He is here! (Levi's Birth Story)

I started writing this the day after I had him and just finished today so sorry if it's not written very well. It's hard to write about a time when it's so easy to forget everything that has happened at specific times (water breaking, epidural, pushing, etc.). It's like I needed to write about everything while it was happening so this post may seem a little scattered. :]

Well he is here. Levi Anton Price came yesterday (10-13-12) at 1:54pm weighing in at 6 lbs 15oz and 20 inches long. It was quite the process getting him here. Right now my parents are here (my mom is holding Levi) and Jarom went to go get some sleep and shower at their house so I thought this was the perfect time to write the wonderful birth story.

Well this all started at a regular OB check up and stress test Friday (10-12) at 8am. As I wrote in my last blog post I had been dealing with some really intense itching which is a sign of liver problems. They had done a blood test over a week ago to see what my some of my liver levels were. When I came in for my appt. on Friday I talked to the OB to see what my numbers had been and they couldn’t find them. I went back to the lab to have another blood draw that they were going to process ASAP to see what they were. I went upstairs, had the blood draw, came back down and they had found the numbers from the previous week. I’m not sure exactly what liver number they were looking at but the normal level is 16, mine was 238! This indicated that I liver cholestasis. They still ran the second test and the liver number was the same. The OB said they wanted Jarom and I to head over to labor and delivery to be checked for pre-ecclampsia. If I was showing positive for pre-ecclampsia then they would induce me that day, if not they said they would give us up to 48 hours to get our things together and come back.

We went in and I wasn’t showing any signs of pre-ecclampsia but they still wanted to admit me. Liver chloestasis isn’t to bad for mom and when baby is pre-term they will use antibiotics to treat it but, once the mom is 37 weeks they induce her because babies who go full term are more likely to be still born. Since I would be 37 weeks the next day (Saturday the 13) they just wanted to get him out. Part of me wanted to get our things together but I was pretty nervous and I couldn’t help but think that by the time they started the inducing process the next day, I could already have a baby if I let them induce me right away. So we went in.

When I went in I was 1.5 cm dilated and 40% effaced. They started off giving me Misoprostal (a pill they place next to the cervix to help it ripen.) They gave me 3 doses and amazingly enough my water broke around 4am (at this point I was at 2cm dilated and 50% effaced)!!! I couldn’t believe it and I was so happy. Usually the Misoprostal just gets the cervix ready for pitocin but my body went into labor. The nurses were very surprised. It was such a blessing!

Then came the next big question, epidural or natural. I had studied up some on going natural and really wanted too so I thought I’d just go as long as I could. I’m sad to say I didn’t make it very far. Even before I started labor there were 2 reasons why I thought I might not go natural. The first was that I really hadn’t done a lot of research on it and going natural is not really something I think you can just jump into. I feel like that would be trying to run a marathon without training (not likely to happen.) The second set back would be if the contractions were making me really nauseated (I don’t handle that very well.) The contractions weren’t too bad at first (no nausea) but, like normal contractions, progressively started getting worse and were shooting all around (from stomach to back.) I had only had about 4 hours of sleep the night before and maybe an hour of sleep that night on and off before my water broke. This made me incredibly tired and as the contractions became worse I started crying (well sobbing really) because of pain and lack of sleep. This helped nothing as every time a contraction hit I would break down sobbing, couldn’t breath, and was shaking uncontrollably from the stress that my body was going through. I couldn't relax! My contractions were about 2 min apart (if I was lucky) and were lasting for over a minute. Many times though I would have 3 or 4 contractions back to back with no break. I had heard when you go natural that usually when you hit that moment where you don’t feel you can go on any further is when you need to push.Well about 15min before the pain became unbearable they had come in and checked me and I had only been at 5cm and 50% effaced. I almost wanted them to check me again to see if I had made some miraculous jump to an 8 or so. Probably not and I couldn't fathom what 10cm would feel like when I could barely handle 5cm so I decided to get the epidural. Another reason why I wanted to get the epidural also had to do with them checking me. I hated that! I had a hard enough time trying to relax with them up there pushing a creating so much pressure and then adding contractions on top of that was horrible. 

Getting the epidural was a lot of fun going in while I was sobbing, shaking uncontrollably, and not being able to breathe. As soon as a contractions would hit the 2 anistheologists and nurse would yell “don’t move, don’t move, you can do this!” Luckily (if that’s the right word) I have had practice holding still even during intense pain so I was able to not move and it went in well. Also the thought of having something go wrong around your spine is a pretty good motivator to not move one muscle. The only thing I felt was the lidocane shots and some pressure (but these were nothing compared to the contractions I was feeling.) I was pretty much equally numb on both sides and I could also still feel and move my legs and feel the lower contractions. By now it was around 6am and I was beyond exhausted. My mom, dad, and Rhonda were in the waiting room and my mom and Rhonda came back for a little bit to see how I was doing. Around 7am the nurse came in, checked me, and I was 9cm dilated and 100% effaced. The epidural had completely calmed me down and I had been able to relax enough that my body went straight to a 10. Well I actually was at 10cm. The nurse said 9cm so they could chart it as 9cm so I could get a couple hours of sleep before I started pushing (I love her!)

My mom and Rhonda left and I did sleep for a little bit (I maybe got an hour and a half.)

They came back in and I was having some good contractions every 2 min so we got ready to push. This started around 9:30am. Everything was going great for a while until my body only started contracting every 5min. I was making progress when I pushed but by the time the next contraction rolled around I had pretty much lost whatever progress I had made. Plus he was stuck under my pelvic bone and just couldn’t make it through (I guess I’m pretty small). This was going on for about 3 hours until a doctor came in and telling me that it was time to start thinking of different options.

The first was the vacuum where they put a suction type cup on the babies head and help suck him out while I’m pushing. The second was a c-section which would have been very difficult with how far he had already made it (I mean when I was pushing I could see the top of his head in a mirror.) I was NOT going to have a c-section. I had come too far, not to mention it would have been horrible with my CF as I need to cough and stay active. I asked if they could run some pitocin for a while to see if they couldn’t get my contractions closer together. I started feeling frustrated and overwhelmed. Luckily the OB came in and was a lot calmer about everything. He said they usually don’t go over 3 hours but every woman is different and I could take some more time as there was no stress on the baby. That helped me relax and I really liked him (he wasn’t as intense as the previous lady doctor who had come in.)

I pushed for another hour and a half with pitocin but there was no significant progress (even with the doctors hand up inside me trying to help him out.)

We decided to move forward with the vacuum. Once they set everything up Little Levi was out in about 3 min. As they were setting things up one of the nurses looked at me and said “Now you still need to push as hard as you can. I’m just going to be guiding him out with the vacuum but you still need to do all the work.” Alright I was fine with that. Then I got this part of the story from Jarom afterward…

Apparently “guiding him out” meant pulling as hard as she could, straining every muscle in her body. I started pushing and after a while (maybe 20 sec. I’m guessing) the vacuum popped off his head and she stumbled backward. Everyone kind of freaked out but did so in a way that they kept pushing me more, loudly saying, “You’re doing a great job,” “almost there,” “keep pushing.” The nurse jumped back and quickly suctioned the vacuum back onto his head and kept pulling (my poor baby!)

I just kept pushing and pushing (even though I wasn’t contracting at all) and he finally made it. Because he was vaccumed out they couldn’t give him right to me because of complications he could have (blood pooling in the head, broken collar bone, etc.) and they passed him off to the pediatricians. I asked the doctors if anything was broken and they said no (YAY!). They took him, did a short examination, and then laid him on my chest but I was in a horrible position and it was really awkward holding him. Plus I’ve never felt like more of a little kid in my life. Here they were laying this beautiful baby boy on my chest and I felt like a baby myself.

I held him for a little bit but I guess I was a little zoned out. I hope I don’t sound like a bad mom but all I could focus on was getting cleaned up and in a position where I could really enjoy holding him and looking at him so I passed him off to Jarom (everything was pretty surreal at this point. It still is I guess :]).

I tore pretty badly (stage 3). So I tore up the vaginal canal and then almost back to my rectum (at least that’s how I understood it. Stage 4 is the worst tearing all the way to the rectum.)  I also received some lovely hemorrhoids. Amazingly I wasn’t that swollen. The nurses were very surprised at how well I looked after 4 hours and 30min of pushing.

After they sowed me/cleaned me up I felt much better and really held Levi. I hope no one calls CPS on me for saying this but maybe it will help someone else who felt the same way. :] I really didn’t have much attachment to Levi when he first came. It was still very surreal when he came and he just didn’t feel like my baby. I mean I could barely wrap my head around the fact that I had just had a baby. I think part of it hitting for women is being in the hospital and having so much done to them. Maybe because I’ve been in the hospital so much and had so many procedures that  could have been part of the reason it wasn’t hitting. I don’t know why. I had never felt super attached when I was pregnant either. I mean if I had a miscarriage I would have been devastated and I obviously would have felt the same if something had gone wrong in delivering him but it just took a while before I started getting the protective/ mama bear feelings. They’ve definitely come full force since I’ve had him. Don’t mess with my baby bear. :]

I guess I felt a little guilty at first because I had talked to so many women that said as soon as the doctor laid their baby on their chest it was magic. They didn’t even realize what was going on around them. I just didn’t have that when they put him on my chest. Like I said I just needed Jarom to take him until I felt better and like I could hold him.

He is the most amazing little man. He is just so special. Everything that he has gone through since he has been here he’s taken in stride. No matter the procedure (recovery after birth, bath, blood test, glucose tests, circumcision, breast feeding, sleeping, etc.) the nurses have been amazed at how well he has handled everything. He is so strong and has already made me a stronger person. I love him so much!

A little pre-pushing kiss

Here he is

Holding daddy's finger

First time I got to hold Levi... happy and in shock that they're placing MY baby on my chest. Unreal...

If you're wondering what sweet relief looks like... the next two pictures are it. My "I don't have to be rushed into an emergency c-section/ my baby is here" face of relief. 

Trying to hold back the tears so I didn't start sobbing again plus... I love Jarom's face.

Passed him off to dad.

Showing Levi to cautious grandpa. :]

Grandma with grand-baby #3.

Getting to hold my baby after I've been sown/cleaned up. SO much better. :]

Birthday :]

So the past few birthdays have been kinda blah through ALL fault of my own. I guess I just have certain expectations and when they don't come to pass the day is ruined.

I've wanted to change for a while but then when this past Mother's day was coming up I thought "this is ridiculous. My "special" days would always be perfect if I just enjoyed them." Jarom is always so thoughtful and I have no reason to expect anything.

So my birthday was wonderful because I wanted it to be. :] It was on Sunday and Jarom went to his early morning meeting and came back to cuddle with me for a little bit before church. I was actually feeling really horrible that morning because I had been in SD all week and it had taken a lot out of me. So he brought me breakfast and then ran to the institute to print out some stuff I needed for primary.  I got ready as quickly as I could (which is not that fast) and we made it just in time for singing time. :]

After church he had another meeting so I stayed at home and had this weird desire to clean the house. Best Sabbath activity, not really, but we're in our new place and I hadn't had a chance to do much with it so, I wanted to clean. Then Jarom came home for a little bit and left for another meeting but I went with him to this one. It wasn't supposed to take that long, just an introduction to Pathways, but it ended up taking over an hour plus they asked him to stay after to help with some interviews.

Monday was better. Jarom went to work and came home a little early with a gift. 

These were on top. My favorite candy and not something I should eat at all but, it's my birthday. :]

It started out like this (I had already opened it. :] and I blurred out how much money it was. Haha not that it was a lot.) 

Coins that we had been saving up since we got married. I wasn't sure what we were saving up for but, I guess I know now. He rolled them all for me.

This was also in the box. Both?

Yep both of us. Along with some friends. Jaroms first pedicure. :]

After we went to Ikea in West Covina (which is HUGE) and got my "stand" (which is really a nice bookcase on its side.) It was way cheaper and actually just what I had wanted. There's a lot of storage which is great for our apartment and the baby coming. I also found a mirror that I loved and since we saved on the stand we got both.

I haven't taken pictures yet because I really need to get some baskets for the bookcase/stand since all you can see now is a bunch of cords hanging down the back.

It was just a nice day filled with nice people. What more could I ask for?

Birthday from Rhonda. :]

The new stuff I got at Bed Bath and Beyond. :]

New Bedroom

New Art

End Tables

Dresser

Sign over our bed

Plate Decor that Jarom hates but I love.

New mirrors by our picture of Christ

Thanks V!!! I love it ALL! :]

Birthday Weekend

Alright well in all honesty it didn't start out to well. It was my fault. Jarom had to work on my birthday and I don't like that. All I want every year is to just be with him all day long. I don't need anything else just him. Well I thought I had prepared and worked myself up enough to be ok with him working but then when he left I let myself get all mad and depressed. He even left me a cute little birthday note and came home with my favorite flowers and fun silly little gift.

But by then I just wanted to be sad. He tried everything to make me feel better but as the day went on I was to proud to say sorry and pull out of it. By the end of the day I was so mad at myself and how stupid I had been reacting that I just cried. Around 11pm I finally let go of my silly pride and watched a movie with Jarom. He of course was amazing as always and forgave me. I was so mad at the way I had reacted because I don't feel like I'm that kind of person. I'm not someone who usually has a problem admitting when they're wrong so when I spent the whole day trying to defend myself and why I was right I just ended up being mad at me.

So I asked him if we could start over and pretend like Sat the 11th was my birthday. That morning he made me breakfast in bed and then we had a good in depth discussion about what had happened the day before. After that we got ready for the day and cleaned the house. I actually enjoyed it. Just cleaning with Jarom and getting it ready for my parents who were coming later that day. Then we went to Victoria Gardens which is a really nice mall here and got my new white iPhone. :] I love it and am so excited I finally have a phone... especially an iPhone. Plus it's also acting as my new camera. :] Afterwards I got a new purse and glasses at payless and then we walked over to TGIF for lunch.

New Purse

At TGIF

Then we went home and my parents came for the night. They wanted to come up for my birthday and to see the new apartment. We went over to see the institute and ended up hanging out and talking there for a couple hours then went and got a late dinner at Boston Market. We came back to the house and watched Tron. The funny thing about that was the sound didn't work on the regular settings so we watched the option for blind people. In the middle it got really annoying but I wanted to see how it ended and no one else really seemed to mind. Basically the actors would say their lines and then when no one was talking there was commentary about what was going on. You know like "Then as the father is leaving he looks at his soon longing as he gets on his motor bike and drives to work." Only through the whole movie which makes you realize how often people don't talk. I swear for a full 20min of the movie no one said anything. It was just music and commentary.

The next day we went to church which was our first time in the new ward. There were 10 new women in R.S. Yeah I don't have to be worried about being the new girl. :] But everyone was really excited that Jarom and I are staying long term because a lot of guys come down in the summer from Utah and Idaho to do the whole pest control selling thing. It's a very transit ward and the women were excited that I'm staying for longer then just 3 months. I guess priesthood was excited that Jarom was staying for longer too which probably means he will be the next Elders Quorum president or bishop. :] Then we all went back to S.D so Jarom could go to the seminary graduation and I went and got a Roger/Grant fix. :]

We left my parents car in Rancho, left my dad in S.D for work, and brought my mom back up to spend another night.

The next day Jarom went to work and my mom and I slept in, hung out and watched a movie, and then went to the Tai Pan Trading company. I guess it's the only one outside of Utah. It's like a huge Pier One Imports. My mom got a ton of stuff for the house. I didn't get as much but I got some great stuff for Christmas and Halloween in the sale section. I know a little soon but these were some great steals.

Cute hat I found but didn't buy.

After we had an early dinner at Souplantation. Then the weekend was finally over and my mom went home.

I have a great family and it was a great birthday. Presents, family, time with the hubby, good food, and some learning and growing. :] SO I'm not perfect like everyone thought but it was still a great 3 days. Hahaha.

The big 3 0!

Jarom turned 30 today! :] He's such an old man. Haha. Not really but it's just weird for me (an almost 22 year old) to be married to a 30 year old. Actually I don't think about it to much. Anyway it's a great time of life. He just got hired by the church and we're starting this new part of our lives... it's the perfect time to start the next decade of your life. :]

Jarom... you completely enrich and fulfill my life! I've become so much more spiritual and stronger because of you. You are patient, kind, and loving. No matter what kind of day you've had, if you come home and I'm not feeling well, you always make sure I'm ok and taken care of. No matter how hard or busy life may get you never complain. I don't know how much time we have together on this earth but being with you have made all the hard trials in life completely worth it. I'm so glad we were sealed in the temple and that I get to spend an eternity learning, growing, and loving with you. I hope that soon we'll be raising a family together and that through that process we will grow closer and I will get to know you even better. Happy Birthday to my wonderful happy husband!

Haha this was taken while we were waiting (2 and 1/2 hours) to get into my hospital room. :]

Vacation - Vegas

Well it started out with us leaving on July 5th for Vegas. We stayed at the Tahiti village. It was a lot of fun. Mostly just sitting and relaxing! :] I didn't take to many pics but the pool area and lazy river were really nice.

These were taken on Wednesday.

Thursday we went and saw Toy Story 3 and went to CPK.

This mall was cool. Kinda hard to explain because it felt like down town but you drove to it as if you were going to parkway or UTC. They had parking garages on the outside of the mall and then you walked in. But where the kiosks would be and what not it was roads. It was like a town. Like I said it was hard to explain. I wish I could have taken an above shot.

While we were waiting we played a balancing fork game. We did a pretty good job!

Like I said most of the time was down time but Thursday night Dallen, Jarom, and I drove down the strip. It was really warm in Nevada. I took this when we were driving down the strip at 12:30 AM!!

It was a lot of fun. We were by the pool a lot, shopping, crossword puzzles, movies, and eating!

Birthday Bedroom :) (Phase 1)

Before I start my post you may be wondering why in my title it says phase 1. Yes this is just phase one of my 3 phase birthday month. Haha.

So for my birthday Jarom got me a bedroom set that we've been looking at for a while and really wanted! I LOVE it. I was really surprised when he got it for me.

The first nice thing about it is we got 2 end tables. Yes TWO! Before we had one and I was using a little white table for my side.

The second nice thing about it the drawers are HUGE!! We had my grandmas old set and it was nice but sooooo tiny. We have way more drawer space now. Plus it adds a whole new dimension not just to the room but the whole house. Yeah it is a little big for our room. It was hard to get a good picture because I couldn't go anywhere to get the right angle but oh well. It is beautiful and I couldn't be more in love with it. :D

Birthday Cabin (Phase 2)

So because of my dance performances Jarom postponed my birthday trip. We just went this past weekend, June 26-28. Jarom completely surprised me.

He took me to a cabin in Idyllwild up by big bear. One of his co-workers at work owns one and he let us stay there for the weekend. I completely forgot to take pictures of the cabin :/ but it had a huge balcony/porch that looked over the woods. We got there around 7:30 Friday night because Jarom had some homework to finish up that day. Since it was later I got really freaked out. It seemed like there was no one around. There were lots of cabins around us but I didn't see any people or lights on. I was being such a big baby. I felt like I was in some horror movie that took place in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Well we got settled and watched T.V for a few hours. Then we decided to go to bed. I was still freaking out so when we laid down Jarom turned on Pandora and we played Sudoku on his iPhone. That helped me calm down. I was feeling much better when all of a sudden I thought I felt something run across my face. It freaked me out so I jumped up and was swatting my face to try to get whatever it was off. We had a fan on so I just figured some hair flew across my face and since my imagination had been running wild I must have imagined it. So we laid back down and a few minutes later I felt it run across my face again. At first I thought it was a misquito hawk because I thought it was attracted to the light on Jaroms phone so Jarom turned on the bathroom light so it would fly in there. When he got back he saw it; A spider was laying on the pillow. EWWW!!! When Jarom went to kill it it crawled under the bed and he didn't get it in time. The all of a sudden we saw another small spider on the bed. Jarom killed that one and then I saw one behind Jarom crawling down the blinds. Jarom killed that one also and then he saw another on the floor. We had had enough!! Even Jarom felt uncomfortable getting back in that bed. We just stood, looking at the bed for about 20 min wondering what to do. There were 3 more beds in the house but they probably had spiders in them also. We thought about going home but I was really excited to spend the next day there so we ended up sleeping on the couch. I got a few hours but Jarom wasn't so lucky. Anyway the next day was much better. We watched the world cup but the USA lost. So that was a bummer but it was really fun watching it and some other movies. We also did puzzles and sat around while we ate junk food. We were suppose to stay Saturday night also but we decided to go home and sleep in our spider free bed.

On the way home we stopped at Buca de Beppo. It was very good.

They even let me have birthday dessert even though it was 2 weeks after the actual big day.

Thanks for the birthday trip babe. Even though there were spiders everywhere and it didn't turn out like either of us thought it would it was still amazing to be with you!

Sorry there weren't many pics and LOTS of writing but it's all about the memories. :]