Sunday, June 10, 2007

So have you ever noticed that some people are really good writers? Have you ever noticed that I am not? I enjoy it anyway. I wrote long novels and it makes me happy.

I have pretty much been on hiatus since May 31st, 2007. I'd like to tell my story.

Having a baby is hard. No one tells you how hard it really is. I am going to write the book on babies being hard work. I think it will be a best seller.

David and I decided that we would go through with my induction scheduled for May 31st at 7:00 a.m. So May 30th was a regular day. I went to State College to get a camera. Mutual was that night. It was a good one (go David!!). I was feeling really nervous about the whole labor thing but was really excited as well. We tried to get to bed early that night realizing the next day would be a huge one. 11:00p.m. rolled around and I was finally able to get to bed. Well, don't worry at 1:30a.m. Baby Nickle had it in his mind that he was gonna come when HE wanted to and not when the doctors wanted him to. My water broke! I shot out of bed thinking I wet my pants. But no, it was definitely something else. Seriously the worst experience of my life. I showered, we tried to hang around because my contractions were not bad but I was too nervous/anxious. We decided to head to the hospital. Coming off the elevator at the hospital, I stood there crying like a 4 year old who just peed her pants because there was nothing I could do about the leaking fluid down my legs. Gross.

I was contracting and dilated all morning but I was not progressing much. So around 2 or so, my midwife came in to check me again and found that there was another sac of amniotic fluid which she thought was preventing baby from coming. She broke it, and checked again. She was then realized baby's position was a little off. She decided to call the doctor in. He came in and checked me as well. Yes. Lots of fingers in my vagina = not fun. He explained that baby was brow presentation. David explains this a lot better but basically, he was not coming out the right way. There were a lot of risks if I decided to try this vaginally and so he recommended a C section. Because of the way he was laying, there were risks of his neck muscles tearing, or my uterus exploding etc. Sounds dramatic right? After taking the birth classes, the one lesson I remembered most was to go into labor open minded because you never know what could happen. Definitely a true statement. I decided to not take the risks and have the C Section. While reading all of the labor books, I had skipped over all of the parts about C Sections, thinking I would not be having one. Well I did.

Its crazy that after all of the above went down, it was seriously an hour later that Baby Nickle was born. What a roller coaster! I don't even know what to say. So much happened in the course of two days. It was insane.

It took us until the last day we were in the hospital to name him. Jackson Chase Nickle is the name. I'm so glad we decided to wait until he came out to name him. Jackson was not even on the list. It fits him real well though. He's so super cute. 9 pounds 3 ounces. I'm openly glad I did not have to push that through my vagina.

The first few days were the hardest ever. I'm so thankful for Shannon. Seriously. We would be dead if it weren't for her. We were so silly to think we could do the first night at home, by ourselves. This is a good story. So it's 2:30 in the morning. I decided to take the Pain Pump out of my stomach. It's this device that sent pain medication through two tubes attached to my belly. I pulled the first one out fine. The second one though, was a lot more difficult. It was stuck. It hurt too. So I'm sitting there crying, baby is crying, my boobs hurt like hell from breastfeeding and so did my stomach, incision, brain. Etc. Finally, David said he was going to call Shannon. I definitely did not object. Yes at 2:30 in the a.m. She lives 30 minutes away and still graciously came and rescued us that morning at 3 a.m.. We would have been dead and our child left parentless if it weren't for her. Thank you!

I also have to say that I have the best husband ever. He is a GREAT daddy to our little guy. Previous to this, he has probably changed 5 diapers. I would say if I didn't know, that he is an expert now. He's so amazing and natural at the whole thing. It's actually crazy. I feel a little overwhelmed at the newfound love I have for him since Jackson was born. I can't talk about it much otherwise I start crying and it's a waterfall.

I've been so lucky. I have the best friends ever. Although I was not able to enjoy the focal points provided by Jenny, I was able to enjoy the delicious meal I made out of the Jolly Ranchers she brought. Jenny and her goody bag saved the day!

I have to apologize to the friends I have not responded to in a week or so. It's been a little crazy. I am super excited for this new challenge and I can now say (at least for today) that I concur with David when he said that he sees the light at the end of the tunnel.  It's the little moments (and the 3 hour stretches he gives us of sleep at night), that make it all worthwhile. Don't worry, I'm still writing the book of babies being hard. For now though, I'll just write this blog.


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