Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Big Baby Post

One year ago, I looked like this...
I'll be vain. I had a freaking adorable belly!! Ignore the face in this picture, this was about 6 hours into my 9am induction on August 24th, 2010. I'm gonna say I was 5-6cm.
The night before, Chris and I snuggled and watched a movie. I had already fiddled around the house, getting everything packed and ready, throwing out fridge items I knew would go bad, getting the last dish washed and set to dry. He laid his head on my belly and talked to Nevaeh, telling her this was her last chance to come out on her own before we had no choice but to get her out ourselves. She didn't listen of course.

Previously, I had tried the following natural inductions:
Sex. Lots of uncomfortable, unwanted sex. (I mean really, who actually wants to do it when they're 40+ weeks pregnant?!)
Pineapple. Within two days, I ate an entire pineapple. Tasted awesome, but did nothing.
Spicy food. I am not a spicy food person. Eating it was horrible and painful! My belly was torn up with burning, my mouth was on fire. I hated it. But inside my womb was this little soccer player, flipping and kicking like she was having a blast! Apparently she's a spicy food kid.
Walking. I walked every single day. I carried small loads of laundry up and down the stairs (One so I didn't lift too much and two so I did more exercise) I walked around the neighborhood, paced the living room while watching TV, walked the mall, squated, did yoga. All forms of exercise. I even did a dance video, and I'll unashamedly post a part of that video here...

Go ahead...take your time laughing. Get it alllllll out :-) Nevaeh again, thought it was awesome. This is probably the reason she's such a dancing queen now :-)
Castor Oil...twice...never, ever, ever again. I have no idea why I listened to everyone swearing by it, telling me it'd work within an hour. The first time, I mixed it with a chocolate carnation drink. I gagged severely chugging it, and an hour later I was in the bathroom with severe...ahem...unpleasant experience. The second time I made an even worse mistake. A1 sauce was my biggest craving. I put it on every food item. It was delicious. I was also big on eggs, especially scrambled eggs with A1 sauce. So I had the bright idea to put the castor oil into the scrambled eggs to mask the taste. It did not mask the taste. It made me gag, run to the bathroom and have more very unpleasant experiences, and I can no longer eat scrambled eggs with A1 sauce :-( Terrible...terrible terrible!! Nevaeh had to be laughing her butt off in there, because there was no activity from her that showed she was coming out any time soon. Brat!! :-)

So needless to say, none of those escapades worked, and only one of them was enjoyable (the pineapple...Ok, I kinda liked the dancing too...Ok, I loved it!)

I swear on everything Holy, my next pregnancy will be much better. Better in the sense of my doctors. The pregnancy itself was a complete breeze, I don't think there could have been anything easier. I had no morning sickness, extremely mild nausea, I craved healthy foods and hated fried foods, she slept under my right rib cage but if I laid on my left side I was fine. I peed like a leaky faucet, but I've always had a small bladder so that wasn't a big deal. 8 1/2 months I got pretty uncomfortable and my back ached, but I've always had back problems and Hello, I had an oversized beach ball on my stomach so of course my back was going to hurt!
What I did not enjoy at all, was my doctor. Or, I should say, my lack of a doctor. I was dropped from my mother's insurance after she died, and didn't qualify for my school's or work's, so I was forced to get on Medicaid/Caresource. Miami Valley seemed like the best option. I had so many problems getting the insurance finalized, that even though I found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks, I didn't get in to the Dr. until 20 weeks. I was already furious. I never saw the same nurse or midwife twice. I had to repeat my story every single visit, even though you'd think they'd have my information on file. I had more hands up my hoohaw then I'd ever want, and to be honest I don't even know who the random resident was who ended up delivering me. I told them not to offer me an epidural because I knew if they did at my weakest moment, I'd give in. They offered, and I gave in. Furious! I couldn't even do labor in the water like I wanted. They let me go 2 weeks overdue before inducing me, which I felt was unnecessary. But that's all I'll say about that, because it's not important.

I was induced at 9am, August 24th, 2010. Easy easy labor. The nurses kept asking "Did you feel that contraction?" and I did not even know I was having one. My dad, stepmom and sister came up pretty early and stayed the whole time. My MIL and her boyfriend came up as well. We all sat around chatting and laughing. When the Doctor came in to check me my dad would bolt out of the room like lightening. God forbid he caught a peek of anything! :-)
8cm hit me like a freight train. For all the ease and comfort I was feeling before, those beautiful little blips of contractions, this was the complete opposite. Chris graciously ushered everyone out for the hard labor period. I got the shakes. My entire body shook so hard that the bed was vibrating. My mouth was full of cotton, I couldn't sip enough water to wet it down. It was almost like being seasick. A wave of contraction would crash over me, I'd have that surreal lurch of pain and soft moans would come out of my mouth. Then the contraction would receed and just when I took a relieved breath it'd come crashing around and down again. I told the nurse I was going to vomit, but she couldn't get the bucket to me fast enough. I puked over the side of the bed. Shakes, contraction and vomit all at the same time. I could barely breathe because of it. That was when the damn doctor offered me the epidural. At my absolute weakest. I couldn't even really talk. I whispered No, and the doctor said he (Or she, I don't remember who the Dr. was at this point) was worried I wouldn't have the strength to push, because I was still only 8 1/2 cm and had basically stopped. It would probably be a few more hours before even pushing, and then however long I had to push. He swayed me, damn him/her. I told Chris to send in my dad and go smoke a cigarette so he could calm down. My dad came in and brushed my hair back, held me on the side of the bed sitting up, put his forehead against my sweaty one. The epi. team asked questions and I'd barely breathe out my responses, but somehow my dad heard what I said and translated for me. He talked softly to me, telling me I was doing such a great job. I really needed to hear that from him. He really came through for me that day.
I don't remember much after the epidural, I know I was much more relaxed. Still had the shakes but no more crashing of contractions that had my incoherent. Family popped back in to check on me but for the most part they stayed in the waiting room so Chris and I could have our time. Started pushing at 9pm. Being numb made it impossible to know if I was pushing right, so I just tried to bear down like I was pooping. Apparently that was the right thing to do. 3 hours of pushing later...at 12:19am, August 25th, the most beautiful child slipped out of me and into my arms.


9lbs, 7oz, 22 inches long. Brown hair, wide blue eyes. A healthy cry and an overjoyed Mommy and Daddy. Nevaeh Christine Smith came into the world and completed us.

One year later, we are getting ready to celebrate! Tomorrow will be Nevaeh's 1st birthday. My how she has grown!!


Not sure why it's sideways, I can't get it turned rightside??

My beautiful little lady. You have made daddy and I's life so much better! You are such a joy!!

At last, because I know this is ridiculously long already...just a few things that my girl can do :-)

8 teeth, 3 molars in the works
Dance. Girlfriend can bust a move! Since she was 7 months old she's shimmied her shoulders and shook her booty to the beat.
Stand! and today she danced a little while standing
Take 2-3 steps
Momma, Dada, Baba, Hi, yeah, dog, lala

Happy Birthday (tomorrow), my little slice of Heaven <3 I love you so very much!

4 comments:

  1. hahahaha! I love that video!! and that song!! You have some great dance move even when your pregnant! Happy Birthday to your beautiful little gal

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  2. aww thank you :-) haha what can I say, I like to bust a move! I think that's where Vaeh gets it! I can't wait to read blogs about your precious little guy :-)

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  3. Finally got to finish reading this post. It's truly and amazing experience!

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  4. That is my new favorite song now. I think ill even make my own dance video to it lol. This is post is amazing. It makes me so excited that I will get to experience almost the same thing as yu described. Its awesome :).

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