The Flergers!

When you are awaiting the birth of a child, the closer you get to the due date, the slower time seems to pass. But after the birth, everything speeds up and you find yourself longing for time to drag again, though you know that you have no control over it. This month and all things about it have been a blur and time has flown so quickly! I found it only fitting to name this blog post after one of my favorite albums (and those of you know know me will appreciate it.)

The first part of the month of August seemed to take forever. When August began, I was 38 weeks pregnant and felt like my due date was never going to arrive. I felt like a ticking time bomb--and I know that Jesse must have been looking at me as though I was. When my doctors appointment on August 6th rolled around, we made the decision to go ahead and induce after I hit 39 weeks for a couple of reasons, the main one being that Jesse would not get any time with his new baby if we didn't go a week early, and also because I had had a large baby the first time and my doctor had concerns about her shoulders fitting through the birth canal. I had a rough pregnancy and was so ready to meet my girl.

The week before the induction Jesse and I went on two dinner-and-a-movie dates. We tried new restaurants and enjoyed a little bit of time alone before we became the parents of two children. We laughed and made nervous conversation about how we would manage it all. A month ago we put our house on the market and there had been extra stress on us that neither of us have been able to escape so the dates we went on were much needed.

Honey and Papa arrived the Friday before the induction and I was able to breathe a little easier once they got here. I knew that no matter what--whether I went into labor on my own or if she waited until the induction--that my sweet Lucas and our Lily Dog would be taken care of.

Our last Family of 3 pic!

One more belly shot the night before the induction.

We left so early that we didn't want to wake anybody up, so we wrote them notes instead.

Ready to go!

I didn't sleep hardly a wink the night before the "eviction" date (I joke, but that's what I lovingly called it.) My brain was too excited and full of nervous thoughts and I maybe slept 2 hours between 10pm and 4 am. We had to be at the hospital at 5am on Monday, August 11th. We arrived a bit early so I went up and got a cart--Jesse loaded it with all our bags and stuff and then went to park the car. When we arrived I put on a very fashionable (haha) hospital gown and they got me hooked up to an IV and started me on Pitocin.

I need a nap...

I did get to nap for a little while, at least until the contractions really started to kick in and then I decided to give the birthing ball a try. (I'll spare everyone a picture of that, though yes, I do have one.) We watched several episodes of Firefly, Jesse napped (a little) and played games on his iPad, and kept supplying me with cups of water and ice. Around 11:30 things started to feel pretty darn uncomfortable and I asked for an epidural because I had been told that there were two c-sections at noon and the anesthesiologists would be tied up with that for a while and I did not want to miss my opportunity for pain relief. Thankfully after I got my epidural I was able to rest a little (in between the beeps of the machines and the regular interruptions, that is.) I had a wonderful nurse named Mary who I was lucky enough to have all day--she was so calm and low-key and made me feel as comfortable as possible.

Checking out the contractions while sitting on the birthing ball. I couldn't see the monitor so I got creative!

Does anyone else think one of the contractions looks like butt cheeks?

My sweet girl decided to take her time getting here and put me through a fair amount of pain doing it. My effacement and dilation happened quite slowly, and it seemed as though I was stuck at 4cm for a really long time. Around 3:15 my doctor came to check me and said I was between a 6 and a 7. Unfortunately my epidural was not holding steady and I started feeling a massive wave of pain and my contractions got unbelievably worse in a short time frame. The pain caused me to feel dizzy and nauseated, which lead to me yacking my guts up into a bag (fun times!) As much fun as that was, it got the ball rolling and in 15 minutes I went from 6cm dilated to 10cm and fully effaced. It seemed that Little Miss decided that it was time to show up to the party and the rapid descent made my labor pain quite intense. (I might have bruised Jesse's hand...) Nurse Mary had to call my doctor back at 3:30 and tell him he needed to come back because her head was sitting just before the exit and she wanted to come out! About 15 minutes later they had everything set up and ready to go--I pushed 6 times and out she came!

Mommy cut the cord!

Hello Baby Girl!

Forgive the shift in audience, but from this point on I'm going to write the blog post to my daughter. This is her story after all...

You came out fighting mad--those little lungs were working overtime from the get-go. You were covered in vernix and goo and did not appreciate the nurses who were trying to clean you up. But you were perfect. Your head wasn't squished or coney, your face wasn't flattened or smooshed, and you had ten perfect little fingers, ten toes and a head full of hair. Dr. Roberts asked Daddy if he wanted to cut the cord but he declined, so I asked if I could do it. Apparently this is not common, and Dr. Roberts said he can't think of another Mom that had ever asked him to do that. I told him I was a hands-on kind of person and like to throw myself into the experience, so he handed me the scissors and I made the cut that separated you from me. Your crying stopped as soon as they put your tiny body in my arms and you laid your head on my chest.

We named you Gable Willow Fletcher. Born at 4:06pm on August 11, 2014. 7 lbs. 14 oz's and 19 1/4 inches long. I was in disbelief when they told me your weight that I asked "are you sure?" because I was expecting you to be closer to 9 lbs. like your big brother was. You were so perfect and pink and amazing. Your eyebrows and eyelashes at birth were very fair--almost blonde and your hair is a pretty light brown. Your Apgar scores were 8 and 9 and once they had you all checked out and semi-cleaned up, you and I spent some skin-on-skin time together for almost an hour. I nursed you there in the delivery room for the first time and marveled at how beautiful you were--I couldn't stop staring.

Your Daddy wanted to hold you so badly but he was patient and just let the two of us get to know each other. He waited over an hour just to hold you--you will never understand what a long time that was for him. Before they moved us to our postpartum room, Daddy finally got to hold you. You will never know a prouder Daddy than your own. He was instantly in love with you and held onto you like you were the most precious thing he's ever seen. You share a similar birthmark with your dad and brother--the red stork bites on your eyelids and on the back of your neck.



We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening recovering in a room that had a giant window in it. Your Honey and Papa came to meet you and brought us dinner a little later that evening and they were so excited to get to hold you. Your Honey and I have a very special mother-daughter bond and she's been looking forward to meeting her granddaughter since the day we found out you were a girl. She says "there's just something special about little girls" and was so excited to know that I was going to be your Mommy.

Such a proud Honey!

Papa was so happy to finally meet you too!

You got your first "bath" in the hospital--Whitney, our night nursery nurse came and cleaned you up and got the remainder of the birth goo off of you and washed your hair. You were so calm and relaxed and seemed to really like having your hair washed.