Smith Thomas Richards 3.28.14

Smith Thomas Richards

3.28.14

10:02 p.m.

8 lbs 5 oz

20.5 inches long

Now that my little guy is 6 weeks old - I am finally getting around to writing his birth story. For some reason my pregnancy with Smith was really rough on my body. I carried him seriously like straight out - torpedo style. This caused me some serious back & hip pain, an umbilical hernia, made it so I couldn't sleep. Long story short, I was miserable there at the end. I had been having contractions pretty regularly from 37 weeks on and was dialated to a 3-4, so my doc set me up for an induction on the 28th of March. I was terrified of him being enormous because Lucy was barely 7 pounds, and then Ruby was 8.13! If I kept that growth chart going I would have been in real trouble. Anyway, I was counting down the MINUTES until I could have this baby. They told me to call on the 28th at 6:30 a.m. to make sure they had room for me. My doctor reassured me that people get bumped less than 2% of the time.

OF COURSE. I called in that morning, and they were swamped. They told me to call back at 9:30. I was dying but still hopeful. I couldn't sleep so I watched Reign and ate some cereal. I got a call back at about 7:45 and I was soooo excited, except - they were giving me more bad news. Turns out they were so busy they weren't even sure they could get me in that day or when they could.

Cue the ultimate meltdown freakout. I had that mental clock ticking down and I NEEDED to have this baby. Trent went to work, I layed in my bed and had an emotional meltdown. I called my mom and said - you need to come down here and distract me or I will die. I didn't want to see anyone, talk to anyone or text anyone who was asking me where is baby?

I called my dr's office and told them no matter what that I wanted the next induction spot. They were sympathetic and said they were in contact with the hospital and were trying to get me in there today. My dr was going out of town and I really wanted him to deliver Smith so that was another factor in my freak out. Trent walked over from the Moran to Labor and Delivery and talked to the admit nurse, I gave him full permission to flirt and get me in there by any means necessary. He ran into my doc and they promised they would try to get me in that evening.

Trent got home from work early - and my mom came down - we decided to go to the mall so I could at least not think about how I should have had a baby by then. We wandered around for a while and then around 3:30 I got the blessed call! Jamie, can you come now! I honestly screamed out loud in Nordstrom - dropped whatever I was holding and my mom and I ran (or waddled in my case) out to the car. Rushed home -  jumped in the car with Trent and made our way to the U. I was hauling because I just had this fear that an emergency would come in and bump me out of my room.

The labor & delivery department was crazy! They told me they had NEVER had so many emergencies or ladies come in in active labor. I got into my room and my nurse told me if I wanted an epidural at all that night I had to order it now or it might not get there because it was so busy. I was like bring it on, and they told me it would be about 2 hours before they could get there. 5 minutes later, I just had my IV put in and in walks the anesthesiologists. So I got my epidural before they took my medical history, checked how far dilated I was or anything. I thought it was hilarious. They were like rate your pain. ZERO.

My doctor called and was awesome - he was like lets have this baby fast. We speak the same language. I got started on some pitocin and they broke my water.  A couple hours later I was a 7 and getting pretty uncomfortable. I always get the shakes and get freezing cold. I also can always feel my contractions at the end. I don't know if my body doesn't take the epidural as well or what, but it is fine with me because I like being able to move my legs and walk etc.

Anyway about 45 minutes later I pushed about 3 times and Smith was born! My mom and Trent were with me and it was the most amazing experience. They put him right on my chest for skin to skin. Apparently the longer they hang out on mom after coming out it helps to regulate their temperature and also makes them nurse better? I don't know if that is why, but he was a champion nurser from the start. Latched right on with no problems at all. I held him on my chest for a good 30 minutes before they even weighed or measured him. It was so special I wish I would have done that with all of my kids. I will always remember him looking at me. I thought he was so beautiful and I had that amazing feeling of NOT being pregnant anymore. The best feeling on earth. I was so thrilled to have a beautiful, healthy son. So I got to the hospital at about 5 p.m. and he was born at 10:02. Best birth ever. The worst part was a student nurse doing my iv and stabbing me to the point where I bled all over the floor.

Trent's parents and my parents came to see baby. I got really itchy so they gave me some Benadryl which literally made me so loopy! When we got up to the room - I had the worst nurse of all time. She refused to take Smith to the nursery. I was like listen lady - I just had a baby plus the Benadryl and I don't trust myself to take care of him - I'm exhausted and couldn't even keep my eyes open. She brought him to my room EVERY HOUR to feed him. She would WAKE HIM UP to bring him to me. Finally at around 4 a.m. I kept him in the room with me and he slept until 7:30. That was probably the worst part of the whole thing, was crazy nurse in maternity. Luckily the next night I had a sane nurse who said the most important part of my recovery was sleep because I was going home to two crazy kids.

It was fun to be in the hospital where family could come and see the baby. The girls were beyond excited and just died when they saw him. Ruby kept saying - Oh he's soooo cute in this high-pitched voice. She also said - hey mom, I thought your belly was going to go away! Thanks for the boost Rubes! It was also so nice to have family around to take the girls so Trent I got to spend those days together in the hospital with Smith.

We had a hard time with a boy name! I had always liked the name Smith and I went to the hospital 80% sure I wanted to name him that. Trent was on board too. Our other name was Isaac. For some reason in the hospital we just couldn't decide, I knew Isaac was out, but suddenly was thinking we should name him Tommy. I will never go to the hospital without a name again, for me it just didn't work.  We finally settled on Smith Thomas, and filling out paperwork was the last thing we did before leaving to go home. I love his name so much and it just fits him.

Smith has been an angel of a baby. He is seriously so good. He slept pretty well from the beginning usually always giving me a 4 hour stretch. My delivery was so quick I felt amazing, and started walking when he was less than a week old. He is such a cuddler and just arches his back, tucks his bum and sleeps on our chests. It is a dream come true. We couldn't love him any more. So blessed with this little nugget. He wants to eat constantly, apparently that's a boy thing?? Just writing this I feel such a rush of love for my little guy. What a beautiful boy. He is also the noisiest sleeper I have ever heard. So many funny noises sometimes I just lay in bed and laugh because I can't believe he is asleep.

Unfortunately my umbilical hernia didn't go away after I had Sniff. (Ruby can't say his name - so sniff it is, and it kind of stuck). I wanted to have the surgery to get it fixed quickly, because I would have hated to ramp back up into working out, etc, and then have to slow down again.

I had the surgery last week, and it was pretty awful and painful. I'm feeling much better now but can't lift anything heavier than Smith. Which is a pain. If I want to go anywhere I have to pull him in and out of the carrier. I can't carry him in it. I can't lift Ruby up, etc. I just want to feel better so I can feel more like myself again and be as active as I like to be. Good thing he is a little angel or it would be worse.

Through this experience of having my 3rd baby and then surgery in the first few weeks of his life I needed a lot of help. I am super self-sufficient and have a hard time admitting let alone asking anyone for help. I was shocked by the amount of love I felt from the people in our neighborhood, friends and family. They saved and are still saving me. I learned so much about how I want to be and how I need to be. People who wouldn't ask me if I needed anything, they just showed up. Or texted hey I'm taking your girls, Hey I'm taking Lucy to school, Hey I'm bringing you a 44. It meant so much to me and I couldn't have done it without those angels.

Especially my mom. After my surgery she came to my house for 3 full days. Cooked, cleaned, did laundry, played with my kids, provided emotional support, worried about me and just basically kept me sane. She is unbelievable and I want to be just like her. I couldn't do anything, and that is not a position I like to be in. I learned to accept help and that it is ok to need help sometimes. I also learned to try not to be so hard on myself and that having a healthy body that is not in pain is more important than baby weight, or being skinny or anything else like that. Those few days of not being able to move well made me appreciate the blessing of health. So I guess I needed a few lessons - thanks Sniffy for teaching me so much already.

Also need to write that Trent is another superstar. Stressful job, so many hours, useless wife. Comes home and takes the kids, helps with cleanup, does the laundry, plants the garden, etc, etc, etc. The man can not stand still and he does whatever he can to help me. I won the husband jackpot. This is a novel - but next time I have to write about the boulder/curb/car incident and the text he sent me when I told him our new car was in bad shape.

Family pics by Shannon Garber.