He's Here! Part 1

June 17th, 2016

I woke up at 5:30 in the morning on Friday, at 40 + 5, with what I thought were just more Braxton-Hicks. Around 6:30, while my husband was getting ready for work, I downloaded a contraction timer app, just to see if I was being worrisome over nothing. A few days before, I had contractions off and on until noon and then nothing, so I wasn't trying to get my hopes up.  The app confirmed that I was indeed having real labor contractions and that I "needed to call an ambulance or head to the nearest hospital as soon as possible" which was SUPER comforting…NOT. 

Being stubborn, as I usually am, I decided to take a shower and see how things felt after that, after all, it had only been about an hour and a half of fairly regular contractions. After getting out of the shower, I wasn't feeling much better, in fact, the contractions were getting stronger, and I told my husband we needed to go to the hospital right away. 

He took the longer route to the interstate and he might have driven 2-3 mph over the speed limit….which I WILL bring up….one day…. ;) 

Once we got to the hospital, all of the laboring mother parking spots were full, so we parked on the 3rd level, took the elevator down, and then walked over to L&D. 

They took my weight (BLESS), height, and some background info, and then walked me over to triage. In triage, we had a nice nurse named Kelly (I think) and she did an over-all assessment, hooked me up to the monitor, and checked my cervical dilation.  I was at a four and was 90% effaced.  When I had my 40 week appointment two days prior, I was only at a 2 but I was already about 90% effaced, which was wonderful since we had no progress up to that point. 

After watching the monitor and my contractions, the nurse called the doctor and they agreed to keep me and take me to a room.  The nurse started an IV and we walked with her to a delivery room and decided to let our parents know that I was being admitted. 

Around 10:00, the anesthesiologist came to talk to me about an epidural and we ended up deciding to do it right then and there.  The nurse had just checked me and I was at a 5.  It wasn't a terrible experience but it definitely was helpful. I barely noticed contractions after that, unless I was watching the monitor.  I think they moved the computer and monitor back out of my eyesight after a while, because they knew I was a NICU nurse and they probably didn't want me to worry, if anything changed.

At 12:00 I was at an 8 and we were just waiting on my water to break on its own.  They gave me a lovely catheter. Thank goodness I had already gotten my epidural at this point…and that I had given up on being modest :\ 

At 3 that afternoon, I was an "8-9" according to the nurse and we were still waiting on my water to break.  They said my water bag was "bulging" and that it would be any time. My family showed up about this time, my parents and my oldest brother. I gave my mom the go-ahead to tell my younger brothers.  Logan and his wife Morgan jumped in the car VERY quickly after they heard the news. Clark came after he got off work.

At 4:20, Dr. Large (the on-call OB) came, checked me, and we decided to break my water, as she thought that would complete my effacement, which it did. She also said we would start pushing in the next hour or so.

Excited. Nervous. Anxious. Tired. I was all over the board with my emotions. 

At 6:00, we started pushing. 

1 hour in, my baby boy was still not progressing and dropping down like he should. The Dr. said his head was against my pubic bone and that it felt "big" but we would keep trying for a little longer. He was head down, but his face and head were at an angle. 

1 more hour passed and she came in and said that our options were to go to the OR for a section or to push for another hour and then possibly go to the OR for a section.

(this is when I lost it)

I was scared. Scared for myself, but scared especially for my baby boy. 

I agreed to go ahead and do the C-section. I texted my mom to update the family in the waiting room and the anesthesiologist came in to increase my epidural and prep me for the OR. I tried to calm myself down, but my muscles just shook and shook. Partially due to anxiety and partially due to sheer exhaustion. 

The next two hours were a blur. The section was quick and relatively painless (HA). I knew the two NICU nurses that came for the delivery. I remember them sticking and alcohol swab under my oxygen mask next to my nose bc I had a surge of overwhelming nausea when they first put me on the table. Aaron took some wonderful pictures. When I heard my baby boy cry for the first time, I lost it. Totally LOST it.  He was born at 8:48pm and his APGAR scores were 9 and 9.

I remember the Dr saying "Oh my goodness, he's HUGE!" and something about him peeing all over them and then something about "look at those LIPS!" and then something about "no wonder he wasn't coming out, he's a BIG boy."

They showed me my sweet baby boy very briefly over the curtain.  It was not long enough. 

Now I have to take a minute to brag on my husband.  He always says he doesn't "do" medical stuff. Doesn't like talking about it. Doesn't like hearing about it. AT ALL.

He was SUCH a trooper. He sat through my cervical checks, my iv placement, held my hand through my epidural, was at my bedside ALL DAY LONG, and held my leg while I pushed. He also took some GREAT pictures at the delivery. I was shocked…and so happy. 

Aaron held our son while they stitched me up.  They let me hold him while they wheeled me back to the delivery room for my recovery period and our hour of kangaroo care (which is a new policy that the hospital is implementing and I'm so thankful for it). 

We had an hour or so for time with just the three of us, plus the nurses and the Dr. of course. 

Our son Rhodes Everett weighed in at 9 lbs 1.5oz, and he was 20 1/4 in long. 

He was absolutely perfect. I know I'm a little biased. 

Recovery took a little while longer than we thought, and I had not eaten literally all day, AND our families were anxiously waiting in the waiting room and had been for several hours….BUT we were FINALLY able to be moved to a postpartum room and after midnight, our families were able to come in and see us. 

We are blessed and we are loved. I am so thankful. Praise the Lord. We are so thankful to our God for getting our boy here safe and sound. 

Now excuse me while I go bawl my eyes out.

'Tis the Season,

Holly

20 weeks

Our twenty week appointment was last week! We got to hear Baby Boy's heartbeat and Mommy was given the yummy drink for the glucose test at our next appointment! Can't wait...HA!

My belly has actually started to grow at this point! It's a happy/sad process. Everyone tells me that "your body is never the same" after baby, but HELLO, you get a baby! I'm excited to finally look pregnant and not just chubby :)

I bought a maternity pillow and have named him Frank. He takes up a LOT of space in our bed, but I don't think I would be comfortable without him! Poor Hubby gets a break from me wanting to be snuggled up next to him, which I personally think he loves because he gets hot at night. The only downside to the body pillow is that when I want to switch sides, I have to get untucked from all my covers and try not to push the giant body pillow out of the bed when I turn over. I'm sure it's quite the sight.

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The other day, my mom and I went to drop my brother off at his therapeutic recreation program.  There is a sweet lady that works as the receptionist at the center where they meet and whose son is actually a participant in the same group.  She always asks how I'm feeling when she sees me. That day, I told her I was tickled about having a little baby bump and pulled my shirt tight so that she could see.  She looked me up and down and told me that although I had a baby bump, where you could really tell that I was pregnant was in my face. Basically I am carrying my baby weight in my face.

Insert eye roll emoji here.

It was pretty funny, mainly because she didn't realize that what she said could be taken as offensive to a first time mom who is very self-conscious about her already semi-puffy face LOL!

Bless her heart.

As my mom says, most people mean well…. :)


Tis the Season,

Holly

It's A…..

At our last doctor's appointment, they told me that it was safe to schedule our gender ultrasound/anatomy scan. I got a little light-headed when they told me because it finally sunk in how fast time is actually flying!

We decided to surprise our families and let them think we weren't finding out until February at our 20 week appointment. 

We scheduled our ultrasound for 8:30 am on January 12th.  We arrived early and I was a bundle of nerves. 

At our previous appointment, according to my original due date by our 8 week measurement,  I was only 16 weeks and some odd days along.  But according to my LMP, the office had me at 17 weeks and a few days, which is why we went ahead and scheduled our big ultrasound.   They are normally done at 18-20 weeks. 

As we went in for the ultrasound, the ultrasound tech brought up the fact that I wasn't quite 18 weeks and they normally did them from 18-20 weeks. I was fighting the urge to cry because I just knew she was going to tell me to wait another week to get the ultrasound, but then she made the decision to go ahead and do it that day anyways.

I basically held my breathe the whole time we were in the office. 

I didn't really care what gender our baby was, as long as it was healthy. 

EVEN THOUGH, I had been thinking since day 1 that this baby was a girl.

Thankfully, the anatomy scan looked great and our baby actually measured a little further along than everyone thought, at 18 weeks and 2 days. Our due date may actually be bumped up a week, which is totally fine by me! Arkansas summers are no joke!

Oh, yeah, and our baby is a BOY!!! :)

Marley is so excited about his little buddy that's on the way!

I was shocked and it actually took me a few minutes to let it sink in after she told us. 

We got to have lots of cute pictures and he looks absolutely perfect, and not to mention, his  little side profile is very cute :) :) :)

Now we just have to decide of on a name…..no pressure….. lol!

'Tis the Season,

Holly