Last Tuesday changed our lives forever in so many ways and I can’t even begin to wrap my head around everything that has happened over this past week, but here’s my attempt.
Tuesday: Around 10 AM I started to have contractions (over the weekend I stopped taking my medicine to stop them and we were suppose to let mother nature take over). A & I went on a walk and relaxed a little before my dr. appt at 1. I drank a lot of water and by my appointment at 1 the contractions had not let up, which told us it was not false labor. I rarely have ever had to wait at the dr’s, however today (the day I really did not need to sit for a long time) I had to wait for about an hour. When Dr. P finally came in, I told him that I’d been having contractions since about 10 and they were not letting up. He checked me and measured my tummy. He then looked at us and said, “You guys need to go home, grab your bags, and head to the HOSPITAL!” He then said, “I'll call them and let them know you’ll be there soon. See you later today.” So at 2, I was 3-4 cm dilated and Baby C looked like he/she was on their way! A & I didn’t know what to say or how to act. Our lives were forever going to be changed, if this really was the real thing?! I just kept thinking, we’re going to get to the hospital and then all of a sudden everything will stop and it’ll be another false alarm. As we headed home, we both called our moms with the news and told them we would keep them posted. A was getting pretty psyched up when we were leaving and I was just in ahh of everything that was going on. It was really strange leaving the house and knowing the next time we came home it would be with Baby C. It was nice when we got the hospital, our room was set up and everybody knew what was going on. I got changed and then was hooked up to all these machines to monitor everything from my contractions, Baby C’s heartbeat, my antibiotics, etc. I was checked around 6ish and was about 6 cm. It was then decided they were going to break my water at 8, which actually turned into 8:40ish. After the OB floor Dr broke my water, the contractions really started to pick up and the last 3 cm went pretty fast. I was handling the contractions fairly well and opted not to have any drugs. I asked the nurse when I was about 9 cm, "Is this as bad as it's going to get?” She told me yes, so I knew I could handle the pain and just wanted to go natural. By 10:00 I was ready to begin pushing. With Dr. P, my nurse, the baby nurse and A all around me, the hardest part began for me. I thought I would be pushing 30 mins to hour at max, not two hours. Every time I tried to push, I had the worse low back/butt pain ever. I would push for about 3-4 secs and then I couldn’t focus on pushing anymore because my back was killing me. After an hour of this I was beginning to wonder how we were going to get this baby out. Come to find out later, A was thinking the exact same thing. I kept asking if we were going to have this baby before midnight or not. Everybody reassured me that we were and so I focused on being a mommy by midnight. I kept telling Dr. P he had 45, 30, 20, etc mins to get this baby out of me. The clock kept creeping closer to midnight and I began to plead for some type of painkiller. At one time I even said I’d take some Tylenol; I was so desperate for anything to take the pain away. I finally managed to gather my thoughts and emotions enough to give it all I had. We did have to use the vacuum in the end, which was one of my last resorts but Baby C was really stuck. The Dr. said that Baby C had turned in a way, which caused me to have a lot of back labor and then got stuck under my pelvic bone, which is why I couldn’t get Baby C pushed out. As Dr. P pulled Baby C out, I looked up at A and starred into his eyes and waited for him to tell me whether we had a son or daughter. He then said, “Would you like to meet Jacob?!” It was funny when Dr. P pulled Jacob out, he pointed out his plumbing to A, just so he didn’t mess it up in announcing what we had. Jacob Ryder Carriker was born at 11:58 PM on July 21, 2009. He weighed 6 lbs and was 20 inches long. His birth certificate says he was born at 11:56 since that’s what the monitor said, but A and all the nurses had 11:58 on their watches. Luckily it wasn’t 11:58 and midnight, or we’d have a whole day to argue about. I really wish I could relive that moment over and over again. Giving birth to a child is one of the most unbelievable feelings in the world. All I could do was thank God for this child and my new family. While they checked out Jacob, I couldn’t help but take my eyes off of A. You could see that Jacob had become his whole world. Jacob held onto A’s finger while they did everything to him. All my pain and discomfort went away as I watched the two most important things in my life bond. I’m so thankful I had my friend Jenna there to capture this amazing time in our life. She put together a DVD of all the photos she took of Jacob’s birth and I’m fully convinced I will never be able to watch it and not cry. It is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever watched and still can’t believe how blessed I am to have a beautiful baby boy.
Wednesday: After they got Jacob and I cleaned up, I nursed him for about 20 mins and then we were off to our room where we would stay for the next 2 days. I almost passed out as we got ready to leave, who knew this little scare would be a prelude to what was going to happen in a matter of hours. We got situated in our new room and spent our first night together as a family. All I wanted to do was hold my baby Jacob, so sleeping was the last thing on my mind. I tried to sleep a little here and there, but ended up just holding and nursing Jacob. Around 10ish that morning I decided to shower and clean myself up, since I just had one of the hardest workouts ever. The shower felt absolutely amazing. At the end I asked A to come dry my legs off and I keep telling him how amazing the shower was. The next thing I knew, I’m laying on my bed and everybody is starring at me. Apparently I had passed out in the shower, and while A was calling to get the nurse I got back up on my own and then passed out again into A’s arms. He then just laid me down on the bed. I think I made everybody’s heart rate spike just a little. They contributed these little spells to the fact I just gave birth to a baby and not eating for 24 hrs. Wednesday night Jacob had his first visitors. Jenna, Gina, and Jason came for awhile and then the Rigoni's came. Annie was so excited to sit and hold a brand new baby! Most of Wednesday was spent bonding with our new baby and having some test done on him to make sure everything was going good.
Thursday: By Thursday morning I was going stir crazy and ready to take Jacob home! We got home around 2ish and were surprised when we drove up and saw a big blue bear tied to our mail box. When we opened the door, we were once again surprised to see more balloons. It definitely made coming home even more special. Taking pics with Jacob when we got home was so surreal and I really couldn't believe he was here!
Friday, Saturday, Sunday: We really took it easy and enjoyed some nice quality bonding time as a family. We've been spoiled rotten by our neighborhood since we've been home. Each night someone has brought us a nice home cooked dinner. Saturday Jason and Jenna brought over the DVD and pics of Jacob's birth. I cried tears of happiness and thankfulness. Saturday we took Jacob for his first walk in the stroller. On Sunday Jacob and I helped A with his running drills and then we watched Rambo swim in the pool. The swimming in the pool was followed by a doggy bath.Sunday afternoon was Jacob's first outing. We took him to get his picture professional taken. We didn't originally plan on doing it, but then decided if they could fit him in, that we would get it done. The pics turned out great, even after a much protesting Jacob who was tired of being handled by the photographer. Every time I look at his pics I can't help but tear up and give thanks; he's really here!
Monday: Jacob had his 1st dr's visit. After having to wait for quite sometime at the dr, we finally got in. Jacob weighed exactly what he did when he was born. Over the weekend we started to notice a little yellow in Jacob's eyes. He had been tested for Jaundice at the hospital and was fortunate enough and he didn't have to have any further test or treatment. However, the dr wanted us to go get his blood drawn to see what his numbers are. They came back a tad bit high, so we would have to have it done again on Tuesday. If the number had not gone down in a day, we would have to look into some type of treatment. Overall he's doing great and the dr told us to keep doing what we're doing because it seems to be working, especially given he was a month early. The 3 of us and Rambo went on a walk, so we could keep Jacob in the sun in hopes of helping clear up his Jaundice.
Today we had to take Jacob back to get more blood drawn. We later found out that his numbers had decreased and he should be fine without any further treatment. Jacob was a little fussy this afternoon and has royally just wore himself out.
Jacob is sleeping, feeding, stooling, etc. great and we're so blessed to watch our "Sonshine!" I have him on a 3 hr feeding schedule and only get up twice in the night to feed and change. Overall I've been doing fairly well for a brand new mommy (or at least I like to think). For the most part you can't even tell I just had a baby and am really up and about. Lately I’ve cried a few tears. Tears of joy, praise, happiness, and love! As I sit and hold my baby boy in my lap, I being to tear up once again. He’s our world and he’s a true miracle from God! Jacob I wonder what God was thinking when He made you?!
Today Jacob is 1 wk old, which means I’ve been a mommy for officially 1 wk too! Amazing how fast time is already flying by!
I know there are a lot of things I forgot to mention, but I really just wanted to post Jacob's birth story and what we've been up to for the past week. Before this week turns into next week. So in the following post I'll probably fill in the holes and gaps about the things I missed. I really can't believe a week ago I was in the hospital and having a baby!
I can't wait to document everything that "Peanut/My little Man" is up to.
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”- Hebrews 11:1
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