I know, two blog posts in one day?! Whaaaat?!
But I had to include a blog post for Tums First Birthday.
It’s hard to believe that yesterday I went in for another sonogram check and at the end of the appt they told me I’d have to be induced, possibly that day. So they sent me home and I had Olive Garden to try to calm my nerves. Got a call mid lunch of them saying they wanted to induce me… IN SIX HOURS. I hadn’t even packed my hospital bag yet cause I was suppose to still have two weeks! The reason they were inducing me was because Tums was measuring as “small” and she wasn’t growing at the rate she should had been at. They worried she wouldn’t survive if they kept her in there so, induction time!
I frantically had to finish laundry, pack my hospital bag, make sure I didn’t forget anything and try not to throw up from anxiety and fear. Man, it was ROUGH let me tell you. Especially because I heard SO many awful stories about others being induced.
So we went to grab dinner since they said I could eat up until midnight while they prepped my room. So we get settled in and they decide to check where I’m at before anything happens — I somehow jumped from 1 to 3cm dilated in like 2 days. So since I didn’t have to do that cervix balloon thing they sent me home and told me to come back at 6am. I remember telling Bubba I was getting slight cramps, girl those weren’t cramps lmao!
The nurses were SO sweet. I just want to point that out. They were super patient, answered all my questions even if they were like super common sense and “dumb”. They humored me, they made sure I was in good spirits and they did every single thing they could do to make sure I wasn’t TOO scared. They also did an amazing job of explaining the entire process to me the whole day. And answered my frequent “uh is this gonna hurt” question over and over again.
My RN for the day, she was amazing. I never got to go back and thank her but omg, she was literally the best thing in the entire world and she was so nice and chatted with me every time she came in. I was also on that hour span pain killer they had for me. Like WHEW, that thing? AHHHMAZING.
I watched Keeping Up With The Kardashian’s all day. And just slept as much as I could. I actually didn’t spend much or any time on my phone. Wait, I didn’t have my phone! I had Bubba hold it in case my girls Xyl and Hana texted and I was either asleep or couldn’t respond and he kept them both updated through out the day.
Tbh, the IV in my hand probably hurt THE MOST out of EVERYTHING that day. Which is weird. Being hooked up to an IV with water was weird. I ironically didn’t need to pee as much. I think I only went pee like twice. When my doctor came to break my water I definitely cringed but it wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought it would feel like you peed on yourself but it didn’t. It didn’t really feel like anything, probably why most people aren’t aware it broke unless you’re sitting in it. I also didn’t expect to see blood for some reason, THAT freaked me out. I did have to pee after she broke my water though lol and I made a bit of a mess with the blood.
I packed disinfectant wipes, cause OCD and all, and so Bubba had to go in there and clean it up. It was so weird because I had to bring the IV thing with me to the bathroom. It definitely made me not want to do much moving.
After about maybe several doses of pain killer, I honestly don’t remember how much I had, the I opted for the epidural. I was at 6cm and it was coming in waves spaced out at like 1 minute. It didn’t really hurt. It stung, like you know those period cramps you get where it just feels like it STINGS? It’s like that but like x4.
The one time I was thank-fuckin-ful I’ve had horrible painful cramps my entire life. THEY WERE GOOD FOR SOMETHING YALL.
I worried about getting the epidural too early because I heard it could wear off, even though my RN assured me that doesn’t happen. I still wanted to wait until I absolutely couldn’t take it anymore, or close to it. Which is a good thing I waited til 6cm because after they got done giving me the epidural I jumped to like 9cm within minutes. My contractions actually broke through the epidural and they had to increase my dosage.
Ironically I had to wait for my doctor because she was in the middle of a C-section and they said it could take 30-45 minutes. I had already voiced to my RN I was afraid of tearing and so she had me push and break allowing the baby’s head to slowly stretch the skin to help prevent me from tearing which was really really sweet of her. Seriously. I felt 100% listened to and cared for the entire time I was in active labor. By the time my doctor was prepping I was SO ready to push. Like my body just NEEDED to push, it’s so weird to explain.
What I wasn’t expecting was that you had to push WITH your contractions. By the time I started pushing my nurse touched the opening of my vagina and she was like “THIS is her head” like Tums head was literally RIGHT THERE. Her and Bubba could SEE the hair ON HER HEAD. This girl was READY to go!!
I think I pushed maybe 5 times or less? I can’t exactly remember. But that last push I remember just going for it cause she felt way close to popping out. My doctor had instructed me to push through the “ring of fire” which I literally did not feel. Ya’ll the epidural is amazing. Except they had me propped up on my left so now my left side sort of goes numb super easily. Bubba said he did see me tear but it was a really small tear on the outside. I had about maybe 3 stitches which I FELT cause they had turned the epidural off by then.
I don’t remember much of birthing my placenta and I didn’t even get to see it. Tums came out and they immediately handed her to me. Then they went to clean her up and put that gel in her eyes and gave her back. But I was in such a whirlwind of emotions and I was suddenly so tired that everything was a bit of a blur. And I was REALLY hungry. The first thing I said after they handed her to me was “I have a headache,” and so my RN gave me Tylenol, I forget why it was important that I had told her that but I just blurted it out.
Tums screamed when she came out. Like I had no idea babies were THAT loud when they first come out! My mom said I didn’t make a sound when I was born. I just stared at everyone. They had to prick me to get me to cry.
The couple of days I had in the hospital went by like crazy. Tums slept, A LOT. She didn’t really cry much. I think I sent her to the nursery like once to get some sleep but other than that I didn’t like her being away from me. The nurses definitely had to teach me how to change a diaper and how to feed a baby with a bottle.
My recovery wasn’t as bad as other stories I’ve heard. I was pretty lucky. The scar tissue from the tear sucked and that took forever to stop feeling uncomfortable. Sex literally hurt for months after I gave birth. I bled for about 7 weeks but ironically my uterus shrinking didn’t hurt at all; unlike when I miscarried. I wonder if it had anything to do with the nurses constantly pushing on my uterus when I was still in the hospital. Peeing and pooping weren’t that bad. It wasn’t anything other than what it normally is but I still used the bottle and spray every chance I got. I also kept icing down there until I really felt like I didn’t need to anymore.
Thankfully Tums gave me a super easy labor. The pregnancy wasn’t all that easy but the labor was something I never dreamed would be that easy; if we have another I’m definitely opting to get induced again.
This totally wasn’t suppose to turn into my birthing story lol, whoops. Sorry Tums, but here it is! How you were born! YAY!
It’s crazy to think you’re already ONE. Time has just passed right by me. Watching you grow the last 12 months and watching you learn the things around you. Listening to you babble and talk and hearing you laugh and play are some of my favorite sounds. And always will be. Watching you see me and excitedly crawl towards me with a big smile on your face is the best. I love spending time with you and playing with you. I wish you knew how to self soothe at night though cause man, mama needs sleep and you’re not here for it at all lmao. But really, pls sleep through the night.
I can’t wait to see how much more you’ll learn and grow in the next year and the years after that. I can’t wait to watch you walk and run around. I can’t wait to go on adventures with you! I know this birthday didn’t go as we planned since everything is shut down but we’ll celebrate even bigger next year, promise!
Happy Birthday baby girl, we love you, so much. And we’re so happy you’re here ♥.