanks be to God.
At 3:30 P.M. on Tuesday, Oct. 5th MM was hanging out at our worship leader's house about to play some guitar, and I was at home surfing the world wide web when my nesting urge fired up and I decided to head into the baby room for some satisfying organizing of baby items. While standing in the nursery I felt a gush of liquid... an actual gush like people see in movies. I called M to tell him to head home asap because my water had broken; upon getting a hold of my husband he wanted to know if I was absolutely sure I hadn't just peed myself. Now I understand that this is actually a common thing that happens, very pregnant women pee and think it's their water. But the liquid I felt was too much in quantity and came out too fast, so I was positive I had not become a victim of the pee!
A couple hours later we were admitted to Reynold's Army Community Hospital- blood work ran, IV placed, and first round of phone calls made. My contractions at first were mild, felt like menstrual cramps. I as only dilated to 1 CM; it was time to wait it out. By this time I had come to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to get the last 3 weeks of pregnancy to physically and mentally prepare for having this baby... he had decided his time was now. A million emotions ran through MM and I... we were anxious, nervous, excited, overwhelmed, overjoyed, and a little scared, at least I was a little scared. No amount of reading, classes, or conversations with mothers can prepare you for exactly what you will go through when you deliver a baby.
After 8 hours of laboring I decided it was time for an epidural. My contractions were getting so strong and coming a minute apart. Unfortunately the anesthesiologist was working on another patient and my wait time for relief was an hour. MM helped me practice breathing through contractions while holding perfectly still so that I would be ready for when the needle was being placed into my back. I think I was just as scared about the epidural as I was about delivering the baby. The thought of a big needle in your spine is always going to sound scary to me, but let me tell you getting the epidural was thankfully much less dramatic than I had made it out to be in my head. As the Fentanyl spread through my lower body I was finally able to relax. My muscles were tired from repeatedly tensing up during contractions. At this point in the night (12:30 A.M.) I was dilated to 3 CM. At 1:30 A.M. the nurse suggested that family leave for the night because as a first time mom I would be laboring all night before it would be time for Baby J to be born. She estimated that I would dilate a centimeter every 1-2 hours. Upon the request of the nurse MM's mom, sister, and Nana left the hospital to get a couple hours of rest at our house before it was time to welcome Baby J into the world.
My mom arrived at the hospital at 2 A.M, I started to feel contraction pain again and the pain grew and grew with intensity. I knew something wasn't working right. MM found the nurse to let her know about my pain and that we thought my epidural was no longer working. She came in to do a dilation check before dosing me up again... to her surprise, MM's surprise, and most definitely my surprise I had dilated the remaining 7 CM in just a short couple of hours and was at that time considered complete. When MM asked the nurse "are we really ready now?", she replied, "well you are, but I'm not, I have to hurry and get set up, I wasn't expecting this yet".
It was now time!! Problem with that is I was no longer experiencing any drug relief and I was past the window to get anymore. I was informed that I was going to have to have this baby the way mother nature intended... which is great for mother nature, but that was NOT the way I had intended on having this baby! I was terrified... I cried. MM handed my mom his phone to tell his mom she better hurry up and get back to the hospital asap. The next 15 minutes were spent trying to breathe through contractions and not pushing when all my body wanted to do was push, push, push! I can't describe the urge your body has to push when it's time, but trying to fight that urge goes against everything your body is attempting to do.
Finally things were set and the delivery process started. MM, my mom, and mom-in-law were all in the room. MM and I had decided about halfway through my pregnancy that we wanted to have just the 2 of us in the room for the birth of our baby, but when the actual time came I was comforted having more familiar faces around me and I know the grandmas were beyond touched to be able to witness the birth of their first grandchild. Something about watching your own babies bring babies into the world, I imagine to be a very full circle type of feeling... a sense of knowing what life is really all about.
The physically hardest 45 minutes of my life came to an end when Baby J made his way into the world on Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 at 3:30 A.M. Exactly 12 hours after my water broke. It's true what they say about the pain being worth the end result. I know the pain I felt, I know the fear I had, but none compares to the love I feel when I look into the face of my baby. This perfect human that is half me and half my amazing husband. INDESCRIBABLE!
Thanks be to God.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Turning Twenty-Nine
M celebrated his birthday a week ago. Unfortunately his birthday has been over-shadowed by hard-to-swallow medical news about his precious Nana. She has been diagnosed with pretty extensive liver cancer, for which there is no cure; and hers is too advanced for surgery or a transplant. In other words our best course of action now is prayer, prayer, prayer (feel free to join in!!) followed by positive attitudes, spending quality time with her, and following the doctors instructions.
After a hard day at the hospital, the family (Nana included) all went out to eat at a little local restaurant in Bixby, OK that no one had visited in years and years. For such sad circumstances we were all able to have a really great time... good conversation and some great laughs, not to mention the delicious fried pickles. Ok, maybe the fried pickles only made the prego's night.
After a hard day at the hospital, the family (Nana included) all went out to eat at a little local restaurant in Bixby, OK that no one had visited in years and years. For such sad circumstances we were all able to have a really great time... good conversation and some great laughs, not to mention the delicious fried pickles. Ok, maybe the fried pickles only made the prego's night.
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