Birth of Baby #1

Our due date was Thursday, June 7 and that date came and went. This baby was comfy and had no plans of coming any time soon. Luckily I was able to work the front desk in the last week of my pregnancy so I didn’t have to worry about going into labor while at work and having to reschedule patients. So that Friday I said to my coworkers, well I sure hope I don’t see you on Monday (spoiler, I did not). I had a doctor’s appointment on my due date and they said well let’s schedule you again on monday and maybe talk about an induction. On Monday we had a slow morning, I had some coffee and maybe a granola bar and then we headed into the doctor’s office. While there they checked to see how much I was dilated and the doctor said he was going to strip my membranes. Well he did that and then some! While it was happening I looked over at Nic and immediately began to sweat and was praying for the pain to end. It was the most uncomfortable thing and very much unlike the first time a different doctor had done the sweep. No wonder it was uncomfortable, he ended up breaking my water. Which I am pretty sure he knew he had done because he had stopped moving and then said, you know sometimes this can cause the water to break, and as he stepped back the fluid gushed. He called ahead to the hospital to say we were on our way. So I guess we were going to have a baby today!

As we left the doctor’s office we debated going home to grab our things, but as this was our first birth we had no clue how quickly things were going to progress, so we turned around and headed to the hospital. We called a friend and she went to the house to get our things and brought them to us, we were so grateful for that. We let our parents know that we were headed to the hospital and they all left shortly thereafter. We got to the hospital around 2pm, got settled in and waited to see how I was going to progress. I labored for a while and watched Disney movies. The nurses all laughed that that was my choice of entertainment, but what can I say, Disney is soothing to me. After a while of laboring and not making much progress they decided to start me on pitocin, I thought labor was great until they started that little medication from hell. Labor got much more intense and painful from that moment on, after a while I decided that I wanted to get an epidural. Luckily the anesthesiologist was nearby and we got that done quickly. About 9pm I was getting pretty uncomfortable so our parents went to the waiting room and we had a nurse come check, it was go time. Nic and I were most astounded by the sheer number of people that all came into the room, the nurses made the call and the cavalry descended upon us. I pushed for about a half hour, may or may not have demon screamed at Nic to get this baby out of me, and at 9:53pm on that beautiful June evening - Nic had the privilege of announcing that we welcomed a 7lb 13oz sweet baby BOY to our family. I was FINALLY a mom, and holding my sweet boy that I prayed for and longed for, is more than words can convey. We took our time with him before finally having our parents come in sometime after midnight to introduce them to their first grandchild. And I FINALLY got to eat, just a plain peanut butter sandwich, but at that time it may as well have been a New York Strip. But the next day is when I finally got the food I had been waiting to have throughout the whole pregnancy - Jimmy John’s! We had many visitors that day and were very ready to try to get some sleep that evening. The next morning was discharge day, and we were beyond ready to finally take our sweet boy home. 

Once home, we introduced him to our dog Zoey and she definitely wasn’t sure about him - but she also was never far from him. And so began our journey of parenthood. How can it be that something we had waited so long for was here, and I felt so unprepared but yet also that I was made for this. Such a strange dichotomy to experience. Motherhood and parenthood is a strange but beautiful thing. As all beginnings go, it wasn’t always pretty but we were learning as we went and making it how we wanted it. There were maybe a few tears, and not just from baby boy. I was figuring out how to operate on very little sleep, nursing round the clock, introducing bottles to get ready for daycare, all while trying to soak up absolutely every moment and experience while I could. Until next time..

XOXO, mischief managing momma