Otis Fitzroy Chisholm.
ANYWAY, it all started to go down on saturday, october 20th at 1:27 in the morning when i was woken up by what i thought was the most intense, painful kicks of my life. little did i know that these intense kicks were NOT in fact kicks. they were contractions. the kind of contractions where your whole belly forms a peak from your stomach muscles preparing for birth. UM hello. this sucked. my stomach looked like a mountain. google it, its bizarre.
I kept telling myself these were just kicks, but these kicks were happening pretty steadily, around 10 mins apart. so i just thought the kid was trying to tell me something, who knows- i have never done this before. i was clueless. everyone kept saying, "you'll know when you're in labor." well around 4:00 am, i for sure thought that. but, i kept telling myself it was false labor. so i waited and got my little contraction timer out and sure enough they were contractions, now they were about every 7-8 minutes or so. well, if you know anything about contractions or labor, you know that you are not supposed to go into the hospital until they are 5 minutes apart. i couldn't bare to think of them being that close. i would dose off to sleep, and wake up to each one. i managed to go through the rest of saturday with few contractions, like maybe 2 or 3 in an hour. so then, i just thought that it was false labor/braxton hicks?
saturday night they started again. ranging from 7 minutes apart to 15 minutes apart. a few were even 5 minutes.. this happened ALL NIGHT. my body was playing mind games with me, they were super close together, then i would not have one for 15 minutes... i got no sleep.. cody got another peaceful nights rest. (i'm still really bitter about this). i was crying through each one and my body was going nuts... i was tense. plus, i have zero pain tolerance. my thoughts all night were, "this is it. its happening!!!!"
sunday morning my parents came to visit SUPER early because hello i was in labor, or was i? i kept second guessing myself because they weren't consistently 6/7 minutes apart. they weren't sure if i was in labor, but they wanted to be here for the support. we went to breakfast, and they were about 7 minutes apart the whole time we were there. i took a bite of my french toast, and then calmly sat quietly through each one. they were so regular, we thought we were going to have to go in as soon as we finished. but around 10:30 AM, they slowed down and they were happening further and further apart (not what i wanted, even though it was a lot of relief)... ugh.
the rest of sunday was a bit of a disappointment. i remember going three hours without a single contraction. ugh. i kept telling myself i knew it was false and i was such a wimp for not being able to handle false labor pains. but around 7 that night while i was eating dinner with my parents, my sister Whitley and her family, they started AGAIN. but back with a vengeance. i just wanted to sleep. i knew i was in for another rough, painful, LONG night. i didn't even want to go lay down in my bed.
i couldn't even close my eyes. i cried all night, threw up a few times, and had to use the bathroom A LOT. every time i walked to the bathroom, i thought my vag was gonna fall out or my legs would fall out from under me.. .but alas, cody slept SO peacefully and even managed to laugh in his sleep because he was having a dream about something with his brother. i could have punched him. i still could thinking about it... again, still pretty bitter about this. ;)
monday morning around 5:45 i was still trying to tell myself i was in false labor, cody even started getting ready to go to work. he showered, got dressed, was about to walk out the door and told me bye and to call him if i needed anything... as i was hugging him goodbye, i said you have to change out of your work clothes, we are going to the hospital. he's coming!!
I woke up my mom, dad, and sister. this was it. painfully, got our selves together, and off we went.
on monday, october 23 at 6:40 AM we were headed to the hospital. the roads in salem BLOW... potholes galore. and i felt like cody hit every single one. (i know he was doing his best. LOL, and i still had to tell him what exit to take, bless. AND we've even lived here for three years now...)
i was 4 cm dilated, 90% effaced. woooo baby. i will say i was a little disappointed, after ALL that pain i was only 4cm? i was tired and so emotionally exhausted. my body hurt and i had such a long ways to go. i hadn't slept but 2.30 hours since saturday morning. i wanted to squeeze things when i had contractions but i couldn't really even do that because my body was so tired... i needed relief.
bring on the meds. the nurse agreed. so when i happily got to my room and she gave me some. PRAISE HANDS.
(i knew i probably wanted meds from the beginning because i knew my pain tolerance was awful, and i wanted to enjoy my experience as much as possible. if you did it naturally, you go girl. i just knew it wasn't for me.)
the rest of the morning/day was wonderful. i mean pure joy. i got an epidural (which did not hurt by the way and the needle was not that big and not as scary as everyone makes it seem). i was able to take little cat naps with the peanut ball between my legs to help get Otis lower, i could talk normally to cody and my family. i was able to laugh and enjoy the process. the naps were the best. i didn't really feel much other than pressure, a lot of pressure. it was wonderful. i had all the apple juice i wanted and ice nuggets galore. at this point, i was feeling really good.
out came the stirrups and the spotlight shining so brightly on everything that you never want to see the light of day.. but alas.... mom holding one leg, and cody holding the other. i had three practice pushes at 2 pm and then seriously started pushing at 2:45. He was here at 3:05. he was healthy, perfect, and came out HUNGRY. i had minimal tearing, but i lost a lot of blood.
he was 7 pounds & 10 ounces & 20 inches long, and every bit of squishy and sweeter than i ever could have imagined
(also almost passed out on the way to the our room, that was the scariest and most dramatic, they whisked me away and had like 50 people come out of nowhere).
the recovery after birth is no joke. but i can say 5 weeks out, i am feeling better and everything is slowly getting back into its place. emotionally, i'm still a bit of a mess. one day at a time :)
it was absolutely the most thrilling day of my whole life.
Otis Fitzroy Chisholm, you are my biggest joy and i am the most proud to be your mama.
*pictures by Whitley Luck