London Eve Ball

Where to even begin...
I'm overwhelmed with love and a peaceful happy/content feeling that life is JUST PLAIN OL GOOD! 
London Eve Ball came into our lives at 11:51 a.m. on April 11, 2012.  She weighed a whoppin 8 lbs. 6 ozs. and was 20.5 inches long. 
Our Birth Story:
After some discussion with our doctor, we decided to induce on my due date.  So unlike the old fashion way, we weren't rushing to the hospital when my water broke, it was planned, like much of my life (Shane likes to tease that I had to have it this way, so I could put her birth on the Outlook calendar! Heehee).  Even with planning, our birth story started off with some unexpected excitement! We got down to our car with our bags packed, birth ball in hand and sure enough, my car wouldn't start.  Thankfully, it was just a dead battery, so after a quick jump start, we were instructed to drive around for at least 30 minutes.  We called the hospital, let them know we'd be late and headed over to Brian's Shave Ice for a final snow cone before baby!

Can't get enough shave ice with sour spray, YUM!

We got to the hospital around 9:30 p.m. and it wasn't until the first nurse came in to start filling out paperwork that it all hit me.  It was time, in less than 24 hours, I would be experiencing labor (which I was terrified of) and meeting our baby (my life long dream).  Let the waterworks begin! Everything  at that moment became real and hit me. 
They hooked me up to a baby monitor and watched all our vitals.  A magical nurse gave me the dreaded IV and it was NOTHING.  I was so worried about this IV, I even lost sleep over it and I have to say, it was honestly NOTHING.  I could not believe it. 

After the IV, I was feeling pretty invincible! 

Super Sam!

We then waited for the Cervidel (inducing agent) to be delivered and the nurse explained what it does and how long it would take. We were told that I'd probably start feeling contractions the following morning and that my doc would be there to check in on me at around 9 a.m.   They gave me an Ambien, which I stupidly shared with my husband and told me to get a good night's sleep.  YA RIGHT?!  I tried to sleep, but basically just watched Shane sleep and stared at the fetal monitor.  At around 2 or 3 a.m. the fun began, I started to feel a tremendous amount of pain.  I tried to sleep and ignore it, but I finally gave in and called in a nurse.  She was the ONE mean nurse we experienced and probably the one I needed most to be nice to me.  She came in and I said can you check me, I'm in a lot of pain.  She said, it's probably "just cramps" from the Cervidel.  I thought to myself, if these are cramps, I don't know if I can do this?  She then said, what's your question?  Well nurse lady, I do not know, I've never given birth.  Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with what I was thinking-Am I supposed to feel this much pain this early?  I was told tomorrow?  Are you sure they aren't contractions?  Mean nurse lady then said again, "yes, they are just cramps, try to get some sleep, you're going to need your energy to deliver tomorrow."  Sure, I'll just go to sleep while I'm gripping the bed in pain, so simple! BITCH (pardon my French London). So I basically stayed up all night, holding onto the bed for dear life.  At around 5 a.m. I woke Shane up and said, babe we've gotta turn on the lights, TV... and get a nurse in here to check me.  I think am dying (insert a super dramatic Sam).  Thank goodness the mean nurse lady was off and I had a new nurse.  She came in and checked me.  I was dilated to 4 cm and definitely in "active" labor, having contractions.  OKAY, now that's an answer that makes more sense. 

At this point, I ask for an epidural.  It takes some time to get one and by the time I did, I was probably at 6 cm.  My labor was moving along rather quickly.  Dr. Pushkin (isn't that the best name for an OBGYN?) arrived and checked on me and said things are going great, she'd be back to deliver our baby after a c-section, sometime around 2 p.m.  

But NO, NO, NO, lil miss London wasn't going to wait that long.

I got an epidural (another thing I was dreading more than life) and it too was not bad at all.  And oh boy, let me just tell you, this epidural was my new best friend.  Once I had the epidural, I was laughing, joking and happy as could be.  I was ready! 

The morning went by and my awesome nursing team checked me again and sure enough I was 10 cm.  They said, let's do a test push and see if we should call the doc.  Sure enough it was time.  They told me to hold tight and Dr. Pushkin was there a few minutes later.  They taught me how to push and less than 30 minutes and some pushes later our beautiful baby girl was born!  I pushed for dear life, all I could think about was getting her out quick, so A) her head wasn't all cone shaped and B) I could hear that first cry C) so she didn't get stuck in the birth canal.  I pushed so hard, I broke blood vessels in my head and neck. 

Holding London for the first time was indescribable and a moment I will never forget.  Our lives had been forever changed and our story as a family of 3 had just begun!



Just a few of my favorite pics from her first moments of life, thanks to our dear friend Jillian Rose that arrived to the hospital within 30 minutes of her being born!

So much more to write and catch up on, two photo shoots, meeting lots of aunties, uncles and some of her grand parents. 

London is a keeper and we couldn't feel more blessed!

XO,

S

DD-Day (Due Date Day)

Just shy of 40 weeks!

It's hard to believe that after over a year of being pregnant, minus 3 weeks, today is my due date.  In most ways this pregnancy flew by and in others it feels like I've been pregnant for a lifetime.  Tonight we will check into the hospital to be induced with Cervidel and hope that sends me into labor by tomorrow morning.  Who knows, by this time tomorrow, we could be holding our baby girl?! 

So many feelings are rushing through my body, I thought I should blog about them before I forget!  The oddest of the feelings is this sense of calm that has come over me, since my last doctor's appointment and deciding to induce.  I really wanted everything to happen naturally-lose my MP, have my water break, labor at home for a while and head to the hospital around 4 cm, BUT as your told in class and quickly learn with pregnancy, you have to be flexible with your ideas and desired birth plan.  The decision to induce came from my doctor and I after weighing the facts and options.  Little London is already thought to be a good size, in the 7lbs. range.  I haven't gained a lb. in a month in a half (oops), not for lack of trying, I've eaten plenty and indulged at times, I just haven't gone crazy.  Side note, the belly and baby have grown, so the lack of weight gain isn't that huge a deal, it probably just adds to the uncomfort because there is no where for her to go.  Baby isn't a big mover, so it's hard to get healthy kick counts of 10 moves in a 2 hour period (she just likes to nap a lot like her mommy).  Also, my amniotic fluid was in the low range at 35 weeks and has probably depleted some since then.  After your due date, risks of the baby pooping inside go up and your placenta starts to go bad.  With that said, she seems to be perfectly healthy, so why not get her out.  Fine by me.  When you're ready, you're ready and I'm READY (well, as ready as I'll ever be for labor).

So, that's the plan!  It was weird saying goodnight to Shane last night.  It's the last night in our bed that we'll be a family of 2.  I cannot wait to meet our baby girl and introduce her to the world.

Here's to hoping I don't freak out at the needles and can continue to feel that nothing matters, so long as our baby girl is healthy! More on that later! 

XO,
S

39 Weeks?!

Photo taken a few days shy of 38 weeks.

Time has flown and I can hardly believe I'm a week away from my due date.

I remember finding out I was pregnant and thinking this day was so far away.

With that said, I'm very ready to meet this baby girl!

I've had lots of pregnant friends and remember their want/need for the baby to come at this point and I always wondered if that would happen to me?

First of all, I'm pretty terrified of birth and all things involving hospitals and needles, so I thought I'd just want to avoid the end, but the day came about a week ago and I was DONE, like stick a fork in me, I don't care about pain, birth or huge needles, just get this baby out of me!

For multiple reasons I thought she was coming early, now I don't know so much.

I've been doing yoga, walking the whole country club again (despite the pain) and today I'm off to get this infamous salad that brings on labor. 

Click here to check it out!

Here's to hoping she makes her debut later this week or at least by her due date. 

Till then, it's sweet dreams of meeting our little one and lots of complaining. 

Sorry hubs, I was good most of my pregnancy.

In other news, last weekend, we had the plea sure of watching sweet baby Jax! 

It was a great test run and he was amazing.

I can hardly wait till our next babysitting adventure with him.

We took him to farmers market and he loved it.

Finally a place to store our produce, heehee.

Not going to lie, the looks at my big ol belly with this small baby were pretty priceless.

Whatever judgers, Tori Spelling did it!

My favorite part of the day was watching Shane interact with him.

XO,

S