It is very surreal to be sitting here, on Memorial Day, MY DUE DATE and I am blogging about the birth of my 2 week old :) While I had an inkling I wouldn't make it to my due date, I also wasn't holding out for it because I knew that could end up a road of disappointment, lol! I always enjoy remembering the little details of the birth of my children, so I need to make sure I write that down in Miles' journal. But for now, I will give a pretty good detail of it for the blog.
Nolan was up sick all night, throwing up the day before Mother's Day. Then on the actual morning of Mother's Day, May 12, he was totally fine! Weird? Yes, I thought so. I figured he must have either ate something bad or been dehydrated or something. But our thoughts on that were short-lived. The next morning, Monday, Matt called me from work and needed to come home, he had what Nolan had. I felt fine then, but just as we were driving home from Matt's work, I started feeling sick, too. We both made it home in time to hit the toilets, bleh! A few hours later, Woodside called and Reagan had thrown up at school. 3 down for the count! This was it for us the rest of the day, as we all took turns barfing and then resting. Reagan had no clue how to make it to the toilet and so I had a few accidents to clean up as well. By the end of the day, we had a laundry room full of gross smelling linens and clothing and I was completely dehydrated. I could not keep a thing down, even little sips of water. I was also having lots of contractions, strong enough to be something, but not really sure if it was the real thing. I called labor and delivery and they assured me it was probably due to dehydration and that I should stay home and drink something and rest. The contractions continued and at 10pm I called my friend Nanci and within minutes, she was over to our house to stay with the kids while we went in.
I checked into triage, where I was assured that after a couple hours of fluids to hydrate me, the contractions would stop and I could go home. Poor Matt was so uncomfortable in that little chair next to my bed that he went into the waiting room and slept there for a bit. Two hours went by and as they were about to send us home, they decided to check my cervix and found I had dilated from a 3 to a 5 in those 2 hours. I was admitted to labor and delivery where I was told AGAIN that I would only be here overnight with more fluids to stop contractions, then I could go home. By then, I really did just want to go home. That was a long night. It is uncomfortable sleeping in my own COMFY bed at home while 9 months pregnant. But the labor and delivery beds are possibly the worst sleeping experience ever while pregnant. Add in the monitors strapped to me belly, the IV in my wrist and YEAAAHH, it SUCKED! I did not get a wink of sleep! I was pretty grumpy when the midwife walked in the next morning at 7am and said that my contractions had stopped overnight. All I could think was, "Ugghh, I just went through all this and no baby!" But then she said that the baby's heartrate had done some jumping throughout the night and that they thought it would be best to not send me home after that. So they were going to start my labor. Hallelujah! I did not inform her that I kept pulling the monitor off so that I could get more comfortable throughout the night and that was the jumping around she saw. No, I kept that info to myself.
Ironically, around this time, my contractions started up again. And this time they were real. So in my defense, I am pretty sure we would have turned around that day and checked right back into labor and delivery. About an hour later, I was ready to go and the Pitocin drip was started. By then, my contractions were about 15 minutes apart, but were very strong and hurt so bad. I really did forget how much they hurt, holy cow. I made it to 6 cm before I asked for my epidural. Once that was in, it was easy peasy :)
While the labor part seemed to drag on for a while, the delivery was quick. I pushed just a few times and he was here at 1:08pm. He was sucking his thumbs almost instantly, that little guy :) We named him Miles Carter. We love the name Miles and Carter was just another name we liked, too.
His resemblance to everyone in our family was apparent early on. He looks just like Reagan asleep. When his eyes are wide open, he looks exactly like Nolan. From the side, his eyes are totally Matt. And I guess somewhere in there is me, too :)
Reagan and Nolan came to visit the next evening and they were both smitten. They absolutely adore Miles. I expected that of Reagan, but Nolan surprised us all. While we still need to teach some safety issues, they both are always hands on to help me out with anything. Reagan has been a huge help in cleaning up the kitchen when I need it. Nolan is the first to get me a diaper, a binky, or my purple tube (lanolin).
We came home about 24 hours after he was born, on Wednesday afternoon. We had meals brought to us all week, which was so nice. Matt was home to take care of the kids. Miles is a great eater and prefers to eat every 2-3 hours around the clock. I am tired! I also dealt with some painful nursing issues the first week, which resulted in me pumping for a couple of days. We are getting adjusted though. And I am getting quite a bit of laughs and smiles in, as I have watched nearly every episode of Duck Dynasty and also the 5 hour Pride and Prejudice. It's been an A&E sponsored recovery.
Much love to you all and I will try to keep this updated with more.
