Hi, Lovelies!
I wanted to write this post as soon as I could while all the little details are still in my head. It feels like an impossible task though, because how can you put into words one of the most meaningful moments of your life? I can never fully do it justice (I am sure all you other mamas would agree) because there is nothing in the world like meeting your baby for the first time.
I was really, really fortunate and had a fairly easy pregnancy. I felt miserably pregnant with Lilly around 34 weeks and felt that way until I gave birth to her at 40 weeks. With this pregnancy, I never got to the point of feeling miserably pregnant until I was a day over 39 weeks. It was a hot Friday, and for the first time I felt swollen, was a bit worried about my blood pressure, and had this nagging headache that I couldn’t shake. Then came the contractions. They were 8 minutes apart at first, so I thought it might mean labor was about to happen but then throughout the day, they slowed down to 12 minutes apart all the way to what I felt was nothing. False alarm I guess.
Around this time I was starting to feel a bit better and ended up helping make a balloon arch for my dear friend’s wedding shower that was the next day. I mentioned that I thought I was going into labor earlier in the day but it must have just been a false alarm/Braxton Hicks contractions while I was there.
The next day, I woke up feeling great. I ran on the treadmill and did a quick weight workout before getting ready to attend the shower. It was a gorgeous shower, and maybe it served as a distraction, but I can honestly say I didn’t feel any contractions during it.
I got home around 3:00 PM and decided I wanted to finish a few things up for work while I was feeling so well. I made Alex pull one of our lounge chairs from our shed so I could work outside because all the other chairs were “too uncomfortable”. I worked for about an hour but kept noticing that I was having some pretty severe contractions. They seemed far apart to me, so I didn’t even think to start timing them until about 4:30 PM. I went inside to use the bathroom and had a contraction that took my breath away.
So I got out my handy “Contraction Timer App” to see how far apart they were. They started at 4 minutes apart but within half an hour progressed from 4 to 1 minute apart and were lasting a long time. I ran outside to see Alex who was cutting the grass and he took one look at me, and knew…
We rushed around packing up the car, getting Lilly ready, feeding our dog…and luckily my parents who had been out of town, had just gotten back into town the day before…so we dropped Lilly off with my parents and off to the hospital we went.
We got halfway there and I realized I forgot my camera…yes I know…silly…but when you are a hormonal pregnant woman in labor, the logical thing is to turn around and go get your camera…right?
By the time we got to the hospital, it was almost 7:30 PM. I have a really high tolerance to pain but the contractions had progressed to the point where I had to wait to sit down in the wheelchair they brought out for me until I was done with a contraction.
We got into our delivery room, and the nurses were looking over my chart when I told them I really needed to pee. I stood up and POP, my water broke all over the floor. The doctor came in to check how dilated I was and I was 4cm. Between the time she checked and the time I got the epidural I was 6cm dilated.
Unfortunately the epidural only initially took on one half of my body. My right side was completely numb but I could feel EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING on my left side of the body. I told the nurse and she said sometimes it takes a while for one side to take. During that time they were watching the contractions on the monitor and mentioned how “on top of one another they were” and wanted to see if I had dilated further.
The doctor came in and I was at 8cm. This was around 8:45PM.
The anesthesiologist came back in and adjusted my epidural. I could still feel almost everything on my left side but the pain wasn’t as severe. I actually kind of liked feeling everything because I could feel the pressure/when contractions were peaking.
The pressure got so severe, I had Alex call the nurse to see if I was at 10cm because I was feeling the urge to push. Sure enough, it was go-time. They had to keep me from pushing until the doctor was scrubbed up.
Three contractions and six pushes later, out came the little boy of my dreams and they laid him on my chest. He was and still is one of two of the most beautiful things I have ever laid my eyes on (his sister being the other). I physically felt my heart expanding as I beamed down at him. He let out the sweetest cry…one that I still seldomly hear because he has such a sweet disposition and long fuse.
God knew my heart needed a little boy and hand-created Lane Brooks Letizia. I truly don’t have words to describe how blessed I feel to be his mama.
Since labor happened so quickly, Lane never really felt any of the affects of my epidural and was so incredibly alert the first night. Looking down at his bright eyes taking in his new world for the first time, is something I will never ever forget.
So thrilled to announce the birth of our son:
Lane Brooks Letizia
7lb. 15 oz.
19.5 inches
May 22, 2021 at 9:37 PM
Bringing Lane Brooks Home:
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When we brought Lane home from the hospital, Lilly was so excited she kept saying, “I have to pinch myself because this feels like a dream”. I have to agree with her, it really does.
xoxo,
Kalyn
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