A new baby, a new post. I have a few other things to post about as well, like the fact that we're closing on a new house in the next couple weeks, but those things can wait. For now, I will blog about my sweet new baby boy. Want the whole story? Okay, here it comes! Since I know these happen to fascinate some of you.
I'm a planner. So I planned all this out to the T. I was going in for induction on Saturday, March 10th. I had a babysitter for Saturday and Sunday. I would come home Monday, my mom came in Monday night, and then Ryan only had to take Monday off of work to help out because it would mostly be over the weekend. I was going to clean my bathrooms and finish up the laundry on Thursday and Friday so everything was all clean and caught up. Ryan kept commenting to me that he thought all my planning was for nothing because Oliver was going to come earlier, but I was sure he was wrong. My babies don't come early...
On the morning of Wednesday, March 7th, I woke up feeling tired, as usual! We were supposed to have the pest control guys come that morning to spray our apartment. We had to spend all of Tuesday evening moving as much as we could off the carpet in preparation for it. That is probably what sent me into labor, stupid bugs in Kentucky! We had to be out of the apartment after they sprayed for 3-4 hours, so I had planned a morning of activities for us to be away, ending with lunch with Ryan. I waited around for half the morning waiting for them, but they weren't showing and it was almost time to meet Ryan for lunch. So I decided to just go. We went to lunch, went to Costco, and ran a couple other errands. All the while, I was having random contractions but nothing too steady or strong. I'd been having them for a couple weeks, so I thought nothing of it. I got home around 3:30 and the pest control guy drove up right after me. He said nobody had told him that it needed to be here in the morning, and he was there to get started. I was super frustrated, but with everything else going on, I figured I'd just get out for a while longer and let them get it done. So we went out to the car. I called Ryan to see when he was planning on coming home from work and told him that we had to stay out of the apartment for a few hours. He headed home shortly after, and we just sat in the car to wait for him for like an hour playing and singing. When he got home, we decided to head to dinner at Red Robin. We had only been there about 15 minutes when the contractions started to get a little stronger and steadier. I told him that we may have to be heading to the hospital that night, which would be really convenient for staying out of our apartment! :)
By about 7, Ryan was pretty convinced that we were having a baby. I, however, was not so much. I don't know why I thought it was false, but I wanted to make sure they were coming steadily for long enough so I didn't go to the hospital and then get sent home. By about 7:45, we decided that going to the hospital would probably be a good idea. I was starting to feel the pain! So I called the girl that was supposed to watch them on Saturday and she was so great about having them come that night. So we went home and starting putting some things together. I also looked up false labor and was trying some things they suggested to confirm that I was really in labor. It said to switch positions and walk around a bit. When I started walking around, the contractions sort of subsided and weren't very strong. So I delayed. And then they came back full force. We rushed to put a bag together for me and the kids, and headed out. We dropped the kids off at about 9:15 and got to the hospital about 15 minutes later. I think they thought that we had some time, so they took their sweet time. And I almost died! The lady at check-in gave us half her life story while I sat there dying! By the time we got to triage, I was just begging for an epidural. They finally checked me and I was already at a 7, so they finally stepped into high gear. Still, by the time they got me to a delivery room and got the anesthesiologist in there, I was for sure dilated to a 10 and needed to push.
Just a little side note here. When I went into labor with Bella, I went to the hospital pretty quickly. They monitored me for an hour and when I didn’t progress, they sent me home with a morphine shot. I labored at home for hours until I couldn’t take it anymore and went back to the hospital, having progressed to almost a 9. It was painful and something I wouldn’t want to experience too often, but I left the experience thinking that I had a pretty high tolerance to pain because I had endured it pretty well. I was wrong. I didn’t realize until 3 weeks ago how much that morphine shot did for me! This labor was by far more painful. I seriously lost it! I couldn’t control my breathing or anything. The nurse was in my face practically yelling at me to focus and get control of myself! She was really great, and seriously kept me from hyperventilating and losing my mind. And for those of you who deliver naturally, heaven bless you! It was not anything I ever wanted to experience after Bella. I thought all my deliveries would just be induced and be easy as pie, as Evan’s was. I’ve never felt that urge before, to push like that, and it was crazy. I can’t even describe it. Only those who have felt it know! And it was terrible! And fearsome! The anesthesiologist was not so sure about continuing with the epidural because I was so far, but I begged and pleaded and they must’ve had pity and recognized the absolute fear in my eyes. I was practically crying when I told them that I did not want to push that baby out without drugs. So they finally got the epidural in, and my doctor finally showed up. Everyone that I told about this who had had a baby naturally laughed at me and told me that I should’ve just finished because I went through the hardest part without drugs, but oh well! I’ve heard about that ring of fire, and I’m afraid of it, so I begged and cried J And all I could think about was how absolutely huge Evan’s head was, and they say your babies get bigger as you go, so I didn’t want to experience that not numb!
Also a note about my doctor. She’s awesome. I was so worried about finding a doctor on such short notice here. After several inquiries around my ward, I got the same answer from just about everyone – go to Dr. Nett. I’ve never felt too keen on the idea of a female OB, but I’m so glad I went to her. She was so amazing. She was so great about doing the VBAC and was really encouraging of the whole thing (which by the way, here in Kentucky, is hard to find). She just kicked it in my room for the next 20 minutes or so while we waited for me to get nice and numb to push him out. It was sheer bliss by the time it finally kicked in! Because we were waiting for the numbness, she told the baby team that they could go sit down for a while until we were ready. When I was good and numb, she had me start to push just to see how things were going to go. She didn’t call the baby team back in yet because she thought it would take a least a few pushes! But on the first one, she told me to stop because he was already crowning. They hurried and got the baby team in there, and 2 pushes later, Oliver was here. So all in all, it was about 3 hours of hard labor and 3 pushes, and we had a new baby. Fast!!
So, Oliver Paul Jubber was born on March 7, 2012 at 11:11 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and was 21 ¼ in long (which is right in the middle of my first two babies weight wise). Cool coincidence… Ryan’s grandpa passed away last month. March 7th was his birthday, so it was kind of neat that Oliver was born that day. I think grandpa gave him a little push to get him down here on a special day J
Ryan ended up having to take off a few extra days, which really is no big deal. I was just hoping we could keep it to a minimum since he’s so new to the job. But obviously his boss understood and was totally cool with it. I came home Friday afternoon, and we spent a relaxing, VERY boring weekend at home. We went out for a couple of drives just to get out of the house, but we were all pretty stir crazy. My mom came Monday night and my dad and sister joined us on Thursday. Terra coming was a big surprise that everyone knew about but me. She drove all the way up from Arkansas to see me and Oliver. Okay, it was probably mostly Oliver, but I was really glad she came. I had 2 blissful weeks of family, company, fun and entertainment. And then everyone left again L But we’re doing pretty well anyway. Oliver is a perfect baby for the most part. He’s still having a hard time figuring out the night time, but I guess that’s to be expected huh? He doesn’t like to sleep in his bed, so I sleep all stiff in the same place with him next to me. I wake up a little sore, but I’m still sleeping better than I was pregnant, so I’m not complaining. I’m hoping that over the next week or so, he’ll start to give me some longer stretches. We’ll be moving in 2 weeks from tomorrow, so I could really use the sleep to get all packed and moved! He rarely cries, and he poops like a champ! I keep waiting to have some colicky, awful baby, but it just hasn’t come yet. I’ve been really blessed with three perfect, healthy, happy babies. Can’t complain about that. The kids love him. Evan doesn’t really like to touch him (which I blame on my brother for scaring Evan with his babies back when they were little. He thinks babies are gonna attack him because he was pretend attacked by babies several times!), but Bella loves to hold him and feed him. She’s been such a big helper and seems to be thriving on being needed by me. I feel fantastic. I have also been very blessed to recover quickly from babies. I’m not about to move mountains, but I think that by the time moving our house time comes, I’ll be more than ready for that. The baby blues have hit a little bit since all the family went back home, but for the most part I’ve been pretty good. It’s hard to say what is hormones and what I would feel anyway, because those pangs of homesickness still aren’t gone yet. They getting fewer and further between, though when they hit, they are strong! I miss my family fiercely, and it feels weird to have a baby that most of them won’t meet for a long time, but we’re dealing with it!
So we have the house to move into soon, and a bit of work to keep us busy there for a while. And we’ve booked flights home in September, so I have that to look forward to as well. If I can survive the crazy bugs that plague Kentuckians and the humidity this summer, I just might make it here! And oh, it just might be a good life!
Now for a few pictures… There will be more to come later.
Christmas was a fun and difficult time this year. It was hard knowing that it was our last big hoorah with our families. So we tried to suck in all the time we could! Here's all the grandkids on my side that were around in grandma's christmas pjs!
Ryan and I made her a dollhouse. This whole ordeal is a LONG story that I won't get into, but I will say that I was not very pleased with it! It certainly did not turn out the way I wanted it to and I was just wishing the whole time that we had just bought her one. But it's ended up being a really good thing. She loves playing in it, which is the most important part, and she decorates in however she wants and I don't even care! She loves putting her own pictures and stuff in it, so she's had a blast with it. I guess if she ends up happy that's all I will be concerned about!
