So much happened in October and November, I really hope to get around to it all one day, not only to share it with the few who do read this silly little blog, but also to document! I figure a good place to start would be at our birthday, things might run a little out of order, but at least I'll get it down right? :)
Scarlet's big 1st birthday bash was October 20th. It was a little difficult trying to find a day when everyone could be there, but luckily we were able to! Because it was SO much fun to have all of her closest family and friends there.
Brandon designed this amazing invitation. I helped enough to make the process almost twice as it long as it needed to be.. haha! but it HAD to be perfect! :)
Her party finally all came together, with a TON of help from family and my awesome friend Sharen. She helped SO much with the cake and treats, and family was so awesome to help provide the delicious food. Here are some of the fun memories from the day!
Our cute birthday girl!
Of course my incredibly talented hubby put together a wonderful video that still chokes me up every time I watch it!
That night was our ward's trunk-or-treat party! She was the cutest lady bug I've ever seen!
Sunday night Brandon's family was so sweet to throw me a birthday dinner. With delicious food and an incredible dessert, I definitely felt spoiled! :)
Monday at work, my co-workers totally spoiled me! My team is so awesome bringing me balloons and very sweet gifts!! So nice!
Tuesday morning Scarlet and I woke up to a BEAUTIFUL birthday breakfast feast Brandon prepared for us!! Scarlet LOVED her first taste of French toast! :) Brandon spoiled me as usual, with some really cute clothes, a gift card to Sephoria for the make-up of my choice, and a new iPhone case! Pink! How did he know.. :) It was also so cute.. I SO wish I would've taken a picture of the amazingly wrapped gifts!! He cut out accenting stars, and curled ribbon and everything!!
After her nap, we headed off to our First Annual Birthday Spa Trip!! This time we kept it simple and got pedicures. She was so cute - Holding so still while the lady painted her toes.
Twinner Toes!!
After our pedicure we went to a delicious lunch to Zupas, mine, and I'm pretty safe in assuming Scarlet's, favorite! :)
We headed home for a very needed second nap for Scarlet, and then hit up NickleMania for some epic ticket winning and Deal or No Deal action with my family! We even let Scarlet ride on those very unsanitary kiddie rides! Though it made my germaphoic side shudder, it was SO awesome seeing her interacting and having so much fun with her cousins.
We headed back to my parent's house where we reluctantly left Scarlet to play with her cousins (I was having some guilt leaving Scarlet on her birthday, but Brandon reminded me we had to celebrate my birthday too, and we'd already done so many fun things with her, and she would have so much fun with her cousins, she wouldn't miss us... sooo we went) to go to a delicious meal at Red Lobster.. mmmm.... my favorite!
Afterwards, we headed back to my parents where we all enjoyed some VERY delicious pumpkin pie, Scarlet LOVED it!
We put her to bed there, and ventured out yet again, to go see a movie! Here Comes the Boom was really funny! And such a great way to finish the day.
October, especially from the 20th - the 23rd was not only a super exciting, fun filled, adventure around every corner type of weekend, but it was also a very reminiscent type of weekend. And it made me realize I've never actually written out Scarlet's birth story. Sure, I've recounted it tonz of times, not only to friends and family and to Brandon (who I think we've talk about it at least once every month as we watch in awe at all the new exciting things Scarlet is doing and how big she's getting) but I've also replayed it in my mind so many times. So here's the story written out. Many of you may have already heard this story, more then once. But in honor of Scarlet's birthday I would like to tell it again. But please know, it won't hurt my feelings if you decide to stop reading.
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For me, the idea of giving birth was a WHOLE heck of a lot scarier then it actually was! I may be able to chalk that up to the epidural, but really, I used to spend many sleepless nights stressing about it and the terrible things that could happen! So though my super swollen, puffy, very uncomfortable body was ready to move on to the next phase in life, my mind certainly wasn't.
The work week before Scarlet was born, October 17th, I remember waking up thinking, 'she's definitely coming this week..' Haha! I knew she would have to! I had a HUGE presentation at work on Wednesday and a baby shower my co-workers were throwing me that Thursday, and I was sure those events were going to jinx me into an early delivery. All week long every Braxton Hics contraction I thought was going to turn into the real deal, I didn't dare eat anything too heavy or greasy so I wouldn't have to endure something that terrible coming up. Thursday, October 20th, came and went, however, and still no cute little baby. I had my 40 week appointment that day with Dr. Terry, and he said though I was progressing nicely it didn't look like a baby was going to be coming anytime in the next few days, so I should go home and have a nice relaxing birthday weekend. Which is just what Brandon and I set out to do. It was weird. It was almost like a light switched in my head and I went from baby coming at any moment to I've got all the time in the world and I was suddenly sure no baby was coming for awhile.
Saturday, October 22nd came. Brandon had to film that morning, but would be back in time for the BYU game that was going to be starting that afternoon. I decided to enlist my dad for some help to run errands I couldn't do on my own. On the car ride home from Ikea I looked around the car realizing there was NO WAY I could ever bring a baby home in this disgustingly, dirty of a car. Upon reflection, it really wasn't that bad, it was probably the nesting thing taking over. But I decided to fully detail the car. Again, with my dad's help, a couple hours later the car looked good as new and though I was more then a little late to the BYU pre-game lunch with Brandon and the Latimers, I knew I now had a car suitable to bring a precious little baby home.
Probably should've been clue #1... :) I finally actually felt ready for her to come!
The BYU game was so much fun as usual, and we'd have to ask Brandon, I can't even remember if they won or lost, I just remember jokes circling about how Kristy (the Latimer wife mentioned a little earlier and a very close family friend) went into labor after a game we all watched together. But I kept thinking, well, it'll probably be after NEXT week's game because the Doc said this baby's staying put!
After the game, Brandon wanted to take me out for my birthday. With my real birthday being on Sunday, the next day, we decided to get any real partying in the day before. Red Robin has never been a favorite of mine, and so that should've been the 2nd clue, it was my body's way of preserving any of my normal favorites from becoming permanently ruined! Haha! I really went TOO all out at Red Robin, ordering so many different things, Ribs, chicken, a chocolate shake, fries, onion rings, and don't you worry, I definitely munched on some of Brandon's wrap too!! I went a little nuts. I remember enjoying it, though the thought of it now really makes my stomach lurch! Never again.. Haha!! After a nice piece of restaurant provided cake.. which lets face it.. I ate. :) We headed to the bowling ally.
Now I know.. a 9 month, huge swollen, pregnant lady bowling..? Can there BE a more interesting site? But honestly, I really wanted to have a fun night and I was a little frustrated that a lot of fun birthday activities weren't pregnant lady friendly, like laser tagging, go carts, hot air balloon rides, or anything else that may seem the least big adventurous or exciting.. of limits. LAME! And I really didn't want to sit through a-NOTHER movie. Though it IS one of my favorite date nights, it had been the ONLY date activity (minus the treacherous river tubing incident of our anniversary) we'd had in the past 9 months! So I was DEFINITELY wanting something different.
Bowling wouldn't happen however.. as I went to pick out my ball I had a random, but normal being so pregnant, urge to go to the bathroom. According to the clock on the bowler screen it was 8:27pm.
As I sat in the stall.. and.. I'm sorry if this becoming TMI.. I realized I was no longer.. you know.. going to the bathroom, yet water was still coming out.. a LOT of water! At first I though, oh no.. this baby has ruined my bladder entirely! Will I ever regain control of my pee muscles?!?!
But then... a few minutes past.. and it was STILL coming.. a little slower now, but still coming! That's when it hit me. I wish I could say my initial reaction to my water breaking was sheer joy and excitement. But.. It wasn't. All the sudden my months and months of nightmares were about to come true, and.. I started to cry. The women in the surrounding stalls instantly became motionless as my crying turned into muffled sobs. And after what seemed like forever, Brandon called. He was so sweet! He was like, 'hi sweetheart, is everything okay? you've been in there a long time.' Sobs were all I could choke out and next I knew Brandon was at the entrance to the bathroom yelling, 'do you need help!? Can I come in there?' Immediately the surrounding stalls flushed and you could hear their occupants rushing to vacate. I somehow managed between sobs that everything was alright and I was pretty sure my water just broke. Brandon insisted that he could come in and help me, but I told him I was okay and I'd be out in a minute so he ran to gather our things, only after he'd professed his undying love and how excited he was to add a beautiful baby to our family! Super sweet and exactly what I needed to hear, even if it was shouted into the woman's bathroom at the bowling alley.
I finally composed myself and made my way out of the bathroom. The looks I got, I don't even remember what I looked like, but I must've been quite the mess. While I was washing my hands, a lady came in the bathroom and upon seeing me gasped and with wide eyes exclaimed, 'Honey! How can I help you! Do you need an ambulance!?' To which I responded, 'I think my water broke.' And her look of distress and disbelief turned to excitement and compassion and she sweetly followed me out until I was reunited with my sweetie to help me out to the car.
We decided to head home before going to the hospital because my contractions weren't too bad (though they were actually turning into the real thing), but my clothes were. So we figured we could spare a few minutes for me to freshen up and get our hospital bag. Once we got home, I didn't want to leave. It's a little strange to reflect on it now, but at the time all I wanted to do was clean, clean the kitchen, our bedroom, our bathrooms, I wanted to take a shower and brush my teeth for hours. I DID NOT want to go to the hospital. After the short trip home however, my contractions had gotten bad enough to not be able to hide, so Brandon pushed me out the door.
Once we got to the hospital, checked in, and confirmed my water broke, I decided I HAD to take a shower, and I remembered from birthing class warm water can help increase contractions. The shower was SO nice and it worked! Contractions were starting to get pretty intense! I stayed in there for almost an hour, and only after a few mentions from the nurse that I should probably get hooked back up to the monitors and make sure I was progressing alright, did I decide to get out. After a quick blow dry of the hair, I was back in my robe and in bed, feeling a LOT better and more optimistic about the next step in this crazy process.
My contractions were SUPER painful now. I believe by this point it was 11ish.. and my nurse informed me that she’d talked to my doctor and he was hoping to get me started on Pitocin. Since mine and the baby’s vitals were doing great we decided to go ahead and get her here as soon as possible. I realized though, with the contractions coming stronger and closer together, and only being dilated to a 4, I better stop kidding myself and get the epidural.
The epidural was SCARY. I HATE needles. So one going into my spine.. no thank you. And you never really hear GOOD stories about them, so my mind was flying between the pros and cons. After the nurse added a few more pros, and help from the next BIG contraction really tipped the scale and I got the juice.
After the pop and electric buzz felt from the epidural, and my dinner violently vacated my body, it was finally able to relax. We started one of my favorite movies, Flipped, but before the characters could even been introduced I was out.
Next I knew I was being woken up by the nurse at about 4:30am. She checked me and I was fully dilated! She was a little nervous though, because the baby was a sunnyside breach. Which I guess means she’s head first, which is good, but she’s faced up, instead of down, which is not so good. She had me lay on one side, again.. out.. until she woke me to have me lay on my other side. Honestly people… I am so PRO epidural!!
After an hour and half of switching back and forth, from one side to the next, she wasn’t moving, and so she sent in the doctor. Dr. Terry, who’s AMAZING by the way, briefly explained that if she didn’t roll over we were going to have to do a c-section. ((Quick side note) Before actually delivering a baby, I never really understood why having a c-section would be so much worse than delivering naturally. As far as I was concerned there were cons to both! And c-section sounded nice because the baby came in what I thought at the time was a more controlled environment. Of course having major surgery while you were conscious didn’t sound great.. but neither did pushing a baby out.) Dr.Terry said he was going to try and encourage her to turn on her own, and if she didn’t. We would explore our options. Luckily, the first little coax and she was flipped! So he said we were ready to push! By this point it was a little after 6am.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, but this whole time, Brandon was SUCH a champ!! He was SO incredible!! And there through everything. Not only the whole pregnancy, which.. was rough. But the whole night he was always holding my hand, and so encouraging to every worry and decision. I just love him. He was so wonderful and just SO supportive. I couldn’t have done any of it without him!!
Pushing was tough work, and I really was so tired. I really think I fell asleep between some of the contractions because my body was just so exhausted. Again, the epidural was AMAZING! I can’t imagine not having all the rest I did before this point.
After 2 hours of some serious pushing, she still wasn’t here, and Dr. Terry was worried about her being a little stuck. He decided to have another doctor come in to help push down on my stomach while I was trying to push her out!
At this point I realized, have never felt real physical pain in my entire life until now. It was SO excruciating, and - again - this is even WITH the epidural. It hurt SO bad, to have him push so hard while I was flexing and using every muscle I could as well. That with the mounting fear of why she wasn’t coming, and if everything was alright, and if she was going to be okay, was so strong and so sickening. Finally, Dr. Terry excitedly said she was coming. Brandon squeezed my hand and with an excited, tear filled voice exclaimed that he could see her! 8:28am was when she came, and that would go down in history to be the most incredible thing I would ever experience in my entire life as I felt her slide out and have all her beauty, slimyness and all, finally be settled in my arms. It was so so wonderful, and she was so incredibly breath-taking.
The only way I can describe this situation was that I had a ‘Grinch’ like moment. Before I thought I knew what love was, in fact, I used to worry that there was no way I’d be able to love this sweet little baby as much as other parents would explain loving their babies. And that really worried me! What was I going to do? My whole heart already belonged to Brandon, and even if I was able to take and give some to this new little person I’d never met, there would have to be some hesitance after the unbelievably sickening and uncomfortable and worrisome 9 months she’d just put me through, right? But no. I was so wrong. The last 9 months Heavenly Father wasn’t only helping a little baby grow inside me, but also helping my own heart grow as well. Just like the Grinch, my heart grew 3 sizes that day. I immediately had SO much indescribable love for this unnamed beautiful little baby, and it didn’t take from any of the love I’d already had for Brandon, in fact, I didn’t think it was possible, but I immediately felt my love for Brandon grow as well. And for my parents, and even Brandon’s parents, and my siblings, and it seemed like every feeling of love I had ever had just double or even tripled in size. I felt so much overwhelming joy and happiness all I could do is cry. These were definitely different tears from 12 hours earlier though. As I gazed down at this amazing new little person that I helped get here the entire world disappeared and the only thing remaining was this gorgeous little baby and the hand on my shoulder belonging to the most wonderful man who I realized I loved so much more then I could ever imagine.
The next few days were a busy blur of excitement, a little frustration, some discomfort, and SO much happiness. She gave me a pretty good grade 4 tear.. which.. I won’t explain.. it was just VERY painful. Scarlet ended up being 9lbs, 2oz, and 21 inches long. After the delivery Dr. Terry said he was surprised she turned over at all! And after having the natural delivery and really finding out how a c-section was different, I definitely feel like our little family was being watched over that day to make sure she got here safe and sound for the both of us.
Some of the frustration came with the name! I don’t know why I ever fought it, she was Scarlet all along. Brandon knew it. She definitely didn’t look like any of the other contenders. It was just now that she was here and so perfect, I really didn’t want to screw anything up! And once I realized that’s why I couldn’t settle on a name, well then, that’s when I really started to worry about screwing other things up! Brandon.. again.. was SO supportive, and the nurse working that night was also so sweet. They both helped me realize that Heavenly Father gave me this beautiful girl for a reason. And if I follow my heart and do my best, he will continue to bless us and watch over our little family as much as he already has.
It was so wonderful to have such incredible support from not only my amazing husband, who I think I’ve mentioned once or twice in this little story how amazing he was.. :) But also my family and friends and incredible ward members.. who I guess are technically also friends.. :) but they were so sweet to bring us dinner! I didn’t have to even think about cooking for almost 2 weeks! We were so taken care of and it made the whole experience just that much sweeter.
It still amazes me how much love and happiness one little person can bring into the world. She has definitely changed our lives. And for NOTHING but the better. I used to be SO scared to have kids. Mostly scared of the selfish worries and inconveniences they might bring. And though our next babies may not be perfect at sleeping from day one or make breast feeding a breeze like their older sister did, I am still so excited to see our little family grow. Scarlet has paved the way and made the realization that babies are SO worth all fear and discomfort of pregnancy. She made me realized that finding joy and rejoicing in your posterity is really what life is all about. I just love my little family so much!
3 comments:
You are GORGEOUS, and I LOVED reading this!!! Everything you said is SO SO true. It's crazy, because you just keep adding and feeling more love with each kid. I was so afraid I wasn't going to love my second like I do my first (sounds horrible I know), but the love was instant, and now I seriously don't know how we lived without him.
Your baby is a doll...loved the part, and pictures, and cake. SUPER CUTE!
I had never heard all the details of the bowling alley part (just, hey, I went to the bathroom and my water broke!), and I just turned in to that dorky girl laughing out loud at my computer screen. That is FUNNY! And awkward! And FUNNY!
So glad she got here safely. We sure do love her!
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