Charlie's Here!

So this is how it all went down for the arrival of my baby Charlie,,,

We get to the hospital at midnight, July 1st, with much anticipation. (That and some indigestion because I ate so much food prior since 4 pm was my deadline:) After registering, the super nice nurse takes awesome care of me for the next 6 hours. She answered all of my "I'm a new mom and I am super scared to death about this whole thing" questions. Ash and I tried to nap here and there for the next few hours, until my doctor came into break my water at 6:45 am. The nurse told me it would feel like a normal cervical exam. She must have been smoking crack because that was one of the worst feelings I have felt. I immediatly thought--"Ok. Im done. No more--lets go home. Seriously."

After that painful experience, I thought that the show was on the road and Charlie would be here in a few hours. My doctor said to me, "Ok. Gonna let you rest now and we will check back in 12 hours to see how you are progressing." Huh?!?!?!?! Did he say 12 hours???? Yet another shock. She raised my level of Pitocin (sp) and we were off. I did not feel much of anything for a little bit, and then -WHAMO!! CONTRACTIONS! I was trying to be a big girl and fight through it, while trying to explain to Ash what it felt like. He relates to it as indigestion. Yeah. Sure pal. So around 11 am I got my epidural.

I was scared about this too, mainly because having a gigantic needle in your back just doesn't seem normal to me. Lucky for me, a great friend was there to help with the epidural . She is a nurse anesthetist at the hospital and walked me through the whole thing. She didnt want to give me one, being a friend and all, cause she wanted it to be a good experience just in case. Kind of like when you invite someone to church and the preacher is gone so they do the annual budget meeting. You explain feverishly that "its never like this" and "its normally AWESOME!" So she had a doctor come give it to me, whose name was Charlie :)

After that was given, I felt so much better. Next time I will get one as soon as I pull into the parking lot. What a weird sensation! So after hours of checking to see if I dilated at all, my doctor decided that we would check at 10 pm and make a decision then. So, at 10pm I was barely a 5, and he thought it best to do a C-section. Fine with me, whatever was best for the baby, but I immediately started crying for some reason!!! I guess it was a mix of nerves probably.

So after the call was made things happened very quickly. I was wheeled into surgery a few minutes later and next thing I knew all my insides were on the outside of me. Ash was holding my hand, but kept watching the whole thing saying "this is so cool. oh my goodness. " yea,,,thanks pal. Then they tell me its gonna be alot of pressure, and from what Ash said a lady literally was laying on me pushing my boy out. And finally at 11:01 pm, I see and hear the most beautiful noise in the whole wide world. They take him to the warmer and suction him out cause he had lots of the meconium aspirated. I started crying again, with good reason. They give him to me, but my arms are numb so I have this death grip on him so he doesnt fall. After some pics they take him away, and Ash follows. The proud papa:)

Then the tugging and pulling and yanking began. I asked for a tummy tuck while they were down there. No harm in asking right? They laughed, but I was serious. Come to find out, my pelvic bone was to small and he was turned sideways trying to get out. The doc told me there was no way he would have ever come out normally. So, seeing as how my pelvic bone was too small I felt better because my grandmother used to tell me I was "big boned" like her. Well nanny nanny boo-boo! :) Granted it was not my hip bone, but still. To be told you have a small bone does wonders for a pregnant girl. But I really thought there should be some way to tell if that bone is too small so women dont have to go through 20+ hours of labor. Seriously-that was ridiculous.

They wheel me out and I see my mom and dad and start crying again. I am just a faucet today! The grandparents are all in the room for awhile and then everybody leaves. Suddenly its just Ash, me, and Charlie. It all sets in---what do we do now???? Isnt someone gonna bring in the massive manual to guide us through the next few weeks? No one did, but they did take us to our next room and left us alone to sleep. I was too excited though---like Christmas eve. I had just been blessed with the best present in the whole wide world and sleep was the last thing on my mind.

Then over the next few days, all the things of after labor happened. Stuff no one told you about. I had been forewarned of a few things from Kim and Kelly, but oh my word! I wont go into detail cause I might get in trouble from mom. One of the most humbling experiences for me was wearing those gigantic diapers for a couple of days. Yeesh.

So then came the day we got to leave. Being discharged from the hospital took FOREVER! And then they trust you enough to just let you walk out with this tiny person. But we got him home safely, after driving 15mph on the interstate and me holding his head so it didnt bobble everywhere. Family came over with food and we celebrated Charlie's homecoming. I had forgotten that the day we came home was July 4th, so there were fireworks going of everywhere! I almost yelled out my door to our neighbors-"UM HELLO!?!? NEWBORN IN HERE!!! KNOCK IT OFF!" But I refrained. We should celebrate our nations independence. :)

We took Charlie to the doctor Monday, again driving very slow, and then to his first visit to Chick-fil-A. All is well with the little guy, and we are loving every minute of him being here. Even the late hours:) If anyone has a secret to getting them to sleep at night, please feel free to pass it along:) He sleeps next to us in a co-sleeper, and every little whimper or movement causes me to be right in his face checking on him. Hey-I'm a new mom. Cut me a little slack:)

My mom used to tell me that I will never understand how much she loves me until I have a child of my own. Now I understand the magnitude of my parents love for me and my brothers. And I have a newfound appreciation for my parents and all the sleepless nights I caused them. I love this sweet miracle so much it actually hurts my heart. I just melt when he looks at me, even though I know he cant see alot now, but still. :) I also love watching Ash with him. I totally fell in love with my husband all over again. (I am just a pile of much aren't I ? Good grief!)

So there is the story--our story--- and many more will follow with our new journey as being parents to Charlie. Weird to say "parents"--sounds old. Have a good night sleep everyone, and know that I will be awake all night.:)