I should probably write about this before I forget everything...because I've forgotten a lot already!
First off, I would like to flat out say that this little guy was 100% planned. Like, we "tried" to get pregnant with him (and obviously it worked, haha). I say this to show that not every baby has to be an accident if you're under the age of 25 - that you can be ready to have a baby at 22 and completely happy with your decision (which I am)
:)
That's all!!
Fast forward 9-ish months...
My due date was July 20th, 2014.
Come the beginning of July, when I was about 37 weeks along, I was beginning to be SO impatient. A few sources considered 37 weeks to be full-term, and I was really hoping that I'd go into labor then.
37 weeks passed, then 38 weeks, then 39....
I was dying.
I had already gained about 55-60 pounds and my knees were starting to hurt from carrying all of the extra weight, as well as my back and (very swollen) feet. There was a lot of pressure on my pelvis, so getting up and walking around was almost excruciating because all of my ligaments were inflamed. I was going through stretch mark cream at lightning speed and couldn't afford to buy another bottle after week 38, so my stretch marks were out of control! I didn't recognize my swollen face anymore and the constant 100+ degree St. George temperature really put me over the edge - I was ready to have this baby!
Needless to say, I didn't particularly enjoy my pregnancy (for those of you that do, be grateful!)
The Wednesday before my due date, I went to my weekly doctor's appointment. They told me that for first time mothers, they don't induce until 41 weeks. So my induction date was set for July 27th - which would be a week past my due date.
Oh how I prayed that I wouldn't make it to my induction date!
That night, the false labor began. I had contractions for 4 hours straight that were very intense and 5-7 minutes apart.
Phillip and I were so excited, we sat on the couch watching Cake Boss at 3 AM while timing each contraction (poor guy had to work in the morning though)
Then I fell asleep.
And they went away.
CRAP!!!!
I was so upset! I really didn't want to go over my due date, and by this point I was only 4 days away.....
Every night up until my due date I experienced this "false labor". I was exhausted!
On the actual eve of my due date I didn't even go to sleep until 7 AM because I had contractions all night (of course they never got closer than 5-6 minutes so I never went to the hospital)
DUE DATE:
My due date has finally arrived! A lot of people seem to greet this day with happiness and anticipation, but I was mostly disappointed and discouraged because I hadn't given birth yet. I would joke (bitterly) that I'd have a 20 year old man in my stomach before I finally gave birth.
I seriously thought I was going to be pregnant forever!
Phillip went to church while I got a tiny, yet precious half-hour of sleep (little did I know that it would need to last me a while..)
When he returned, we were both fed up and decided that today was going to be the day that I would give birth!!
We then headed to Wal-Mart to begin a treacherous 2 hour walk. We walked through each and every single aisle, and then proceeded to walk the perimeter of the store - twice.
When we began, my contractions were 5-7 minutes apart. However, the longer we walked, the stronger they got.
I wonder what the fellow shoppers thought when they saw an extremely pregnant woman hunched over her cart in extreme pain in the middle of Wal-Mart.....
Finally, about an hour and a half into the walk, the contractions became FOUR minutes apart!!
IT'S A MIRACLE! THEY GOT CLOSER! But my excitement was soon dulled by the intense pain of the contraction following it....
When we began our walk at 1:45 pm, I told Phillip that we were going to walk until 4 pm.
At 3:45 pm I just could not stand the pain any more.
We then left to go to Labor & Delivery.
Assuming that they would send me home because I wasn't in actual labor, we were hopeful that they'd at least give me some pain meds!
LABOR & DELIVERY
When we arrived, I told the nurses that my contractions were about 4 minutes apart and very intense.
They asked when my due date was, and I told them, "Today!"
They checked my cervix - I was dilated at a THREE!!!!! I've been at 1 centimeter for 3 weeks! THREE!!
But my hopes remained low, because I just knew that my body would suck and stop having contractions the second I got hooked up to the monitors....
Much to my surprise, and right on time, I had an extremely intense contraction that showed up on the monitor. The line made a big, fat mountain on the screen and the contraction lasted for over 2 minutes.
The nurse said, "I'll call the doctor and see what he wants to do"
She left, and I had a few more contractions. I couldn't believe that my body was actually cooperating.
A little while later the nurse came back and said,
"Alright, let's do this! Time to have a baby. We'll get you hooked up with an epidural and pitocin (a drug that induces labor)"
Today?!?! I couldn't believe it. I was truly terrified....but so excited!!
I went into the delivery room - which was equipped with a hide-a-bed couch and a TV.
By this point my contractions were getting VERY painful, and Phillip had to press on my knees (some sort of fancy acupuncture that the nurse showed us) in order for the pain to subside. I was desperate for an epidural, especially since I had been having this pain for about 4 days.
The anesthesiologist arrived and gave me the epidural (Phillip almost passed out from the sight of the huge needle, haha) and soon I was completely numb from the rib cage downward.
I loved watching the monitor show a giant contraction when I felt absolutely nothing.
I am incredibly grateful for modern medicine.
They then gave me the pitocin, and my contractions then became 1-2 minutes apart.
Now we had to wait for labor to progress on its own - however long that would take.
A few hours had passed, and the doctor finally arrived. I was 5 centimeters dilated - time to break my water!!
Low and behold, meconium. Aka, the baby had pooped (prematurely) while in the womb.
This was something I was absolutely terrified of. Usually it's not a big deal and most babies are fine, but there's a chance that he could have inhaled the meconium - which can be fatal.
The doctor reassured me that the baby would probably be fine, but he was going to have the respiratory therapist present when he was born just to make sure everything would be okay.
Of course, I was glad that there would be a lot of precaution, but of course I was thinking the worst and became very worried.
At this point, the doctor said I would probably dilate 1 cm each hour until I reached 10 cm.
This meant I had 5 hours to go! It was about 9 or 10 pm at this point, so I knew he wouldn't be born on his due date. Having him the next day was even better, though, because 7/21/14 are all multiples of seven. This is important, haha.
We continued to wait. The nurse checked me every hour. And finally at around 3 AM I was dilated to 10 centimeters!!!
Time to push.
Each time I felt a contraction, I would take a deep breath and push for 10 seconds, 3 times in a row.I did this for about an hour before one of the nurses said, "Wow, there's a full head of blonde hair!"
I pushed about another half hour until his head began to emerge. Once his head was out, I was told to stop pushing so that the respiratory therapist could suction Harvey's lungs out in case he had inhaled the meconium (I think).
Once all was clear, I gave a couple more pushes and out came the baby!
I tend to go pretty numb when important things happen to me - and when they put a (baby poop covered) baby on my chest to be wiped off I was just like...."wut?"
I had expected to cry and be soo happy just like other moms claim, but I was so ridiculously tired and out of it that I was just like, "Hello child." Haha.
Over the course of the day I fell madly in love with him so it all worked out ;)
Anyway, Harvey was a healthy, strapping boy - weighing in at 9 pounds 7 oz. We could not believe how much he weighed! No wonder I was so uncomfortable carrying him!
Because of his large size, however, he was having a hard time keeping his blood sugar up - thus making him pretty lethargic. This was pretty stressful because they had to prick his little foot every couple of hours to check his sugar and he HATED that, and I had to supplement with formula as well as breastfeed him (which I still hate doing to this day, haha).
We got to take him home on the 22nd (I think) and I haven't gotten a solid 8 hours of sleep ever since! Haha. It's all good though, he's worth it ;).
There were a few more issues that week with his bilirubin levels (jaundice) and some dairy sensitivity - but otherwise he is happy, healthy, and strong!
I'm not really one to publicly gush and say how incredible those first days of motherhood were, so I will not go into that. However, these last 6 months of Harvey's life I have never been so incredibly happy! He is one freaking cute kid and I love watching him grow. Life is good :)
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