Hello there! Oh my goodness, has it been a minute or what!?
My entire life has changed since my last post, so I’m just going to jump right
in. Let me start off by saying my sweet baby is here! I will share about that a
little later on. First let me post some bump updates.
19 weeks
20 weeks. We were headed to my
husbands work Christmas party
22 weeks. Merry Christmas! I LOVED
my Christmas tree!
26 weeks
27 weeks
28 weeks
Unfortunately those are all of the pictures I have of my
belly. I got to a point where I just felt so big and very unpretty (I’m sure
most women get that way). I don’t remember now how I felt during each one of
these weeks, but I know now that I miss being pregnant!
A few things I do remember and want to talk about are ways I
tried to make myself go into labor (don’t worry, I was over 38 weeks before I
tried any of these).
I tried walking (I walked my butt off for 2 weeks), spicy
food, sex, cleaning, bouncing on a labor ball, nipple stimulation (using breast
pump), getting a pedi, mowing my yard (I swear I mowed it twice a week)… I was
trying everything and nothing worked! The day after my due date (May 1st)
I finally realized no matter what I did, she would come when she was ready. I
told myself I wasn’t even going to think about going into labor, I wasn’t going
to try and make myself go into labor, I was just going to get it completely out
of my mind.
That day my husband and I decided we wanted to do some yard
work. We went to lowes to buy some flowers and mulch, went home and started
working in the yard. We were out there most of the day. By the end of the night
my poor legs, feet and ankles were so swollen it hurt to move. I got in the
shower, washed my hair (thankfully) and went to bed around 11pm. I woke up at
5am to go use the bathroom and once I got back in the bed, I started having
contractions. They were about 15 minutes apart and bearable, so I went back to
sleep. At 7am the contractions were strong enough to wake me up. They were
about 9 minutes apart at this time. I woke Joseph up and told him what was
going on and that if they get stronger and closer together we may need to go to
the hospital. I told him to go back to sleep and if I needed him I would wake
him up. I didn’t think this was it, I
figured this was another false alarm and I had already told myself I wasn’t
going back to the hospital unless I was coming home with a baby.
Something told me to go ahead and start curling my hair just
in case (my plan was to look halfway pretty during labor, however that didn’t
happen lol). My contractions were 5-6 minutes apart by this time. I called my
mom to tell her what was going on and to see what she thought I should do. She
told me I needed to go be checked just in case. By the time I was done with my
hair the contractions were about 4 minutes apart and they were extremely
painful, there was no way I was putting any makeup on. I woke Joseph up and
asked him to get ready because I thought we needed to go. He jumped right up
and was ready in record time. I gave coco a hug and a kiss and we left for the
hospital. I, at this time, was still thinking it was a false alarm but went
ahead and called & text friends and family to just let them know just in
case it was the real deal. The ride over was awful.. AWFUL… my contractions
were 2 minutes apart and I believe we got behind every single tractor on the
way there (any other time I would be perfectly fine with tractors, not so much
this day) and I started getting scared then. I really thought I was about to
have her in the car! It was just my luck that every single road (okay, maybe
not EVERY road, but it sure felt like it) in Owensboro was being worked on. The
contractions were so so painful.
We finally made it to the hospital. I waddled my big ole
pregnant butt in those doors and from there everything went so fast. The doctor
checked me and I was 4cm, he called my midwife (who I thought was on vacation,
but she had JUST got back), she told him to admit me. I remember looking at
Joseph and saying “this is it, its really happening. Are you ready?”. They
started my IV & got my into my labor room.
I was trying to hold off on getting an epidural so they gave me some
pain meds via IV. About 5 minutes later the pain medication was doing absolutely
nothing for me and I asked for an epidural. It was amazing!
I had lots of visitors; every one was so excited to meet
sweet Lucy. I was checked many times throughout the day. My midwife broke my
water (I had a room full of people, at that time, I didn’t care! Haha). I
remember being 4cm, 5cm, 6cm, 8cm (I was stuck at 8cm for several hours, they
ended up giving me pitocin around 7pm to help the process move along). At about
8:30 my brother and my sister-in-law was in the room and my midwife came to
check me. They stepped out in the hall, my midwife said I was 10cm and it was
time to start pushing. The nurses got everything ready and by 8:50 I was
pushing. I was giving it my all, doing the best that I could. I remember
thinking each time I stopped that I was going to be sick. Joseph ended up
holding a cold towel on my head to try and help. I pushed for 20 minutes and my
midwife said she hadn’t moved any, and she knew I was pushing hard. Lucy had
turned sideways at some point during the day and there was no way I would have
been able to push her out. My midwife told me I could push for 2 more hours and
end up having a c-section anyway or I could just go ahead and do it. I chose to
go ahead and do it. My IV got to hurting
so I had my nurse check it, and just as I thought, my vein blew (I have AWFUL
veins). It took them 45 minutes to get another IV started (they ended up having
to use some kind of ultrasound machine to find one, it felt like it took
forever. That stupid IV was the only thing stopping me from seeing my baby).
Once the IV was started they wheeled me into the OR, strapped me down and it
was game on. I kept telling the anesthesiologist that I felt like I was going
to be sick. I was so scared, sick, shaking and so cold. I freaked out a little
and kept telling Joseph I was scared, I was going to be sick, and I didn’t want
to do it anymore. He held my hand the whole time and kept assuring me I was
okay, and it was almost over. I heard the doctor say “stand up dad, it’s about
to get interesting”. I’m assuming Joseph stood up, I don’t know because I was
keeping my eyes closed (I thought if I kept them closed I wouldn’t be sick). At
10:17pm I heard the sweetest sound I have ever heard. Lucy’s first cry. I
opened my eyes and Joseph was saying “look honey, it’s our baby, she’s here” I
turned to look at her, she was (and still is) so perfect. I smiled, started
crying, and then I got sick. I guess once I seen that she was okay I couldn’t
fight it anymore. As I was getting sick the anesthesiologist said “well, I
guess she is sick” I was SO mad when I heard him say that, but whatever he put
in my IV knocked me out before I could say anything lol. I woke up in the recovery
room and got to do skin to skin for over 2 hours. She tried to nurse a few
times, I’m not sure if I was producing anything at that time or not. Probably
not. They let some of the family come back to the recovery room to see her
since it was so late. I was in labor for 17 ½ hours. Now that I look back on
it, I feel like it flew by and I wish I could relive that day. It was the best
day of my life. I have never felt more love and joy then I do now. That sweet
little girl has changed my life so much and I’m so thankful God blessed me with
being her mother.
I had the best doctor and nurses. We didn’t have one that we
didn’t like. In my next post I will talk about the days following her birth,
our hospital stay, breastfeeding up & downs, pumping, jaundice, sleep (or
lack there of) and a few tips! In closing, here are some pictures of that amazing day!
The first time I held my baby
I hope y’all enjoyed this post and will come back to read
more!
Until next time!
Momma S
