Levi’s Baby Photography

 

Levi’s baby pictures were done by Marah Mumma Photography . They are adorable and I couldn’t be happier!! You just don’t want to forget these days because they grow so fast!!

 

Our Little Family :)

Labor & Delivery of Levi Nathan

Yes, finally the post some of you have been waiting for!! And forgive me for any typos. It was a long story!!

March 21st – Currently a week and one day past my estimated due date. Saw the midwife and she didn’t think I’d make it through the weekend. Just in case I scheduled a biophysical profile for the following Monday.

March 25th – Went for the biophysical profile the baby looked great. Still on for the homebirth. Went and saw the midwife, she checked and I was 2cm dilated. At almost 42 weeks that was not all that encouraging to me. Should be soon!

March 26th – Still no baby and only one more day until I was 42 weeks. A normal gestation period is 38-42 weeks. The average is 40 weeks. I was ok with going up to 42 weeks but didn’t feel comfortable going past that. So I got in touch with an OBGYN in case an induction was needed. I made an appointment for the morning of the 27th. I was told they don’t let their expectant Mom’s go past 41 weeks and that I would more than likely be sent right to the hospital(which I expected). After the phone call as a last resort I attempted to get contractions started with nipple stimulation. And it was actually working. I was having contractions about 10 minutes apart all day. And then toward late afternoon they started getting closer together. About supper time they picked up to 5 minutes apart and I no longer needed to do any stimulation. After supper I wanted ice cream so we went to Meadows for custard. :) As the evening progressed the contractions started to slow down to 6-8 minutes apart which was discouraging. I attempted to rest that night but the contractions kept coming and got closer together again so there was no rest for the weary. Early Wednesday morning I found myself leaning over the bathroom sink(a favorite spot) with contractions coming 3/4 minutes apart and getting more intense. I decided it was time to call the midwife and Mike filled the birth pool while we waited for her. She arrived around 3:30 and her assistant soon after. I was thinking we were getting closer to Levi’s birth. If only I had known…

Since I was in labor my appointment with the OBGYN was cancelled and most of Wednesday was spent like this and in other various positions. I knew labor would be hard and painful but I never could imagined how bad it would be. I won’t even talk about all the the moaning/groaning I did.

I think my love for my husband quadrupled over those few days. He was awesome and wonderful and barely left my side. My heart swells with love every time I look at these pictures.

By that evening the contractions were slowing. Not at all what I wanted. We sent the midwife and assistant home and I tried to rest hoping that the next day would bring Levi. I labored through the night. Contractions 8/15 minutes apart making it impossible to sleep. I got a little rest but not what I had hoped for.

March 28th -  By Thursday afternoon the contractions were back to 4/6 minutes apart and lasting a minute and a half long. Then they went from that to being back to back. Yup, awful and I think this is the only time I shed a few tears. When checked I was only 5/6 centimeters dilated. Yup, all that work and only half way there. Oh and lying on my back was pretty much the worst position to be in!!

At around 9:20 my water broke. I was thinking finally! Now we can really make some process!

March 29th – A few very painful hours later no more process had really been made and after days of contractions I was finally starting to lose control from the pain. When the midwives said it could still be hours until he came I made the call to head to the hospital for an epidural… I had endured all that I could. I was pretty worried about the trip to the hospital. Even though it’s only a 5/10 minute ride. I’m pretty sure my contractions once again slowed down while we were throwing a bag together for the hospital/during the ride over.

I believe my midwife called ahead to let them know we were coming but I can’t even remember. We arrived at the hospital around 3:30am. Mike dropped me off at the ER and a nurse wheeled me up to the the maternity floor. A nurse checked me and again said 5/6 cm dilated. Mike came in around then and said she was saying I was going to end up with a c-section because something didn’t feel right. Then the Doctor came in to also check me and do a sonogram. She said everything looked fine and they were going to let me continue to labor with an epidural and see what happened.

The epidural wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Maybe my senses were just dulled for all the pain I had experienced but it didn’t really hurt that much when they put it in. The bad thing was that once I was all hooked up I was finally getting relief from the contractions on the right side of my body but they were still awful on the left side. So everything was ripped out and inserted a second time. Probably getting the tape ripped of my back hurt more than the insertion of the epidural. But the second time worked and I was FINALLY pain free, the lights were dimmed and I was ready for some sleep(as much as you can get in a hospital).

A few hours later a midwife was in to see us. She said my contractions had spaced out to 8 minutes apart and weren’t picking up. I was still around 5 cm dilated and they were going to start me on pitocin to try and get them closer together. I’m not sure what time it was at this point. probably 8:30 or so. A few hours later there still wasn’t any change. I can’t remember if they had upped the pitocin level but I think they did. Levi’s heart decals were starting to flatten a little bit so they were keeping an eye on that. A few more hours later and the on call Doctor was brought in to check on me. I was still no more dilated than when I had arrived at the Doctors and while I had the option to continue to labor his recommendation was a c-section. Because of how long I had been in labor, the lack of any progress, and Levi’s heart decals we decided to go that route before it ended up becoming a emergency c-section. Plus I was just so ready to meet by baby and relieved that it was finally going to happen.

At one point I had eaten a blue raspberry popsicle(that didn’t stay down) and it had made my lips/tongue VERY blue. I can’t tell you how many times I was asked if I was ok and why were my lips blue. Haha! Even the anesthesiologist was asking.

They rolled me into the operating room and started prepping me for surgery. The guys in there were hilarious. Asking me if I could get myself from the bed to the operating table (umm nope I have no feeling in my legs). Telling me that they were doing to do what they called the “log roll” to get me onto the operating table. And that they only drop people on Fridays. Haha! They did know how to lighten the mood. Once Mike came in I told him the first thing I wanted to do when it was all over was eat something. He thought I was loopy from the drugs but I was seriously HUNGRY and hadn’t had a real meal in forever! ;-)

And then it happened, at 2:44pm we heard a little (very little) cry and Levi was here!! Once they had me cut Mike got to peek around the sheet while they pulled him out. And then they brought him around so I could see him for a second before they took him away. Mike went with them and was able to cut his cord(for the second time). Weighted in at 9lbs 7 ounces and was 23 inches long. And he was also posterior which is why my labor wasn’t progressing the way it should have been.

I ended up staying in the hospital from Friday until Monday because I had been running a high temperature and they were worried about a uterine infection. All was good though and I couldn’t have been happier to get home with our new little bundle.

No it wasn’t at all the homebirth I had envisioned but we were all healthy and that was the most important thing of all!!

I was so thankful to finally have him home and to be able to look over and see him in the pack n' play. It sat there empty waiting for a month!!

Such a sweet little man!!

Pregnancy

A little pregnancy recap!

In the fall of 2011 we decided to “try” to get pregnant. 3 months later we weren’t pregnant yet and Mike’s job was up in the air so we decided it probably wasn’t the best time to start a family. Fast forward to June 2012 where we decided we were as ready as we could be to start a family but we weren’t going to try to make it happen. I chart as my method of birth control (Taking Charge of Your Fertility) so it was very easy to become obsessed with everything and in 2011 I did just that. Second time around I tried to throw charting out the door and be relaxed(for the most part) about the whole process. The last thing I was expecting was to get pregnant right off the bat. It can take 6 months to a year for normal couples with no fertility problems. A few days before I took a pregnancy test I started to feel really crampy(not normal for me) and I told Mike that I thought I was pregnant(we had the day off for Memorial Day and were on our way to Frederick). July 1st I confirmed my suspicions! I took a test on the 2nd as well and the line was a little darker that day. It was fun to get together with family on July 4th and have our little secret.

July 1st 2012 -

Everyone always asked if we were excited. I’m not sure excited was ever how I felt about being pregnant. I was two different things, 1) happy and in shock that it happened so quickly and 2) scared to death. As much as I wanted to start a family I was also perfectly happy with our life as it was and I knew that adding a little person to it would change things!! And change isn’t always easy.

Slowly but surely the physical changes started happening. And I will say that before I was pregnant I complained that I was fat. Until now I didn’t realize how skinny I was and I can’t wait to get back to the weight I was previously unhappy with!! Apparently it was so bad after all!!

The early days of waiting to start showing are so fun! Then it becomes to the point where you look fat and not pregnant. Then finally you look pregnant and then you get to the point where there are many days where you hope that you won’t get any bigger!! It’s amazing what your body can do!

Everyone would always ask if I was craving anything and I really did not. I don’t remember when I started feeling sick. It wasn’t right away but once it happened things were rough for awhile. While I only threw up 3 times my whole pregnancy(and once was during labor) once I started feeling sick it stuck around until I was 14 weeks. Carbs were my favorite food and I would sit at my desk and just nibble on food all morning until the worst of feeling sick went away. It was the only way I could survive without feeling completely horrible. After that phase passed I’m going to say my only pregnancy craving was cheese. And I ate LOTS AND LOST of cheese!!! I don’t even want to know how many pounds of it. ;)

 

Other randomness is that I stopped losing hair from my head(it just started falling out again last week). And if you know me I’m forever shedding. Mike says I shed like a dog. Haha! Also the hair on my legs started growing very slowly! Every woman is happy about that! However I started to grow more facial/neck hair. Not cool and most of it is still hanging around although from what I read it will go away eventually. I had sinus problems pretty much my entire pregnancy. And everything I ate left a bad taste in my mouth. That was quite annoying.

 

The long awaited ultrasound. I had myself convinced that we were having a girl because so many people thought that’s what we were having. A few old wives tales made it seem like we were having a girl as well. Much to my surprise it was announced that it was a boy! :) A few days later a phone call came that baby boy’s one kidney was dilated which could indicate potential problems. My pregnancy had been smooth sailing up until this point and I wasn’t expecting any problems to be found in the ultrasound. We were both a little worried but a second follow up ultrasound showed that the kidney was only mildly dilated compared to the first ultrasound and everything was looking normal and healthy. It was music to our ears!!

I tried to stay as active as possible and even toward the tale end of pregnancy I was still walking on the treadmill. Despite this I still gained a massive amount of weight. I was eating fairly healthy 95% of the time so it was a little discouraging. But in the end everyone was healthy so that’s what was important. I’m looking forward to getting this extra weight off but not looking forward to the hard work I’m going to have to put into it!

 

It was fun being pregnant at the same time as our friend Jenny. Our due dates were a month apart!

 

It’s crazy how much bigger I got the 3 months between Christmas and Levi’s birth!! I can’t remember when the heart burn started. I know that on Thanksgiving I had a horrible fever. It turns out I had a kidney infection. For some reason this brought on my first case of heart burn and Mike ran into Rite Aid on the way home from church one night and bought a HUGE bottle of tums. I thought I’d never be able to finish that bottle. And then it happened. Heart burn when you’d least expect it. I was getting into the bottle of tums right and left. I never needed much more than 3 a day but they brought much needed relief!!

 

This is the point where you think your going to burst if you get any bigger. It’s also when the stretch marks finally appeared. Just when I thought I had outwitted them too. :(

My due date, March 13th was also my 30th birthday. Little did I know Levi wouldn’t arrive for another 16 days.

Last picture the while we were still waiting…

To conclude this I didn’t love being pregnant. I didn’t hate it either. I felt great pretty much the entire time and was able to do whatever I felt like most of the time. Early on I was tired and needed naps but even that didn’t last long. Yes, it was fun feeling the baby moving around inside me but it’s much better to have him on the outside and I really don’t miss being pregnant at all like some people said I would. I didn’t think that I would…

Pregnancy is such a miracle.

It’s an amazing process.

It’s a process I’m glad is over!

Psalm 139:14 says it best:

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

Next up, labor and delivery…

Here We Go Playing Catch Up Again

And I’m not sure I really want to try to catch up… No I know I don’t want to catch up. So here’s a feeble attempt via pictures!

My cousin got married!

We went to the beach with my parents and enjoyed our favorite pastime of playing mini golf(and eating ice cream)!!

 

 

 

 

 

Spent some time with my friend Kina and her son Ethan… We are once again long overdue for another get together!!

Hannah’s 6th birthday!

 

Grandparents 67 Anniversary. Just amazing!!

 

Went to Disney for work/play. So fun!!

 

 

 

Christmas time with Mike’s family

 

 

Time with friends Simon & Jenny

 

Christmas Eve/Christmas with my family