Photos of one-day-old Gabriel
Road Trip!!
7 years ago
In Which A Child Is Born
[disclaimer: this contains Gabe's birth story- told by a nurse. So normal stuff like poop and throw up doesn't gross me out... so there may be more detail in here than other stories.]
Sunday, August 19th (his actual due date) as we
drove home from church I felt “wet” all of a sudden. Upon further investigation we came to the
conclusion my water had broken. This
surprised both of us. We were prepared to wait another week for the little guy
to make his entrance. Fortunately, the
hospital bag was mostly all ready. Once
we admitted to ourselves what was actually happening we told the family wouldn’t
be coming to dinner and called the doctor. I wasn’t having much in the way of
contractions so we chilled at home for a few hours, I tried to nap, ate a good
dinner, and made it to the hospital by 6 pm.
Since my water had been broken for 6 hours at this point, and labor hadn’t
begun on its own, I was started on pitocin.
Contractions started quickly, but they were not intense at first. We watched a movie and as it ended our doula met
us at the hospital. As the contractions
got stronger I walked around the halls with Bjorn, received massages, sat on a
yoga ball, threw up a couple times, and labored in the tub for a while. I was
progressing slowly, it was a very long night.
Our doula was awesome. I am so glad I had her there for support; especially
when Bjorn got too tired. Around 1:30 in
the morning he finally crashed from exhaustion and slept for the rest of the
night. A few hours later with worsening contractions
and fatigue setting in I happily opted for an epidural. I seemed to have gotten the best kind as
well- I could still move my legs and hips a bit. I felt the pressure of contractions, but not
the pain. I was able to sleep for a
couple hours. Around 6 am Bjorn woke up
and gave me a back rub in the quiet hours of the morning, our last few minutes
together as a couple. The nurses had
been great all night and kept me informed with the plan. Our doctor was on her
way to the hospital around 7 am, so they were going to have me start
pushing. I pushed for just over 2 hours-
with lots of encouragement and support.
Gabriel was born at 10:02 am on Monday, August 20th. What a relief to finally have him here! I loved holding him on my chest and in my
arms right after his birth. What a
miracle! Because my labor was so long
there was a concern for infection. Gabe
was given antibiotics for a couple days, but all was well. I am grateful for
this amazing experience that made me a mother, and for all the people (husband, nurses, techs, doula, doctors) who helped
bring him into the world.
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| 8 pm |
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| 10 pm |
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| 11 pm |
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| 2 am |
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| 6 am |
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| 7 am |
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| 10 am (!) |
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| 10:30 am |
Introducing....
Gabriel James Graham
Born Monday, August 20th, 2012 at 10:02 am at LDS hospital
7 lbs. 6 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long
Mommy is thrilled to have him on the outside of her body and not being pregnant anymore. She has recovered fairly quickly after giving birth.
We are adjusting to this new role of "parent". It is overwhelming, wonderful, amazing, and exhausting. Mostly, we are just happy he is here, and he is a healthy, easy-going, good-looking boy!
Perks of Pregnancy
Easily, an entire 8 paragraph blog post could be written about all the woes of pregnancy. Especially in the last trimester. The aches and pains and worries and discomforts....A woman's constantly changing body and the tiny parasite closely associated with it are nothing to be trifled with.
In leiu of going in to great details of everything wrong with my life right now and why I am counting down the hours until I get my body back; I intend to instead focus on the positive- and list the many many good things I have going for me.
- awesome pedicure! Feels good, looks good, is good for you! happy way to pamper swollen feet
- eating chocolate pudding multiple times per day
- guzzling gatorade like there's no tomorrow (weird eh? gatorade is my drink of choice these days)
- daily back rubs and foot rubs from my husband
- the cutest nursery on the block!
- baby is happy and healthy, measuring "perfectly" and right on track
- I still get comments of looking cute (though I may not feel it anymore)
- co-workers go out of their way to help me with tasks like running down 3 flights of stairs to retrieve formula
- my hubby has mowed the lawn ALL summer- I haven't touched the lawn mower once
- having an excuse to eat at whatever time of day I feel like it.
- friends and family are generously offering the use of their pool anytime
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| we had trouble taking some underwater pictures due to my abnormal buoyancy |
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| 39 weeks! |
Birthday Boy
Bjorn may not have gotten the best birthday this year. With a very pregnant wife who just returned from an exhausting week at girls camp- it was all I could do to stay awake for the weekend. And I didn't succeed very well at that.
He DID get a bit of a celebration after my nap Sunday afternoon. Thanks to our parents for fun packages of birthday gifts, and to my planning ahead abilities I had SOMETHING ready. I did manage to make him a cheesecake to celebrate at Sunday Dinner Club that night. And he had a group of friends/family to play his newly acquired favorite game.
What a trooper! I love you Bjorn!
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