1. On Saturday, March 2nd, 2013, Jake and I got married!! (Finally.) It was a beyond beautiful day; simple, short, and just wonderful. Words couldn't describe the array of emotions flying through me. Take the day I've been waiting for for 6 years, add the fact that I was 8 months pregnant, and you get a very weepy bride! It was just perfect and so fun. It was a giant party. Couldn't keep the smile off my face, or my eyes off my new sparkly wedding ring. <3
2. On Monday, April 22nd, 2013, at 11:44am; our sweet baby boy came into this world!!! <3 We're parents!! Happiness is the biggest understatement known to man. :)
So, here's the whoooole story of our labor and delivery. (Don't worry, I won't go into any gag-inducing details, I promise.)
Saturday, April 20th, at 7am (my actual due date, how textbook); I felt the discomfort of my first contractions. I hadn't had any Braxton hicks, or false labor up til this point; so I had no idea if what I was feeling was actually contractions or not. But they kept coming every 10 minutes or so, in the same general area; so I was pretty sure it was game time! :) I started timing them right away, and, when I wasn't immediately falling over from the pain; I had the cocky mentality that labor was a synch, and I would get through this in mere hours.
Oh, how very wrong I was.
All day long, things were still going relatively uneventful. I continued to handle contractions pretty nicely, I thought. Jake was hanging with his brother at our house, and I was doing the dishes. (Yes, the dishes. If this was really it, I wanted to come back home to a clean house.)
By 6 or 7 that night, I wasn't so cheery about things. Pain was definitely happening. We went to the hospital, knowing they would most likely send us home cuz we weren't dilated enough to stay. But, we just wanted to make sure Abe was doing ok. Driving to the hospital, I didn't have a single contraction; o-o-of course. But, they definitely made up for lost time once they got all the monitors on me. After a few hours of walking the halls (horrible, by the way), and literally begging for a C-section; we still didn't have enough action, and were sent home.
Fast forward 3 hours. We go back to the hospital, because my God, with the amount of pain I was in, I was convinced we'd have a baby in a matter of hours.
Wrong again.
Got sent home yet again. I'd only managed to dilate a half centimeter more in those 3 hours. They were gonna induce us Sunday night if nothing happened worthwhile before then. We all camped out at my parents house that night, and tried to get some sleep. (Yeah right.)
It's now Sunday afternoon, around 3pm. I had been in labor for a whopping 28 hours, and we hadn't even been admitted yet. We were about to call OB to see if they had room for my induction. Due to an alarming situation, we rushed to the hospital, unsure if everything was still ok. We got there (3rd time in 2 days), I was fine, Abe was fine, and hazzah!, we were finally admitted. The minute I signed all the paperwork, and got my ID bracelet and IV set up; I was begging for an epidural. They said I had to be further dilated in order to get it. But, due to the fact for I'd been in labor for 36 hours, they let me have it earlier than normal. Sweet relief was right around the corner. . .or so I thought.
News came that the anesthesiologist was tied up in an emergency gall bladder surgery, and wouldn't be able to get to me for another few hours. You have got to be kidding me.
Finally, after a very painful, and vocal 3 hours, my knight in shining scrubs walked through the door.
With the epidural administered, and taking effect; (thank GOD); they sent my support team home (except Jake, obviously), and told us to get some rest. Well, low and behold, my IV bag had run out, and therefore started to beep. Loudly. The nurse came in (thank you, Jasey!!!), and turned it off. It went off another 3 times, in 15 minutes intervals. I was laughing at this point. Jake was off snoring in the corner, and I was being kept up by my moody IV. After an array of setbacks, my room was finally quiet, and I got some rest.
Around 5am, Monday, my mom came back and was ready for day 2 of cheerleading. I, finally not in pain, was happier than a camel on hump day. By 7am (we'd reached 2 entire days of labor, folks), we were at a 9 and almost ready to push.
At 10:30, I started pushing. An hour and 15 minutes later (including pushing, that's a grand labor total of 52 hours and 45 minutes, people!), our precious baby boy was born!!!
He couldn't have been more perfect!! From tip to tail, he was 20 and a half inches long, and weighed in at 8lbs on the nose. 10 fingers, 10 toes, and the cutest face you've ever seen was starting back at us. We'd made it.
Our rambunctious boy is now 3 months old, and doing fantastic! He's already sleeping through the night, and is a very happy baby. He smiles, and rolls all over the place! The transition into parenthood has been so smooth and wonderful; it's like he's been with us all along. He was our missing puzzle piece.