My Birth Story

For all my soon to be first time mamas out there, ye be warned- this was MY experience, with MY body and I don't want anyone getting freaked out, or on the flip side, maybe too relaxed. I didn't know what to expect from childbirth, as I had never done it before (duh) so I read tons of birth stories and literally NONE of them were what I experienced. Which is fine! Let me share how my sweet daughter finally came into the world.

And I mean finally. These days they induce you at 41 weeks if labor hasn't naturally started already. That was me. All you mamas know how you feel the last few weeks! You're HUGE, your feet hurt, you can't really eat more than a few peas at a time because your stomach is so squished. "Uncomfortable" doesn't even cover it. That was me! That's everyone I've talked to. People told me lots of sentences that started with "Because you're...." fill in the blank. Because I was short, I might deliver early, because the baby was so low, contractions would start at any time, because this was my first baby, I would probably deliver just a couple days after 40 weeks.... and it went on and on. People trying to be encouraging, and it was lovely! But 39 weeks came, then 40, and midway through that week we saw my OB and he said "Alright, if nothing starts to happen by Friday, we'll induce you." So guess what?? The induction process began Thursday night!

Thursday night around 5, I was admitted at the hospital for a couple hours and they insert what is called a "cervical catheter". It's a tube with two little balloons about an inch apart on it. They stick it up there and one balloon sits on the top of your cervix and the other sits just below it, and they fill them with water and together they put pressure on the opening of the cervix. The hope is that you will dilate to at least four cm and with that, your body will start contractions. I went home with like three tubes just hanging out.... they taped them to my leg. (peeing with those hanging out of my downstairs was REAL WEIRD) 

The cervical catheter did the work it was supposed to though, and by the next morning I was having light contractions every 10-20 minutes and I was dilated to four cm. Friday morning at 7 AM my husband I were at the hospital in labor and delivery. I was hooked up to an IV drip, starting me on 2 ml of Pitocin in order to induce more intense contractions. Every 30 minutes the sweet nurses up'd the amount of Pitocin to increase contractions. Pitocin is synthetic Oxytocin, which is naturally secreted in your body to start childbirth. Natural contractions are their own hurtle, like you're using a muscle way past the "tired, sore muscle" stage, but I would say that contractions on P. are like really horrible, intense muscle cramps. After a few doses of the P. I was having a contraction every 3-6 minutes. (Oh at some point they also broke my water.... that was gross) From 7 AM to 12 PM I breathed through them- not dilating past a four- and tried the Nitrous Oxide. N2O is the most natural pain management you can do (its laughing gas), and you can't "overdose" on it. I didn't really feel like it took the edge off of the pain, but it made me care a little less about the pain. There was no laughing involved. I did that for a couple hours, and then just needed to level up. Fentynal was my  next hero. I did that for a couple hours but by 4 PM I was EXHAUSTED. See, I really hadn't gotten any quality sleep Thursday night from contractions starting, so by 4 PM Friday afternoon, I was a little bit out of my mind. Oh, and I had been at a four this whole entire time. I was having what the nurses told me were "unproductive" contractions. Cool. 

This mama voted for the epidural! Woo! The nurse explained to my husband (I was already sold) that it would probably let me get some rest, and relax, and that being able to just rest, I would probably start to dilate more. Boom. Got it. Several people asked me if it hurt when they administered it- an anesthesiologist pokes a needle into your spine and leaves a tube in there to administer the drugs- and the answer is a swift no. They do it while you're having a contraction, and lots of things that are painful are NOTHING compared to labor contractions. All I felt was a pop, and then the drugs started in my body like water would flow down your body in the shower. I blessedly started to have zero feeling in my mid-section and then my hips and then both my legs. I took a glorious deep breath and actually laughed because I felt sooo much better. I loved getting that Epidural. I took a nap, I got to eat food, I had a bladder catheter inserted so I never had to pee- it was great. I felt okay enough to have some family members come in and chat for a few minutes, but the best part is that by 11 PM I had fully dilated to a 10!!!!! 

They had me start pushing for about 45 minutes, but baby was at a slant still so I took a break, breathed her down during the contractions (I could feel them slightly, but no pain, just the physical contraction) so by 1 AM on Saturday baby was fully in position. I pushed and pushed and pushed and PUSHED and my sweet babe was born at 2:58 AM, and she was a girl!!! (We had kept the gender a surprise for us, and everyone else.) She weighed 8 lbs 5 oz, and her head was 14 cm. I had one little tear, but other that I was fine! It felt like years before they finally put her tiny body on my chest but when they did, I was absolutely weeping. Weeping from finally being done and from being so so tired, and so so joyful. What an emotional experience. Words don't do the feelings justice- your heart is not your heart anymore, every motive and decision will be completely different from now on, and you will nurture and protect this little human even if it costs you your own life.

I didn't know that after you give birth (at least for me), every muscle in your body is fatigued and you're a little bit in shock and so you shake and shiver like you're very cold. You are just extremely exhausted. I think I had about five or six heated, weighted blankets on me to help by body calm down. I finally got something to eat and my husband and I were enraptured. Our daughter held our complete, undivided attention and she was only ever awake enough to nurse. We were in our own bed Sunday evening, and thus began life with a newborn!

She is currently taking a nap next to me on the couch as I type this, and while bigger and chubbier, your babies forever are you little babies.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any questions in the comments section.

This was taken by my mother in law maybe an hour after she was born!

For those who wonder, she looks exactly like her daddy, especially when they sleep. :)

<3

:)

Up, Up, and Away!!!

Well, we have officially moved up North! What a whirlwind. This move presented quite a few challenges, some expected and others were interesting. Me, three of my nephews, a friend, and my father in law all busted our butts loading the huge majority of our household into the U-Haul on the 9th. If I think about how all of our stuff fit into that tiny one bedroom apartment I get a headache. I couldn't believe things just kept creeping out of the woodwork. It was a crazy stressful day and in retrospect I will never do it quite like that again. Husband got back at one a.m. on the 10th, we packed up what remained and cleaned our apartment the day of the 10th and drove away the 11th. My awesome family was waiting for us that evening and we unloaded the majority into the house and garage and got the U-Haul checked back in by midnight on the 11th. Then it was a fun game of "Find Which Boxes Have Our Toothbrushes and Clean Underwear". By the time we finally made it up to our new town, I was so tired and exhausted- packing up an entire household and taking care of an infant at the same time will do that to a girl- I basically just stood around and gave directions while nibbling on some pizza. We've been slowly unpacking since- everything is finding a home, whether that's in a cupboard or the trash depends on the object in question. (At this point, I'm ready to be a fully committed minimalist, but I'm afraid my other half is not quite on board with that plan) We are settling in more and more every day, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Our new house suits our family of three quite well, and though we miss our amazing friends and family back in our home town, the call of new adventure is so exciting! Baby adjusted great! I didn't really expect anything otherwise, as Husband likes to say, she's fine as long as she is with her people (that being Mom and Dad). This town is so cute, and really everything you want a small college town to be! It has it's bars and burger joints, but it also has it's adorable Saturday Market, coffee shops, and small local businesses. We have quickly figured our way around town and already know a few people thanks to some family of mine that already lived here. They are awesome, and it's so nice seeing them more than I have the past few years!

A little about the house, it is really honestly my dream layout. Its an open floor plan on the ground level with dining area, kitchen and living room all open and flowing into each other. I love this because it brings people together and I don't feel like I miss out on anything when I'm in the kitchen cooking and cleaning. Our master bedroom is going to spoil us to anything else because it's nice and big, but it also has a double vanity bathroom and a WALK-IN closet! I feel like Anne Hathaway in "Devil Wears Prada" when she goes into the huge rooms and closets for her wardrobe makeover. Now I just need actual fancy clothes and shoes... although on second thought, its rough constantly having drool, spit up, and various gooey substances from my infant on my regular clothes. There are two more bedrooms down the hall, along with another bathroom (bringing that to a total of two and a half bathrooms) and laundry room. Seriously. This place is the dream and feels like a freakin' mansion compared to our little 800 sq ft apartment.

Baby update- she is teething and she is also quite the chatter box so there is drool and spit-bubbles from raspberries aplenty. Somehow none of it seems to end up on my husbands clothes, no, I'm the lucky winner. She's so cute though, and you can tell she is also quite pleased with herself about how much she is telling me, it's hard to mind all the smears and smudges on my shirts. We have started introducing her to solid foods, so as new parents SHOULD (wink wink), we bought the fanciest gluten-free, organic baby cereal to feed her. She loves it, and figured out how to eat the cereal off of the spoon quicker than I thought she would. Half of the cereal ends up all over her face and hands, but she's happy so I'm happy. Just this evening we leveled up to some pureed banana, and her face was HILARIOUS. Apparently this mashed banana was secretly a lemon- she found it very tart and sour. Husband and I were dying of laughter and she just kept puckering up and doing the one-eye squint thing. You know, the one face you make when you've had a particularly disgusting shot of whiskey? That one. Lips out, one eye closed, shudder. We will be trying apple next, and hopefully she doesn't grow up with a strange aversion to bananas.

Since tomorrow is Saturday (Woo! Woo! Anyone have any amazing plans?!) we will be hitting the afore mentioned Market downtown. Thanks for reading!

Bye, Apartment 9!

 I had to pull a trailer for the very first time! (This is pulling away from in-law's house)

 Sweet Girl and I are settling in nicely!

Enjoying a nice little latte!