Our little guy turns TWO today! You Mommas know how special this day is. :) I haven't shared Landon's birth story on Shape Her, so I thought today was the perfect day!
I had a great pregnancy. I LOVED being pregnant. I gained 20 lbs total. I was yucky feeling in the early months, but never threw up. I did have some pretty tough headaches through my 2nd semester, but luckily they ended. I exercised through the entire pregnancy. Even continuing Body Pump until about week 28 when my lower back hurt too bad. My last trimester wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I did LOTS of walking the last several weeks leading up to D-Day. I wasn't really too uncomfortable until the last few weeks when my lower back and tail bone were bothering me pretty bad.
I had a great pregnancy. I LOVED being pregnant. I gained 20 lbs total. I was yucky feeling in the early months, but never threw up. I did have some pretty tough headaches through my 2nd semester, but luckily they ended. I exercised through the entire pregnancy. Even continuing Body Pump until about week 28 when my lower back hurt too bad. My last trimester wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I did LOTS of walking the last several weeks leading up to D-Day. I wasn't really too uncomfortable until the last few weeks when my lower back and tail bone were bothering me pretty bad.
37 weeks pregnant
Since my pregnancy was so great, I just assumed labor would be too. I'd witnessed my sister give birth to my niece 8 months before and felt very confident I could do it. Little did I know, Landon was in the Frank Breech position most of my pregnancy. (All that lower back and tail bone pain makes sense now) I never had a 3rd trimester ultrasound, just our 20 week gender/anatomy one. If we'd had one, I'm sure we would've known and I might have tried an aversion to move him. But we didn't know. We found out when I was in labor, at the hospital, dilated to 5 cm, after my water broke.
But let me back up a little first.
I went into labor about midnight at home. I was woken up by lower back pain. But this was different. This pain was coming and going. I immediately knew it was contractions. I knew labor started in the back for many women. I breathed through them for a few minutes before it started radiating all around my middle. I grabbed my phone and started timing them. They were 3-6 minutes apart. I couldn't believe it. I waited it out longer, laying in bed breathing through them and timing them (Ben is still sleeping mind you....I haven't got him up yet). I was scared that I'd get to the hospital and wouldn't be dilated far enough to be admitted. So my plan was to wait it out until they were unbearable and hard to talk or walk through and then go in. I didn't have any plans for a natural birth, so I wanted to make sure I got that happy window between getting to stay at the hospital and not being too far along that I missed the epidural.
About 2:00 am, I finally woke Ben up to let him know what was going on. He freaked, of course, asked if we needed to do anything and I just told him I was breathing through them, timing them, and waiting until I couldn't bare it any longer. I did call my doctor (who happened to be on call SCORE) and talked through some of it with her - timing, etc. Ben put together his hospital bag and I threw in my last minute things. I was so thankful I had packed it prior because packing that bag was difficult with contractions! I could hardly concentrate! We laid back in bed for another hour or so and Ben dozed back off. I actually did too in between contractions. I just laid on my side and continued to breathe through each one.
By 4:00 I finally decided we needed to go to the hospital. I still wasn't sure if it was time to go in, but I got up to use the bathroom and passed my mucus plug and said "yep, let's go!" :) We fed Chloe (our dog), I grabbed and English muffin with some PB on it and headed out the door. The drive to the hospital was torture. Our roads are bumpy and I felt every single bump. I wanted OUT of that car! I only made Ben run one red light though. :)
Funny story though - Ben parked in the back of the parking lot and we walked to the door. I didn't think twice about it. I did have to stop half way to the door to breath through a contraction, but it never crossed my mind to let him drop me off at the door instead. LOL Our family and friends gave him the hardest time about that later. :)
Once in the hospital, all the millions of questions were answered and I was checked. I was SHOCKED when the nurse told me I was at 5 cm and 90% effaced. I was so glad I was able to stay and equally as proud of myself for making it to 5 cm at home! I got hooked up to my IV (which by the way was one of the most painful experiences of the whole thing! I came very close to punching that poor nurse.) and told them I'd want to start the fluids to get my epidural as soon as I could. The contractions were intensifying quite a bit. I was laying on my back and it was super painful with each contraction so I turned on my side and GUSH. My water broke. What a relief. I was so glad my body was doing what it was supposed to!
We were left to rest and an hour or so later my doctor came in to check me. I was still the same, but she said the words that would change everything - "I don't think that's a head". She did a quick ultrasound to discover that that wasn't Landon's head and was in fact his bottom. She explained what that meant and that a c-section as in order. I asked if we could try turning Landon and she said no since my water had already broke.
I was heart broken. I bawled like a baby. Ben got teary eyed too. I remember apologizing to Ben for crying and saying all that mattered was a safe and healthy Landon, but I just couldn't believe I'd had such amazing progress and I had to end it all with a C-section. A MAJOR surgery. He was so sweet and supportive and reminded me it was a big deal and it was ok to be upset.
The rest was a whirl wind. I was given papers to sign, some meds, prepped for surgery, and Ben was outfitted with scrubs for surgery. I was wheeled into the OR (I felt like I was on Grey's Anatomy), given my spinal (which was just like a bee sting). I remember looking at my nurse (who I LOVED) as they were doing the spinal and having a contraction and said to her "This doesn't seem fair...having to have this surgery while I'm still having contractions." She squeezed my hand and assured me all was ok and I'd meet my son soon.
I remember the nurses trying to remove an earring I had in my ear. They had to get some saw tool from ER to get it out. LOL It sounds dramatic and I guess it was, but I was thankful for the distraction. The earring finally came out, Ben was brought in, and surgery started. I focused on the doctors conversation as everything was happening. They were talking about ski trips they'd recently been on and I remember just getting lost in their conversation to keep from flipping out about what was happening to me. Next thing I hear is "Look at those eyelashes!" and "Daddy do you want to stand up and see?" Ben stood up and watched them pull Landon out, lowered the sheet so I could see, bundled him up and brought him over to me. There he was. My son.
The rest of the day is very foggy to me. I can't focus on that too much because it makes me sad. But, Ben did so great at taking TONS of pictures. While I don't remember much, I'm so thankful for the pictures to document those first few hours as a family.
Ben went with Landon to the nursery to get cleaned up and checked out. Once I was in recovery and they brought Landon to me I remember Ben said "Babe, he's so cute and he has tons of hair". I had my nurse help me breastfeed Landon for the first time - he latched on immediately. We rested the remainder of the day, had family visit and soaked in every bit of our new little man.
Recovery was HARD for me. The weeks that followed were tough because of it. But Landon nursed amazingly, Ben was a rock star husband and Daddy, and we LOVED being a family of three!
I'm so blessed God chose us to be Landon's parents. It's a role we are honored to have and take very seriously. These past two years have been the hardest yet - hands down. Being a Mom brings out the best and worst of me. But these two years have been the best years yet. I was created to be that little guy's Mommy.
But let me back up a little first.
I went into labor about midnight at home. I was woken up by lower back pain. But this was different. This pain was coming and going. I immediately knew it was contractions. I knew labor started in the back for many women. I breathed through them for a few minutes before it started radiating all around my middle. I grabbed my phone and started timing them. They were 3-6 minutes apart. I couldn't believe it. I waited it out longer, laying in bed breathing through them and timing them (Ben is still sleeping mind you....I haven't got him up yet). I was scared that I'd get to the hospital and wouldn't be dilated far enough to be admitted. So my plan was to wait it out until they were unbearable and hard to talk or walk through and then go in. I didn't have any plans for a natural birth, so I wanted to make sure I got that happy window between getting to stay at the hospital and not being too far along that I missed the epidural.
About 2:00 am, I finally woke Ben up to let him know what was going on. He freaked, of course, asked if we needed to do anything and I just told him I was breathing through them, timing them, and waiting until I couldn't bare it any longer. I did call my doctor (who happened to be on call SCORE) and talked through some of it with her - timing, etc. Ben put together his hospital bag and I threw in my last minute things. I was so thankful I had packed it prior because packing that bag was difficult with contractions! I could hardly concentrate! We laid back in bed for another hour or so and Ben dozed back off. I actually did too in between contractions. I just laid on my side and continued to breathe through each one.
By 4:00 I finally decided we needed to go to the hospital. I still wasn't sure if it was time to go in, but I got up to use the bathroom and passed my mucus plug and said "yep, let's go!" :) We fed Chloe (our dog), I grabbed and English muffin with some PB on it and headed out the door. The drive to the hospital was torture. Our roads are bumpy and I felt every single bump. I wanted OUT of that car! I only made Ben run one red light though. :)
Funny story though - Ben parked in the back of the parking lot and we walked to the door. I didn't think twice about it. I did have to stop half way to the door to breath through a contraction, but it never crossed my mind to let him drop me off at the door instead. LOL Our family and friends gave him the hardest time about that later. :)
Once in the hospital, all the millions of questions were answered and I was checked. I was SHOCKED when the nurse told me I was at 5 cm and 90% effaced. I was so glad I was able to stay and equally as proud of myself for making it to 5 cm at home! I got hooked up to my IV (which by the way was one of the most painful experiences of the whole thing! I came very close to punching that poor nurse.) and told them I'd want to start the fluids to get my epidural as soon as I could. The contractions were intensifying quite a bit. I was laying on my back and it was super painful with each contraction so I turned on my side and GUSH. My water broke. What a relief. I was so glad my body was doing what it was supposed to!
We were left to rest and an hour or so later my doctor came in to check me. I was still the same, but she said the words that would change everything - "I don't think that's a head". She did a quick ultrasound to discover that that wasn't Landon's head and was in fact his bottom. She explained what that meant and that a c-section as in order. I asked if we could try turning Landon and she said no since my water had already broke.
I was heart broken. I bawled like a baby. Ben got teary eyed too. I remember apologizing to Ben for crying and saying all that mattered was a safe and healthy Landon, but I just couldn't believe I'd had such amazing progress and I had to end it all with a C-section. A MAJOR surgery. He was so sweet and supportive and reminded me it was a big deal and it was ok to be upset.
The rest was a whirl wind. I was given papers to sign, some meds, prepped for surgery, and Ben was outfitted with scrubs for surgery. I was wheeled into the OR (I felt like I was on Grey's Anatomy), given my spinal (which was just like a bee sting). I remember looking at my nurse (who I LOVED) as they were doing the spinal and having a contraction and said to her "This doesn't seem fair...having to have this surgery while I'm still having contractions." She squeezed my hand and assured me all was ok and I'd meet my son soon.
I remember the nurses trying to remove an earring I had in my ear. They had to get some saw tool from ER to get it out. LOL It sounds dramatic and I guess it was, but I was thankful for the distraction. The earring finally came out, Ben was brought in, and surgery started. I focused on the doctors conversation as everything was happening. They were talking about ski trips they'd recently been on and I remember just getting lost in their conversation to keep from flipping out about what was happening to me. Next thing I hear is "Look at those eyelashes!" and "Daddy do you want to stand up and see?" Ben stood up and watched them pull Landon out, lowered the sheet so I could see, bundled him up and brought him over to me. There he was. My son.
The rest of the day is very foggy to me. I can't focus on that too much because it makes me sad. But, Ben did so great at taking TONS of pictures. While I don't remember much, I'm so thankful for the pictures to document those first few hours as a family.
Ben went with Landon to the nursery to get cleaned up and checked out. Once I was in recovery and they brought Landon to me I remember Ben said "Babe, he's so cute and he has tons of hair". I had my nurse help me breastfeed Landon for the first time - he latched on immediately. We rested the remainder of the day, had family visit and soaked in every bit of our new little man.
Recovery was HARD for me. The weeks that followed were tough because of it. But Landon nursed amazingly, Ben was a rock star husband and Daddy, and we LOVED being a family of three!
I'm so blessed God chose us to be Landon's parents. It's a role we are honored to have and take very seriously. These past two years have been the hardest yet - hands down. Being a Mom brings out the best and worst of me. But these two years have been the best years yet. I was created to be that little guy's Mommy.
1 Day Old - February 18, 2013
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