Sorry it's taken so long to post this, but that's what happens I guess when you have a baby and the next week you're packing up to move :/ Anyway, here are the fun and exciting details :)
Date of Birth: September 23, 2010 @ 7:59am
Original Due Date: September 21, 2010 (I was given the due date of Sept 27 by the doctor at the first ultrasound, but I always thought (and hoped) that the Sept 21st date was more accurate...)
Weeks Pregnant: 40 weeks & 2 days
Weight: 7lbs even
Height: 20 inches long
My weight Gain: I got up to 165 lbs...so a total of 46lbs...I weighed myself the day Adrian was born and I had immediately lost 17lbs :) To date, I've lost 24lbs so far in just the first week.
Stretch marks: Most definately! :( I really believe what they say that stretch marks are genetic and no amount of lotion will make them not appear at all...I lotioned religiously every day even in the begining when I wasn't even showing, and about the week before Adrian was born they started to appear a lot on my sides...well once he came, I really saw the damage...hopefully with a bunch of sit-ups and running they will fade a little? maybe? lol
Birth Story: The morning of Sept 22nd, I woke up around 3:50am or so following my normal routine of getting up every hour to use the bathroom. Once I laid back down in bed I realized that I was feeling some "period like" cramps, and tried to ignore it at first because I didn't want to get my hopes up. I kept feeling the cramps, so I decided to time them by using my phone stopwatch. I would press the lap button at the begining and end of each contraction so I could see the duration of the contraction as well as the spacing of each. They were about 45-60 secs in duration and about 9 mins apart. after about an hour of that, I just started writing down on a piece of paper how spaced out they were, and they remained about 9 mins long...I tried to go to sleep thinking that maybe they were false labor pains and would probably go away, but I would wake back up each time I had another one. Manny had to go to work that day, so the alarm went off at 7:30am and I was so excited to tell him what was going on...He smiled and I could tell that he was excited too, but probably more nervous than I was :)
Since they weren't really strong or anything, it didn't seem right for Manny not to go to work, so he got ready for work and I just told him that if they start getting stronger or anything I would call him, so he better answer his phone lol
The contractions continued to be about 9 mins apart, and nothing unbearable...I decided to text people at that point because of course I was excited and I wanted to let everyone know that a baby would be born soon! I was on bedrest because my blood pressure had been elevated and I was having problems with a lot of edema in my feet, so I laid in bed just watching TV. At around 11:30am or so, I eventually fell asleep, and woke up at 12:30pm or so and the contractions I thought had stopped. I was so disappointed because I thought for sure I'd be having a baby that night...so I texted everyone again and let them know it was a false alarm...of course everyone was really supported and said that he will come soon enough.
Well even though I was on bedrest, we had an appt with the realtor at 6pm to look at a couple houses, and I decided that it was probably okay to go and just make sure that I walked slow and didn't push myself too hard. I started feeling some contractions again around 5pm or so, but they were probably every 15 mins, so I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Well...every time I got out of the truck I would have to stop and take a break before walking because I would have a contractions...then every time I walked up the stairs, the same thing would happen...when we were at the 4th and final house, I had to sit down because the contractions were coming closer together and stronger than they had that morning. Finally we left the house and were heading home and everyone was hungry and so was I but I told Manny that I really just wanted to get home soon because I needed to just relax because I thought maybe I pushed myself too hard. We stopped at KFC first and picked up some food and went home (this was around 8:30pm-9pm or so). At first I kneeled on the floor with my elbows on the couch while I forced myself to eat 2 chicken fingers. The contractions were still bearable, but getting more uncomfortable and were about 9 mins apart again...so I called Margie again and let her know that my contractions had started again, and also that we had been out looking at houses...she was not happy at all about me not resting, but told me to call her once the contractions were about 5 mins apart. Manny's parents were with us when we went looking at houses, so they were all sitting at the table eating and I overheard Manny mention to his parents that he was nervous...at that point I think I was still in denial because I had gotten all excited that morning and then the contractions stopped. I pulled out the exercise ball though and leaned over it on the floor because that seemed to relieve some of the pressure. Around 9:30 or so Manny's parents left and I decided to go lay down in bed to see if I could just rest and fall asleep...contractions kept coming and now were getting stronger. Manny's mom had come back because of his earlier comment of being nervous...so I called my mom and told her that she could come over too if she wanted (but I kept saying that I probably just over did it walking around and it probably was just a false alarm again lol). I think around 10:30pm I couldn't lay down anymore in bed and I brought the exercise ball in the room and sat on it while leaning over the bed...it really helped lessen the pain I started feeling in my lower back with each contraction, and at this point I was having to use breathing techniques to work through the contractions.
Contractions kept coming stronger and felt like they were getting closer together...Manny started timing them and they were about 5 mins apart...we timed them for about 30 mins or so and I told my mom that she should probably call Margie to come over at that point...I think that was around 2:45am. I said that I hoped that when she got there and checked me that I was at least 7cm dilated (I felt that I was in too much pain to only be 3 or 4cm). Margie got to the house around 3:25am and checked me...I was 7cm!!! Thank goodness! I told my mom to call Karla to let her know that I was dilated to 7cm and that if she wanted to come over she could. Margie said that it would probably be another 4 hours or so before we would have a baby.
At that point the contractions were waaayy stronger than I was ever told they would be ("they'll feel 10x worse than your worst period cramps" <-- haha, that is a flat out LIE!) The main source of my pain was coming from my back. With each contraction, my back would feel like it was twisting in knots and the only way to relieve the pain was to put pressure on my lower back...mom, Karla and Manny all took turns doing that for me. This is the point where I lost all track of time, but I know that I asked if Margie could check me again, and this time I was 8cm...baby's heartrate sounded great! I didn't feel like getting out of the bed, so I laid on my right side and Karla and Manny switched back and forth putting pressure on my back. The pain got pretty crazy, but I kept my cool and kept breathing through each contraction. At one point I said out loud "this is bad" and my mom said, "no, this is good"...it took me back to a conversation I had with Margie that you need to use positive thinking and positive words or else you're only going to hinder your progress...well I didn't care how rediculous I sounded and I kept repeating, "this is good...this is gooood...this is goooooooooooooood" through the contractions lol (I had my eyes closed or else I would have seen the faces of my support people trying not to burst out in laughter)...I had a feeling that I sounded pretty crazy, so I decided to make a joke to show that I still had a sense of humor about things, and it went like this..."this is goooooooooooood, but it hurts really really baaaaaaaaaaad, but this is goooooood." I wish I could have seen their faces lol
I guess it was around 7:20ish when I told Margie I felt like pushing, and she said go ahead! So with the first couple contractions, I pushed a little, but this was honestly the first time I felt a little fear about what was happening and that I was actually going to have to push a baby out of a small opening. Finally Margie said, "Victoria, you need to push really hard with each contraction or else you will be pushing for 45 mins"...that was all the motivation I needed because I just wanted it to be over with already...so I pushed and pushed, and then they told me to open my eyes to look and see the top of his head (I don't think I had really opened my eyes since 3 or 4 am)...it looked so crazy and I thought that couldn't possibly be a baby's head! I continued pushing and finally his head came out and I let out a scream (it was more a scream of nervousness than from pain). His shoulders slipped out easily from there and he was immediately place on my chest. September 23rd at 7:59 in the morning our beautiful baby boy arrived in this world. We cried tears of joy...our baby boy was finally here. He was so perfect, and so calm...he didn't cry, just yawned really big and looked around the room. I continued to dry him off with the recieving blanket and then it was time to cut the cord. Manny did the honors (even though he kept saying he didn't want to before Adrian was here). About 20 mins after he was born, I breastfed Adrian and he latched on perfectly like we had done it a hundred times before.
So that's the story, I'm sure there are things missing, but if you made it this far in the blog, thn I'm sure you've read enough lol...I wouldn't change a thing about the whole birthing experience...I felt so safe and comfortable in our home, I was able to get up when I wanted and change positions and not be confined to a bed the whole time or to be pressured into something that I didn't really want to. I'm not going to lie about the pain because it got pretty intense, but I would do it again no question. I pushed for only 20mins and didn't tear at all. He is perfectly healthy and a happy little guy!
We are so in love!!
