Baby Henry's Birth

In the middle of the night on March 20th, I woke up to go to the bathroom, eat cereal, and deal with the normal insomnia I'd been experiencing for the last several weeks.  I'd been leaking some fluid for a few weeks and I'd noticed that the baby wasn't moving as frequently for the past few days. I came back to bed and woke Blair up as I cried about how scared I was that something was wrong. Throughout my pregnancy I made a conscious effort to remain positive and have faith that everything would work out, but I admit there were many times when the plague of fear of losing him would completely overwhelm me. This was definitely one of those moments where I feared the worst.  We decided to just go into the hospital and have them do an ultrasound to make sure everything was ok. So at six o'clock in the morning, we threw on some clothes, raked Maddy out of bed (poor girl), and headed to the labor and delivery department. Once there, they found that everything looked fine. But given that baby movement had decreased and my amniotic fluid was a little low, they decided to just induce me.  Since I was one day away from my due date, I think they assumed I'd be relieved by their decision to induce me. But I kept saying, "Today? Oh no. I need to go home and make my bed, wash my hair, etc." This wasn't really how I imagined things going! But once they admitted me, there was no turning back.

Blair took Maddy to a friend's house and I stayed in the hospital completely panicked, calling my sisters and having a good cry. Once I finally accepted that this was happening, things went fine. They started me on the medicine and it took nearly the whole day for my body to respond. Blair and I just hung out in the hospital room, walked around, ate, slept, and talked. As the night progressed, my contractions ramped up. I wanted to get as far as I could without an epidural, mainly because I didn't want to be confined to the bed for so long. So I walked around, did lunges on the chair during contractions, hugged Blair, went to the bathroom five million times (why does labor make you have to poo an insane amount?!! TMI?!) After a couple of hours, I decided to get the epidural and that was heavenly. It didn't work fully for a while, but it took the edge off of the pain, which was nice. They kept upping my epidural since it wasn't working until I think they finally gave me too much. haha! When it was time for me to start pushing, I literally could not feel ANYTHING! It was such a strange experience pushing when I couldn't feel what I was doing. 

The delivery was everything I'd hoped for. I didn't want a ton of people in the room, so it was just Blair, our amazing doctor, Akihla, and one nurse. We had some quiet music playing and it was just so serene and peaceful. There wasn't any screaming or drama - just laughing and a lot of happy tears. I pushed for about 30 minutes and then suddenly they were handing me this beautiful screaming baby boy. It makes me cry just writing about it now. It was one of the most precious and breathtaking moments of my life. I held that little body against my chest and just cried and cried out of sheer joy. I've never felt such love for Blair, for Maddy, for Henry, and for God. It just was the most heavenly experience.  I was so overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity I had to carry this little angel for nine months and that he made it safely into our arms. I am forever grateful for him. We love our little Henry boy so much. 

Maddy came to the hospital later the next day and was immediately enamored with him as we knew she would be.  On a daily basis she says, "Thank you for bringing him home to me, Mommy." Another time I caught her whispering to him "I missed you buddy. Remember we were in heaven with Clara and all our cousins?" Her love for him is truly amazing. I love seeing how well she knows and loves him already. 

Since we've been home we've definitely been adjusting to a new schedule (aka complete lack of sleep) and helping Maddy to understand boundaries with baby brother. Sometimes this is frustrating and I admit I've lost my patience way more than I'd like to admit. But I'm grateful that Maddy is forgiving and always lovingly gives me a chance to try again. We've been so blessed with family coming to visit - Rick and Donna came first, spoiling us with endless loads of laundry, yummy food, and finished house projects. Kearstin and Kami came next for a surprise weekend visit that was so so wonderful! I was overcome with Kami's selflessness in coming to visit me while she is going through her chemo treatment. Her strength and character through this trial continually inspire me. Lindsay came the following week and was my complete savior.  I couldn't have gotten through that hellish experience of mastitis without my best friend.  In addition to all of the family visiting, my girlfriends here have been angels.  They just call and say, "I'm coming to pick Maddy up and take her to the park" or drop off meals, or treats, or offer to help in a thousand other ways. I'm so grateful for them and they've inspired me to be more giving of my time and service when others have babies. 

I love these kiddos and I'm so grateful to be their mom. It's not always glamorous and some days are really hard, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.