Baby Levi

It's been almost 6 months, but for the sake of journaling big life events- I'm going to keep record of it anyways. I'm sure my Grandma is proud. Either that or she is shaking her head at me... "Lisa, it's about time!"

Levi was due to be born on April 3. Which would have corresponded perfectly with us moving into our home, getting things settled, and maybe even having a day to spare. When I went to the dr for my 38 week appointment, I was seen by a different dr., as mine was on call at the hospital. Apparently this dr thought I was ready to get this show on the road, and took the liberty to strip my membranes without telling me- ouch! I started cramping right away from that, which segwayed into contractions at some point. By dinner time they were getting harder to ignore, so we went to dinner and ran a few errands to keep my mind off of it. As far as I was concerned, this baby was not coming for another week or so, and these contractions were nothing of significance. When we got home, I went to bed, and slept until about 1:30 am. At that point the contractions were strong enough to wake me up, and begin to time. They were only about 30 seconds long, so not even close to needing to go to the hospital.

Keep in mind- I have no pain tolerance at all. I was convinced that I would get to the hospital, and they would tell me that I was only at a 2, and they would send me home. So I waited until I really could not handle it anymore, and even then I was sure I would be turned away.

Around 2 am I woke up Christian so that I could have some company. We tried to watch a show, tried to walk around, use the exercise ball, eat some ice cream... All in an effort to distract me from the pain. Around 4 Christian called the dr on call to ask for advice- to go to the hospital or not. She told us to go to the hospital when we were ready for the epidural... All those years of medical school for that??!?

Soon after, my contractions started to really hurt. I took some Advil (as recommended- REALLY?! I am about to birth a baby, and I get 200 mg of Advil?!) I had one in particular that I remember not knowing if I was going to cry, throw up, or die. At that point I looked at Christian and told him that it was time to go to the hospital (4am). I didn't even have time to eat my bowl of ice cream! The drive seemed long and bumpy to me, each little bump seemed like it would kill me! I went from marveling that this was my life- this long, dark drive to the hospital to meet my baby, with my husband in the drivers seat, just like the movi.. HOLY CRAP THIS REALLY FREAKING HURTS!! GO SLOWER!! MORE SMOOTH!! WHY ARE YOU HITTING EVERY POTHOLE!! Then back to- Oh, how special! I really love him... High highs, low lows, people. When we got there, we got checked in and in the room, and much to my dismay- I was at a 7!! Holy crap, I remember looking at Christian in total panic. Mentally, we were both still thinking we had another week or so. I looked at Christian and told him- CALL MY MOM. He called her, and for some reason talking to her on the phone was the permission I needed to really really freak out. I was all tears and "I'm scared, Mom." And Hurry- really fast". And she was on the road by 5. I was checked in and and had the epidural all within 45 minutes of getting to the hospital. There were a few things that really scared me about the process of childbirth- and getting an epidural was one of them. Anyone sticking a needle in my spine, me needing to be perfectly still- it all freaked me out. I just stared at Christian with total panic, hoping that I Was doing it right. The epidural ended up being heaven sent, and allowed me to still feel a slight pressure of huge contraction, but took the pain out of it. We tried to watch tv- there is really nothing good on tv at 6am. Looking back on the experience in the hospital, there to have my babe- it all seems so surreal. Christian called his parents, we called my brother and sister in law, and settled in for a long while.

By late morning I hit 10cm. Levi was still pretty high, so my nurse had me switching from side to side in an effort to bring him down. Mentally, the hardest part was when my nurse checked me and said- "You're at 10cm."- but I still had to wait! I was at 10am for at least 4 hours... waiting for baby Levi to drop. The dr.- the same one who stripped my membranes the day before!!! was the dr on call. He came in around 2pm, and the nurses got the room ready. After only 4 or 5 pushes, little Levi was born- March 22, 2014, 7 lbs 2 oz, 18.25 inches long. Calm as a cucumber, only crying enough to let us know he was here, and ready to be heard. I am not sure who was crying more- baby Levi or Daddy. I snuggled my sweet babe for a bit, until he was whisked away for some cleaning and measuring, with Daddy hovering over him, marveling at his straight from heaven perfect-ness. Christian was such a support to me, and we are infatuated with our boy. He looks just like his daddy, and I wouldn't have it any other way. My mom got to the hospital within a few minutes of him being born, and was able to come in and meet him pretty quickly.

My temperature was slightly elevated after labor, so I was put on some meds to keep the fever away. Unfortunately, so was Levi. He had a sad little IV in his head, and it made nursing initially a little hard. But he's a trooper- and so am I. We figured it out, and I really love that special "Mommy time" as Christian likes to call it.

The rest of the time was a blur of snuggles, visitors, feeding, eating, snuggles, bathing, and more snuggles. Levi is the very best thing I have ever done- Christian and I could NOT be more in love.

We left the hospital on Monday, March 24th, and got the keys to our home not an hour later. More on that to come.