Friday, April 10, 2009
Grayson's Due Date
On this date 5 years ago, our first baby was due! It was also Good Friday. April 10, 2009, the date we'd been counting down to for months. The day before (Thursday) I'd finally had my last day at work, my parents had been here for a few days already, nursery was ready, bags were packed for the hospital, we were ready!! While I wasn't exactly tired of being pregnant (I was blessed to have a super easy, complication free, comfortable pregnancy, and I actually enjoyed being pregnant), I was a little tired of the constant questioning from everyone on when this baby was coming out. Thursday I had run an errand after I left work, and a teller at the credit union smiled and asked when I was due (you can't go anywhere 9 months pregnant without comments!!) The look on her face when I said "tomorrow" was absolutely priceless!! If only she'd known I'd just left work on top of being 9 months pregnant, ha! Anyway, for whatever reason, I had really thought that Grayson would come a little bit before his due date. As bedtime approached on his due date with no contractions whatsoever, I resigned myself to the fact that since I was totally wrong about him coming by his due date, I'd probably end up having to wait until the induction date already set-up for the following week. I was sure that since he didn't come by his due date, I wouldn't go into labor over the weekend either. Wrong again.
Friday night/Saturday morning I woke up around 3:30am, having contractions and my water broken. I guess that means the ultrasound used to date the pregnancy was pretty stinkin' accurate - went into labor within a few hours of the due date. Have to admit I'm a little impressed they got it that close. Anyway, the doctor had said head to the hospital if your water breaks, regardless of how far apart the contractions are, BUT, we waited a couple hours, timing contractions, wondering if this was actually happening, and mostly waiting for it to be a more decent hour to wake my parents to tell them we were heading to the hospital!! We ended up arriving at the hospital right at shift-change (oops, sorry nurses!). They didn't take me too seriously at first, mostly because I apparently walked in too comfortably to be in labor. But in triage they discovered that my water was in fact broken and I was having real, live contractions afterall, so they got me admitted and into a room.
So, this was early Saturday morning, Easter weekend. The previous week my doctor had already told me he would be out of town for Easter weekend, so at 3:30am I already knew I was in for a new doctor that I'd probably never seen before. Wasn't too excited about that, and still would've rather had my own doctor, but he was okay, no major complaints. The only other less than ideal thing about Grayson's arrival was that I'd had a cold the previous week, and although I was much better, Matt had caught it from me. It wasn't terrible, but he was a little under the weather for the big day, which you can tell in the picture above.
Obviously labor was painful at the time, but in retrospect Grayson's delivery was perfect, exactly what I'd wanted it to be. Well, except for the whole stranger-doctor-part. But on to the good stuff...labor didn't last too long, I made it epidural-free, had Matt and my mom by my side the whole time, and Grayson arrived healthy. Portions of the day I guess I was in the zone with my contractions and don't really remember much. But I do remember random pieces of the day. I remember the first thing I saw when we got to my room was the little bassinet with a package of Pampers newborn diapers, and for whatever reason the sight of that tiny bed & diapers sitting there waiting for our baby made it suddenly feel more real!
I remember Matt studying the contractions on the monitor and saying "that one didn't look so bad" when I had been in agony (see below, ha, my Daddy must've taken that pic)! I don't know if it was the placement of the monitor on my belly or what, but some contractions that looked awful on the monitor didn't feel that bad to me, and vice-versa.
I also remember taking a walk down the hallway early on, and hearing a baby cry in another room as we passed by. About that time a contraction hit and I had a second of jealously that someone already had their baby & I still had all the work ahead of me. I also remember my dad telling me that the nurses at the nurses station were talking about me - saying I had a long way to go because my water had broken early in labor and I was only dilated a couple cm. Then just a couple hours later he gave me another report that they were talking about me again, but this time they saying how surprised they were at how quickly I was progressing and there'd be a baby before supper time. They were right. Once transition hit everything is really a blur...I remember feeling a little nausea and realizing this must be transition, then just a little while later I had an irresistible need to push that baby out! I have no idea if there was a nurse already in there or if my mom went after a nurse, or what, but next thing I knew the room was full (doctor, nurses, equipment) and it was time to have this baby! I don't know how long or even how many pushes, but I know it didn't feel like very long.
Grayson arrived at 4:32pm, April 11, 2009, completely beautiful with a head full of hair. He was 7 lb 8 oz, 20 inches, and named Grayson Blair - Gray for my middle name and Blair for daddy's middle name.
Interesting story about his name - we selected that name for our first son, in event we ever had a son, while we were engaged. The second half of our engagement was long-distance, so we had lots of late night marathon phone calls. I often fell asleep on the phone with Matt, and woke up with the phone on the pillow with me. Many marathon phone calls eventually led to discussing our future children's names, among all sorts of other random conversation topics, and Grayson Blair was the name we settled on for our first son. We loved the sound of it and the way it tied in a family name from each of us. Fast-forward 3 years and we're expecting our first child, when it came time to discuss names the conversation went something like this:
Me: So, do you still like the name Grayson Blair or do we need to come up with some other ideas?
Matt: That name's great!
Me: Awesome, I love that name!
The End
So Grayson's brand-new daddy cut the cord & they laid him on my belly so I could see him. While the nurses were cleaning him up and the doctor was sewing me up, the first thing I remember hearing the nurses say was "Aww, look! There's a dimple in his chin! How cute!" Whenever I notice that dimple in his chin now, I still think about hearing the nurses exclaim over it when he was just minutes old! His head full of dark hair reminded me of my own newborn baby pictures, but the shape of his mouth immediately reminded me of his daddy...beautiful to see bits of both of us! The first time I held him, still just minutes old, he held up his head for a few seconds to look me in the eye. I couldn't believe he could hold his head up already, even briefly! He also pretty much mastered nursing in the first hour - blessed that breastfeeding was easy as the pregnancy had been. Although other people will tell you that as soon as the baby is born the pain goes away like it never happened, there aren't really words to describe that sensation. It's not just that the pain is gone, but your body is so full of happy hormones and you are so ecstatic to meet this new life, there are no words to describe the sudden switch from pain & work to absolutely bliss.
We spent Easter Sunday in the hospital with our brand-new son, then brought him home Monday morning.
Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Psalm 127:3
No comments:
Post a Comment