Now let's see, if I remember correctly, it was May, around our anniversary... we had been trying to get pregnant for a few months and decided to try some tips we read on the internet... HA just kidding.
We can skip that part and just dive right into the nitty gritty of the day we met Max!
It was basically my dream delivery. Everything that was terrible about Nate's delivery was perfect with Max.
At 39 weeks pregnant, I was having nonstop "cramps", for lack of a better description. They weren't contractions, at least not productive ones, but they were more than Braxton Hicks. I was in pain all of the time, and felt like I was walking with a bowling ball in my pelvis. At my doctor's appointment, my doctor said everything looked very ready to go, and he'd be happy to give my body a little nudge to get things started if I was ready to give Max his eviction notice. Because I love myself more than my baby and value convenience more than his life, I elected to schedule an induction. Haha, or so the internet would have you believe. But honestly, I was ready for him to come out, he was ready to come out, and it really was quite convenient to be induced on the weekend and have Cary there and my sweet cousin in place to watch Nate overnight.
All day Saturday I was calm and collected and just peaceful about meeting our new baby. Ha, again! Man, I am sarcastic today. I was a bundle of nerves and tears and cried 498 times that day. I had painful cramps/contractions all day long and was SO uncomfortable. My belly and my pelvis were just so over this. We went about business as usual, trying to ignore the fact that our whole world was about to be turned upside down. We went to go get frozen yogurt that night with Nate, and I tried so hard to capture in my memory our last moments as a family of 3. We put Nate to bed that night and I laid next to him and sang him extra songs, feeling so emotional about his last night as my littlest baby.
After Nate was tucked in bed and I reapplied waterproof mascara for the 10th time that day, we took off for the hospital at about 9:30. It was surreal, driving to the hospital and knowing that we would be coming home again with a baby! We checked in, did paperwork, I changed into a sexy hospital gown, and the nurse checked me. Much to my surprise, I was dilated to a 3-4 and already contracting! The nurse put the cytotech in and said the doc thought that would throw me into labor all on it's own. After the pill sat there for an hour, Cary and I got up and walked around the hospital for an hour and a half. I was contracting pretty good, but it felt better to be up walking around. After our walking, they checked me and I was at a 5! So the doc said I could get an epidural and he would break my water. I thought this sounded like a fantastic deal, since I still wasn't even in that much pain.
The anesthesiologist came in and gave a very grim warning speech about all of the dangers of an epidural and I said, "Yup, stick me!" He was so incredibly awkward and weird, and I took odd enjoyment out of making jokes and listening to them flatline. But weirdness aside, he gave me one real good epidural! I could still feel the requisite pressure to push and know when I was contracting, but I could feel and move my legs and walk immediately after delivery, and I felt practically zero pain. Contrasted with my epidural with Nate, which took 3 attempts and did not work, and I was in intense pain as they tried to place it, I am now officially team epidural, and I could have french kissed that strange anesthesiologist. Anywho! Epidural in, I'm feeling good, doc comes and breaks my water, which was very uneventful, and leaves me to hang out and be in labor some more. Cary takes a nap, I am too jazzed about the baby thing and still feeling enough of the contractions that I can't sleep, so I watch some Scrubs and just sit and contemplate my reality of pushing a bowling ball out of a hole I really feel is not appropriately sized for such an endeavor.
A couple of hours later, the doc comes to check me again and says, "Well, I'm going home in 15 minutes." I was very confused about his remark, because I thought I would have hours left of labor. Suddenly they were setting me up to deliver a baby and I yelled over to Cary, "Uhhhh, you need to wake up because I guess we're gonna have a baby now??" I asked the doctor, "Is it really time to push??" And he had me feel his head. I remember saying, "He has hair!!" and I was so excited about that, haha. 2 quick pushes later, and he was in my arms. With Nate, I labored hard for hours and hours and pushed even harder for 2 nonstop hours, and I do not even remember meeting him. I was so completely exhausted. This time, they placed him on my chest and I immediately felt a rush of love and happiness that my little boy was here, and he was mine. We looked over every inch of him and I just kept saying, "Hi baby!! You're here! I'm your mama! I love you!"
And we've been completely and totally in love ever since.
Just a few hours old
Proud Papa
Loving our new babe.
This was minutes after he was born. There is no photo evidence of me, minutes after Nate was born. It was scary, haha.
Meeting Grandma!
And meeting Grandpa!
How we spend a lot of our time these days. I'm addicted to snuggling him!
