Saturday, February 25, 2017

The Birth Story: Part Three

Upon realizing that my water had broken I had a huge rush of adrenaline.  "Oh no...oh... crap...why???  Now??  REALLY???  I'm only 36 weeks!  This is the worst timing EVER!!"  But I knew that none of that mattered now.  I was so surprised because I hadn't been having any contractions.  At least nothing that woke me up.  And I certainly knew what to look for this time because I had been having braxton hicks contractions for weeks.  

I immediately found Dave on the couch and calmly told him "Uh...hey.  Sorry to wake you, but my water just broke."  He shot up off of the couch faster than anything I'd ever seen. Probably not the most peaceful way to be waking up.  Haha.  

It was 5:00 am Sunday morning.  I was so glad that it wasn't in the middle of the night.  Thankfully I had started packing the hospital bag the day prior, but "started" constituted a take home outfit for baby and some items I thought I might like for labor.  No clothes for me or Dave, no toiletries...I quickly got dressed and stuffed a bunch of crap in the hospital bag.  Dave woke up Trey (poor thing) and called his parents, who thankfully were able to meet us at the hospital.  Our drive to the hospital was pretty uneventful.  I had a few contractions here and there, but nothing too painful and I could certainly talk through them.  I called my parents (4:00 am Mesquite time)... and with a little chuckle told my mom that my water had broke.  So much for waiting for them to get home from their trip to have the baby.  

We arrived to the hospital at about 5:40 am.  When we drove up to park, Trey was wide awake and remarked "NO...I don't want to go to Walmart!"  Haha.  He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he was happy to see "ama Jo".  We said goodbye to our little boy and headed up to labor and delivery.  Once in triage, we found out that I was dilated to a four and having consistent contractions.  I got all changed in my *awesome* hospital nightgown...hate those things, and tried my best to prepare myself mentally for labor.  Contractions were coming every 3 to 5 minutes at this point and were definitely uncomfortable.  I couldn't believe how different it was from my labor with Trey.

My doctor was out of town...yay...so they contacted the on call doctor and got me all set up in my labor and delivery room.  I'm not quite sure, but I believe it was about 7:00 am by this time.  I knew I was gbs positive so I had to be put on antibiotics during labor.  Once the iv was set I was able to be off the bed which brought huge relief to me.  Laying down during labor was by far the most painful position for me.  They asked if I wanted an epidural but I knew that I wanted to go without any pain medication.   And just like that it was like "Ok...we're actually doing this.  Hopefully all these months of preparation will pay off."  

I spent the majority of my labor standing up and pacing the room.  Each time a contraction came, I would just bury my face in Dave's chest and focus on my breathing.  I had read over and over how important it was to stay relaxed and not tense up during contractions, so that's all I could think about.  It's definitely easier said than done, but that's what got me through it.  Dave was so great and supportive. We had been in our labor and delivery room for about an hour when the nurse returned to hook me up to the monitors again.  At this point, I was seriously doubting myself.  I remember thinking "Oh my goodness, I was only four centimeters when we got here, and it's only been one hour!...I can't possibly do this." I could not get comfortable and it seemed like the contractions were coming one on top of the other.  After hooking me back up to the monitors, the nurse left and I. was. done.  The next contraction came and I just leaned across the bed and cried.  I tried so hard to breathe through them but it seemed impossible and I was exhausted.  I am so grateful for Dave.  He was so kind and would calmly just whisper to me that I WAS doing it and that it would be over soon.

All of a sudden I felt like I was going to be sick.  I knew I was getting close.  I had relied on Dave so much through each contraction, but at this point I was like "STOP!  Don't touch me."  Haha.  I felt so bad, but it was seriously like I was having an out of body experience.  The next thing I knew, I was on my hands and knees on the hospital floor telling Dave that he needed to get the nurse because I HAD to push.  I'm not sure how long it took (Dave would tell you too long)...but the nurse finally came in and was like "Oh my...you should not be on the floor!"  Dave helped me up on the bed and the nurse checked me and calmly said "Oh yeah, you're ready."  I remember thinking "Yeah, no shit I'm ready.  She's coming. Like now."  (After the fact, Dave remarked to me that he couldn't believe she even checked me because the baby was CLEARLY coming.  Lol.)

They called the on-call doctor, but there was no way that he was going to make it.  My body was having this baby.  I could not NOT push.  I remember being so annoyed because the nurses were all calm and like "Oh sweetie...don't push.  Just breath."  I was ACTIVELY trying not to push, but it was just not working.  A doctor finally walked in and literally right when he sat down, she was born.  It was so surreal.  No one was expecting it to go that fast.  It was definitely a dramatic few hours.  She was born at 8:44 am, less than 4 hours after my water had broken that morning.  


6 lbs 7 oz 19.5 inches long

Thursday, February 23, 2017

The Birth Story: Part Two


34 weeks pregnant

January 28th was a Saturday; and like most Saturdays preceding it, Trey spent the day at the Bland's while I went crazy scrubbing the house.  Because third trimester body + cleaning + toddler "help" just does NOT mix.  Thankfully we could get some stuff done while Trey spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa's which is basically the equivalent of Disneyland in Trey's eyes.  

I spent the day cleaning and resting.  I never really got to that "Oh my gosh, I'm done being pregnant" point with Trey, but it was seriously reaching that point this time.  Everything hurt and I couldn't eat a grain of rice without getting horrible heartburn.  I truly love being pregnant because I consider it such a blessing, but I was tired.  I wanted to take advantage of the "toddler free" time though, so I sought out to get as much done as possible.  I spent a good 2 to 3 hours writing a detailed weekly schedule for my long term sub, and I even started packing the hospital bag!

My parents were out of town in Mesquite and my mother had joked with me all week "You better not have that baby!"  This became a usual topic of discussion since no one thought I'd make it to my due date.  Trey was two weeks early, so we figured we'd be having a Valentine's baby.  We joked about it all the time and each week Dave would ask "How many weeks are we?  How many weeks was Trey when he was born?"  Then, he'd do the math..."4 more weeks...3 mores weeks...sigh"  Haha.  We were so excited for her to come; but I'm not going to lie, we were freaking out a bit.  Trey's first few months were SO HARD. (and no...I haven't forgotten how hard they were.) To be frank, we were not looking forward to the possibility of THAT again.  We love our little Treyby to pieces, but oh my word were his first few months awful.

I went and picked up Trey from the Bland's and per usual, he fell asleep on the way home.  I was so tired, we just put him straight to bed and I went to bed early.  Dave did his usual "musical beds routine" lol.  We are both such light sleepers and my big, fat, snoring pregnant body had Dave looking for peaceful sleep elsewhere.  Haha.  

Restful nights of sleep had been long gone for weeks and this night was no different.  After about the bajillionth time of turning over in bed to find comfort, I felt a trickle...and immediately thought, "Oh great...that's just wonderful...so we've reached THAT stage of pregnancy now...peeing my pants uncontrollably."  I heaved myself out of bed and immediately felt a gush.  Again "Great, now I have urine all over my sheets AND my carpet...awesome!"  I go to the bathroom and instantly realized what had happened, and distinctly remember thinking "Well, crap...that wasn't supposed to happen."   

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Wren Evelyn Bland: A Birth Story, Part 1



Since before getting pregnant a second time, I've often thought about and researched having my subsequent babies naturally.  Trey's birth was fine, and I feel like it went exactly as it needed to; but there were things about it that I just really didn't like and wanted to try to avoid the second time around.  After having Trey, I KNEW that there was no such thing as a "planned" labor and delivery.  Things are just going to go the way they go, and you just need to roll with it.  Knowing this, when I found out I was pregnant again, I set out to learn as much about natural birth as possible.  I spent my entire pregnancy researching everything and anything I could find.  I figured that even though you can't really plan how your labor is going to go, education never hurt anybody.  And so for the first few months of pregnancy I toyed with the idea of going natural.  I had very mixed reactions from family and friends.  Most scoffed at the mere mention of natural delivery and thought I was crazy, but some were very supportive and those that I had talked to whom had had a natural delivery swore by it.  After discussing it with Dave, I committed myself to having a natural delivery but also had to "be real" and understood that if interventions needed to happen that it would be okay.  After all, the only thing that really matters is a healthy baby.

As her due date approached, I went into frantic nesting mode.  I am a planner through and through, and so my nights and weekends were spent doing all things "baby".  Change is not something I deal with well so I was determined to be as ready as possible to have this baby.  I knew what was coming (possibly ANOTHER screaming, colicky baby for months....ugh...), and wanted the smoothest transition possible.  Haha.  Just typing that out makes me feel like the biggest control freak ever, but alas; we are who we are.  

January came (worst month EVER) and I was feeling pretty good.  I continued to teach part time and things were coming together nicely at home.  Her room was all set up, clothes cleaned and put away, decorations up, etc.  I pretty much spent the entire month of January preparing my sub plans for maternity leave.  Nothing stresses me out more than leaving someone in a lurch because I wasn't prepared.  My teaching partner was leaving on a week long trip so I was planning on covering for her; giving myself a whole week to finish up preparations and meet with my long term sub.  It was perfect timing! 

I had been having braxton hicks contractions for weeks and they were so new to me.  I NEVER felt anything like that with Trey and although they were super irregular, those things hurt!  I had gone to my 34 week appointment and was told that I was dilated to a one, but that they weren't really doing anything, so not to worry.  My doctor was leaving to go out of town at the end of the month and joked that there was only one week that I wasn't allowed to have the baby. I scoffed and said "Yeah, that's a whole month early.  Pretty sure we won't have to worry about that. Haha." 

18 months

 WE HAVE AN 18 MONTH OLD.  It's weird.  He's like a little person with a personality and stuff.  It's wonderful and exhausting and terrifying all at once.

Trey at 18 months

  • So SO busy.  He never stops moving.  This kid is go, go, go all day long.  And why walk when you can run?  Because of this, he pretty much has a bruise on his forehead all the time. He seems to be the perfect height to hit everything in his path.
  • Can say so many things!  He knows baba, dada, mama (he finally knows what this means, and will actually say it for me!), caca (all time favorite word right there), nana, bompa and boma (grandpa and grandma), bee (what he calls his blankets), kitty, baby, broom, please, out, car, blue, purple, keys, Carlie, outside, eyes, balloon, spoon, cookie, two, cracker, Mike, hotdog...I'm sure there's more.  It seems like he's learning new words every day!
  • He is OBSESSED with trash cans (caca's).  He can spot them everywhere we go.  It doesn't matter how small or large, he knows where the nearest caca is and lets you know over and over.
  • He loves to clean and would be happy playing with a broom all day.  We joked that he should have been a janitor for Halloween, because he is obsessed with cleaning supplies.
  • Loves to watch Curious George.  We let him watch it a while back when he was sick and he loves it.  He won't really sit and watch anything else, but he'd watch Curious George for hours if we let him.  
  • LOVES his Grandparents.  It's obvious we are not the favorite around here.  He gets SO upset when we have to leave, or they have to go.  It's so sad.  We love you too buddy!  I promise we're cool too!  :)  Seriously though...I'm so glad that we live so close to both sets of parents.  We do a lot with them and Trey loves it!
  • Is still such an inquisitive little boy.  He loves to watch other kids and take it all in.  He thinks he's much older than he is and always wants to play with the big kids.
  • Takes one nap a day (2 hours if we're lucky!)
  • Still sleeps through the night most nights.  Teething likes to get in the way of a full nights sleep.  :)
  • Loves books and definitely has his favorites.  It's funny to watch him search through all of his books (of which he has plenty...you can never have too many, right?) He always goes back to the same two or three.  "Go, Dogs. Go!" is his current favorite. 
  • We found out he is allergic to cinnamon.  What a weird allergy, right?

We love him so much! He's such a happy little boy and brings so much joy into our home.