Just in case you live under a rock: Everett is here!!!
This is his “I’m serious” look which also happens to be his “I’m pooping” look. He’s so adorable, even when he soils three diapers in five minutes. I’m pretty sure he does this on purpose to make me crazy:
Oh but I love him so, so much. Becoming a mom has definitely been a game changer, its like always drinking tasty hot chocolate. Of course not every moment is the stuff of Hallmark cards. I’ve cried, I’ve been frustrated, I’ve been scared, I’ve been confused, I’ve been sleep deprived (am sleep deprived). If only taking care of infant Everett was as easy as delivering Everett. I mean labor was so fast and not painful at all! My water broke and then BOOM, Everett was here a few minutes later. Just kidding! I was in labor for 24 hours and I asked the doctors if they could take my appendix out again instead. Anyway, I’m going to tell you the full birth story complete with graphic video.
Eww gross, you kept reading. Don’t worry, no video here. I’m only going to summarize with an easy to read timeline:
Sunday, December 18 at 5AM: Contractions start.
Sunday, December 18 at 1:45PMish: Water breaks.
(A very long day, night and then morning)
Monday, December 19 at 1:21PM: Everett is born!!
One of my early blog posts discussed birthing somewhere other than a hospital because I was considering options like my home or a birth center to deliver Everett. Well, if I could find a DeLorean and go back in time I would likely have chosen to give birth in front of America’s finest at my local WalMart rather than at the hospital.
What was so bad about the hospital? Actually, a lot but I’m going to focus on the main culprit. Monitoring.
Monitoring was incessant and most of the time unnecessary. As soon as I checked in I was strapped to machines. One to monitor my contractions and the other to monitor the baby’s heart beat. The contraction monitor was pointless, I can feel my contractions and am able to tell you when they’re happening, how long they are and if they’re getting stronger. I also have an iPhone app for it! As for the fetal heart monitoring, okay…but the monitor would fall off my body whenever I moved, which was often because I had to pee every two minutes. By the way, none of my birthing classes warned about the never ending pee thing. Anyway, every time the fetal heart monitor fell off the nurses had to rush in and adjust and more often than not they picked up my heartbeat and not the baby’s. Because the nurses came into my room all the time, they interrupted each one of my attempts to find a happy place, whether it was rocking back and forth on a birthing ball, looking out at the city lights, focusing on my husband’s voice, I could never find my “ideal position.”
So did all this monitoring help? I don’t think so. What it actually did was mess with my head and stress me out. When things weren’t going as planned, according to the nurses and doctors, it made me feel inadequate and scared. I found myself staring at the machines for guidance instead of listening to my own body. The computers were running the show, Matrix style, and I didn’t have a red pill:
I know that not everything can go according to plan, especially giving birth, so I definitely learned a few lessons for next time (a long, long, time from now). Altogether, I have a new respect for my body since Everett came along. That my body can grow life, bring life into the world and then nourish that life is truly remarkable. Hospital or no hospital, delivering Everett was no less amazing and without a doubt, the best moment of my life.
BIG props to my SEESTER for all the support she gave to Jeff and I during the entire process ❤
babynakao 