I am telling this story 5 months after the fact so the details are a little bit hazy. I figured it I'm already forgetting and it's only been 5 months, I should probably write everything down before I forget more.
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| This was my birthday dinner so I was around 5 months prego eating Benihana's with my hot hubby! |
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| I was around 28 weeks here. I finally looked pregnant from the side angle in some outfits... otherwise I pretty much looked like I had gained a few until like 35 weeks! |
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| 35 weeks! |
This was 39 weeks. My belly just popped. I had to go to work at the hospital and none of my scrubs fit... but this was only the situation for about 2 weeks so I never got new ones. Very uncomfortable!
These beautiful pictures were taken to send to Heidi Hanks Ore so she could keep track of my belly growth from Utah! The last few days of work before James made his appearance!
My due date was officially May 20 but at the first OB appointment we went to they told us May 18. May 18 is Erik's Grandma Grimm's birthday and it just so happened that May 18 2014 was her 100'th birthday. So, we decided it was meant to be that I would have the baby on May 18th.
As my pregnancy progressed, I started having a lot of contractions around 31 weeks. At 32 weeks, it seemed like I had symptoms of pre-term labor. I went in and they did some tests and one of them was positive. I was put on bed-rest for one week. It was a long week and I was surprisingly emotional and scared about the whole thing. They redid the test after one week and it came back negative so that was the end of that.
I tell this story because pretty much after that scare I was sure my baby was going to come out any day. So, when he was 6 days overdue (according to the May 18th due date), I was so so so ready to have him!
So, Monday May 19 was the beginning of final exams for Erik. We were both nervous that I would go into labor during his exams. On Wednesday morning around 2 am I woke up with horrible contractions that were spaced regularly apart. They kept me awake until 8am. I really didn't want to make Erik miss his test, and I remembered that Justina had a really long labor for her first baby, so I just waited it out walking the hallways without even telling Erik. At 8am, I fell asleep and the contractions stopped. I was so disappointed, and tired! So, I went to work. The contractions came back on Thursday night/Friday morning, only much stronger. Erik had his last final which was 4 hours from 8-12 and I really didn't want him to miss it. If he missed it, he would have to retake an "alternative" test and it could be harder and we didn't want that! So, at 2 am, again, I walked the halls of my house without waking him up. These contractions stayed until 10 am. Then, they stopped! I was worried that my water might have broken so I finally got the guts to go to the hospital around 3pm and get checked. They didn't know if my water was broken but they admitted me and said they would induce my labor for safety reasons. Yay! I was so excited that the baby was going to come out but I was really scared about the induction part. I really wanted to experience natural onset of labor for some strange reason!
So, there in L&D triage, I went into labor without being induced! Yay!!!
I loved my nurse and my OB. She was really nice to me and put up with all of my crazy questions and concerns... (I had a lot of them because the only OB I have ever worked with is in the ICU where those poor moms aren't doing well at all!)
James was born at 5am... he was so cute. I had some bleeding but the doctor did a procedure to make that stop and there were no other complications. I was so tired when he came out I literally could not keep my eyes open. It was still so amazing to see him. I looked at him and I knew he was my baby. Seems like a silly thing to say I'm sure but I was scared when I was pregnant that I wouldn't think he belonged to me... But he did belong to me and I loved him immediately so so much!
I do have to mention that I hated my second nurse... a little to bossy for my liking. And... she told me they didn't have zofran by mouth which I knew was a crock! So, I argued until I got what I want and then I got a new nurse :) I didn't fire her... luckily she just got reassigned for no particular reason.
The next day was exhausting but so fun. I was on cloud 9 with our cute new family. It was so great to spend time with our new little guy and so much of my family came to visit. James was healthy and strong! There was a short scare over his blood pressure but it was quickly resolved so that was good.Also another nurse was annoying because she told me I was starving my baby because my milk hadn't come in but luckily she was wrong. (PS I love the nursing profession.... full disclosure I'm probably not an easy patient to have haha...)
Overall, I am so happy to be a mom! And have a great husband to raise this cute little guy with. Love being a mom!
