How many times does a pregnant woman hear the phrase, “Once you have that baby, EVERYTHING will change.” By my own statistics, I would say that I heard that no less than 100 times in my preganacy. So, now that I’m on the other side… is it true? Yup. This post is all about the arrival of our baby boy and our life as we now know it! 

1. Sometimes your “Birth Plan” is a pipe dream. 

Yup, that’s right! That coveted piece of paper, all of the discussions, research and time spent imagining the labor and delivery of your child can be thrown out the window in a matter of minutes. For us, that’s exactly what happened. Throughout the pregnancy Chris and I had discussed the birth plan and decided on this: keep me in as little pain as possible and keep the baby as healthy as possible. We would do whatever was necessary to balance those two things. With that said, we decided an epidural and vaginal delivery would work best for us. This is what we mentally and emotionally had prepared for. On Clay’s due date (3/2) I started having very mild contractions. Nothing crazy and super manageable. The mild contractions continued for about 24 hours before I felt any change at all. All day Friday (3/3) the contractions were getting progressively stronger and closer together, so we started to get excited. Over night Friday we considered heading into the hospital, but ended up staying home because I was still managing the pain and our “numbers” didn’t add up to head in. *Side note! Kaiser’s guidelines for coming in to Labor and Delivery are as follows: Contractions lasting 45-60 seconds each that come every 3-5 mins and are consistent for 2 straight hours. Then; you must be dilated to 4cm to be admitted for labor and delivery* Come Saturday (3/4) the contractions were getting more intense and eventually hit the mark for us to go in the the hospital around 2pm. We waited and waited and waited, finally after being checked I was only dilated to 2cm. The midwife decided since I was in a bit of pain and had been laboring for over 36 hours that she would give me a “Morphine Rest”. As described to us, “this is a shot of morphine that will help get you rest and take the edge off the contractions. When it wears off, you’ll be 4-6 cm dilated and feeling active labor contractions. You’ll come back, we will get your epidural and start your delivery process.” So we decided to do the shot and head back home. We were home by 7pm and the morphine was already making me sick. I instantly threw up my dinner and eventually threw up anything else that I tried to ingest. As far as the contractions went, I still felt every single one, but I guess they weren’t as instense as I realized. By 1am I was writhing in pain with every contraction and Chris insisted we go in. I was still skeptical that I would even be past 4cm dilated. By the time we checked into the hospital shit got real, real fast. We checked in around 1:50am and I was in the worst pain of my life. The contractions were suddenly almost back to back. I was starting to hyper ventilate and panic. They got me in a gown, checked me and said “I can’t find your cervix.. than means you’re 10 cm and ready to push.” Cue more panic. I wasn’t prepared for this. My first response was, “so I can’t have any pain medicine?” And the nurse replied, “as soon as we get the IV in your arm you’ve gotta push.” About 20/25 mins later after pushing, screaming, nearly passing out and swearing I couldn’t do it, our baby boy was placed on my chest. Talk about a different birth experience than we were ready for! 

2. You do actually need every one of those diapers.

Yup. This kid is an eating and pooping machine. We can’t even keep up.  It’s like clockwork!! Today he actually had peed and pooped within 30 seconds of having his diaper changed. Luckily, Chris is a great Daddy and changes almost all of the diapers for us. Thanks to everyone who bought us diapers and wipes, were using every last one!! 

3. Support is everything. 

From my awesome partner, Chris, to our families and friends, the support and love we’ve felt this week has been overwhelming. Chris supports me in my new challenges of feeding and soothing our baby in a way only mom can. He tells me every day how beautiful I am and how great I’m doing. Without this I’m not sure I’d be functioning! In fact, he encouraged me to write this today. Our families have also been pivotal in helping us. From my mom, Chris’ dad, my sis in law, everyone really…. it’s beautiful to see a family come together to welcome a new life! We’ve loved having visitors and friends meeting our dude and hanging out at home. We’re so lucky to be surrounded and supported by such wonderful humans!! 

4. Baby DOES change everything… but for the better.

It’s as simple as that. Our lives will never be the same and we don’t mind it one bit. In fact, we wouldn’t have it any other way. Even with the labor and delivery being the most traumatic night of my life, I can’t imagine not holding this little guy everyday. Even with the astronomical amount of feeding, burping and changing, we find joy in just staring at his face. We love showing him to family and friends and having them share in the genuine love we have found in our son. So yes, you all were right: BABY CHANGES EVERYTHING.

Thanks for reading, 

-RTTP