J&M+L

Welcome to the world!
Whew... I made it through roughly 38 weeks! (seemed a lot more) I found out I was pregnant last year and it has been nothing like I had expected! The first few months were ugh! not to remember! Everyday was a hassle to get through; from the on going flu symptoms I had, to the asthma, to the restless and horrible parched look I had. The flu symptoms were the worse! I was so congested all the time that I was not able to taste or smell for straight 4 months and the congestion was so bad that my nose was chapped and red from blowing it so much.. ugh! At this point pregnancy clearly did not suit me at all! :( - around November is when I started feeling him, it happened right after Jon spoke right to my tummy and he kicked right back... it was the most surreal feeling ever! I felt so lucky as it was a feeling only I could experience with baby L... right then it felt as if he was saying "mommy, I'm right here!" Right after 16 week mark, my symptoms almost subsided except for the usual night ..tmi vomit. I felt great~ all I wanted then was eat and my appetite came back, i was able to smell and taste, YUMMMM! I was craving cookies and chocolate and of course, had it all! At this poing he started getting so rough and strong! some kicks could be seen from feet away and my belly looked like an alien was in there! he would kick so much that  Jon would get freaked out and would give me this "ugh that looks painful" look haha.. Then fast track to 35 weeks and little by little I started getting swollen and by week 38 I was so swollen that I had gone from 130 pounds pre pregnancy to 187 pounds!!! omg I don't understand how I could have retained that much water!

D-Day - 4.10.12
We arrive at the doctor's office at 9am on Tuesday for them to break my water per my Doctor's recommendation because baby L was already so big and my blood pressure had sky rocketed. It was one of the scariest moments of my life because I had no idea what 'breaking the water' entitled! He tried twice unsuccessfully and said that if the third time does not work, id have to come back in the pm.. ugh I was already in pain and frustrated that I basically prayed for the third time to work even though I was not looking forward to that plastic stick he was pretty much shoving up in there! - Finally! the third time worked and told us to head to the hospital and everything kicked in fast gear, including my contractions... oh boy do they hurt! I thought I had felt them before but nothing like this! it feels like you are being gutted alive.. oh gosh! I felt like such a wimp because not even after an hour of walking around the hospital, i was already asking for the juice aka epidural goodness cocktail.... oh my goodness, I was so afraid of it throughout my pregnancy, but it was crazy how i was in this weird trance while my contractions were kicking that I was not even concerned about the epidural... it hurt less than my IV being put on 3 times because they could not find a good vein. After the juice kicked in, the waiting game began....

It wasn't until 10pm that I started pushing and after two failed hours of constant pushing, I developed the shivers, a fever and felt sick... I literally vomited all over my nurse twice. ugh! how embarrassing! I gave her a two second warning letting her know i was feeling sick, and she could not get ready for me. I feel so bad to this date because I still don't remember her name. I was so sick that I pretty much do not remember much. Finally the doctor came to check on my and I cried to him letting him know I was not feeling well. He then recommended the c-section that I had not mentally prepared myself for, and I hyperventilated for two minutes before surrendering to what was going on and just go with the flow.... Before I was wheeled out, I snuck in a last boost of epidural from the little remote control i was given because I wasnt sure if i was going to hurt or not and to my surprise, the anesthesiologist came and gave me a second epidural!!! by the time that one  kicked in, i was on cloud 9-100.... I did not even know what language I was speaking and before we knew it, Baby L was born.   -4.11.12 at 1:21am [19 3/4", 8.1lb]

After a few days of Baby L being in the NICU because I had a 104 fever while in labor, they finally released him to be with me the last two days of my stay at the hospital and I had to get a blood transfusion because I did not replenish my lost blood from the csection fast enough and also was under close watch for having such high blood pressure... It had skyrocketed from 110/80 to 160/111 .... I guess I developed pre eclamsia after labor thank goodness. Finally on Saturday night we were allowed to go home to enjoy our new life as a family of 3 and the rest is history!! The first night of having the baby home was the hardest as I did not know why he was crying, so the first night I got 0 sleep, and was in so much pain from the epidural that I was on lots of medications, so those days are a blur to me! So this is my L&D story! Welcome Baby L, I love you so much and all that I went through is nothing compared to the joy you have brought us!...

Things achieved:

1.Experience natural labor

2.Experience an epidural

3.Experience a csection

4.Being awake while entering a surgical room and

looking directly at those scary lights

5.hearing my baby cry for the first time

6.kiss my baby for the first time

7.Experience the urge to push

8.Experience real contractions

9.Grow up from a child to an adult in 15 hours

10.Meet the most handsome, beautiful Little man in the world

11.Set everything aside for someone else and not care

12.Experience love at first sight

13.Fall in love again with someone you are already in love with

14.Experience being courageous, strong and vulnerable at the same time