18 days ago we became a family of 5. 18 days ago we welcomed our third child into the world. We could not be happier and didn't realize what we were missing until 18 days ago.
Last May our family was complete. We set out to clear some clutter from our garage, house, and attic for the garage sale season. The first week in June we decided to sell our infant car seat along with a few other bigger toys you use for the first year. Carson had outgrown them and I couldn't stand the thought of storing them only to have them damaged in some way or expire. We were happy with our family of 4. July 11th changed all of that.
I had went out with a friend that day for lunch at McDonalds with all our kids. We set off after that to go shopping. I wasn't feeling the greatest that day. I felt off and on nauseous. I normally am very healthy now and am over most of my own stomach issues. Something inside told me that I should just stop by Target on my way home to pick up a pregnancy test to make certain that wasn't the reason I was feeling this way. I stood in the bathroom just shocked at what the test showed. I felt a whole snowball of emotions. I certainly wasn't ready for this new challenge.
9 months flew by and Lauren made her way into the world just like I had planned. (well for the most part) Jeff had to travel down to Tennessee when I hit my 37 week mark. He made certain before he left that I was to call him immediately if I was feeling even an ounce of discomfort or a single contraction. He was suppose to be gone from Monday through Friday. Thursday at 2pm I started having contractions. They were only coming every 5 minutes with stronger ones every 15 minutes. Same as I had felt when I was 31 weeks pregnant. The other times I had gone through this, they tended to stop after 5-6 hours of doing this. Jeff called to check in at 4. I had no idea what to tell him as I wasn't sure if they were just false alarm contractions and hated to have him come home only to have them stop when he arrived.
He decided to head home instead of making his next departure to Knoxville for the night. I had my bag packed and was really hoping I wouldn't just get sent home once again. Jeff arrived home at 10:15 and we made our way to the hospital. At this hospital you have to go through the ER to get admitted to Labor and Delivery. The lady at the front desk smiled and said "I know why you are here." I guess I couldn't hide that fact any longer. They took my blood pressure only to realize that I had blood pressure of 160/115. They decided to try again. Still not much of a change. Once I got up to my room it had went down to 130/105. Still not what they wanted to see. It continued to get back to my regular blood pressure until I stood up to do anything. Even sitting wasn't getting it to a "good" level. My doctor came in to check on me the next morning and was not happy with what my blood pressure was doing. She decided to make a judgment call. She wanted to get the baby delivered (which I had already dilated another cm from admittance through the night). She would rather take the chance of the baby having some breathing problems at 37 weeks vs me getting preeclampsia. She came in at 12:20pm to get the show on the road. I had progressed another cm at that point. I was already going into labor on my own, she was just helping the process along by breaking my water.
I was assigned a nurse who had given birth naturally before. I did not realize how much of a help that was until the process was all over. She was a great support and let me labor however I felt the need to. I walked the halls for the first hour thinking this was going to be the fastest labor out of all of them. I was able to get in the tub to realize some of the pain with warm water. My nurse and Jeff were great support systems to help keep my body relaxed. At 3pm I asked for an epidural but was told it was too late for it. My heart sank a little thinking I had missed my window of opportunity. I had fully intended on going natural as Carson's hard labor amount was 45 minutes and I was going on one hour. It seems so silly now but at that time seconds feel like hours. at 3:25 I started pushing. I didn't even let anyone know as I was focused on one task. The nurse quickly figured out what was going on and told me she was going to call the doctor. The doctor ran over from her office across the street just in time. She was there to catch the baby with one glove on and the nurse put the other one on to catch the shoulders. Lauren Elizabeth was born in 2 minutes. She was placed on my chest for skin to skin for an hour. We let everyone know she was here. We didn't know stats of the baby until an hour after she was born. It was the sweetest hour and the greatest gift. I held my reward for sleepless nights, constant bathroom breaks, and pushing her out. She was beyond healthy. She was very pink and was a very good weight. No breathing issues. I wanted a March baby but we missed the cutoff by 6.5 hours. I have two February babies now.
My eyes are open now. Lauren was exactly what we needed in our family. We function better as a family of 5 over a family of 4. Jeff and I are a team now. There is no "you take one and I'll take the other." No man to man coverage. We are outnumbered and abundantly loved by THREE! God knew that Lauren was a child we needed even though we didn't realize we needed her. Jeff is an amazing dad to his two girls and son. Carson loves yelling "daddy!" and running to give him a hug when he comes home. Savannah thinks daddy builds the best lego stairs and airplanes. Lauren loves her daddy snuggles on the couch. We are blessed by our three children Savannah, Carson and Lauren.
With the third baby, sleepless nights don't bother me so much. I love snuggling a baby since its only a short time. Dishes will get done eventually. With Savannah, I felt like I rushed to fill the first year. I wanted her to sleep through the night and wanted it to happen RIGHT NOW. I wanted her to learn how to crawl and walk as soon as she could. I'm very patient and relaxed as a mom the third time around. All things happen when they are suppose to. No need to rush for our children to grow up as they do fast enough. Savannah will turn 4 in 7 weeks. She will start preschool in the fall and my time with her is going to be limited year by year.
