Oscar's birth story:)

If you have been reading my blog recently, you'll probably already know that I was on bed rest for quite some time due to premature contractions. The week before his birth was no different, I had regular contractions for 6-8 hrs a day...usually night actually....every night before his birth. 

Throughout the last few weeks, I had thought/prayed hard about whether or not I should try for a VBAC...knowing that it could possibly pose some serious risks/complications. 
What I decided to do was try for one, if I went into labor before my scheduled c-section...and I booked a c-section for the 15th. 
                                    Here's a relatively recent picture:

I'd been having SO many contractions, that were increasingly more painful and longer each time, and so I seriously thought that I was going to be trying for a natural delivery this time. 

Every day before his birth I thought I was in labor, and every day I waited for it to get extremely painful, or go away...and it always went away. 

So...the night before his birth was no different...I contracted regularly all night long and then woke up early the next morning to get ready. 

Getting ready was difficult because I was sore, and still having pretty painful contractions. At this point, it didn't occur to me that they had been lasting a lot longer, and hadn't gone away. Previous to this, my contractions would get much better in the morning when I'd wake up and start walking around. 

This time was different, but it took me until we were admitted and in the waiting room to really notice it. It was getting more difficult to talk through the contractions, and they were definitely happening closer together. 

I didn't pay much attention to them, and just focused on prepping for surgery. 

While they were prepping me, I had a few pretty long contractions that the nurse was able to see while putting my IV in. 

I was then told that I would be waiting most of the day, as the doctor was at least an hour behind schedule, and there were 4 or 5 surgeries ahead of mine. 

I was okay with that, and we sent out a quick text to let friends and family...and our photographer, know. About 5 seconds after that they came and told me that Dr M. wanted me in right away, and they were prepping the OR already!!

We quickly texted back everyone and let them know...but it wasn't a ton of notice for the photographer...so she didn't get to take any pictures of us oh-so-patiently-waiting:)

As I walked to the room where you wait for the OR, I had to stop a few times for contractions. While waiting they continued to get closer together, which seemed to worry all the nurses, as they weren't prepared to deliver a baby right there! ha ha

I didn't think I could really change my mind and opt for a VBAC, since I was already prepped and the OR was getting cleaned out for me....also because my OB was in surgeries all day. He was the only OB that was going to let me try for a natural delivery...as most don't let you try on your 3rd. 

While they laid me on the operating table, my legs started to shake uncontrollably...which is usually what happens to me when I'm nearing the end of the delivery process....so our little baby just really wanted to come out right then!! ha ha
I won't go into the gory details of the c-section too much...but lets face it...I'm a wimp when it comes to surgeries. I don't even like getting my blood taken, so I really really really dislike surgery, especially when I'm awake for it. 

My spinal tap didn't go well, they had to try a few times, and kept adding more freezing and then trying again, which was extremely painful. 

It took a while to kick in, so I could still feel the catheter...which freaked me right out, since they'd be cutting me open in just a few minutes!!

The whole process was pretty scary, and I was pretty much freaking out the whole time...luckily my mom was in there to calm me down a bit! (and to tell the OBs not to tie my tubes right then, as I was asking them too, ha ha...i was serious at the time too, but I'm glad she was there to be the voice of reason). 
Apparently this one took longer than the others, so my hubby texted my cell that mom had in there "are you alive?"...he was genuinely scared that something had gone seriously wrong...poor guy. 

There were 2 angels in the delivery room that day, and I know they were an answer to many prayers. There was a resident anesthetist that was so sweet and really helped calm me down during the whole process. There was also a NICU nurse that was amazing! She took such good care of our little baby, and helped me have skin-to-skin for as long as I could before they took him out. 

As soon as I heard his little cry, the whole operation seemed easier to bear. He only cried for a few seconds, and then completely relaxed. He was quiet from then on, and continues to be such a quiet little babe. 

My recovery is going much better this time around, but still slowly. Maybe one day I'll have a c-section and NOT be in labor first....but I doubt it. 

When we had Roo, my hubby was sitting in the waiting room chair and saw him and just knew what his name was. It took me a few days to agree, but in the end, I felt like that was his name too. 

The EXACT same thing happened this time, he was in the same chair, and as soon as he saw him, the name Oscar popped into his head. Which is crazy because we have never discussed that name, and don't even know anyone by that name. 

When he told me that, I laughed at him, thinking he was joking...but later realized he wasn't, ha ha. We still came up with a big old list of names and whittled them down to about 8 that we felt all fit well. I really loved all 8 (except maybe not Oscar as much...I was still warming up to the idea of it). 
In the end we got it down to 2....and chose Oscar. We decided that if it didn't grow on us that we'd just change it to our second choice! ha ha...we're awesome like that:)

Anyways...I was super lucky to have an OB that let me go home a day early, so I could actually rest. We were really blessed, and still are, to have a TON of friends and family to support us and help us through. 

It's a bit tricky taking care of 3 boys whilst recovering from surgery, and not being able to lift pretty much anything!! But another few weeks, and I'll be feeling much better about it, I'm sure. 

Oscar is a great little baby, and sleeps most of the time. He's really quiet and sweet. I think that he may have been a little earlier than we had thought, due to his birth weight (comparatively to my other children), as my first due date was May 29th...which seems like it could have been more accurate. 

Here's the details:

Oscar Levi Paul 
(Paul is my dads middle name and JDs great-grandpa's name. Levi is one of the 12 tribes, as are Ashur and Reuben. Levi means "third son")
7 lbs 8 oz
20 7/8 inches long
14 1/4 inches head circumference

                             We LOVE him a LOT!! :)

Right after I got back from the reovery room

He always sleeps this peacefully...1 day old

What a sweetie:)

LOVE HIM!

Me and Oscar just chillin'

Baby boy's finished nursery:)

It's finally ALL done!! Not sure if these photos do it justice, but I seriously LOVE everything about his room. It may be the cutest nursery in the history of nurseries, lol....but seriously;)

Check it out for yourself!!

The Gallery wall

A panoramic view of the room...a little hard to see:

The old barn window we got and the dresser we DIY'd:

The little elephant we painted navy blue, and a frame painted white that we'll put a photo fo the family/baby in:

The top of the dresser, we made a baby-channging station with hanging thingers from Ikea, filled with the necessities (LOVE the teensie little yummy-smelling diapers:) and a portable change pad:

Another shot of the dresser-top and awesome barn window, thanks to a great friend of mine:)

The corner, 3D cloud mobile made from sewn cardstock, a glider chair, blanky (that I'll change out when I finish his baby quilt), and 3 pillows...2 re-covered and 1 my mom found at a thrift store:

The corner, view from the closet...you can see the cute window curtain and fuzzy rug:

Another panoramic view...hopefully it shows the whole room better:

I LOVE it!! And we finished just in time...we hung up that window tonight, and baby comes in the morning....wish me luck:)

38 weeks:)

First off...here's my belly:

Secondly, here are my crazy swollen feet:

And hands...

Need I say more? ha ha...

In the hand picture is hard to tell how swollen they actually are, but that ring is my fat-fake wedding ring, and at this point it's pretty much stuck on my finger, because my fingers are SO fat. My feet only fit in crazy big open flip-flops. My skin feels like its being constantly streched....so awesome, ha ha, not!!

Other going-ons:

-I went off bed rest 2 weeks ago (36 weeks) which was really exciting!! Bed rest really did help, and I noticed my contractions get much more sporadic, and not as frequent. 

-I have a lot of contractions now, but they never seem to go away or get horribly worse. They will get bad for a few hours, and I'll really think I'm in labor, and then they'll die down again. 

-For the whole weekend I've had pretty bad contractions, and not been sleeping really at all. 

-My heart burn has been increasingly worse. 

-Pretty much every part of my body is swollen and sore, but I did get a few massages last week, and got adjusted....that really helpd with the lower back pain, and slighlty with the pelvic pressure.

-I'm THE biggest I've ever been....I surpassed my hubby's weight...and am quickly closing in on a wholoe new set of digits....mmm...not sure how I feel about that, ha ha.

The BEST news is that I have a set baby-date. We had decided (finally, after MUCH deliberation), that I would try a VBA2C if I go into labor naturally before my planned 

c-section date. I really thought that I would, but so far, it's not happening. 

If I don't go into labor today or tomorrow, my c-section is planned for Wednesday (I'll be 38 weeks, only a day shy of 39 weeks).

My next post should be the birth story of our little boy...so stay tuned!! :)