Well, it is pretty apparent that I have been absent for the last week or so. I swear I have a good reason though, our little bundle of joy decided to make his way into the world a bit early. Here is the story:
Thursday, December 10
Our last doctor appointment was at 39 weeks, and was also the appointment we set up an induction. Based on my doctor's rotation, we were all set to go to the hospital to have a baby on Tuesday, December 15. Well, obviously as soon as you plan something things are bound to happen differently. We left the appointment excited to know that the day was quickly approaching and soon our little guy would be here with us. At that, we continued on with our lives as normal.
Friday, December 11
Again, life went on as usual. I had some contractions every once and a while, but nothing that was throwing my life off track or getting consistent/stronger. That night though was a different story. Around 11 p.m. I started noticing that my contractions were getting stronger and staying pretty consistent so I started timing. By midnight they were 8 minutes apart.
Saturday, December 12
I rolled over and woke Nate up to let him know that I was having contractions and was going to stand up for a bit to make sure they stayed around and see if they continued to get stronger. His response was okay, just tell me when they are closer together and then he went back to sleep. I decided to take a shower to keep me up and then see what happened. By 1 a.m. they were 5 minutes apart and slightly stronger. Around 1:30 we made the call to the doctor (which I felt very guilty for waking her up about). She said to wait another hour and see if they get stronger/closer still before heading in, just to make sure it wasn't false labor. Well we waited until 3:30, by which time they were coming about every 3 minutes. Now they still weren't stop you in your tracks strong, but they were strong enough that I was uncomfortable and decided it was time to go in and get checked.
By the time we made it to the hospital and were put in a room, I was staying steady at 3 min apart and was about 3 cm dilated. They kept me for an hour or so to see if I made any progress and then kept making sure I wasn't wanting any pain medication or anything yet. I explained that I wanted to go as long as possible without medication and then they decided the best route then would be for me to go home until I was to the point where I really just couldn't stand it any more. This way I could walk around and be comfortable instead of laying at the hospital all day.
We came home around 5:30 or so, got some breakfast and then Nate got a warm bath going for me to try and help ease the soreness in my back. Then we both tried to get some sleep, it doesn't work that well. I think I got a grand total of 2 hours of sleep. Eventually I gave up on sleep and we both headed downstairs for some more breakfast. Following breakfast we took a walk. I knew I needed to keep myself moving. After some general clean up around the house and a little sitting around we headed out for another walk.
Around 3 that afternoon we were off to the hospital. I really just couldn't take it anymore and was praying it was time. After being checked again, I was still not quite 4 cm but my contractions were definitely stronger. The doctor had the nurse tell me to just walk around as much as I can for an hour at the hospital before they checked again. If I made any progress they were going to admit me.
During that hour was when I started to get contractions that legitimately stopped me in my tracks. It was probably the slowest Nate has ever walked in his life, but he stuck by my side through the constant laps I was making. About 40 minutes or so into it I got tired of walking so we headed back to the room for good. By the time I was taking the last bite of my protein bar, the nurse came in and said we were getting admitted. Looking back I am so beyond grateful for that protein bar. Once we were admitted (about 4 o'clock) I was put on a clear liquid diet, never have chicken broth and Gatorade tasted so good.
I spent the next 7 hours bouncing on an exercise ball, trying to make due with just Pitocin in my IV. Our parents were there which was a nice distraction. However by 11 p.m. I had hit my limit and the anesthesiologist was brought in to give me an epidural. At this point I had gotten maybe 3 hours of sleep since waking up Friday morning, so getting the epidural and the relief I felt from it was exactly what I needed and I was able to sleep for a little bit.
Sunday, December 13
My water broke on its own when I was 8 centimeters and I got to 10 centimeters pretty quickly after that. Around 3:45 a.m. the nurse had me start pushing and and hour and a half later I was holding our precious little boy.
I cannot express the feeling I got holding him for the first time. This tiny human that grew inside of me for nine months is finally here. The process was long and hard at times, but I had the best support system ever. Nate was my rock through it all and helped me keep going when I felt like I had no strength or energy left.
Leighton Wayne Blair was born at 5:14 a.m. on Sunday, December 13, 2015. He weighed 8 pounds and was 21 inches long.
We have survived two weeks with this little one and are doing our best at this parenting thing. Just like with my pregnancy and labor we couldn't do this without the support of our friends and family.
You can follow along with our journey through parenthood by following on Instagram and Snapchat (katianne1519). Make sure to keep up with the blog too by following on Facebook and Bloglovin'.
Thank you for your patience in waiting for my return back to this little corner of the blog world. Please bare with me as I get the balance of mom life and blogging figured out.
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