Monday, September 13, 2010

Oh What a Day!

Dear Makels-
I want you to know the story of your birth!
A week before you came, I had an appointment with the doctor. They said you weren’t ready, but I had many contractions on the way home. That night, GG and I had our ANWA writing class and I had contractions the whole time. GG thought you might be coming, but I had a feeling you weren’t. The whole weekend I was contracting and Grandma Barnes thought you might be coming. I was uncomfortable, but I didn’t think you were ready. That Wednesday Brad and Katelin Barlow came over. I wasn’t very fun to be around because I was having lots of contractions. It seemed to be the norm, so I didn’t think anything of it.
Thursday morning I woke up around 6:00 with intense contractions. They were very strong, and I had to relax to get through them. They came every two minutes and all I could do was sit on the couch. Daddy had to be to work at 8:00, so he had to leave. GG was in Vegas helping Michelle with Russell. I tried calling her and she didn’t answer. This made me scared and I cried. I couldn’t cry for very long because the contractions would hit again and I would go limp in my attempts to concentrate. It was frustrating being alone and not knowing what to do. I called Daddy who said he would take me to the hospital if that was what I wanted. He knew what to do even less than I did. Grandma Barnes was at school, so not knowing who to call I called Grandpa Graves. He worked ten minutes away and said he would take me to the hospital.
Now I had options.
I thought I would just breathe through the contractions and they would go away. I didn’t want to go to the hospital because you hear stories of women who are sent back home. I called Aunt Erin who told me to go in. It seemed like forever that I sat there relaxing and breathing before I called Daddy to come home. He left work at 8:45. We got to the hospital at 11:00 and I was dilated to a 5.
I was determined to do this naturally and when I felt a surge coming, I thought I was handling it pretty well. It took forever to fill out the paperwork because I could only read a little bit before another surge would hit. All the nurses were very nice, except the one that kept coming in for the paper work.
“Your husband can sign for you!” she would scold me.
I wanted to know what I was signing. I didn’t want him to just sign away all of our rights. I didn’t have anyone experienced there to help me, to say ‘this one means this,’ and ‘this one you don’t want to sign because…” So I read every single line on every single paper.
Aunt Erin was in Clinton, so she decided to come and be with me. She was on her way when we finally got a hold of GG. She and Luci were on their way home, but still a few hours out.
Right before GG got there, the surges got really intense. I was dilated to a seven and my back had searing pain. I would try to relax, but it seemed too much. I would cry every time. I was so exhausted between that I didn’t want any company. We tried pushing on my back, pushing on my legs; we even tried the bath tub, which helped a lot. I was in the bathroom a lot and I couldn’t make it there and back without having at least two surges. It became too much and for an hour I asked for an epidural until Daddy and GG finally took me seriously.
Before the epidural we had the light off and music playing and everyone was whispering so not to upset me more. I had a hard time looking and talking to anyone because I was in so much pain and I was ornery and tired. Once I had the epidural, I was happy and it was great. No more pain! GG and Gramps, Grandma and Grandpa Barnes, Luci, Erin, Johnny and Nate all came in the room after and hung out. It was like a party. The epidural changed everything. I was happy and pain free, but I wasn’t progressing as fast. It was okay, because you still came relatively quick.
At around 7:00 the nurse kicked everyone out of the room. Daddy, GG, Grandma Barnes, Erin and Luci stayed in. I only pushed for maybe 30-40 minutes. The first thing we saw was a cute little tuft of hair. I couldn’t feel anything because I was numb, and you were ready to come out. The nurse went to get the doctor, and someone made me laugh. You started to pop out and a nurse said, “Stop laughing!” That made me laugh more and you popped out a little further. We could see a lot of long, dark hair.
Finally the doctor got there and with a couple more pushes you were out. I saw your cute little face and started to bawl. You were here. My little buddy for the last nine months finally had a face. You were beautiful! I instantly loved you! I couldn’t stop crying because I was overwhelmed with the love I had for you!
You were born at 8:01pm on May 20, 2010. You were 6lb. 9oz. and 18 inches long. You were two weeks early, and just on time.
That was the shortest day I ever remember. When I add up the hours, it doesn’t seem like it took that long, but it must have.
I’m glad you’re here!
I will love you for eternity!
-Mommy

Thursday, May 13, 2010

For Baby

Dear Makay,
I love you so much! I know that sounds weird because you aren't here yet, but I really do. Daddy says that I haven't been the typical crazy pregnant lady, I guess that's a good thing. Although I've been sick, in pain, and had to give up certain activities to be pregnant- It's all worth it! I can't wait to meet you.
I know you're going to be a really active little boy because you can't seem to stop moving in my tummy. If I rest my arms, or a book, or a plate, or anything on my belly, it doesn't take you long to kick it off. I was supposed to count how many times you moved in an hour, it was easier to count how many times you didn't move. You move a lot! Daddy loves to play a game with you where he finds your foot and presses a little on it. you move it and he finds it again. You guys play this for a good ten minutes before you get sick of it and stop. Sometimes you'll play longer.
I'm pretty sure you'll love your daddy a lot because when you would first start moving around, you'd be still and then Daddy would start talking and you would move like crazy, like you were dancing. He would stop talking, you'd stop dancing. He'd talk again, you'd dance. It happened every time Daddy would talk. You like his voice. You're lucky to have such a great dad! He sometimes gets really close to my tummy and talks to you. He loves you! He sings you a song about a skunk. You'll hear it many times in the following years.
I haven't really had food cravings. There was once that I wanted a quesadilla from Taco Bell. That's it. This isn't a craving, but I've never really cared for apples, and now I love them. Apples, apple juice, apple cider, apple sauce, Anything with apples. You must love apples and that's why.
Pregnant women are told to stay away from spicy foods. The first time I ate soemthing spicy, I could tell you were a little upset, but after that you never were. It was only the first time. I think you like spicy now.
I sing 'I Am a Child of God' and 'Erump' to you. I try to sing to you every day. Sometimes I just sit and hold my stomach like I'm holding you. I try to give you hugs too. Sometimes I hold the little outfits we have for you I pretent that I'm holding you. I have lots of dreams about you: Sometimes you have dark hair, sometimes light hair, sometimes I can't find you, and sometimes you are nestled in my arms.
Although my back hurts when I stand for too long, and I hit my stomach into the counter when I wash my hands, I still try to do as much as I can around the house. I have been able to relax with the HypnoBirthing book and its methods (with a lot of help from Daddy!), and I feel like my body is getting ready for you to come. I know that eating the raw diet will help as well. I hope with all this preparation that your journey into this world isn't very traumatizing for you! I'm going to miss having you in my tummy, but I'm excited for you to come.
I love you so much!
Mommy

Last Nine Months

The first trimester was hard. I felt sick a lot and was never hungry. I had to force myself to eat. The only thing that ever sounded good was cold cereal. The whold pregnancy I've struggled with eating vegetables and fruit, but especially that first trimeester. I could eat dairy and wheat all day. There were three times that I threw up all day uncontrollable. They were all 28 days apart- weird coincidence. I remember thinking... how will i do this for nine months, I felt sick all the time and had to pee all the time and couldn't sleep. I thought it was going to kill me.
Then the second trimester hit. I felt normal again, except that I had a little belly. It was crazy. All those crappy symptoms just went away. I felt pretty good. This is when I fell in love with this little baby that I hadn't seen or met, but I knew I loved him.
I was exercising and eating as healthy as I could, but because I felt normal, I ate nomal things like sugar and anything that sounded good. I used to say, "Mak's favorite thing is Choco-Mateys." I didn't gorge myself and use the "I'm eating for two" excuse. I just ate normally and it was great.
At the beginningish of the second trimester we found out that our baby was a boy. Dr. Bean said he was in the 75th percentile in size and that he was really big. We did the gestational diabetes test because he was so big, and they thought I might have it. I didn't, just a big baby. I felt Makay kick pretty early. Earlier than they say you can, but Matt felt it too. He was strong and big. My belly was so big that people would ask me if I was okay. I'm thinking... I'm barely half way. I must look huge! And I did.
The third trimester hit and I was feeling alright. I started to have back pain, and feel a little sick. Every day it would be different. I would feel fine, then I would feel sick (nothing as awful as the first trimester though). Time seemed to move so fast. We would have a little baby in three months!! I had been excited for a while now, but I started to get really bad anxiety. I wanted to go natural, but I was scared that I wouldn't be strong enough. I had adavice to take HypnoBirthing classes and to eat raw foods and thing like that, but looking at finances, I was getting worried that I wouldn't be able to do either. I started getting really scared. Things turned for the best. Heavenly Father blessed us. My roommate Tami from my freshmen year called me and gave me advice and a book to read. It has brought so much comfort. I also cut out sugar from my diet with only two months left and at one month left we were able to get a BlendTec Blender from Steve Atkinson in ward for a really cheap price. I've been eating raw all week, and I only have three weeks left. I don't feel sick anymore and I don't have anxiety. It's been really good. All I feel is excitement to meet this beautiful baby. At our last check up Dr. Bean said that our baby is small- a healthy small! So happy to hear that. He must have peaked really early.