Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Monday, January 30, 2012

Labor Pains

     It all starts with a simple word; nesting. The day before I had given birth, I was nesting.. Like a mad woman if I do say so myself. Matt had gone to work and I started my day off with my neighbor Iris. We had made a pact with each other to go to the gym every weekday at 9 am. That way we could watch "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" while we burned some calories on the elliptical. After our 30 minute trivia work-out, we went to the weight-lifting room and that's when we talked about how I needed to get things ready before the baby arrives. "Iris, I need to install the car seat and pack my hospital bag still! I'm way behind." Iris told me that I needed to get that done soon so I would be ready for the baby in case she came early. And boy, I'm glad I listened to her. After our talk I went home, took a shower and went to the "Quick Quack" so I could vacuum out my car for free and install the car seat. Mind you I did all of this with a big 'ol prego belly. I was huffing and puffing.. determined to have everything ready for my baby girl. Then I went home and tidied up the house and began packing my hospital bag and then Matt got home. We ate dinner and talked about our day and then went into the nursery to cover all the bases and make sure I had everything I wanted and needed for the hospital. Camera, baby's first outfit, soap, tooth brush, cd player... the works. We then went to bed and that's when it all began....

     At around 10:30 pm I started to have what I called "stomach pains."It got to the point where I couldn't sleep and was rolling around in bed, frustrated. I had had these stomach pains before but usually they didn't last as long and weren't as frequent. Matt was beginning to get aggravated. He had work in the morning and needed to get sleep. So I went into the nursery where we have a spare bed and laid down. Matt came in to check on me and got me some all natural sleeping pills. 15 minutes passed and the pain had only gotten worse. I decided to try to go to the bathroom. Maybe I was having stomach problems? In the mean time, Matt checked on his phone if it was possible to go into labor without your water breaking. The answer was yes. So there we were... in our bedroom, with one decision to make. Do I go to the hospital? Am I really in labor? Or this just a false alarm? Matt changed his clothes and I threw on my tennis shoes and jacket and didn't even bother to throw on a bra. Yep. That's right.... I went bra-less so deal with it!

     I waddled out to the jeep. Many a time I had driven my jeep to school, water polo practice, work. It even made it all the way to Idaho and back. But I don't think I will ever forget this particular drive. These could be my last moments of not being a parent. I could come home the next day with a baby! As my mind was taking all of this in, I found myself buckled in the passenger seat. I cleared my mind and focused on the pain. My stomach pains were 10 seconds long and 3-4 minutes apart. I held Matt's hand tight... He pulled out of our parking spot and we were on our way.

     We lived less than 3 miles away from the hospital. So we took our time. Nothing like the movies where the wife is in full blown labor, screaming and taking those huffing breaths. We parked in the emergency lot and I waddled into the hospital. Right away someone asked if I was in labor... Matt's response was "uhhhh..." I had to speak up for the both of us and replied "YES!" And gave Matt the are you stupid or something look. "Follow me." I tried my best to keep up with the guy as we made our way through a series of dull painted corridors and then into a dark labor room where they told me to change into a gown and to give them a urine sample. "Oh joy" I thought to myself. When you're pregnant ladies, get used to peeing in a cup. I changed into the peep show nightgown (the ones where you shouldn't bend over) and hoped on to the "birth table/bed." My nurse then checked how dilated I was. I was ready to hear her tell me that I was in false labor and only 3 inches. "You are 7 centimeters, and you are staying because you are going to have a baby!" What! That's when it all hit me. I'm pregnant.. there is a living being inside of me and I have to push it out. How in the world am I going to do this? Before I knew it I was getting a run down of game plans on how to have this baby. "Do you want a epidural or any type of pain medication?" I thought it through once and for all "No, I don't want anything." Matt and I had already decided that we wanted to have our little girl au natural, no drugs, no nothing. I then signed my name on a contract that stated that if anything happened to me while in labor that Matt would make the decisions. It's going down... It was time rumble.



*WARNING! THINGS GET UGLY IN THE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS*

     After 9 months of imagining how I would really go into labor, I never would have thought it would start on a toilet. After taking care of my business I started to have severe pain in my abdomen. It got so bad that I started to scream. I was having major contractions! I dry-heaved and threw-up. My nurse told me that we needed to get back on my bed before another contraction hit me. Which seemed impossible at the time because the contractions were less than 2 minutes apart. But I got up on my feet, shuffled towards the bed and gripped the rails and let out a another scream.

     This is going to happen... I am about to have a baby. I laid on my back and the contractions started to go full force. I admit. I screamed my head off each time I had a contraction. It's nothing like it is in the movies my friends. They make it look pretty easy if you ask me. Or maybe I'm just a sissy? Anyway... where was I? Oh yeah... IT WAS TIME TO PUSH! No doctors, no other nurses, no nothing! Before I knew it my husband was holding up one leg while the nurse held up the other. "Now push!" Is this really happening? I was gasping for air after each push. There was so much pain in my back I couldn't think anymore. After two big pushes an army of nurses and my doctor came in. What the hell took them so long? (pardon the language but this is labor people). My doctor got positioned. It was time to pop this sucker out! I mean... it was time to deliver my precious baby girl. It took about 3 or 4 more big pushes until I heard my doctor say "I see the head!" One more big push aaannnd he grabbed hold of her and pulled her out! An awesome wave of relief washed over me when I saw that she was ok. They cleaned her up on my tummy and before I knew it she was in my arms crying.







     There she was. So perfect and small. Heidi Geraldine Ivers was born at 6:23 a.m. on October 4th (the same day as my husband was born). She weighed 5lbs. 2 oz. and was 17.5 inches long. She was a preemie. She looks just like her father and I love her so much. Thank you for taking the time to read this. This was a major milestone for both my husband and I. We both love being parents. Watching a baby grow is the most fascinating and fulfilling thing that I have ever experienced. Heidi is now almost four months old and weighs around13 pounds... She is my little girl. My Heidi.



Wednesday, September 28, 2011

 It feels like I've been neglecting my blog lately. I've been so busy trying to get the nursery done. Plus my husbands birthday is coming up and I've been working on his gift. In other news, my dad visited us recently which was great! Gotta love my dad. He likes to get things done and help around in any way he can. He recently scored us some free tv by installing an antenna on our patio, so now we get the news! Hooray! I took my dad to Folsom Prison while he was here too. Let me tell you, it is a nice facility for a prison. I love brick walls and old gates.


It wouldn't be Folsom Prison without Johnny Cash.


I recently scored some new items for the nursery which saved Matt and I a fortune. While my mom was here I had found a glider chair for $12.50 at the goodwill. We went back the next day to see if it was still there and it was marked down to $9.50!!! So we grabbed that sucker and threw it in my moms little sedan and took it home and cleaned it right up. My neighbor is going to help me re-upholster it so it'll look good as new!


Our next steal was an solid oak crib and new mattress that I got off of craigslist for $75. I polished it up and threw the mattress in and I am loving it! It took me a little over two hours to put together since the lady who sold it to me didn't have the directions. But I got it all put together!

Matt and I made a separate trip earlier before to a yard sale to look at a crib and didn't care for what we saw. The sellers though were super sweet and had a ton of baby clothes and told me I could have at 'em since they were going to drop them off at good will anyways. I got over 48 pieces of clothes! 


A little too pink for my taste but I'll take it!

One of the last things that I got for the nursery was something that my parents had gotten for me when I little; a changing dresser. It's in great condition! It was originally sitting in brothers closet, but my dad brought it up here and it goes perfectly with the glider chair and crib. So glad to get all of these important items for so cheap!




I don't think Mr. Polar Bear minds his sleeping arrangements that much either...