And now may I present to you how our little stinker arrived.....
At 2:13am on April 5, 2009, I got up ONCE AGAIN to go to the bathroom. I had walked about halfway to the bathroom and suddenly, my water broke. I stood there is shock for a moment and had to think about what had just happened. I finally realized, "Oh boy, this is it!" I woke Jimmy and he flew out of the bed and called the Dr. at the hospital. I changed clothes and thought,"This is great! This isn't painful at all and I can totally do this." About 20 minutes after my water broke, I had my first contraction. It was tolerable, but pretty strong nonetheless. After we grabbed our overnight bags, Jimmy helped me into the car. We had to drive all the way to Rocky Mount from Wilson because I had switched OB Doctors. My contractions were about 5-7 minutes apart and got stronger as we got closer to the hospital. By the time we got there, I had to stop what I was doing with each contraction and breathe through the pain. A nurse wheeled me to the L&D floor and took me to a side room where I put on the hospital gown and was hooked up to a fetal monitor. I stayed in there for about an hour and then was walked across the hall to the Labor and Delivery room. My contractions were still the same length apart but, stronger. I tolerated them for a little while and then asked the nurse if we could do something for pain. She went to ask the Dr., came back and told me that it was too early for medication, but that I could either walk the floor, or get on the birthing ball (which is a large excercise ball.) The thought of walking sounded awful, so I chose the ball. I was instructed to sit on the ball, have Jimmy support my hips while I bounced up and down in between contractions and swayed back and forth during each contraction. The goal was to help the baby settle down further to speed up the process. After a very painful hour on the birthing ball, I asked for pain meds again.... I was finally dilated enough to have something put in my IV and that was the BEST feeling I'd felt all day. I was able to sleep for an hour and woke up to even stronger contractions. At that point, I begged for the epidural. I was checked and was give the go ahead for the epidural. The anesthetist could have put a sword in my back and I wouldn't have cared. All I wanted was relief! It took only a moment for the epidural to take effect, but I still felt very strong contractions on my left side. The anesthetist sat right there with me and watched me get through another contraction and adjusted the medication so that I was totally numb.
SWEET RELIEF!
I'm really not sure what time I was given the epidural.. but I was able to sleep most of the day. At about 4:30pm, I was finally 10cm and ready to push. My parents graciously exited the room and the fear really set in. I had two nurses to coach me. One was great, the other one kept making me feel like I wasn't pushing hard enough. The problem was that I really couldn't feel much of anything. The effects of the epidural were still so strong, I pushed and pushed for an hour and didn't make much progress. After awhile, the doctor came in and got the show on the road. I'll try not to be too graphic, because I have no idea who reads this blog, but apparently Harper's shoulder kept getting caught on my pubic bone. The Doctor had give him a little more room and I think most women who have had children know what he had to do!! I continued pushing and the Dr. finally had to use vaccuum extraction to get him out. The cord was wrapped around his neck and he wasn't breathing when he came out because of fluid in his lungs. Jimmy didn't get to cut the cord because he was whisked away to make sure everything was ok. After a few moments, the nurse brought him over to me all swaddled and said that she was going to let me say hi, but that she needed to take him to the nursery to check him out further. My first words to him were,"Hey baby." Jimmy appropriately said," Hey buddy!"
The Doctor worked on me for awhile, congratulated us and then sent my family in. I couldn't believe how coherent I was and how great I felt! Once I was taken to the recovery room, Harper James joined us later that night and all was well. He passed all of his test with flying colors and we were so happy to be together as a family. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to be his parents. We love him more and more each day.
Official stats:
Harper arrived at 5:37pm on 04/05/09, was 7lbs, 7oz and 21 inches long.
Discharge day!
First ride in his car seat!
First time in his crib.
Easter Sunday, 2009. Harper was exactly a week old and had a bit of jaundice. Jimmy's family came to visit us that day and it was so great to see them. What they didn't know what that my "baby blues" had set in and I was a WRECK. I took Harper back to our bedroom to feed him and just lost it. I was so scared and nervous about how we were going to take care of this baby. Luckily for me, they went away and I didn't need any medication for post partum depression. All is well!! I look back at this picture and smile when I think of how far we've come.
r Harper and Jimmy took a nap one day and I walked in to find them laying the same way. I had to get Jimmy to pose.
One month old.
Two months old. (Photos courtesy of Dana Jackson Photography)
Three months old.
Excuse my red eyes. Still three months old in this one!
First Fourth of July!
Four months old.
Five months old.
Six months old.
First Halloween!
Seven months old.
Playing on his first Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving with my family
8 months old. Christmas time!
9 months old.
10 months old.
Harper's first snow!
Harper's first Valentine's Day!
11 months old.
One year old! We made it!
In the tub after his party. Such a handsome devil.
Jimmy and I can't believe that a year has passed since we welcomed Harper into our family. Every day with him has been a new and exciting challenge. Now that he is a year old, he is definitely starting to throw tantrums and truthfully, it's hilarious. He balls up his fists, kicks his legs and sometimes tries to bite us when we pick him up. He usually has such as sweet dispostion and goes from happy to furious in .02 seconds. He is a little roller coaster of emotions at the moment.
We took him for his first haircut last week and surprisingly, I didn't cry. I'm trying to stay positive about all of Harper's milestones, even though they are bittersweet. We are looking forward to many more!
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