Becoming Parents

Becoming a Mom

I have always been drawn to children ever since I was a little girl. At family events you could always find me playing with the babies while all the cousins my age would be running around. When I was a teenager I spent many nights babysitting for the neighbors, and a couple summers nannying for family members. That was kind of my niche, taking care of children just came naturally to me.

Although I had a lot of experience with babysitting and taking care of children I was pretty scared about being a mom. I loved babysitting but I also loved being able to hand a crying baby back to their parents if I couldn't calm them down, and I love being able to go home and sleep after a long day of babysitting without having to worry about the kids getting out of bed. Having to "babysit" 24/7 was something that I wasn't sure that I was going to like. 

Let me tell you, being a mom, although I am very new at it, is NOTHING like babysitting. It is amazing how quickly you fall in love with a baby when they are your own. I have been told countless time that, "It's different when it's your own child." and it is so true. Lacey is my little girl and I would do anything for her. I get up in the middle of the night to feed her even when I am so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open, but it's worth it. I never knew that I could love someone this much so fast. 

I absolutely love being a mom! I thought that I might be bored being home all day with a newborn, but I am pretty sure that I could just hold and stare at Lacey all day. She is the perfect baby (most of the time), which really has made the adjustment to motherhood really easy. There are times that Scott will be holding Lacey when she realizes that she is hungry and starts to fuss. I love that she knows who I am and will stop fussing as soon as Scott hands her over to me. I love knowing that I can make things better, that I can comfort her, and that she wants me (even if it makes Scott a little sad that he can't quiet her the way I can). 

I'm sure that there will rough days ahead, but so far this is the best thing that I have ever experienced. She is my whole world now and I can't imagine not having her in our family.

Becoming a Dad

I was anxious to see how Scott would "become a dad." He didn't grow up around a lot of small kids or babies so I was curious how he would handle Lacey.

The first thing that I noticed about Scott was how protective he was of her. While we were in the hospital he wouldn't let her out of his sight, he wanted her next to him at all times. She would be in his arms as soon as he heard even the slightest peep from her. When the lab technician came in to do her heel prick (for the second time) Lacey screamed the entire time and Scott got a little teary eyed seeing her get so upset.

From the moment she made her big arrival Scott started worrying about her. Everything from whether she was eating enough, sleeping enough, or pooping. Google became his best friend, which sometimes can be reassuring, but other times it can be terrifying.

Scott is still trying to figure out how to study effectively with a baby at home. After a long day at school he comes home and wants to hold Lacey. Instead of studying he ends up staring at her and telling her how cute he thinks she is. 

Becoming a dad also meant learning how to change a diaper. Lacey must have known and wanted to initiate him properly. She pooped and peed on him the very first time he changed a diaper. I thought it was pretty helarious but Scott didn't.

Scott loves being Lacey's daddy! She has him wrapped around her little finger already. 

The first few days

Scott and I absolutely love being parents! Lacey is the perfect addition to our little family.

After Lacey was born we were in the hospital for a couple of days. I wanted nothing more than to take care of my little girl in the comfort of my own home. I was feeling great the day after I delivered her and was ready to go, but Lacey wasn't keeping any food down and they wanted us to stay so they could keep an eye on her. 

After her first feeding she spit up... a lot. The same thing happened with the next couple feedings as well. She had swallowed a bunch of amniotic fluid so she wasn't wanting to eat, and when she did it would just come back up. After the first 24 hours they decided to suction out her stomach, which made all the difference. Scott and I were relieved that she was able to keep down her food after that. Then the doctor told us that we could leave as soon as she pooped. Lacey didn't seem to uncomfortable so they weren't too worried, but they had us stay for a second night just to wait to make sure she could poop on her own. By our third day in the hospital I was SO ready to go home, but the pediatrician still wanted us to wait until she had a bowel movement. I had to be discharged before 3:30 otherwise I would need to call and get approval from my insurance for and extended stay.  They discharged me, but told me that Lacey would have to stay. We practically had to beg the nurses to let us go home to wait for her bowel movement. We had an appointment with the pediatrician a couple days later so they decided that we could take her home over the weekend. They taught us how to stimulate a bowel movement incase she started getting fussy because she was uncomfortable (yuck). Scott was super worried about everything and when that happens Google can be your worst nightmare. He was pulling up all sorts of things that could be wrong with Lacey. 

Then Sunday morning while Scott was on his way to church she did it! Her parents were so proud (and relieved). It's amazing how quickly you can fall in love with someone, and how quickly you start to worry about them. The first few days were full of new things for all three of us, a lot of waiting, and a lot of worrying. We are so glad to be past that. She's doing great now, and we are so glad that she is healthy and home with us! 

Birth Story

Late on Monday night (my due date) I started having contractions every hour or so and they continued all through the night. I kept waiting for them to get closer together, but once I got up for the day the contractions stopped. I went in for my weekly check up with my OB and we ended up scheduling my induction for November 3rd. (I was secretly hoping that I would go in and he would tell me that I had progressed and take me to labor and delivery.) I was only dilated 1 cm, but that is better than not being dilated at all.  I had the doctor strip my membranes just to see if that would help move things along. Before I left my doctor told me that I could have the baby any day except Wednesday because he wouldn't be able to be there for the delivery.

Tuesday Night the contractions started to pick back up again, and by 2 am they were about 10 minutes apart. They were pretty painful but weren't getting any closer together. I really didn't sleep too well and I didn't want to get Scott's hopes up so I didn't even tell him that I was having contractions. I knew that weren't getting any closer together and I was sure that it would be a repeat of the day before. Around 3 am I noticed a little bit of fluid but it wasn't the gush you hear about when your water breaks. It was the middle of the night so I decided to go back to bed and wait things out. I got up again around 4:30 and there was a little more fluid and I started to wonder if it could be my water breaking. I wasn't sure what to do my contractions weren't getting stronger or closer together so I wasn't sure if this really as the big moment. I went back into our room and told Scott that my water might have broken but I wasn't really sure (Scott is a deep sleeper, and it usually takes him a few minutes to wake up and realize what is going on) and he said, "Okay" rolled over and fell back to sleep. I figured since he wasn't worried about it I wouldn't be either.

When my alarm went off for work I got up and decided to call the hospital to see if I should come in or not. They told me to walk around for 30 minutes and if I noticed any more fluid then I should come in. There was another small amount of fluid so when Scott got up I told him that we should probably go to labor and delivery to at least get things checked out.

At that point we really weren't sure yet if my water broke or if I was actually in labor so Scott decided to get ready for school just in case he had to head to schools if the hospital sent us home. We got to the hospital at 8:00 am and sat in the ER check in area for a good 20 minutes before someone brought us up to labor and delivery. While we were waiting, Scott asked me if I was still having contractions and I wasn't sure if they were still 10 minutes apart or if they were starting to slow down.

Everything went really quickly after we got up to Labor and Delivery. They got me hooked up to machines to monitor Lacey's heart beat and my contractions. I don't know if I was just nervous or what, but I wasn't really feeling any contractions once they hooked me up and was sure that I would be sent home. The nurse kept asking me if I was having contractions and when I told her that I wasn't feeling any she let me know that I was having contractions and they were 3-7 minutes apart.

The doctor, who happened to the ER resident doing his OB rotation, came in to check to see if my water really did break. They have 3 tests to determine if there is any amniotic fluid, 2 of the 3 tests came back positive that my water broke, but they still weren't sure if they were going to let me stay or send me home. I was dilated to 2 cm when the doctor checked me around 9:00 am (Which was a little disappointing, I figured with contractions every 10 minutes for the last 7 hours I would have made a little more progress than that). The nurse was 99% sure that I was going to stay until I had a baby, but the resident who was checking me wasn't as sure that I was in labor. The OB who was on call came in not too much later to let me know that I had a couple options. If labor didn't progress than they could either induce me or they would let me go home. Lacey's heartbeat kept dropping (especially if I was laying on my back) so the doctors were keeping a really close eye on it to make sure she didn't get too stressed out and they encouraged me to get induced if labor didn't progress on it's own. Luckily, my labor was progressing on it's own and I didn't need any extra help to induce labor.

I asked the nurse how long she thought I would be in labor before the baby would get here. My contractions were starting to get a little more uncomfortable and I was ready for our little girl to finally join us. She said that there was a chance I could have the baby before or after midnight and with the first baby labor usually lasts a little longer. So I was trying to mentally prepare to be in labor until at least midnight.

By 11:00 am my contractions were getting stronger. I didn't feel like they were getting closer together, but the monitor was showing that they were about 3 minutes apart. I still was feeling like I was only having strong contractions every 10 minutes or so.  They were definitely getting stronger and very painful. Just after 11:00 am I was having to concentrate pretty hard on my breathing to get through each contraction so I caved and asked to get an epidural. I kept thinking how I had contractions ALL morning and I had only progressed 1 cm and there was no way I could make it to midnight having really painful contractions every 10 minutes.

The anesthesiologists came in within 5 minutes to give me an epidural. They had me sit at the edge of the bed while they put the epidural in place. A couple minutes into the procedure I started feeling hot and sick to my stomach, my blood pressure dropped and they had to pull out the needle, lay me on my side, and wait for my blood pressure to go back to normal. My blood pressure was low enough that they had to pull out a compression bag for my IV fluids to get my blood pressure back up. Once I was on my side they were able to give me the epidural successfully and it made everything so much better. The pain was gone but I got the shakes really bad for a good 10 minutes after the epidural was in place.

After my epidural, the resident came back in to check on my and I was almost 6 cm dilated but my water hadn't completely ruptured yet. They sent in the OB resident to come and drain the rest of the amniotic fluid. Once that was done labor progressed even faster.  Scott and I watched Serendipity while we waited for me to dilate more.

At about 2:30 I called in the nurse because I was starting to feel my contractions on my left side. The nurse decided to check me to see how far I progressed and I was dilated to 9 cm. We upped the medicine for my epidural in hopes that the pain would go away, and thats when I started feeling the urge to push. I started pushing at 3:05 and around 3:25 the nurse told me I couldn't push anymore and called for the doctor to come in. A couple minutes later he walked in saw that the baby was already crowning and had to rush to get his gown and gloves on so he could deliver the baby. I pushed 2 more times once the doctor was in the room and she was born at 3:31.

As soon as she was out they placed her on my chest and she just looked at me... and screamed at the top of her lungs. Scott and I both cried, we are parents now. She was beautiful and becoming a mom is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Lacey Nicole Robinson 

Born October 29, 2014 at 3:31pm

7 lbs. 4.4 oz. 19 inches long

I'm not one of those people who look good while in labor.
This is before my epidural.

After my epidural, I wasn't able to be on my back because Lacey's heart rate would drop