He's Here!

We're in love with our new baby boy!! We got to the hospital at 6:30 Tuesday morning and the doctor broke my water at 7:00. That hurt like hell. I started having contractions the night before, but they were never consistent. By 8:30 the contractions were around 3 minutes apart and getting more and more painful. I thought that an epidural wore off, so that's why they wanted you to wait to get one. That's not the case. It's on a drip, so once I realized that, we called the doctor to hook me up. The epidural is very uncomfortable, but I didn't think it was painful. It was a welcomed relief. After that, it was a waiting game. I knew going in that getting induced was going to call for a long day and I may end up having a c-section.

We did have one scare during labor where Trip's heartbeat dropped down below 70, so they had to put me on oxygen. I absolutely loved my first nurse, but the only complaint is that she didn't walk us through what was going on when the scare did happen.

I was only progressing about 1/2 cm at a time and was showing some effacement throughout the day, but he never dropped. The actual labor part was a lot of sitting and waiting around and chewing on ice chips. The not eating part kinda sucks. Once I hit 5 cm, I stayed there for well over three hours and then the pressure started. Apparently there is nothing the epidural can do about pressure, so it was constant pain. I thought for sure that meant he had dropped and I was going to progress significantly. That was not the case. The second nurse was not helpful at all and just kinda shrugged and told me that he was doing okay. I could have punched her in the face.

By about an hour and a half of constant pain and pressure, the doctor came down to check me again. She said I was still at 5cm. Poor Michael. That hour and a half he was great, but I knew he was freaking out. I just had tears running down my face and couldn't get any relief. The doctor said we had two options. The first was a c-section because there was a good chance we might be trying "to fit a square peg in a round hole" and so he might not drop and he might not fit in the canal. The second was waiting it out another hour or so to see if he did progress. I couldn't do it anymore. I'm glad we went ahead with the c-section, because once they got in there, he hadn't even turned to the right position to drop and he was stuck.

Once they prepped me for surgery, it was a welcomed relief. I was just ready to get this show on the road. Michael, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. They wheeled me in, drugged me up, and I was ready to go. They actually began the c-section before they brought Michael back there. It was very quick and Trip was born not 5 minutes later. I was so weak, so hungry, and so loopy from the pain meds, I was very nervous I might drop him once they handed him over. Once I heard that first cry, I was so relieved and so happy. I could see him on the monitor and he looked perfect! He was born at 7:46 (yes, 13.5 hours of labor), weighed 7 lbs 8 oz, and was 19 inches long.

I don't respond well to pain medication, so I threw up a few times during labor and a few times in recovery since I was on a morphine pump. I was on a liquid diet in recovery until the following day around lunch. That was awful! Trip slept in the room with us and pretty much slept the entire night. We were both pooped :) Breast feeding started out slow and could be very frustrating at times, but I think we've gotten the hang of it. We are home now, in love with Trip, and as happy as ever. He sleeps most of the day and has a lot of "activity" at night. Everyone is healthy, so life is good!!

Here are a few pics...

Trip and his momma

Proud papa

Hello world!

Beautiful baby boy

One happy family :)

Tomorrow

Holy moly, mother, tomorrow is the big day. I went to the doctor this morning and I will be induced first thing tomorrow!! I had prepared myself for bad news, but I am 2 cm dilated and 40% effaced. He still hasn't dropped at all, but the doc feels comfortable inducing if I was too uncomfortable...which I am. Turns out tomorrow she is on call and had a spot available, so she put me down! Eek! I've been "ready" for quite some time, but now that it's here I'm freaking out a little bit. We've done everything we can possibly do to prepare and I can barely get around anymore I'm so big. I finally get to meet him tomorrow! Our lives are never going to be the same. Wow, I'm going to be a mother.

We check into the hospital at 6:30 a.m. and they are going to break my water at 7:00 and start me on pitosin to help get the contractions going. I'm not allowed any food or drink (besides water) after midnight tonight and she said I probably won't have him until tomorrow night. It's kind of nice being able to plan and get everything completely ready, Sam dropped off at Jared's, and the bags completely packed before the big hospital trip.

This morning while I was waiting to see the doctor, I went in for the ol' pee-in-a-cup. When I looked in the mirror, I realized that I had ripped my maternity jeans down the front crotch area. You could see my big scary granny panties. At that point, I just threw my hands up and I was completely done with the whole pregnancy. I didn't even know people could rip maternity jeans, but apparently I can. Every stranger I see the past week has given me the "oh god, you poor thing" look. It's really nice of them, but it just reminds me of how big I really am. Oh and I got on the scale and I was like 4 lbs heavier than last week!! At the end of the day, I'm glad the big day is tomorrow so I don't gain any more weight!! I'm out of control!!!

There's a lot going through my head right now. Will I be a good enough mother? Will I be able to stand the labor? Will we form an instant connection? What the hell have I gotten myself into?! And so on and so on. I'm very excited to meet him. I can't imagine what he looks like, except I have a feeling he is going to have a TON of hair. Mommy is a big hairy wildabeast :) Anyways, this time tomorrow there is a good change he'll be here!! Pictures to come!!

Nursery

I finally posted pics of the nursery!!!!! Everything is pretty much ready to go, just waiting on Trip to arrive :)

No end in sight

I went to my third weekly appointment this morning and the status?? Zero progress since last week. I'll be honest...I cried for a solid hour. I know I'm less than two weeks away from my actual due date, but he hasn't even dropped. The way the doctor made it sound was that he isn't coming anytime soon. I'm just at a whole new level of frustration right now. I'm sick of talking about it, I'm sick of sleeping on my side with 8 pillows around me, I'm sick of getting tired after walking 10 feet, I'm sick of gaining weight, I could go on and on.

After saying all that, I need to back-track and talk about a conversation I had with an advertiser last week. I have been complaining a lot lately. I put a call into a company on Friday and she knew I was pregnant and due pretty soon. She's been so sweet and sounded really excited for me. She asked me how I was doing and I told her I was so sick of being pregnant. Well, come to find out, she and her husband are traveling to Honduras this week as part of an adoption process. They have been married 18 years and have never been able to conceive. I felt terrible. Here I am whining and complaing and God really did smack me across the face and told me to get over myself. It's amazing how you get caught up in your own problems only to later realize, your problems are really small in comparison to others. I'm growing a friggin miracle right now and I should remind myself of that every single day. Today I had a minor set-back in that train of thought :)

I'm still rockin' 1 cm, but I'm going to try and stay positive. He just isn't ready yet. He's stubborn like his father. Tonight, Michael is going to pick up some spicy food and we're going on a very long walk with Sam. For my mental health, I've got to start doing something to get the process going. Plus, let's be honest, 50 lbs isn't going to fall off on its own.

O-V-E-R It

I'm so unbelievable tired of being pregnant. Today I'm 37 weeks and 1 day pregnant and it feels like I'm going on a year and a half. I had a doctor's appointment this morning and I'm only 1cm dilated and there is some softening. The doc said it was going to be awhile. I could have cried. I know my due date isn't for another 3 weeks but give me a break?! I feel like I'm walking around with a bowling ball in between my legs. I walk 10 feet and have to sit down. Sleep is done. I was wide awake at 4:30 this morning. Good news is the swelling has subsided a little bit. Lately, I've been waking up at midnight, 2:30, and 4:30 or 5:00 so I feel like that's going to be Trip's schedule for a little bit. Yaaaaaay. I just want to meet him. I want my body back! I'm about to round out 50 lbs of weight gain. FIFTY! Stop the madness!!!