(Just for your information- this IS a birth story.. so if that's not your favorite kind of reading material, you may want to skip this one.)
Ok. So, it's only been almost four months since this sweet baby boy entered our lives. I suppose now is as good a time as ever to blog about my pregnancy and birth experience with this little one.
Where to start!? First off- he was a big surprise. I wasn't even entertaining the idea of becoming pregnant any time in the near future at this particular time. When I found out I was pregnant I may have panicked... just a little.
The beginning of the pregnancy was fairly smooth. I only had some very mild morning sickness in the beginning of the pregnancy. Everything went as well as could be expected for a pregnancy.
I think around 17 weeks I started getting short of breath a lot and would just feel like I couldn't breath. My OBGYN said it was because I was short and all of my organs were being pushed up and everything was running out of space... I didn't have this issue with my previous pregnancies so I was slightly concerned when the symptoms first came along.
When I was 32wks pregnant we packed up all of our belongings and made a huge move from Federal Way Washington to Houston Texas. I don't recommend making that big of a move while that far along if you plan on riding in the car instead of flying... Three days of sitting made my legs/feet/ankles swell up like hot air balloons. I was so happy to arrive at our destination and be able to stretch out and get the swelling down.
Once arriving to the Houston area, I had to start the search for a new OBGYN. I will spare you all the details of that long, stressful, frustrating process and just say that-- four OBGYNs later, I was finally settled and set to continue my prenatal care with Dr. Gregory Shelton with the Women's Hospital of Texas.
After my first appointment here in Texas I was scheduled to have an ultrasound to check on baby boys growth. He was suddenly measuring four weeks ahead. Everything turned out to be perfectly fine. They just said he was a big boy.
I'm positive that I'm not the only woman who feels this way, but the end of pregnancy can get so stressful. I was large, couldn't breathe for the life of me, was helping my little ones get situated in our new life here in Texas, and trying to play the guessing game as to when this little guy would arrive.
Each week the doctor would make comments that would lead me to believe that baby boy was going to be showing up any minute. My body started dilating and effacing a little early and my Doc said "There is no way you will be making it to your due date." Of course after hearing that I went crazy wondering when that arrival date would be. (if we decide to have any more children- I think I'm going to ask my OBGYN not to tell me about any progress my body is making unless it's an urgent matter.) Oh, and if you didn't know-- I'm not a fan of surprises.. I like to know what's going on. :)
Any way, I came down with some kind of cold/cough thing and was sick for a few weeks. I had lost my voice once already during this time and had an annoying itchy cough. Saturday November 2nd (1am November 3rd) I stayed up late reading a book. When I was ready to go to bed, I got up and went to the restroom, came back to the room and got all comfy under the covers and I started coughing...
I coughed so hard that I thought my water broke because I felt a big gush of warm fluids. I quickly jumped out of the bed and turned the light on to inspect... definitely had something going on but my water had not broken. I was gushing blood. I quickly hopped into the hallway and opened the kids bedroom door and called Ricky to come into the room. I was having mixed emotions of "yeah finally!" and "Oh my gosh what the heck is happening?!"
Ricky inspected and went to my parents room to get my mom so we could get ready to leave. I called the number provided by my OBGYN and let them know what was going on, ran to the bathroom to clean up some of the blood, put some clothes on, grabbed our things and hit the road.
On the way to the hospital I was having contractions every three minutes for about a full minute each. When we got to the hospital I walked my butt up to the third floor, told them what was going on, then was taken to a room to pull my pants down and show them what was happening. They had me hop on the bed, hooked me up to check the contractions, and checked dilation and to see if my water had broken.
My water had not broken but I was 5cm and contracting regularly. It was go time.
My contractions were painful from the start and I had never taken any breathing or relaxation classes before, plus I had the supper annoying awful cough, so I could not relax and breathe through contractions the way everybody was asking me to. (soo annoying!) I wanted to breathe and relax the way I was being coached to BUT, IF I were to take a deep breath- it would tickle my throat and cause a cough attack... It got very frustrating and overwhelming.. I will admit--- I started crying.
My sister Adrienne arrived and everything was progressing rather quickly. I just wanted an epidural... I was 7cm dilated, having contractions every other minute for a full minute or so each, and they were still doing blood work and exams to make sure my blood count was well enough for me to get the epidural.
If I wouldn't have had the annoying cough and been sick and was able to breathe- its likely I would have been able to just breathe through it all and just deliver naturally. But that wasn't the case. Things were finally a go for me to get the epidural between 7-8cm. Instant relief... It was nice to be able to relax but like they say, things slowed down a bit after the epidural was in.
I was still contracting regularly but not progressing as fast as I had been. Had I not gotten the epidural I would have had a 5hr labor as apposed to the 8hr labor that I did have.
Regardless, things still went smoothly and this was one of my fastest deliveries yet. Once I was completely dilated and ready to go, my OBGYN broke the water and left the room for 5min to give baby a moment to work himself down a bit more.
At this time the nurse usually starts breaking down the bed, setting up the tray, and has you do a few "practice pushes" to get baby down and good and ready for delivery... Well I got ready to do my first "practice" push and was quickly told "ok, ok, ok stop!" had I not stopped, baby would have been born right then but this nurse seemed terrified for that to happen. She told me to just relax, don't push, wait for doc.
While I was laying there, legs spread wide, Ricky and my mom on either side of me, Adrienne waiting for the show to get started so she could take pics, I felt something odd... I said "umm, something doesn't feel right... I think he's sliding out!" Ricky and my mom look down and there he was, sliding right out. The nurse yelled at me and told me not to push and close my legs tight together. (I wasn't pushing! the contractions and my body was working and doing its thing and pushing him out in its own natural way.)
Any way... She finally got the doc. to come in, I pushed once for about 5 seconds and there he was at
8:19am weighing 7lbs 13oz.
Ezra Richard Leiser
He is so darn cute and sweet and spoiled! This little guy really has me wrapped around his fingers.
He is the perfect addition to this crazy little family and I am beyond ecstatic that he's all ours!
The beginning of the pregnancy was fairly smooth. I only had some very mild morning sickness in the beginning of the pregnancy. Everything went as well as could be expected for a pregnancy.
I think around 17 weeks I started getting short of breath a lot and would just feel like I couldn't breath. My OBGYN said it was because I was short and all of my organs were being pushed up and everything was running out of space... I didn't have this issue with my previous pregnancies so I was slightly concerned when the symptoms first came along.
When I was 32wks pregnant we packed up all of our belongings and made a huge move from Federal Way Washington to Houston Texas. I don't recommend making that big of a move while that far along if you plan on riding in the car instead of flying... Three days of sitting made my legs/feet/ankles swell up like hot air balloons. I was so happy to arrive at our destination and be able to stretch out and get the swelling down.
Once arriving to the Houston area, I had to start the search for a new OBGYN. I will spare you all the details of that long, stressful, frustrating process and just say that-- four OBGYNs later, I was finally settled and set to continue my prenatal care with Dr. Gregory Shelton with the Women's Hospital of Texas.
After my first appointment here in Texas I was scheduled to have an ultrasound to check on baby boys growth. He was suddenly measuring four weeks ahead. Everything turned out to be perfectly fine. They just said he was a big boy.
I'm positive that I'm not the only woman who feels this way, but the end of pregnancy can get so stressful. I was large, couldn't breathe for the life of me, was helping my little ones get situated in our new life here in Texas, and trying to play the guessing game as to when this little guy would arrive.
Each week the doctor would make comments that would lead me to believe that baby boy was going to be showing up any minute. My body started dilating and effacing a little early and my Doc said "There is no way you will be making it to your due date." Of course after hearing that I went crazy wondering when that arrival date would be. (if we decide to have any more children- I think I'm going to ask my OBGYN not to tell me about any progress my body is making unless it's an urgent matter.) Oh, and if you didn't know-- I'm not a fan of surprises.. I like to know what's going on. :)
Any way, I came down with some kind of cold/cough thing and was sick for a few weeks. I had lost my voice once already during this time and had an annoying itchy cough. Saturday November 2nd (1am November 3rd) I stayed up late reading a book. When I was ready to go to bed, I got up and went to the restroom, came back to the room and got all comfy under the covers and I started coughing...
I coughed so hard that I thought my water broke because I felt a big gush of warm fluids. I quickly jumped out of the bed and turned the light on to inspect... definitely had something going on but my water had not broken. I was gushing blood. I quickly hopped into the hallway and opened the kids bedroom door and called Ricky to come into the room. I was having mixed emotions of "yeah finally!" and "Oh my gosh what the heck is happening?!"
Ricky inspected and went to my parents room to get my mom so we could get ready to leave. I called the number provided by my OBGYN and let them know what was going on, ran to the bathroom to clean up some of the blood, put some clothes on, grabbed our things and hit the road.
On the way to the hospital I was having contractions every three minutes for about a full minute each. When we got to the hospital I walked my butt up to the third floor, told them what was going on, then was taken to a room to pull my pants down and show them what was happening. They had me hop on the bed, hooked me up to check the contractions, and checked dilation and to see if my water had broken.
My water had not broken but I was 5cm and contracting regularly. It was go time.
My contractions were painful from the start and I had never taken any breathing or relaxation classes before, plus I had the supper annoying awful cough, so I could not relax and breathe through contractions the way everybody was asking me to. (soo annoying!) I wanted to breathe and relax the way I was being coached to BUT, IF I were to take a deep breath- it would tickle my throat and cause a cough attack... It got very frustrating and overwhelming.. I will admit--- I started crying.
My sister Adrienne arrived and everything was progressing rather quickly. I just wanted an epidural... I was 7cm dilated, having contractions every other minute for a full minute or so each, and they were still doing blood work and exams to make sure my blood count was well enough for me to get the epidural.
If I wouldn't have had the annoying cough and been sick and was able to breathe- its likely I would have been able to just breathe through it all and just deliver naturally. But that wasn't the case. Things were finally a go for me to get the epidural between 7-8cm. Instant relief... It was nice to be able to relax but like they say, things slowed down a bit after the epidural was in.
I was still contracting regularly but not progressing as fast as I had been. Had I not gotten the epidural I would have had a 5hr labor as apposed to the 8hr labor that I did have.
Regardless, things still went smoothly and this was one of my fastest deliveries yet. Once I was completely dilated and ready to go, my OBGYN broke the water and left the room for 5min to give baby a moment to work himself down a bit more.
At this time the nurse usually starts breaking down the bed, setting up the tray, and has you do a few "practice pushes" to get baby down and good and ready for delivery... Well I got ready to do my first "practice" push and was quickly told "ok, ok, ok stop!" had I not stopped, baby would have been born right then but this nurse seemed terrified for that to happen. She told me to just relax, don't push, wait for doc.
While I was laying there, legs spread wide, Ricky and my mom on either side of me, Adrienne waiting for the show to get started so she could take pics, I felt something odd... I said "umm, something doesn't feel right... I think he's sliding out!" Ricky and my mom look down and there he was, sliding right out. The nurse yelled at me and told me not to push and close my legs tight together. (I wasn't pushing! the contractions and my body was working and doing its thing and pushing him out in its own natural way.)
Any way... She finally got the doc. to come in, I pushed once for about 5 seconds and there he was at
8:19am weighing 7lbs 13oz.
Ezra Richard Leiser
He is so darn cute and sweet and spoiled! This little guy really has me wrapped around his fingers.
He is the perfect addition to this crazy little family and I am beyond ecstatic that he's all ours!
