Hey friends! Wow! It has been for-ev-er since I last posted anything, SORRY! Life has definitely been super busy in a super good way with our new baby boy! Our sweet handsome little man Richie IV made his big debut a little after midnight on May 26, 2012, at 1:22am! He was a whopping 8 lbs, 2.5 oz, and was 21 1/2 inches long. I know I will look back a few years up the road and regret not recapturing the details of his birth, so here are some details about his birth story:
It was a whole week and one day past my actual due date {May 17}, and I was definitely at that impatient, uncomfortable, "get this baby outta me" stage, as every pregnant woman comes to towards the end. For the longest time I had been pretty content, trying to enjoy the last moments of my pregnancy and more importantly, the last moments just the three of us- my hubby, me, and Lilly. I knew once the baby came, life would become hectic again temporarily & the mornings of sleeping in {till 8 at least}, being able to just grab my purse and go out-n-about with Lilly shopping, the nights of staying up late with my hubby watching movies & just talking, would turn into long days/nights of taking care of a cute little newborn, aka nursing 24/7, changing diapers, cuddling his cute tiny little body, and.. oh yea, chasing around an energetic (almost) 3 year old!
I had honestly thought that baby Richie would come before my due date, but I was wrong! My due date came and left, yet I was not the
I didn't get many Braxton Hicks contractions through this pregnancy at all, so when my labor did start, I was pretty doubtful that this was even the start of real labor. I am more of a pessimistic person (I call it being a realist, because I'd rather be realistic and prepare for the worst instead of hope for the best and it not happen..) so I just figured the start of my labor contractions were just regular braxton hicks. The contractions started around 10am, and after a few hours of them happening, I started to time them and sure enough, they came every 10 minutes. My husband left for work around 3pm as he always does, and I just let him know he might be getting a call from me later on in case this was the real deal. Thankfully, my wonderful Mom was staying with us, so I had someone to talk to and keep me company! **Side note: I couldn't have asked for better parents, I really couldn't have. They are both so generous and kind and always willing to help, whether during my pregnancy or a deployment or anything, they have always been there for me and I can't thank God enough for them!!**
Back to the story.. towards the afternoon, the contractions started getting a little more intense, manageable, but harder. And soon enough, they started coming every 5 minutes. This was when I started to realize I was probably in real labor, and I should probably call my husband to let him know we would probably be having our baby tonight (..or tomorrow!) Within just one hour, my contractions started coming every 3 minutes. I hopped in the shower while my Mom watched Lilly, and after that we got all of my hospital bags, snack bag, Rich's bag, baby's bag, everything together, and at this point it was getting pretty hard to even walk or talk through the contractions. Another hour passed and they were coming every 2 minutes apart, and it was PAINFUL!
I called Rich and told him nicely {tried to at least} to get his butt back home because we needed to get to that hospital ASAP. We made it to the hospital, and the contractions were unbearable. Let me just say, I am SO so SO thankful that Rich could be with me this time for the birth, because last time he was deployed to Iraq and missed the birth of our daughter. His presence meant everything to me, and I couldn't have made it through this time without him.. (okay, so I probably would if I had to do it again without him, but you get the idea!) It was a little more than an hour till I was able to get my epidural - thank God - because I couldn't take the pain anymore.. I found this interesting, my contraction levels were reaching into the 130s,140s without the epidural and stayed that way, so I figured I had experienced the worst intensity without drugs but knew I couldn't take any more of it. (Bravo, and hats off, to those who do it naturally.. Yay for you, don't know how you did it!!)
Within two little hours, I progressed from being 5cm dilated to 10cm, and surprisingly when the nurse checked me, she saw our baby's head! Our doctor came in our room and told me to push, so I did - twice - and baby Richie was out, just like that! I didn't even feel like I gave much effort to even push, that's how easy it was, and I didn't even tear, thank God! God was SO good to give me such an easy breezy uncomplicated delivery (though the contractions were intense to say the least). With Lilly's delivery, I had to have surgery after.. it was just not a pleasant experience..
Anyway, hearing baby Richie's first cries were beautiful, and even more beautiful, was seeing my husband hold him for the first time. I had honestly never seen my hubby with a newborn before, since he was deployed when Lilly was born, so it was such an amazing, beautiful thing seeing him with our son.
.... I hate to cut this short, but the little man is waking up, and Lilly just woke up from her nap and is hungry for dinner! =) I will finish this later!
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