New Mom!

So as you all know I was pregnant and expecting my first child, a baby girl. I officially gave birth on 4/15/18 at 8:09am via C-section. It was a very rocky road for me during labor and delivery as things did not go as planned at all. I have thoroughly been enjoying being a mother! No one could have ever prepared me for the instant love and adoration that I would have for my baby girl.

Most of you know that my due date was 4/6/18, but clearly my little girl did not get that memo that she was supposed to vacate the premises of my womb on that date or at least 4 days afterwards. I went in for an induction on 4/12/18 at 7am, one day after my 30th birthday, and boy was that an experience for me. The first method they tried I thought was going to work and it had to stay in for 12 hours, it was supposed to soften my cervix so that I could begin to dilate, and that was an epic fail because I still had not started dilating and I did not feel any contractions at all. The next thing they tried was giving me the Pitocin, which is supposed to make you dilate and start contractions quickly. My doctor wanted to start me on the Pitocin slowly, so instead of increasing the dose every 15 minutes she increased it every 2 hours. The rest of Thursday and all day Friday I was hooked up to an IV getting fluids and the Pitocin. Suffice it to say, that was also an epic fail. The max dose is 20ml and I didn’t start feeling minor contractions until I had gotten up to 16ml of the Pitocin. When I was checked to see if I had dilated any early Saturday morning, I was still 1cm. This was quite disappointing for me. So my doctor decided to take me off the IV for a few hours so that I could move around and then start the induction process over again. So this time I started out on the Pitocin at 9ml and every 15-20 minutes a nurse came to increase it 2ml. This time around I started feeling the contractions and by the time I got to 14ml, I needed pain meds to deal with the pain. My water finally broke! By Saturday evening when my doctor checked me and I was still 1cm she suggested that I get an epidural to relax my cervix in hopes that it would help me to start dilating more. She swept my membranes and that got me to 3cm dilated. So I got the epidural, which was something that I did not want at all. I wanted a natural birth with no epidural. Clearly that was not in the cards for me. So by early Sunday morning when my doctor came and checked and I was still a measly 3cm she gave me the look and said to me “Honey you’re still 3cm, we need to schedule a c-section now”. At that point I did not protest at all. My body was completely tired. The medicine that you put in the epidural did not work so they had to use anesthesia.

My baby girl was born at 8:09am. Because of my own complications it took me a while to be able to finally see my baby for the first time. They wheeled me into the NICU in front of her warmer to be able to look at her. It was love at first sight and she was so beautiful to me! Since being home with my baby it has been a learning curve. Getting to know the signs for when she is hungry, needs attention and getting the hang of breastfeeding. She is only 16 days old and she already has a big personality and our bond is strong and will only get stronger. I absolutely could not imagine being anything else but her mother. I never knew how much I would love being a mom nor how natural it would be to me. I love when she is awakes and she smiles at me when I talk and kiss her. She sometimes even kisses me back. She is my forever love! I have never experience this type of love before!

Even though things did not go as planned for my labor and delivery, I would not change anything at all. All the time, pain, and worry was all worth it. The fact that my baby girl is here, healthy and beautiful is all that I could ever ask for. I will love her with all my heart, teach her, cherish her and protect her until the day that I die.

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Come Out Already!

So most of you know that I am pregnant. This has been quite a long journey full of happy moments and not so good moments. My due date was Friday April 6th and it is currently Sunday April 8th and in less than an hour it will be Monday April 9th.

 

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From Google Images 

I am clearly a few days past my due date and when I tell you I am beyond ready to have this baby I mean it. I am over 40 weeks pregnant and I am just fat and heavy. It is extremely tiring carrying around all this baby weight. And of course my unborn daughter doesn’t care. She is just comfortably, although I don’t see how when it’s obviously not that much room in there, and patiently taking her time to enter this world. I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions (false contractions) for weeks now but they have not been progressing into true labor. Which obviously sucks for me!

I have literally been doing everything to get this baby out of me such as exercising (walking, climbing stairs, doing squats and yoga), eating spicy foods, eating pineapples, and I even been doing nipple stimulation. Research suggests that nipple stimulation is one of the best ways to naturally induce labor at home. But to no avail, nothing and I mean absolutely nothing has been working. I genuinely hope that she hurries up and come on her own because if she is not here by Wednesday April 11th (which is actually my 30th birthday) then my doctor has me scheduled to get induced on Thursday April 12th at 7am. I am dreading getting induced because I actually had planned to have this baby natural without using any type of pain medication. So I am praying that she just stops being stubborn and come out on her own before Thursday.

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From Google Images 

All in all, this baby has got to come out already! I am slowly losing my patience with having to wait to meet her and hold her. I have never wanted to experience pain so bad. I am beyond ready to experience what it feels like to go through labor and delivery and just have this baby already. She has officially received her eviction notice and she has got to go asap!

Final Day of Work!

As I am nearing the end of my pregnancy (37 wks 4 days as of this post) I have the next couple weeks to do my finishing touches on my nursery and relax and enjoy the last moments of my life without having a baby. With labor and delivery slowly approaching I am even more anxious and excited to go through this process and start my life as a new mom.

I had an amazing time on Friday, which was my last day of work, there was a St. Patricks Day/Going Away Party for me at my school with my students. After the work day was over a couple of my coworkers took me out to one of my favorite restaurants, Dixie Kitchen, and we enjoyed a great meal and girl talk!

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At Dixie Kitchen

I plan to spend time writing, working on new jewelry for my business Young Beautiful Fly  , in addition to putting up the baby’s bassinet and bed. The bassinet and bed is all I have left to finish up the nursery so I think I did pretty good with making sure that I was prepared for my baby girls arrival. I often sit in the room and look at all her stuff and go through the closet and look at her clothes and smell them just thinking about how much my life is going to change in an amazing way! As you can tell I am already, absolutely obsessed with my baby and she hasn’t even made it here yet. I have so many plans on things that we will do during the summer and I am so looking forward to that.

Nesting… In Full Effect!

So those of you who are parents or have been around a pregnant woman knows what nesting is. But for those of you who have no clue what I am talking about, nesting is a serious condition for most if not all pregnant women.

So my nesting phase is in full effect! I’ll be 33 weeks in a couple days and I have already had my baby shower on February 3rd. I have washed all her clothes hung them up or folded them and put them in drawers. I have re-organized my room to make room for her. Cleaned, dusted, swept, mopped and re-organized the bookshelf and medicine cabinet. The only thing I have left to do is have her father put up the baby bed and the bassinet. Clearly you can tell that I have NOCD (Nesting Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

I didn’t realize that this was such a real thing until just now. I have such a strong urge to do nothing but clean and get stuff ready for my baby girl. It’s so bad that I would rather not go to work so that I can clean and get things organized. Ridiculous I know!

I officially can no longer make fun of pregnant women and the weird things that they do and eat. I have undoubtedly become one of those women! Nesting for me is just so relaxing and calming. And you know what, I wouldn’t change it for anything or anyone. Although being pregnant has been a huge adjustment for me, I am absolutely and unequivocally loving it!