Simply Roberts: 39 weeks pregnant and labor

(Sorry this is 3 1/2 weeks late! I've been adjusting to my new sleeping pattern and a fussy sick baby and for some reason the pictures won't change from sideways.. odd sorry!! Enjoy! More pictures will be up in later posts!)

After I got the Epidural.. I was very out of it!

Jared was practically jumping up and down he was so excited.

The nurse wanted to keep Asher modest for the camera haha

One unhappy baby.. =(

He is giving me the stare down.. hahaha

One proud daddy.

all the tests began.. She was my favorite nurse!!!

cute lil Smasher...

So I made it through my 39th week... barely.
I was in pre labor all of Friday. My contractions were sporadic and obnoxious.

Some of them I'd have to stop and breathe for a minute.

Then Friday night I started to have contractions 7 minutes apart for about an hour.

I honestly can't remember for sure but I believe I went in about 1am and I was only dilated to a 1 1/2

The nurse said you're having a lot of contractions but the ones you feel are 7 minutes apart so they’re checked me in an hour and no progress so they sent me home.

I went home and didn't sleep all night because of contractions I cried a lot and my mom stayed up with me a lot of the night.
I would have consistent contractions for an hour then they'd be all over the place over and over again.

Then all of Saturday I had on again off again contractions and they slowly got worse and worse so I went in at about 6 to see if it was time and same routine I was 7 minutes apart more intense contractions and I was only dilated to a 2 and 90% effaced but this time they sent me home with pain meds.

I cried the whole way home and I had to eat something with the pain meds they gave me but everything made me feel nauseous. (I had chicken noodle soup and that's the only thing that was in my system)

So I downed crackers and a drink and some nuggets and took the medicine.

I got home cried more and went down to my bed.

I wouldn't talk to anyone except Jared because I didn't want to cry more.

Then the contractions got worse and worse.

I slept in between contractions, which was about 10 minutes apart.

I felt really sick because of the pain med and finally let some of it out.

Then it got worse if you can imagine and my sister Tracy came down and put pressure on my lower back

It helped so much!

I had really bad contractions for about 5 to 6 hours.

Jared was staying by my side, I finally told him he needed to get some rest because there's no reason we should both suffer.

So I convinced him I'd be fine by myself.....

Oh boy was it hard to be by myself with those contractions. ..

So I texted my mom and asked her if she'd come down to our apartment to be with me.

She came right down.

So every time I had a contraction I went on my hands and knees and my mom would put pressure on my lower back...

At some point my mucous plug came out and I was happy something happened but it still wasn't enough to go in.

After sporadic contractions for a long time I was falling apart and asked my husband for a blessing...

It was straight forward and to the point.

After 30 minutes of agonizing pain I told my husband it was time.

So we rushed off and I started having some contractions 3 to 5 minutes apart.

The drive was uncomfortable...

Jared’s hand suffered too.

I tried to squeeze the handle more than his hand but I think I made it go purple a couple times.

Then we were at the hospital for the 3rd time.

I was walking in and a contraction hit and a nurse saw me and ran in and got a wheel chair.

The time was about 5am on Sunday and they checked me and said I was dilated to a 5 and I could get the epidural... that was music to my ears.

I wanted to get up and dance.

So they setup the room up.

It felt like an eternity.

Finally we were relocated into the room.

Soon after we got to our room my mom, two sisters, and mother in law came, it was quite the party.. haha

About 15 minutes after we got into the room the anesthesiologist got there and it was heaven...

Other than the fact that I started to get really light headed and almost passed out.

They then put me on oxygen and made me turn on my side to keep Asher’s heart rate up.

Asher seemed to have a favorite side so my epidural took over my left side and I could slightly feel contractions on my right side

But I didn't mind.

A few hours passed they checked me a few times I was moving along.

I was at a 10 at about noon and then the Dr. came in to tell me to push.

About 15 to 20 minutes later my beautiful baby boy was here with a full head of hair.

The nurse gave him to me and said help me get him warm (his temp. Was low)

I wasn't much help I wiped him down and just stared at him.

He had the sweetest little whimper and the biggest frown and stuck out his bottom lip.

I never wanted to let him go but they took him to weigh him.

He weighed 5lbs 8 oz. and he was 18 inches long.

At the time I didn't think anything of it but his placenta was really small and it caused him to be a little malnourished, which caused a few other little things to come up.

They then took him to bathe him and such and poked him and poked him and poked him.

But Jared was there to hold his hand the entire time, but he was being a tough guy and curious looking around everywhere.

Through all the poking they found that his bilirubin count was high, he wasn't holding temperature, and wasn't breathing well.

The whole time this was happening I had no clue I was taking a quick cat nap after I woke up they took me to my room (with a very numb left leg)

The nurse wheeled me passed the nursery to see my sweet little Angel.

I was so tired that I wasn't processing anything.

I slept for another 40 minutes then Jared came in to let me know what was going on.
He was in the NICU.
I wanted to see him right away, I was so numb and sore, and it hurt to move so I didn't get to see him until a little later.

When I finally went down to the NICU I couldn't hold him because he needed to stay under the bili lights which stunk! I of course wanted him to get better but I wanted to hold him more.

He was super sensitive when you touched him so he'd cry if you rubbed his skin so all I could do was place a hand on him, I can't tell you how much I wanted to hold him.

Luckily at about 3am they gave me a call and I got to go try and feed him for the first time.
It was hard but I was glad to hold my little man.

So when I got there he had an IV of sugar water and he was hooked up to all the fancy monitors and was under the lights about 18 to 20 hours of the day.

So a couple days passed I was sent home and needed to still come back to feed little man, that was tiring!!
I met with the doc and he let me know Asher was getting better and that he might be able to go home on Wednesday but for sure Thursday.

So the waiting game was on and I woke up about 5am and called into the hospital to ask how his test went (it was at 3am) and the nurse told me she thought it looked really good but that the Dr. was the one who got to decide if Asher was going to be able to come home.

So as soon as his next feeding rolled around I hurried and got ready and went to the hospital, and sure enough the Dr. said he could come home and he didn't need to have the lights come home, but that he'd need to come back for a few days to get his bili tested to see if it was staying down.

So I called my family told them he could finally come home.

He just had to sit in his car seat for 90 minutes before he could go home to see if he would breathe alright in it, and sure enough he did and Jared and I were finally able to bring him home!

His release weight was 5lbs 6oz and still 18inches.

I was so ready to have him home I remember just staring at him and crying I was so happy to have him home.

The next few days weren't fun for me I cried a lot because Asher’s bili went up and he lost 2oz's and I was soooo worried they'd make him come back to the hospital.

BUT luckily his bili went down and he was done with the tests!

Now it's 3 1/2 weeks later and my baby is healthy...He has a cold.. but he's healthy.
He is very impatient and thinks he's dying every time I get ready to feed him and he's not immediately fed.. haha.
I'm doing well, I also have a cold and I'm adjusting to the night feedings.. I tend to get really grumpy if he refuses to sleep, let me tell you... patients is hard at 3am.
I have spent many nights crying as well when he just wouldn't sleep. haha...
Knock on wood.... It's getting easier.
I think his digestive system is getting stronger and I'm avoiding milk, chocolate, onions, etc so that he doesn't fight me while eating. When he's mad he starts scratching... and if you've seen his nails they are wicked long!

I am extremely happy and this is a hard job but I'd say I'm getting better at it everyday!
I'm lucky to have such a strong support system and a loving husband who wakes up in the middle of the night when I'm bawling because I'm so tired to take Asher.
I am truly blessed.