On November 12, 2014, my precious Lola Jade Moor was born! (If you have a short attention span and are just here for the "birth" details... skip to the last paragraph. You're welcome.) One thing I never understood before I had Lola was why people wrote about their "birth stories". I totally get it now. Birth is such a unique and memorable experience that deserves to be remembered! I also love reading others' birth stories because it allows you to hear about some of the most exciting and special times in their lives. I think sharing such precious experiences really promotes the special "sisterhood" between all mothers. (If you're confused as to what sisterhood I'm referring to, please watch this adorable new Similac commercial if you haven't seen it yet!)
Perfect, right? Such a great message!
For those who know me or have at least read my previous blog post, I thought I would get married at quite a bit older age. Plot twist! God had a way better plan for me than I could have ever imagined. I was blessed to marry the most amazing man (better than I could have ever dreamed of) at the age of twenty-one! We had a beautiful wedding surrounded by all of our loved ones. I still had about a year and a half of college left after that, and we both had decided we would wait a few years before we started trying to have children.
My mom had a difficult time trying to get pregnant. Her and my dad had started trying right when they got married, and it took five years! If you have met my mom, you know I'm a lot like her (thankfully so). That being said, I figured fertility issues would be one of those things I inherited... so, you know, like a really responsible, intelligent young lady, I was not so consistent with taking my birth control. Well, about nine months and one Christian conference getaway (conveniently named "Passion" and scheduled Valentines weekend) later... guess who got pregnant?! LOL. (I'm not sure if "LOL" is blog-appropriate but I think it's clear appropriateness isn't my strong suit). As huge of a surprise as it was, I felt relieved, at peace, and most importantly--blessed. I felt relief that I hadn't inherited fertility issues. I felt at peace because I knew God had (and still has) His hand on our little family. Children may be surprises, but they are never accidents! And I felt blessed because I knew I was going to receive one of the most perfect gifts that only God can give... a child. I also felt blessed that I was getting to experience all of this with my amazing husband, who I had absolute no doubt would make the best father! We went out to dinner with both of our parents and had our server bring out baby shoes (one boy shoe, one girl shoe) on a serving platter. It was so amazing to see the looks on their faces when they realized what it meant! After we told them, I wanted to tell my brother who was currently at YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in Australia. It took a while for our schedules to match up, and finally we were able to FaceTime him and tell him the news! After our immediate family knew, we decided to announce our pregnancy before the recommended time of thirteen weeks (which is another topic I might cover in a future post). We got our two fur children up on their dog couch and posed them with this sign, aiming for a bodyguard theme. It turned out pretty adorable, if I say so myself! I believe I was about five and a half weeks along at this time.
I love my fur babies! Two and a half weeks later, we had our first ultrasound and got to see our precious peanut wiggling around on the screen. I also had discovered the "BabyBump" app (definitely recommend!), which gave us weekly updates on our growing little babe. It was so special to read about the growth our little baby was experiencing in the womb! I loved to read them with Jason so we could share those exciting moments together. I believe it was week thirteen and hearing that our baby was the size of a peach that made my big, manly husband cry like a little girl... And yes, it was the sweetest thing ever. We had our second ultrasound at thirteen weeks, and our third at eighteen weeks, when they told us the sex of our baby! I had a feeling early on in pregnancy that I was having a girl... And I was right! We knew we wanted to do a gender reveal, and being the last-minute and fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants couple we are, we planned it for just a few days later. My creative mother came up with the idea of putting pink food coloring in water guns and shooting it at our friends and family! We opted to shoot all the guys because I didn't know how many women would show up to a party knowing they were going to be shot by water guns. We decided to do the announcement shortly into the party in fear I would slip up and spill the secret before the grand reveal. Well, turns out we know me well because I still ended up spilling the secret early to half the party guests! It still was so much fun, and I was so excited to announce we were having a little Lola!
Second trimester was my favorite. My belly wasn't huge yet, I wasn't dealing with first trimester fatigue, and I had just found out I was having a girl so of course I was doing lots of shopping. Also, I graduated from college the last week of second trimester, so although I was not enjoying waddling in heels all over and around the stadium in hot Texas weather, I was so happy to finally be done! Then third trimester rolled around. It drug on... and on... and on. I was so ready to meet my little princess. I was convinced I would give birth early. CONVINCED. And since I was right about having a girl, I pretty much knew I was right about when I would go into labor. I am here to tell you I was wrong. Very, very wrong. I decided to be induced five days after my due date if I hadn't yet gone into labor. Those were the longest five days o f m y l i f e . I was huge, and I was miserable. And more than anything, I wanted to meet my precious baby girl.
I was getting induced on a Wednesday, and since I wasn't effaced, I had to come in Tuesday night so they could get that taken care of. As open as I am on social media, I didn't tell many people when I was getting induced because I didn't want any surprise visits for my super-irritable self. Plus, I think birth (especially the first child) is a very special and intimate time for a husband and wife, so I wanted space to enjoy it and go through it all with just Jason. So Tuesday they gave me the cervix-softener and a little bit of the inducing drug (Pitocin) and the contractions came pretty quickly. They were extremely painful, as you've probably heard, but they didn't want to give me the epidural right away. Tuesday night I didn't sleep much because I was too busy gritting my teeth and squeezing the crap out of the bedrails. They finally gave me some pain medication that put me to sleep for three or four hours. Thank Jesus for that stuff because I don't know if I could have functioned for what was ahead without a little sleep!! When I woke up, I was fully effaced, dilated, and so they gave me the epidural, but the nurse informed me they were having a hard time finding and keeping her heartbeat. They decided to do an internal heart monitor, and realized we couldn't find it because with every contraction, it was dropping significantly. The nurse told one of the other nurses to get ahold of my doctor and tell her to get there as soon as possible. My mom and Jason were in the room with me, and I am so thankful for their support in those moments! Although it was a scary situation, I had a supernatural sense of peace that everything was going to be okay. Thankfully my doctor lived in the neighborhood next to the hospital, so she showed up within minutes. Her hair was still soaking wet since she was just getting out of the shower when she got the call! She monitored Lola's heart rate and we watched as it was dropping more and more every contraction. She said, "Here's the thing. I don't know what is making her heart rate drop, so we can wait a little longer to see if it works itself out, which could turn into an emergency, or we can just go ahead and do the C-section." I said, "Let's just get her out!" So, within an hour of that conversation I was wheeled into the operation room and in surgery, with my wonderful husband by my side holding my hand. Let me just tell you... C-sections are super weird. The fact that someone is cutting you open and operating on you while you are awake is weird, especially when your husband and all the doctors and nurses are watching! It seemed like all of thirty seconds before they pull out this messy, swollen-faced, but BEAUTIFUL dark-haired little baby girl. I was able to watch the nurses as they weighed her, measured her, wiped her down, and swaddled her up. They gave her to Jason, and he brought her close to my face so I could see her for a few minutes and kiss her before they took her to the nursery to check vitals. Within twenty to thirty minutes, I was stitched up and returned to my delivery room, and Jason comes walking in with our little Lola! I was able to cuddle her and feed her for the first time, and I fell more and more in love with her by the minute. Was it a rocky experience? Absolutely. But I wouldn't change the outcome for the world. Love you, Lola Jade. XOXO Mommy.
No comments :
Post a Comment