Owen Lazarus's Birth Story

When I woke up on April 4, 2017, I never would’ve thought Owen Lazarus would be joining us that day. Even though I was six days overdue I resolved in my mind that I would eventually have to be induced later that week. He seemed awfully cozy in my belly and the early labor, that was really just a nuisance and exhausting, wasn’t giving any hints. Losing more of my mucus plug and the incessant contractions were a tease since beginning a few weeks prior.

My due date was March 29, and once that came and left us without Owen in our arms we told Travis’s mom, Terri, to come on down from Ohio. It was nice having her here to help with the kids while I rested before the big day.

The morning of the day he came I was so over being pregnant. I really shouldn’t complain. It truly is a blessing, being pregnant and all. But by the end, and especially since I was almost a week late, I was so tired of being uncomfortable and so tired of being tired. I knew nights of interrupted sleep would continue after Owen came but I found solace in knowing I would finally be able to sleep on my stomach and not have to carry 40 extra pounds around my midsection.

Juice Drop's Attempt at an Early Arrival

So we had a bit of a scare really early Monday morning--as in it was just past midnight when I awoke to contractions. I thought I was waking up to do my usual nightly ritual of going to the bathroom at least 5 times but after I went I could not fall back asleep. I noticed I was having contractions every few minutes and finally I started timing them. Yep, every 4-5 minutes. After an hour I had 11 contractions. I started debating with myself if I should call my midwife. I really didn't want to but nothing seemed to be making them stop--changing positions (I was already lying down), drinking water, getting up to use the bathroom again. So after another half hour of regular contractions and moving downstairs to the couch I decided to call my midwife. She said she'd rather be safe than sorry and wanted me to come in to be put on an IV and a sedatives. So back upstairs I go to wake up Travis and tell him we have to go to the hospital. At this time it was 2:30 am and we knew we had to wake up our friend, coworker, and neighbor, Luke to see if he could come sit with Anna. We started packing our bags knowing there could be a chance we'd be bringing home a baby in a few days. I hadn't even started packing my hospital bag yet so I ended up forgetting a lot of things considering it was the middle of the night and I was a little flustered. We didn't even put the carseat in the car. We figured Travis or somebody could grab it for us if Juice Drop really did decide to come. After a phone call and several knocks on Luke's door he graciously came to sit with Anna. On the way to the hospital I just kept thinking, "He can't come today! He just can't! I have a baby shower tonight and we have an amazing date planned for tomorrow to see the musical Once". I was almost a little upset at the guy. "you better stay right where you are, mister!"

We arrived at the hospital just ahead of another woman who was actually in labor. She sat in her wheelchair and looked like she was in such pain as I walked to the front desk with a smile on my face--my contractions were indeed still regularly coming every 4-5 minutes but I hadn't had any pain with them. After being placed in our room my midwife came to check on me. 1 cm dilated, 70% effaced, -1 station. She said if I was dilated anymore than that then I may have had a baby later that day but since I wasn't they went ahead and put an IV with sedatives in me. As soon as that sedative went through my blood stream I felt so weird. I felt heavy, the room started spinning, and I couldn't move. Even though I felt like I could sleep forever on that stuff we were still in a hospital with beeping noises, our beautiful baby's heartbeat in the background, nurses coming to check on me, and I still had to pee every hour like usual. Travis tried to sleep too but those little couches just aren't like the comforts of your own bed. Around 8 am my midwife came to check on me again. My contractions had definitely slowed down and I was still only dilated 1.5 cm so she said I was free to go home. Woo HOOO! No baby coming today! We quickly got ready to go and after they discharged us we went straight to Burger King for one of their amazing croissantwiches. Ok, that may sound disgusting but it's my favorite fast food breakfast, and we needed to get home to our little girl who was probably wondering where we were! After relieving and thanking Luke we put in the movie Frozen and while Anna watched we tried to get a little shut eye. I haven't felt that exhausted in a looonnggg time. I guess this is how I'll be feeling in just a few short weeks. At least at that point I'll have a baby in my arms ;)

I don't know if I was in denial of the whole situation or I wasn't too concerned because I had done this before but throughout the whole time this was all going on I felt at peace. As soon as I heard his strong heartbeat I knew everything was going to be ok, even if we ended up meeting him that day. Usually my mind gets the better of me in these situations; my legs did start to shake at one point but I began breathing deeply and the shakes went away. God was in it all, he eased my mind and calmed my nerves, he took care of our sweet baby boy, and he brought a peace to that room that overwhelmed us all.

Shawty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low!

How far along? 36 Weeks and 5 Days (another late post but we've had a crazy week!)

How big is baby? the size of a honeydew and he's getting closer to breathing on his own and his skin is getting smooth and soft. Ahhh, the feel of babies skin is the absolute best!

Total weight gain: 36 pounds

Maternity clothes? only when I'm in public trying to look nice, otherwise it's gym shorts, leggings, tshirts and tank tops

Sleep: It's been great since we've returned from the hospital! Plus I'm on zantac now so no late night heartburn affecting my sleep. 

Best moment this week: getting spoiled by our friends with baby showers and enjoying one last big date night with my man eating a delicious meal and seeing the musical "Once". 

Miss Anything? laying on my stomach. Not much longer!!!

Movement: he's still moving a whole lot. I thought he'd slow down by now but he was even moving through all those contractions. 

Food cravings: junk, junk, and anything junk

Gender: baby boy!

Labor Signs: see above...I don't feel like repeating myself ;) The few days after our hospital visit I was still getting contractions (not as regular) and I've felt more pelvic pressure, have lost some of my mucus plug (tmi?), and as one of my friends put it "lightning crotch" lol--shooting pains through your pelvis and legs. So there's that.

Symptoms: I've started to waddle! contractions, peeing all the time, tired, out of breath, rib and back pain, and my favorite: baby kicks!

Belly Button in or out? out

Happy or Moody most of the time: pretty happy! 

Looking forward to: my appointment tomorrow to see if I've progressed at all since being in the hospital! 

False Alarm

Imagine the night before Christmas and the feelings you felt as a child: excitement (ohh, presents!!), anxiousness (have I really been a good girl/boy?), eagerness to get the cookies and milk set out, and as you lay in bed sugarplums aren't really dancing in your head because you can't sleep with your heart pounding!

Now imagine waking up Christmas morning to find that Santa never came, no presents are under the tree, and someone tells you Christmas won't be coming this year, you'll have to wait another 365 days!

Haha, very funny, but seriously, what happened to Christmas? That's how Travis and I felt this morning...

It all started last evening around 5 pm. We were headed out to celebrate my birthday a week early. My birthday isn't until this Friday, the 21st (mark that on your calendars :) Our hope is that Juice Drop will be here before my birthday so we thought we should go ahead and celebrate. We went to the mall first to walk around, you know, trying to naturally induce labor. Well, it actually worked! As we were walking I began to notice I was having contractions every 20 minutes or so. We had forgotten the mall closes at 6 on Sundays so as we were rushed out by the mall employees, we continued counting contractions and they seemed to be pretty regular and averaging 15-20 minutes apart. Since we knew it wasn't really anything to write home about just yet we decided to stick with the plan of eating out so we headed over to Mama Ricotta's for an amazing Italian meal (if you know anything about me, you know that I LOVE Italian even though I don't have an ounce of Italian in me). Throughout the meal the contractions continued. Our entire dinner revolved around this baby and ohmygosh is this really happening? We could have a baby by tomorrow!!! After we finished we walked around the river walk to see if the contractions would go away; I had read that if they were false contractions then they'd go away if you walked. Sure enough, they kept on coming, some contractions 8-10 minutes apart! Ohmygosh this really IS happening! We're about to meet our baby girl! We rushed home so we could straighten the house a bit and pack our bags. After we realized we probably wouldn't be heading to the hospital that night, we took our time getting ready, continued counting contractions while I sat on an exercise ball, and called our family to prepare them for what was to come. Around 9:30 pm, my contractions got down between 7-10 minutes for an hour! As I finally laid down for bed around 10:30 I couldn't contain my excitement, I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as if my heart jumped into my head, and I knew I needed Travis to pray for me. As Travis prayed I felt a peace rush over me, I felt God more present than ever and Him telling me that He will be there in the delivery room just as real as Travis and my OB and nurses will be. I imagined holding my baby girl for the first time and experiencing a love like no other. I felt so much peace and I thought I'd have an amazing night of sleep. Well, I was wrong. I couldn't fall asleep because I realized the contractions were dying down. They weren't as strong and weren't coming as frequently. I would stay awake just so I could feel the next one come. I went in and out of sleep throughout the night and when I woke this morning my heart was deflated knowing that I was not in real labor. I was so upset, discouraged, frustrated, disappointed, and hopeless like labor will never come and I'll just be pregnant forever (can that really happen?!) Christmas was taken away from us and now this rainy day is calling me back to bed. Yes, it's noon; yes, I should go get groceries for the week; yes, I should go about my day like usual. But when you have it in your mind that today you're supposed to be in the hospital having a baby it's kind of hard to get motivated.

Don't worry about us, we'll get out of this funk in a few hours. Pity party will be over, I'll continue my day like usual and go get groceries remembering that God is in control:

"But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently" Romans 8:25. Thank you, Lord, for always knowing what's best for us and being in control of all things! You are the creator, I am not, and am so thankful for the beautiful gift you have blessed us with! Our baby girl must be happy as a clam in there because she's still moving like crazy this morning. Our anticipation of meeting her is almost more than we can take! Christmas morning will come soon, I know it will!