Kris and I were married November 22, 2008--I was 28 and he was 30, so we decided that we didn't want to wait too long to start a family. After a trip to see Wicked the Musical in Memphis, we found out we were pregnant after being married for 6 months!!! Kris and I had gone to give my friend's parents a bid on their yard. Courtney and I have been friends since kindergarten, and it's no secret that we like to talk alot :) Well, she let some popcorn burn in the microwave and just the smell of it made me nauseous but I didn't really think anything about it. We got home and I decided to take a nap..I had been so tired lately. When I woke up from my nap I still didn't feel quite right. So, I took two pregnancy tests--one messed up so I drank tons of water and took another one and it was positive but I didn't believe it! (Kris was training for smoke diver school while I was doing all this.) I drove to town to get another box of tests and both were negative, so I surely wasn't pregnant or so I thought. When Kris got home, I couldn't wait to tell him--we were beyond excited but nervous so we called my doctor at home. He said the test doesn't lie, congratulations y'all are due March 30th! Wow..we are going to be parents!! The doctor told me to come in the next day for blood work--VBS started this particular week, also. They did the blood work but I had to come back in three days so I had to look at my mother-in-law at Bible school and not say a word, which is very hard for me to do--keep my mouth closed!! So the results said "positive" and we went to tell our parents. We go on an annual canoe trip in Hattiesburg with some good friends and we used our fur baby, Marley, as an excuse to go see the grandparents-to-be. Marley needed a place to stay so we told both of them that they were keeping her and we were coming to drop her off. We told my parents, Mamaw and Kris's parents. Then we stopped by Kimberly's work on the way to Hattiesburg telling her she would be an aunt in March. So here was the hard part...we weren't telling anybody else because we hadn't heard the heartbeat and weren't far enough yet. Now, we were going away for the weekend with good friends to have a good time and relax and all we wanted to do was say "we're having a baby!" We were able to pull if off.
We finally heard the heartbeat at eight weeks and told everyone who would listen--we were so excited!! The pregnancy seemed to drag on...1st trimester I was nauseous and tired. At the 20 week sonogram we didn't find out the sex but it was such a wonderful sight seeing our baby move and kick and hear the heartbeat..that is the most precious sound in the world :) We went through the holidays and I ate like I would never eat again--I used my pregnancy as an excuse! haha Toward the end of the pregnancy, I started feeling bad and my blood pressure started going up and I was swelling. I started being miserable and getting ready for the baby to come already! Everyone who was due around the same time as us was having their babies early and with no problems. I would feel something in the middle of the night and hope it was a contraction--which it wasn't! On the morning of March 25th, 2010, I had a doctor's appointment. He said there were several reasons why the baby wasn't coming down and I wasn't dialating. He said more than likely the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck and even if he induced, I would probably labor and labor and still have to have a c-section. So we decided to go with the c-section, because I was more than ready for the baby to come. He told us to go home and get our bags and be at the hospital at 3:30 and would have the section at 5:00. This was it...we were going to be parents..we were feeling all kinds of emotions at this time!
And so at 5:15 p.m., we became parents for the first time and there are no words to describe what that feeling was like and hearing our baby girl cry for the first time!! She was perfect and beautiful and not one thing wrong with her except they had to get her body temperature up and I didn't get to hold her for about 2 1/2 hours!!! We had lots of company to see our bundle of joy so we stayed up late visiting and cuddling and staring and kissing our perfect girl. In the meantime, my blood pressure continued to go up even though I was on magnesium and in the bed with those blow up things on my legs--I literally felt like I was shackled to the bed and I basically was for five whole days!!! I couldn't walk or even change Madeline's diapers..it was a very hard time for me and was supposed to be one of the happiest. They did everything they could to get my BP to go down, I even had no visitors which was very very hard for us but I also wanted to go home as a family of three. And we finally did on March 30th, Madeline's original due date! I went home with blood pressure meds to be taken twice a day and still wasn't feeling myself. At my one week check up, the doctor sent me BACK to the hospital because he thought there was protein in my urine--OH MY GOSH...talk about a meltdown at the clinic! Once at the hospital, everything checked out and he also prescribed lasix. (Isn't it ironic that my sweet Chandler is on both of those meds now?!) Eventually, it went back down and I was able to come off the BP meds and lasix for good!
Then...came the nasty little words called "baby blues" and an even nastier word called "colic." The two of these equaled one crazy mama...no kidding just ask Kris, my parents, Kimberly...anybody!! But these topics will have to wait until a later date...
After all we went through to get Madeline here, she really was the best baby (after colic) and sleeper. It is sometimes hard for me to remember her when she was so little..she certainly taught her daddy and me alot about patience, how to raise a baby, and how to (try) to be selfless. She makes me proud to be her mama and I love her to the moon and back...we forgot what our lives were like before she was born and really don't want to remember..
until next time,
Megan
Madeline Randall Smith
7lbs. 8 oz., 19 1/2 in.
She looks an awfully lot like someone else, doesn't she?! :)
Love reading your posts! Rebecca
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