Violet’s
birth can pretty much be summed up in the question I got asked multiple times
at the hospital after her delivery. Nurses would come into our room after she
was born to take vitals and say, “Are you the mom who had her baby before the
Dr. could get there?” Yes, I am that mom.
I would have never thought that I
would have such a quick birth. Mostly, because I was only 37.5 weeks pregnant
and assumed it wouldn’t go as quickly as my birth with Theo because I wasn’t
over 40 weeks yet. Boy was I wrong!!
I actually found out that we were
going to the hospital the day of. My blood levels tested high in bile salts and
evidently, pregnancy hormones block the gallbladder from effectively
filtering causing cholestasis. Not being pregnant anymore is the cure so a
nurse from my doctor’s office called me and said, “you need to be up to
Lakeside hospital by 9 tonight. We will administer Cytotec when you arrive and
then start you on Pitocin in the morning.” I was kinda in shock. “Can we wait a
few days?” I asked. (I selfishly had been really looking forward to a 2 day
break that I was going to have Thursday and Friday when Paul was planning to
take Theo to Adventureland with his family.) I also knew this meant we would be
moving next Thursday with a 7 day old newborn. “No, we need to start labor as
soon as possible,” she said.
So I did the most reasonable
thing I could think to do: my mom and I headed straight to the nail place and
got mani/pedis. Not until we had stopped at Starbucks of course and I got a
Carmel Frappechino since I knew there were only a few remaining hours of being
a gestational diabetic.
I also rocked my 18 month old son
before his nap and bawled like a baby knowing this was the last time I’d put
him to sleep as an only child.
By the time we got to the
hospital I was pretty excited to not be pregnant anymore and to see my
daughter. We originally planned to have my mom stay the night up with me so
Paul could have a good night sleep and be more help to me during delivery the
following day. The only problem was, my water broke on it’s own around midnight
(only 1 hour after Cytotec). The amazing thing was, Paul called me literally
within 40 seconds of my water breaking to tell me he was coming to stay the night.
His phone wasn’t charging and he didn’t want to risk missing anything. I don’t
even want to think about what might have happened had he not decided to come
stay with me overnight…
My mom went home, Paul fell
asleep on the couch and within 1 hour I was having contractions 1.5 mins apart
and they were NOT PLEASANT. No Pitocin needed! I decided to order and epidural and woke up Paul to
tell him I was in a lot of pain and getting the blessed epidural… the strange
thing was, I had to say his name like 4 times before he even moved and when I
told him the news his response was “are you so excited?!” and then he literally
flipped back over and was unconscious in 2 seconds. I thought it was a strange response and odd
that he wasn’t more present, but was in too much pain to give it much thought.
I dozed off for about 30 minutes
once the epidural kicked in and then suddenly the nurse was waking me up
because I was fully dilated and ready to push. “Wait! I can’t have this baby… I
told my parents they could be here,” I informed her (like she had any control
over when my baby would come). I quickly called my parents who luckily live 5
minutes from the hospital and re woke up Paul whose first question to the nurse
was “is there any coffee on this floor?” Moral of the story: do NOT take
Tylenol PM the night of your child’s birth. He didn’t tell me until after
Violet was born that before going to bed at home he had taken two Tylenol PM
and so I was just confused why he was so groggy. Ha! We love to joke about this
now.
My parents arrived shortly after,
but the Doctor still hadn’t appeared. The nurses got me all ready to push and
even let me take one practice push so they knew how fast baby would come. They
actually realized how serious little Violet was about making her entrance
because after one push they were trying desperately the keep her from coming.
It became pretty clear this baby was coming whether anyone wanted her to wait
or not and so with one push she was here!
I cried and cried tears of joy.
We all did! She was so tiny and perfect and best of all had DARK HAIR (jk!).
The nurse gave her a 10 on the Apgar scale. And we all couldn’t believe how
easy and quickly the birth happened. It was like a dream. My little 5 lb 11 oz
baby doll!- Theo was almost 9 lbs at birth so I was ecstatic to have a petite
baby.
I will be honest and say that I
would not recommend moving with a toddler and newborn. House projects have kept
us from being able to move right when we closed so we are in a time of limbo. I’m
actually relieved to still be staying at my parents with a newborn because they
have been SO MUCH help. I honestly don’t think I could have functioned without
them. Paul’s parents have been AMAZING as well. They have taken Theo so I could
pack and Paul’s dad knows how to do almost everything on houses (which is
literally saving us right now- we are the least handy people ever).
You are so worth it all sweet little Violet! I cannot believe how much
my heart has grown to make room to love another child. You are the perfect
addition to our family and we can already not imagine life without you! You are
so loved!
