There are some moments in life that you never want to end. For me, it was moments like the day I was baptized and just for a couple hours, I was perfect. Or when I was 17 and got my first kiss under the fireworks. Or maybe the time I said, "I do" and agreed to marry the most handsome, loving man in the world, then finding out a few months later that we'd be welcoming a sweet little boy into the world. Those were some of the best moments of my life so far. I never could've known how great all of those moments were at the time, but looking back I realize I have been the luckiest girl in the world.
It was July 14, and I went in to my doctors appointment. I was due in exactly a week on the 21, but obviously I would rather deliver early than late. The doctor stripped my membrane and after that I felt a little wet. Since he found that strange he told me to take a test home to see if my water was leaking. I took the test and it immediately changed color to a greenish blue which freaked me out and made me really excited at the same time! I was SO done with this pregnancy! But when I looked at the instructions, it told me the color had to remain blue for 30 minutes for the test to be positive and after about 10 minutes, the color faded back to yellow. I was scheduled for another doctors appointment 2 days later, so I brushed it off and waited a little longer.
For the next 2 days, Leka was super insistent to take me on long walks and on Tuesday night before the appointment, we went and jumped on a trampoline, hoping to get things moving along!
That night, Leka could not sleep! He kept waking up to make sure I was okay and he kept telling me that he strongly felt he should go with me to the appointment and not go to work. So at about 5 am, I gave in and told him to tell his boss that he'd come to work right after the appointment. At 9:15, we headed up to the doctor and got great news! I was dilated to a 3 and was about 70% effaced! I was about a 10 on the Bishops scale. For all who don't understand, you have to have at least a 10 to be admitted to the hospital, and since the first words Leka said to the doctor that morning were, "We want to have this baby today," it was really good news! I wasn't feeling any contractions, I was feeling some cramping though. Honestly the doctor probably wouldn't have sent me to the hospital that morning, but he did since I told him about the test changing colors, even for only a couple minutes and I tested positive for strep B and needed to be monitored.
So here we were walking out of the doctors office, SO EXCITED. We got in the car and all of a sudden we found ourselves calling EVERYONE. We called my parents, both sets of Leka's parents, my sister, and basically all our closest friends.
We ended up going home for about an hour before heading to the hospital (which is about 4 blocks north of our house) to clean up the house and get some things that weren't in our hospital bag... then we realized Leka could come back to get anything at anytime and I decided it was time to go!
We got to the hospital and there were NO parking spots! We just parked in the labor and delivery emergency spot and I told Leka to move to another spot later. When we went inside we really weren't sure where we were supposed to go, so we walked around a little and after asking about 3 different desks, a lady finally said, "if you're having a baby, go to the 5th floor," so we ran over to the elevator!
There were 3 women on the elevator, going to visit someone I guessed, and they all kind of stared at me with excitement, haha it was slightly awkward, but nonetheless, very exciting!
We had to wait for a little before checking in which just made us that much more antsy, but before we knew it we were walking back to our room and I was changed into a lovely hospital robe and laid down on the bed. I kind of just laid there for a while and soaked it all in. I still wasn't experiencing contractions and felt great, so I enjoyed that time. A nurse came in and got all my past medical information and then checked me. She gave me the same results as my doctor and then left to clear with my doctor to start me on some pitocin. A while later another nurse came back and told me the best news ever! I wouldn't be leaving the hospital without a baby and I would no longer be pregnant. Oh it was music to my ears.
Then came the worst part. The IV.
I don't do needles, and for some reason the worst place for a needle is the forearm in my opinion. I didn't watch, but luckily there was only one needle. Leka tried distracting me and luckily I got through it without even getting light headed!
The pitocin started and I immediately started to feel my belly tighten. They didn't hurt at all during the first round of doses. They start at a 4 and go up by four until they hit 20 and they increase every half hour. So for about the first 30 minutes, I was doing great. When they increased my dosage, that's when I started to feel the edge on them.
Finally they got to a point where I couldn't stand them. I'm not a wimp, and I had planned on the epidural from the beginning, but I wanted to wait as long as possible to get it because like I said before, I am not good with needles! But when the pain was that bad, I was definitely welcoming that big needle into my spine. After that, it was a breeze!!
My mom, sister, and best friend (and of course the greatest husband) were all in the delivery room with me... along with my doctor, 2 nurses, a med student finishing up her residency, and 2 more nurses to do the cleanup. Now I arrived at the hospital at about 11 and dilated to only a 3, it had been about 5 hours and I only made it to a 4 when I suddenly felt a gush of water that I actually thought was me wetting the bed! Since I had a catheter in, the nurses didn't think that was so likely. My water broke!! It only took about an hour after that for me to jump to a 10 and I was ready to push!
Honestly this was the part that I had been dreading for 9 months. Not just because of the pain but honestly I was about to spread my legs open for everyone to see pretty much my most vital area.
Awkward.
At least I thought it would be.
The epidural did a FANTASTIC job at numbing my entire lower body and I honestly couldn't feel a thing, even while I was pushing which was just a quick 20 minutes total. They told me to push and after the first one everyone was like, "WOW!!" and I'm like, I can't feel a dang thing! What do you see!? I really didn't want the mirror, but when they asked, I didn't really say anything, so they put it there anyway.
When that little boy came out and was placed on my chest, I'll be completely honest, I was pretty much in shock. The moment was nothing like I expected it to be. I just looked at him at thought, "Is that mine?" He looked nothing like me. They took him over to get cleaned and everyone was congratulating me and honestly I can't remember exactly what happened... except I was allowed to eat!! And boy was I starved!!
After he was all clean, they gave him back to me to do skin to skin. That moment was a bit more precious for me because the shocking feeling was gone, and all I felt was pure love.
7 lbs 3 oz and 19 inches long
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I look at him everyday to this day and still can't believe that this little miracle was made by me and my husband and that I carried him around. HE WAS INSIDE OF ME! It's so crazy, but it happens everyday!
I feel like the luckiest woman in the world. In reality, luck has nothing to do with it, but when I hold my little boy, I feel the greatest love that ever existed.
