we're the nelsons: December 2016

I'm a week postpartum and trying to write down all of my thoughts and memories of labor & delivery before they all fade away (too soon!).

I had gone into my 37 week appointment on Monday, December 12 with no hopes of progress at all. With Paige, I wasn't dilated or effaced at all until I went into labor, so I was prepared to hear "nope, you're not progressed at all". In fact, my doctor had told me the week previous that I can opt out of cervical checks, which was music to my ears because ooh, those hurt. I told Jeff that since I was sure I wasn't progressing, I didn't want to get checked because I didn't want to hear it. But! The night before, I was having some pretty strong contractions, so at the very last minute, I decided to get checked. And behold! 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced!! I could have cried-- and I did a little bit. I wasn't putting any stock into it because I know women can be at a 6 for weeks and have nothing happen.

However, I was extremely set on having this baby because this pregnancy has been so, so hard on me. And also because Jeff would be leaving town so soon after he was scheduled to arrive, and we both wanted those few extra weeks of recovery & support together. Luckily for us, my contractions continued through the week and on Wednesday, my dreams came true and it snowed! I had told Jeff that if it snowed, I would shovel the driveway because, duh. I shoveled half of it before having strong contractions and sent myself back inside to rest. They stopped after about an hour (of course) and I ended up disappointed because I was so sure it would send me into labor! My contractions weren't strong when I went to bed that night but I had woken up a few times with some strong ones but never anything that lasted.

Around 5:30 AM Thursday morning, I woke up with semi-strong contractions that were coming about every 15 minutes so I decided to stay up & time them to make sure one way or the other. 6:15, I woke Jeff up and told him I thought I might be in labor but I wasn't sure. Also, I was in a lot of pain & couldn't sleep and he should stay up with me haha! He started to freak out a little because we hadn't packed bags or anything and we'd also heard that the second child always comes faster than the first. He started rushing around and throwing things together, getting Paige up & ready while I tried to find someone to watch her while we went to the hospital to check. I got up & decided to take a shower to ease the pain (back contractions- holy ow!) and then got myself emotionally prepared (lots of crying because of anxiety and because it would be my last few hours as a mother of one! And finally meeting my little baby! And Paige was going to be a sister! I was a complete mess ha!)

We left the house at about 8:30 AM and in all the rush, I had completely forgotten to eat. BIG MISTAKE. I did the same thing with Paige & swore this time around I would make sure I ate. And of course I forgot again! We dropped Paige off and drove the 20 minutes to the hospital while freaking out over having a second child soon and laughing and singing and trying not to be extremely nervous and not getting our hopes up just in case I wasn't in labor :/ We'd had plenty of false alarms with Paige and I hated getting sent home every time. We got to L&D and they got us all checked in. The nurse suggested that I walk the halls to help strengthen my contractions since they had died down a little since we left the house & she would check again in an hour.

We walked the halls for about 45 minutes and then headed back to our room where I decided doing squats was probably a good option just in case walking wasn't enough. The nurse came back & checked and I'd only progressed HALF A CM. I cried. Right there. It wasn't enough! They were going to send me home! But she said she would call my doctor and see what he thought and maybe put in a good word for the crazy, crying, hormonal pregnant lady who wanted nothing more than to be in labor. She came back 15 minutes later and said I could stay!! I cried again & then texted my family to let them know! Ahh, finally. And then my beloved OB showed up to break my water so they couldn't send me home even if they wanted to. Gosh, I love him so much.

After he broke my water, the contractions came like crazy. They were so strong and I almost broke Jeff's hand multiple times because apparently I squeeze too hard or something. A few hours in, Jeff left to go get food (at this point, I hadn't eaten anything except a cup of ice chips and some orange jell-o since 7 pm the night before-- so like 17 hours) and ate right in front of me. The audacity of this man! The anesthesiologist showed up to give the epidural and Jeff made sure not to watch this time so he didn't pass out haha and oh, I could finally relax a little! I only got a quick nap instead of a deep, epidural induced sleep, but it was okay. The nurse came in to give me pitocin since I wasn't progressing quickly enough (yay) and came in about every hour to up it some more!

It's about 4:00 at this point and I'd been at this for almost 10 hours. We called the nurse in because my epidural had worn off and my contractions were sending me into tears of pain. She suggested that since I was so close (an 8!), I could probably just continue without the epidural. I bit her head off and then told her, no, I was definitely asking her to replenish my epidural PLEASE. Of course, this time around, it decided to bypass where the actual pain was and went straight to my left leg & numbed it. Perfect. I could literally feel everything except my left leg. Another hour passed and she came back with good news- I was at a 10 and could finally have this baby! Yes! More tears!

They super quickly put everything together because his head was like right there. The doctor came in (more tears) and I started to push. Once. So close. Twice. I could feel his head. My doctor said "oh my goodness, look how much hair he has!" and I leaned forward and giggled and he slid right out! I literally laughed my baby out of me haha! They placed him right on my chest before the NICU nurses came and rushed him back to his station because he hadn't cried yet! Apparently there was some fluid in his lungs, but he was okay. He's just a very content baby :)

He was born at 5:45 PM on December 15, 2016 and they weighed him in at 6 lbs 14 oz and he measured 19" long. Jeff immediately called in my dinner order (bless him) to Morty's (which is like, the best burger/sandwich joint in Cache Valley-- get the Turkey Bacon Ranch grilled sandwich. You will thank me!) and I got to eat it right there in the room while holding Ollie. I might have spilled some turkey & bacon on his head, but he didn't seem to mind ;)

I just snuggled him the whole time! He was so tiny & warm & his head smells like heaven and I couldn't believe he was finally here! He looked so much like Paige, except with so much more hair, which almost made the heartburn worth it! He's been such a good baby and is perfectly healthy. Recovery this time around has been so much easier (maybe because I've done it before?) but probably because Ollie is just so good to us. He sleeps in 4-5 hour stretches at night & eats like a champ.

Paige loves him so much & is always asking to hold him and giving him kisses & hugs (softly-- so glad we worked on that before he was born!). I almost never put him down because I'm so obsessed with him and he keeps me warm so I'm not always blasting the heat. We love him so much (crazy how I thought I couldn't love another baby as much as I love Paige but my heart must have grown three sizes because there's so much room in my heart for both of them!) and he makes our family feel so much more complete. And now I'm going to flood this post with pictures :)