PGA - The Story

He's a 8 days old and we are completely in love with the boy. So, I figure it is about time I tell his story before the postpartum amnesia sets in.

If you know me at all you know that I am not the most patient pregnant woman. I feel a love/hate for being pregnant. I love feeling the baby move, I love the miracle of having a life inside you and how amazing our bodies can be. I HATE the heartburn, the nausea, the constant state of being uncomfortable with absolutely no relief. I hate feeling like my body is not my own, not being able to bend over, the lack of bladder control...I could go on. So, I usually look forward to getting that baby out as soon as possible. However, with our NICU experience with Sage I decided (or Brian guilted me) to try my very best to be patient and let the little bugger grow as long as he can so he could be healthy (I sort of rushed labor with Sage to come at 38 weeks).

So, when I woke up in the wee hours of the morning on Monday April 25 (my mom's birthday, I am sure she would have loved to share her special day with a new grandson) with horrible pain that I couldn't sleep through I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to have the baby at barely 37 weeks, but I was miserable. I took a bath and counted my contractions. They were 2-3 min apart but not the painful kind. But still I felt nauseated and light headed and the contractions kept coming. So, I woke up Brian, crying and telling him we should go to the hospital. After briefly suggesting that I go and figure out if I am really in labor (the boy really needs sleep) he agreed to go. My nice next door neighbor came so we didn't have to wake up to the girls and we headed to Spring Valley at 3am. Those monitors had magical powers to almost completely stop the contractions. I was relieved and also disappointed. I hated that I made Brian and my neighbor wake up and everything, but I really felt horrible and just wanted it to stop. So, we went home and I decided to really take it easy (something I hadn't been doing at all, April was a crazy busy month). The same life-saving neighbor took the girls most of the day and I relaxed.

Tuesday and Wednesday I still tried to relax but how much can you really do that with 2 young kids (Crazy Sage being one of them). I was being so good at trying to keep the bun cooking for a little longer. On Tuesday I even told my doctor "No, thanks" when she offered to strip my membranes which she said would for sure put me in labor. Regardless of my best efforts, I woke up Thursday, April 28 at about 6am with contractions, this time they were legit painful ones. I laid in bed monitoring that they were about 10 min apart. So, I told Brian to go to work but keep his phone handy and I went about my morning (slowly, I was in pain) doing normal mom stuff. Getting girls ready, cleaning rooms. Then I decided I should pack my hospital bag. My good friend, Ses, took Emery to preschool and then came back to take Sage and also drop me off at the hospital. By the time I got to the hospital it was about 10:30am. Very painful contractions coming but still 5-6 min apart.

I felt alright in between and had a slight worry that this was another false alarm. Unfortunately, a lot of other women decided to have a baby on that day and the hospital was super busy with a lot of c-sections. So, we waited in the waiting room for 30-40 min. and I was huffing and puffing. When they finally brought us into triage and hooked me up to the monitors I think the nurse could tell I was not feeling great. She rushed another nurse in to check me. When Denise checked me she said, "Well, you're going to have a baby today." I was so excited that I wasn't making it all up in my head. I asked what I was dilated to. She said she didn't want to tell me. No really, just tell me. She said, "You are doing so great, I don't want to freak you out." Just tell me! I was at a 9! I know, I was very impressed with my pain tolerance.

My awesome SIL offered to come and take pictures during the birth. Fortunately, she lived close and rushed over. This was a first for us, having never had family close for the girls births. It was so nice to have Liz, and her pictures are amazing and Brian could concentrate on being grossed out by all that was happening/ supporting and loving his laboring wife.

Now I wanted an epidural. Plus, I was positive for the Strep B and needed antibiotics stat. Denise was awesome and made it happen for me but said, sorry, you are going to have this baby in triage because we don't have any delivery rooms available and you can't wait. But I sort of did have to wait since I had to get as much antibiotics in me as possible. She stole the anesthesiologist from a c-section to get me my epidural and boy was I happy about that.

So, once I was good and drugged up we waited for about an hour and a half and then decided lets have this baby already. The only thing holding that baby in was my water hadn't broken. Once she broke it, Dr. came in and baby boy entered this world in about one and a half contractions. Palmer Gregory - born at 1:44pm, weighing 6 lbs. 3 oz., 19 1/2 in. long.

He was mad at first. Really mad. And oh so tiny and covered in muck and had the reddest lips.

But he cleaned up beautifully.
And the girls came to meet their new brother. Emery was immediately in love. She liked to translate for us what baby Palmer was saying - "He said I love you, Emery!" Sage took a minute to warm up to the little guy. Eventually, she came around (brownie bribery helped) and she has been super cute to him ever since.

So, now I have 3 kids and I love it. I love the boy so much. He is perfect and sweet and sleeping and eating so well. All I can say to describe my feelings right now is pure JOY.