Hello Baby: Crew's Birth

Our little guy was due on Thursday, February 19th 2015. We had the week completely planned and we were just waiting to see if it would work out that way or if he would have other plans in mind. My mom got into town on Tuesday night and on Wednesday night her and my sister threw me a baby shower. We were all nervous he would try to come before Wednesday night but we got really lucky! Andrew and I had even been walking a lot at the park and I felt like it was making baby lower and lower and even causing either real contractions or Braxton Hicks.
The shower was amazing. My mom and sister did such an amazing job. They had every last detail covered. I will have to do another post on that with lost of pictures. On Thursday we were ready for baby to come whenever he was ready. So that morning we woke up and took Zoii to the park. This had become my normal routine. Andrew and I had started walking the fields trying to get labor going and this day we really pushed it. I knew that if I didn't go into labor by Friday morning I was going to be induced so I was determined to walk as much as possible to get things moving. Walking felt really good and it caused a lot more pressure and some pains even. Afterwords we went to Wendy's with my mom, Justina, and her kids. Then off to Walmart to get some last minute things for baby. (More Walking!)
By the end of being at Walmart I was really done walking or standing.. or really moving at all so I made it a point that I needed to go home and take a nap. So that is exactly what we did. My mom went and hung out with the grandbabies and Andrew and I were able to take a nice nap (Little did we know, it was a good thing we did take a nap because all sleeping was about to cease to exist!). I woke up around 6:30-7pm and just felt lazy and laid in bed but I got this big crampy feeling. I kept thinking hm I wonder if that is what a contraction feels like. At 7:30pm I had felt the crampy feeling a few more times and decided I would start timing them because maybe these were contractions. Sure enough they were about 12-14 minutes apart! I told Andrew that I thought I might be having contractions. His eyes got big and we both got excited and freaked out! However the pain wasn't that bad and they were still far enough apart that I knew it could take a while for anything to really happen, So we figured out something for dinner (leftovers, which I had nachos) and watched the BYU basketball play San Diego. The contractions continued and were pretty all over the place, anywhere from 7 minutes to 14 minutes. The doctor had told us to contact him when I was around 10 minutes. He told us to wait it out until they were more consistent and closer together. I also did not want to get to the hospital too early only to find out I wasn't far enough along.
Around 10pm I decided to take a shower and try to relax a little. However the shower only made me have contractions even closer together. They were any where from 2.5 - 5 minutes apart. My mom and Andrew started getting pretty nervous and started rushing me to get dressed so we could go to the hospital. I was still a little nervous it was too soon. But off we went because the contractions were not slowing down. However, once we got in the car I didn't have one contraction until we got to the hospital. (Granted the hospital is 5 minutes or less from my house)
We got there and checked in, got asked a million questions, and found out I was dilated to a FOUR! AH! I was so happy! I was afraid they would tell me I was a 1 and still had a long ways to go. but nope I was a four. I then got hooked up to the IV which I was never afraid/nervous about but the first time she stuck me she went digging (I literally felt her digging into my arm..sorry tmi? ha). She kept saying sorry I just can't get it and then finally decided to try for a new spot. My arm was so swollen and bruised.. It is actually still bruised and sensitive three weeks later!
Once that was done we got to go to the delivery room and get all hooked up and get the epidural. I was pretty nervous about getting that. However the worst part was the numbing stuff she put on my back. It stung really bad. But once the epidural was in it was great! I actually didn't have too many horrible contractions but the epidural sure did help me to calm down and relax. However I did shake a lot during and after labor. I wasn't cold or anything but my body shook like I was. It was actually reallllly annoying, but I had no control over it.

Waiting for our little guy!

After getting the epidural I got checked again, about an hour later, and I was at a 6. YAY progress.
Then it was just a waiting game. I was surprised I could still feel my legs and feet, Andrew kept asking what I could and couldn't feel. It was mostly my torso I couldn't feel the pain or any pokes. I mostly just laid there trying to relax. I closed my eyes a little but I really couldn't sleep at all. We talked a little, made guesses on when he would be born, (We all thought around 3:30am) guessed how big he would be, (we all thought around higher 7 lbs) and just played on our phones. At about 2-2:30am I was at an 8 and then around 3:30am I was at a 9. Baby was still high though and my water hadn't broken. The nurse called the doctor and once he got there he broke my water and the pushing began. Pushing was exhausting. I'm really glad they had oxygen there for me because I felt so out of breath trying to control my breathing. Most of the time I had my eyes closed and just tried to focus.
I pushed for about thirty minutes and then at 4:28am Crew Ray Sorensen was born. He was perfect. 8lbs 7oz and 20 inches long! He had short dark brown hair and came out with his arms crossed against his chest. I was shocked that I had just given birth, excited that he was finally here, and just mind blown that I had a baby and he was perfect!

We spent the day enjoying our little man and trying to get as much sleep as possible. Crew had low blood sugar and so we spent most of the time in the hospital trying to get it up. This included lots of feeding and lots of foot pricking which was the saddest thing. He hated it and they had to spend so much time trying to get enough blood out to test it. His heels were bruised by the end. I kept wanting to tell them to stop, his poor little feet can't take that much. The nurses kept saying he would have to go to the NICU if we couldn't get it up but luckily enough after he ate a good amount his blood sugar levels became more consistently high. The nurses were actually really annoying because they kept contradicting the doctor and the doctor was always right! But lets not get into that..

On Saturday afternoon we were able to go home. It was so nice being back in my home but a little nerve wreaking to have such a tiny little baby to take care of. Andrew kept asking if I was sure I wanted to leave the hospital then. Having my mom at home sure did make me feel better.
That first week I just focused on feeding Crew, trying to recover, and sleeping whenever possible. I kept getting annoyed that my life was revolving around sleep even when I was getting so little. But I just had to keep telling myself that it wouldn't last for forever. Even now I have to remind myself that the hard times won't last forever. The good times are definitely starting to out weigh the hard times. Crew is growing, is healthy, and is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I love him more and more with every passing day. I love that he is now here and apart of our family. I love watching him grow and seeing his features develop. I still can't see myself in him but I do see a little of Andrew. We aren't really sure who he looks like so I am excited to see as he gets older.

My heart is full. I am so blessed to have this little family of mine. And have all of our extended family. It was so nice to have my mom here with us for two weeks. She helped SO much! I was able to take care of Crew while she took care of the other things like what was for dinner and keeping the house clean. I felt guilty she was doing so much. She is the best! Andrew's mom was also up here for a few weeks and it was fun to be able to hang out with her. Crew is lucky to have such great grandparents! 

Here's to our new family of three, four including zoii ;) 

love,Alex