Pregnancy
Honestly, pregnancy treated me pretty good. I was so CONVINCED that I would turn into a huge whale...but surprisingly I didn't! I know I'm as surprised as you are. Anyways, I had moments of crazy hormones (Ben can tell ya all about that!) but really I couldn't have asked for a smoother pregnancy. The waiting game was the worst part of pregnancy for me, oh and also the horribly uncomfortable sleep. I LOVED sonograms and I especially LOVED feeling her move inside me. That has got to be the coolest feeling of all time and I really do miss it so much. So of course Ben wanted a boy...but when we found out it was a GIRL.. we were thrilled! I seriously knew it was a girl all along. We decided early on that we would name her Alice- after my mom. I couldn't wait to meet her!! Like I said I HATED the waiting game. I also hated how I was a paranoid freak about everything. The "What If" game almost made me crazy. But I made it through and she is here and she is PERFECT. Here are a series of pregnancy pictures...I'm really glad I took them! Its so fun to see the slow progression of my belly, and hopefully they will be fun for Alice to see some day too!
Delivery
Remember my smooth pregnancy? Well I think that was a gift because God knew the kind of terrible labor/delivery I was going to face. I was a week late and Dr. Beck set a date/time for my induction which was January 24th(Friday) at 3am. I tried all week long to get her to come on her own...I swear I bounced on a yoga ball for like 10 hours a day, went on a ton of walks, ate almost an ENTIRE pineapple etc. NOTHING worked. Thursday night came and I was so nervous! I did not know what to expect...and that's a GREAT thing. I ended up not going in until about 5am and I was all hooked up to everything by about 6am. The waiting game BEGAN. By about 11am my water broke all on its own...which we thought was a GREAT sign. After that the contractions came...and holy crap I can't even find words to describe the agonizing pain. Seriously...hats off to women who do a completely natural labor...because I think I would die...literally die. So I tried to stick it out for about an hour or so, then I was like...SCREW that give me the epidural. I was honestly terrified of the epidural but, surprisingly, it didn't hurt AT ALL to have a needle jammed up your spine. I really would have done anything to not feel the contractions. So after that I felt super warm and cozy ahhhh no more pain. So in the later afternoon the baby's heart rate started to drop to about 80 every time I had a contraction, (its supposed to be between 120-150) and so they turned off the Pitocin, put oxygen on me, and turned me on my side. That scared me a little but it was all good until my epidural started to drip to that one side which caused me to be able to feel my other side. NOT FUN. Anyways to make a LONG labor (22 hours) story short...I ended up getting a HORRIBLE night nurse. I could literally write a blog post that's all about her..that's how horrible she was! But here is a short description of how terrible she was: I was already dilated to an eight and she wouldn't check on me for about an hour OR MORE at a time. She almost let my epidural run out. She had terrible bedside manner..EXAMPLE: "Oh this baby is NEVER coming" "You're going to be pushing FOREVER" "You're definitely not having this baby anytime soon" and so on. Her horrible CACKLE of a laugh. Once I was "ready"..she kept basically telling me I sucked at pushing and would not let my mom and sister help me hold my legs..no she wanted ME to hold them myself (uhhhh do you see these things...they are huge AND not to mention completely lifeless)..the list really goes on and on. Early on in the pushing process we found out that the baby was face up...so she should have called the doctor right away..but she was a know it all idiot and refused to. Ben and my sister asked her to and she kept snapping at them and saying "this baby is not ready for delivery!" I didn't really know all of this was happening because no one wanted to stress me out. I was already about dead. I was going on about 38 hours with no food or drink and I was trying to push a human out of me for over two hours. Anyways...I kept looking at my mom who looked VERY alarmed. My mom is a nurse so she knew exactly what was going on. What I didn't know was that the baby's heart rate was now dropping to 70 every time I had a contraction because she was face up and that is bad bad. So she finally calls Dr. Beck and when he gets there you can tell he had no idea the stress the baby was under and he said "we have to get this baby out now". He literally turned her in 1 minute and then had her out in about 5 minutes (this required some snip snip *OUCH* and a vacuum). So basically my nurse sucked and prolonged my labor by 2 hours and almost hurt my sweet angel baby. But the important part is that she came out healthy. I am forever grateful for Dr. Beck..he was like my guardian angel. So here are an assortment of pictures from delivery. WARNING: I look awful
SIDE NOTE: I could not have had the strength to go through what I went through without the support system I had at the hospital. My husband, mom, and sister Melanie were the best and I love them all to the moon and back. DOUBLE SIDE NOTE/FUNNY STORY: The horrible nurse ate my French fries. Yes you read that right...after I had the baby my mom got me a burger and fries...she came in to check my blood pressure and said "I didn't have my lunch would you mind if I stole a few fries?" Then she proceeded to take a handful. She took my blood pressure and then said "those were good..I'm going to take some more" and took another handful and walked out and I was in SHOCK. HAHAHA Its so horribly hilarious. Oh and final side note...she made me pass out on the floor of the bathroom trying to FORCE me to pee post-labor. I literally passed out on the ground and woke up to about 4 nurses trying to revive me and a freaked out husband..once again horribly hilarious. Don't worry, she got reported.
& Baby
Alice Mae Larson was born at 1:54am on January 25, 2014. She weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 21 inches long. Once the baby was on my chest it was SO SURREAL. I've never felt that kind of love and happiness...it really truly was all worth it. She was SO beautiful and I loved her unconditionally, INSTANTLY. I immediately knew how my mom feels about me..like really KNEW, which caused some guilt on my part for ever being sassy with my mom. Oh and mother's guilt starts the moment your child is born...and I hear it never goes away. I loved those first moments..Ben and I were in awe of her! We created this perfect little being together and she was all ours. I love that she will have a daddy like Ben to keep her safe and spoil her rotten. He is truly the best daddy and I can see the unconditional love he has for her and I know she can feel it. She LOVES him. I am so grateful that I've been chosen to be Alice's mom. I feel so lucky every time I look at her perfect face. I would do anything for her and I never want her to hurt. I will spend my whole life protecting her. I can't wait for all the years to come that I get to be with her and see her grow up. But for now I will hold onto my sweet little baby and hope for the years to pass slowly.
