It was the best of times, it was the worst of times part 2

Again, I'll try not to make this too graphic or gross but it is a labor story :)

So water possibly breaks at Walmart and we head home. I call the oncall doctor who before I even get my story out says 'If you think your water has broken then go to the hospital.' But don't you want to hear what happened!!?? Nope go to the hospital.

So off we go. My mom, dad and me. My brother and sister in law close behind us. I'm still in denial but take my stuff with me just in case. I keep saying but I tested negative this morning!

So we check into the hospital and they send me up to labor and delivery. I have to ride in a wheelchair. I'm embarrassed because I'm sure this is another false alarm. My dad takes my picture in a wheelchair and sends it to Mark. (Mark's at work and can't leave unless I'm seriously in labor because he doesn't have many days to take)

I get to my room and the nurses tell me to go in the bathroom, take off my clothes, pee in a cup and put on a gown. 'ALL of my clothes??' I say. Yep. Can't even leave on my sports bra. I should have known right then I wouldn't be happy about all things to come. So I get the gown on and start to pee in cup. Now this is very hard when you are 40 weeks pregnant and leaking something. I kept bending over to wipe whatever I was leaking off the floor. I didn't want to leave a mess!! Little did I know.....

So finally ready and come out and climb on the bed. Nurse checks and says 'Yep it's your water.' WHAT!! Seriously this is happening!!

It's now 9:30 p.m. I debate on what to do about Mark. Nurse tells me she doesn't think the baby will come before 11 a.m. And she'll let me know if she thinks I need to call Mark and get him there ASAP. I talk to Mark at 10 p.m. on his dinner break and tell him I'm fine and he can probably work until 2:45 a.m. no problem. (I'm in NO pain at this point) So he decides to tough it out at work so he doesn't have to use a day just to watch me sit there.

At midnight they start my pitocin. By 1 a.m. I'm telling the room.....this isn't comfortable anymore. By 1;30 I'm telling the room I don't really like my nurse anymore because she keeps coming in and turning up my pitocin. By 2 I'm in some pain. By 2:30 I'm miserable. By 2:50 I'm telling my mom to call Mark and find out where he is. He's getting in his car. It all goes down hill from there. They gave me some Demerol in my IV to take the edge off because like the dummy I am I decided Mark HAD to be there before I could have an epi. I was afraid it would hurt and I needed him there for support. Stupid idea.

The Demerol did NOTHING. We're talking took my pain from a level 8-ish to a 5-ish for one contraction and then right back up to a 8 or 9. By the time Mark got to the hospital at 3:30 I was thrashing in pain, gripping the rail and sobbing. I was two contractions from screaming and I'm not a screamer. My mom and sister in law were with me. I don't think my sister in law said a word the whole hour and I kept tell my mom not to talk to me.

Mark came in VERY happy and excited right as a contraction was starting and all I said was 'DON'T. SAY.A.WORD.' Then we got the epi which wasn't bad at all. Compared to the pain of the contractions it was awesome. It seemed like it took forever to finish. Once I got it I was checked again. I was already at 7 1/2 which explains all the intense pain I was having. Lucky I got the epi when I did. The nurse had already told me at an 8 I couldn't have it.

Things got much better. I was able to talk with Mark now and be excited again. At 4:30 ish I was checked again. I was at a 9 or so and they started talking about calling the doctor. At 5 they decided after calling another nurse in that I was complete and they called the doctor. Mark and I were so nervous. It was happening. One nurse predicted I would have him by 5:30.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Labor that is. Following will be my birth story. I'll break it up into a few posts so it's easier to read. I'll try not to make it too graphic or gross! :)

It all started on Aug. 12. The day after my due date. I woke up at 9:30 a.m. to what I thought was my water breaking, either that or I was peeing on myself. So I scurried into the bathroom for further investigation. So I inspect. Clear: check. No smell: check. (Yes I smelled it to make sure it wasn't pee....that's what the book says to do!!) Then I called a friend to discuss if it could be my water. After deciding that yes I could possibly have sprung a leak, I made the decision to wake Mark.

'Mark. Ummmm Mark. Wake up. My water might be leaking but I'm not for sure can you smell this??'

That's how I woke him up. He declined to take the smell test. Told me I was probably over-reacting, reminded me we had a doctor's appointment in a few hours and told me to go back to bed.

WHAT?? Go back to bed?? My water may have just broken!!!.

But since I wasn't for sure I laid back down. Then I got back up. Then I walked around. Then I laid back down. Where are my contractions I wondered??

So finally it was time to go to the doctor. I was FOR SURE they were going to send me to the hospital. Doctor checks and says 'It's negative.' Meaning my water had not broken and the fluid could just be where I was dilating more.

I was crushed. And that test hurt to check my fluid. And great not only am I leaking but now I'm bleeding. AND I'm late for work. So I called and took a personal day to recover. It's a good thing I did.

My mom took me to Golden Corral to eat that evening with my brother and sister in law. Then we all heading to Walmart so I could walk the story. This whole time I was still leaking something but since the doctor said it wasn't my water I just went with it and wore a big overnight pad. (Sorry male readers you may want to stop now...it only gets worse :) )

So we start walking around Walmart. I'm not really in pain but I'm not comfortable and still leaking!! I talk with a friend about work the next day and if I should just take that day off too or not. And I stop to go to the bathroom twice. Then we get to the baby section. All of a sudden I feel a small gush and I say 'Oh no.' I'm sure the look on my face said it all. My brother was like 'What's wrong!?' I said 'I have to go to the bathroom. RIGHT NOW.' And off I waddle while trying to hold my legs together to the back bathroom. I hear my mom say 'I'm going with her!'

I make it to the bathroom and realize I've completely filled that overnight pad. But did my water break?? It's not puddling at my feet and it's not continuously leaking so I just don't know. I make my mom call my aunt from the Walmart bathroom and ask her what she thinks. After much debate and tears from me I decide we must leave Walmart right now and go home.

Oh happy day

I've been thinking about the topic 'happiest day' for a few weeks now. I consider my wedding day to be the 'happiest day of my life.' Some may say that's cliche but I don't think so.

My wedding day was truly the happiest day of my life. I married my best friend. The man to become the father of my child. The man to see me through horrible labor recovery. The man who loves me know matter how crazy, emotional I can get. The man I plan on being with for the rest of my life through all the other 'happiest days.'

Even though I view my wedding day as the happiest day of my life, that doesn't mean I can't have other 'happiest days' or even 'happiest moments.' I recently had another happy day. The birth of our child.

When he was finally wheeled into my room and placed in my arms I can't even explain the feelings of happiness that overcame me. I just swore I wouldn't be that weeping mother but that weeping mother I became. Crying tears of joy and happiness over the life that I was about to begin. This was a happiest moment.

So while I think that someone can have many 'happiest days' and the birth of my new child is right up there on the list, I still stand by that the happiest day of my life was the day I married Mark, the father of my child. Without that happy day my most recent happiest day would never have happened.

I'm officially ...

... overdue. It's 12:45 a.m. I was due yesterday. Mark and I are normally 15 minutes (at least) late to every event we attend. So that should mean the child should make an appearance tomorrow. Right?

I've been telling him if he doesn't come out on his own he will be forceably removed and he DOESN'T want that to happen. That's not the way to come into any situation, especially your new life. He's not listening so far.

So today I am 40 week 1 day pregnant and am having a hard time sitting up there is so much baby in my belly.

39 weeks 4 days: Awesome

The hardest wait ever

37 weeks 3 days

The room is complete. The bags are packed. Everything is ready. Now we wait. Will he come tonight? Will he come tomorrow? Or will he make us wait until Aug. 11? Or even later? Hardest wait of our lives.

I was pretty sure I would never be ready for labor. Ever. I was pretty sure I would never be ready to push a giant, living being out of my body. Well....I'm ready. I'm ready for it all to begin. I've never been more ready to experience pain in my life. How did I get to this point?? Me the girl who cries over a splinter is ready to give birth.

I'll tell you how this happened and it's not because my feet don't even fit into flip flops anymore it's because of this ......

This is what I see every time I go to the bathroom, our cabinet full of baby bath supplies! It's pure torture. And yes I realize I have way more baby soap than I can ever use.....people like to give baby soap as gifts!

I also wanted to share my favorite part of the baby's room. His iPod dock!!! It changes color. So now we're able to download his music (Baby Einstien :)) or white noise straight to our iPods and hook it right up in his room. Mark's even got lullaby versions of some of his favorite rock bands ready to go. And those in front are his baby legs :) Love them too.

So now I sit here on the couch with our bags packed, hair washed, belly full and wonders......when's it going to be ???

Things I took for granted

After waiting 11 months to see that 'pregnant' on a test I thought everything would be wonderful and remain wonderful for the next 9 months. I was mistaken. First I realized 9 months is misleading.....the due date is set at 40 weeks, divide that by 4 weeks to a month and that's actually 10 months of pregnancy.

I was OK with that. I mean it took me longer to get pregnant than it will take me to incubate the little creature.

Pregnancy was great for me. Sickness? NONE! Well unless you count the few times I ended up dry heaving or the one time I actually threw up. The cause? Hunger. That's fine, I can fix that...I'll just eat. And eat I did. First trimester = eat whenever, whatever, where ever I wanted. Chips and salsa, in bed, at midnight? Of course! I ate a LOT of chips and dip. A LOT! Others were battling nausea. Not me. I was eating, eating and eating. The only time I had to worry about feeling sick was when I wasn't eating.

Then I made a mistake. I bragged about how great pregnancy was. "I just LOVE being pregnant. I don't know what everyone talks about!" What kind of karma was I wishing upon myself???

And then I did it.....on came the heartburn. Middle of second trimester my late night food fest were over :( No more salsa for me. We're talking waking up in the middle of the night dying kind of pain. Running to the bathroom begging myself to throw up just to relieve whatever was burning my throat. Tums didn't even touch it. Pepcid didn't work either. I seriously exclaimed to my doctor "There's a burning ball of death in my throat! Fix it!" So here came the miracle drug.....Prilosec. Relief. I could sleep again. Of course I had to cut out my late night snacking too :( Boy did I take that for granted during first trimester.

Then third trimester started. My thoughts of "This is going to be awesome! Pregnancy during the summer!" My dreams of cute summer dresses, days at the pool and lemonade were gone. Normally a VERY cold natured girl by January I was already burning up. Spring just brought hot flashes. Seriously hot flashes. I'm talking draping myself over my desk chair with a fan blowing on me and I'm still burning up kind of hot flash. Laying on my bed right by the air vent with Mark holding a hand-held fan over me kind of hot flash. The end of second trimester (OK the WHOLE second trimester) and beginning of third trimester were awful!! I've never been so hot in my life. I recommend all pregnant women get a hand-held fan AND a desk fan at the beginning of their pregnancies. I wouldn't have survived without mine.

Pregnancy in the summer was definitely not as great as I had imagined it to be. It was this very romantic, Hollywood kind of picture in my head. In reality it's been one big hot sweaty mess.

Thank goodness my mother-in-law has a pool because now I get to watch my feet swell to twice their size. The only footwear I can wear to work would be flip flops. I have one grey pair and one bright blue pair. And now I'm to the point where when I take them off I still have the imprint to show where they should go when I put them back on.

And on top of all this hot sticky joy? The return of heartburn. I can no longer eat my favorite food....pizza. If I do I can guarantee my heartburn is going to be bad enough to make my ears burn. Basically sleeping is out now too. Reflux likes to make surprise showings too.

Some days I'm just down right miserable. It's hard for me to get out of bed. It's hard for me to roll over in bed. It's hard for me to stand up from my desk and walk. It's hard for me to sit up.

But then I sit down, lay back and feel my little guy snuggled into my ribcage and I think back to the joy we felt Nov. 30, 2009, when we passed the biggest test of our lives....a pregnancy test and I know I would deal with all these little annoyances (OK big annoyances :) ) for 40 extra weeks if I had to do it.

After 11 months of waiting for him and 40 weeks of growing him I can not wait to hold him and finally give him his name. I know I speak for Mark when I say we are more than ready to start this next leg of our life.

Heartburn cure

I was walking around Wal-Mart this weekend when I spied this pillow and immediately the thought that popped into my head was "OMG this may stop my heartburn/reflux!" So I bought it. And guess what....no reflux last night :) We''ll see how tonight goes but maybe I'll actually be able to sleep through these last 3 weeks of pregnancy. And when I'm done with it it will be the perfect reading pillow for our little boy :) I'm a happy soon-to-be momma today.