Saturday, May 28, 2011

Parker Randall Hoffman


Warning: Long post about the birth! Skip to the end for more important details.

I started having some "painful" contractions starting at about 3 am on Sunday morning. They weren't too bad, but I knew they weren't Braxton Hicks. I waited until about 5 am to tell Randy that I was actually having real contractions. He didn't freak out like I thought he would :) Although he told me later that he was freaking out on the inside. We started timing the contractions to see how far apart they were, and they were about 10 minutes apart for quite a while.

I called my mom around 7 am to tell her that I thought we would be going to the hospital that morning because the contractions were getting closer together. I had a few that were REALLY starting to hurt. When we were almost ready to go, the contractions stopped altogether. I was really disappointed. We decided we would still go to my cousin's missionary farewell. I was still having some contractions, but they were so sporadic. At about 2 pm, the contractions started coming a little more "regularly" at about 10 to 15 minutes apart, and started becoming even more intense and painful. It took until about 9 pm that night for the contractions to become regular enough that we knew we'd be going to the hospital soon.

We got to the hospital at about 10:30, and I was a wreck. I was shaking so badly because I was hurting so much and was feeling anxious about everything. Randy finally said "hun, I think you should just get the epidural because I think it will help you calm down". They checked me and I was dilated to a 5 and 100% effaced. She asked if I wanted the epidural, and I said yes. Oh. My. Gosh. Right after the anesthesiologist gave me the epidural, I immediately calmed down and stopped shaking. I can't tell you how wonderful I felt! I went from a 5 to a 7 in about a half an hour after I got the epidural. Randy and I fell asleep while we waited for me to continue to dilate. The nurse came in and I was dilated to a 10 at about 3 or 4 in the morning, but something with the machine that was regulating the amount of medicine that the epidural was giving me was wrong. It ended up giving me too much so that I couldn't feel or move anything from the waist down. My doctor wanted me to be able to feel the pressure of the contractions so that when I pushed I would actually be useful.

They unhooked the epidural at that point, and we waited for the doctor to get there so we could start pushing. It may sound like this is a really long labor, but if it was, I definitely couldn't tell. It was nice to have one last night of sleep! Finally, the doctor got there and Parker was out in 3 pushes :) What a beautiful little angel! I was amazed at how wonderful he looked right away. Healthy, good color, and so adorable! I can't describe what I was feeling at that point.

He was 7 lb. 10 oz. and 18.5 inches long. He has been a perfect little angel :) It's so funny to think that we have our own little boy. He hates having his diaper changed, but hates being poopy, so it's a no win situation! It will be interesting these next few weeks as we adjust. He is just the perfect little boy, and I'm glad he finally decided to join us!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

May the 4th!

May the 4th Be With You!!!

I have an awesome friend who shared that phrase with me a few years ago. She is a Star Wars fan, and every May 4th I think of her :)

Randy's birthday turned out to be a not-so-amazing day. Randy told me he felt sick at work, and that he thought he was going to throw up. I told him to go home, but he stayed at work because he only has 2 days off right now and he's saving those for the baby. Then we found out that my sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and brother were all sick. I was feeling fine until dinner that night, and then I wanted to die. I ended up throwing up 3 times and stayed home from work on Tuesday. Yep, Happy Birthday Randy! Needless to say, we celebrated on Friday by going to The Garden downtown, and it was fabulous.

I am now officially 37 weeks pregnant, and I am definitely feeling it. I have been really lucky with this pregnancy because I haven't had many aches and pains, but I feel like all of the sudden the last 9 months have caught up with me. My belly feels like it's stretched to the max, and I get REALLY tired for the last 10 minutes of our walks. (We try to walk 30 minutes for our exercise). Sometimes I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. We are still getting some things ready for the baby, although emotionally I don't feel ready. It's pretty crazy to think how drastically our lives are going to change in a few weeks. Don't get me wrong, I am really excited about our baby boy, it's just that life is going to be very different.

As for dinner this week...

Monday: They fed me at school, so Randy had soup
Tuesday: Lasagna
Wednesday: Blender Pancakes
Thursday: I'm thinking sour cream chicken stuff?
Friday: Leftovers

I hope everyone else is enjoying the beginning of nice weather!!!