Meeting the Love of My Life

I know, I know.  It has taken me 7 months to write about Van's birth.  Life has been pretty crazy since this handsome little boy came along.  Van was pretty colicky the first few months of his life and also suffered from acid reflux.  He never napped for more than 30 minutes at a time, which made it pretty hard for me to get anything accomplished.  Better late than never right?

My entire pregnancy was pretty easy.  Eric and I really wanted to get pregnant in the months of May-July.  This would ensure that I would have the baby towards the end of the school year and be able to stay home with him all summer.  Well..I found out I was pregnant on July 6..perfect timing.  I never had morning sickness, just the worst stomach virus of my life at around 4 months (which caused me to be dehydrated, which in turn caused me to start having contractions),  and early contractions again at around 34 weeks.  Other than that it was a breeze.

I never thought I would make it full term.  I thought this because I'm naturally a pretty tiny person and didn't think that my body could handle a full term baby, on top of having early contractions twice during my pregnancy.  The second time I was in the hospital for contractions the nurse told me she thought I would have him around 38 weeks because of the feel of my cervix.  Well...40 weeks came and went and no baby.  I went to what I thought would be my last check up with my doctor to find out that I had not progressed AT ALL in the last 3 check ups, and that Van had actually moved up from my last appointment.  My doctor offered to induce me the next day if I wanted, so Eric and I headed home to discuss it.  After a lot of research I found out that induction puts you at a higher risk for a C-section; the one thing I did not want to have, and that the labor is much harder.  We decided to not be induced, to trust that God was in control, and that Van would be born in his time.

In the meantime I tried every old wives tale in the book to induce labor to no avail.  So, I figured maybe a prime rib sandwich and carrot cake from J Alexandar's might do the trick ;)  I had 2 contractions during dinner but they were 30 minutes apart. Eric and I both felt like this was going to be "the" night, so we watched a movie to kill time and calm our nerves.  My contractions were anywhere from 4-15 minutes apart during the movie.  At around 12:30am I decided to try and get some sleep until my contractions became more consistent.  At 2:30am I woke up to some pretty intense contractions that were 3-5 minutes apart, so we headed to the hospital.

We got to the hospital and I was in a bed around 4:00am.  They checked me and I was 3cm and 80% effaced.  I wasn't in a great deal of pain yet and was handling my contractions pretty well.  Good thing I was, because I was informed that every bed in labor and delivery was full, and it could be awhile before I could get an epidural.  All of our family was there by 6:00am and it was time to play the waiting game.  At around 8:00am my contractions moved to my back and down my legs.  This was pretty painful so I decided it was time to go ahead and get my epidural.  Once the epidural was placed I was in heaven, except for the fact that I was banned from having Popsicles, because they made me sick to my stomach.  I progressed fairly quickly and by 11:00am I was 9 1/2cm and 90% effaced. My family started making bets on what time I would have him by. I think the latest time someone bet on was 2:00pm. None of us had any idea that this easy labor was about to become difficult.

Once I was at 9 1/2 cm I did not progress... for HOURS!  Van had decided to turn.  Instead of being head down and face up, he was now head down and face down.  This position made it difficult for him to move down in the birth canal.  My doctor tried to manually thin out the last 1/2cm, they had me lay in different positions to get him to move, and put in a internal monitor to make sure my contractions were sufficient enough, and we waited.  At around 6:00pm my doctor came in and said that he was going to give me another hour or so and if there was no change we needed to start thinking about a C section.  I was so upset at this news.  I had always wanted a natural delivery.  I didn't want to be strapped to a table, with a sheet in front of me, unable to hold my son once he was born.  My family surrounded me and covered Van and I in prayer.  We prayed for his little body to turn and to arrive healthy with no complications.  When the nurse checked me an hour later; Van had turned, I was fully dilated, and ready to push.  God is good!

I have never been more scared or excited as I was when they dropped the lower portion of my bed, pulled out the blue sheets, turned on the big overhead lights, and said, "On this next contraction you are going to push."  For the next 2 hours and 11 minutes I pushed with everything I had in me.  The scariest moment through the whole thing was once Van's head was out my doctor looked at me and said, "Do NOT push!  Your baby will be fine, I'm just worried about your bottom."  I ended up with a pretty extensive episiotomy that was the talk of all the nurses that night (it was that bad people).  At 9:11 pm the greatest gift God could ever give me was finally here.  He was beautiful with big duck lips and the biggest cone head I have ever seen!  When they would try to put the little cap on his head it would just roll right back up :) 

I didn't get to hold him right away because he had a bowl movement on the way out and they had to suction him.  The feelings I had once they placed that precious angel in my arms are indescribable.  I kept thinking, "Wow...I'm a Mom."  There is no greater assignment that God could have given me.  I was in awe of God's work, blessings, and answered prayers.  I know that God was with Van and I every step of the way during my pregnancy and delivery.  I know he answered mine and my family's prayers that day in the delivery room.  That was made evident the next day when another doctor came in to check on me.  She walked in, introduced herself, and said, "Now you had a C-section right?"  I said "No, natural."  She responded with, "Wow.  You were the only vaginal delivery he had yesterday."  Remind you, labor and delivery was full that day (that's a lot of deliveries).  God is good!

Van is such an amazing little boy with a big personality.  My love for him grows leaps and bounds every day.  He is definitely mine and Eric's greatest accomplishment on this Earth.  Eric and I pray every day that we can be the parents that God intended for us to be, and that Van will grow to be a kind hearted, loving, generous, God fearing man.  I can't believe he is already 7 months old!  This time really does fly by.  I can't wait to see what else God has in store for our little family.

       

  

Well Wishes for Van

Our family decided to make videos for Van welcoming him into this world during our 19+ hours of waiting for him to make his appearance.  His birth story is coming soon.  

Here Goes Nothing

I have been going back and forth with the idea of blogging for awhile now.  I was always thinking, "Will I have the time?",  "What will I write about?", "Will anyone want to read it?"  After having my first baby I've decided that I should have plenty to write about and I know at least my family members will want to read it.  Time to write about it....we will see.  Plus I thought this could be like a virtual baby book for Van.  Sooooo, stay tuned to this Vantastic story about life in the Yocom household with baby Van.  Here goes nothin.....