James Crew Peterson
Born: March 27, 2016
Weight: 7 LBS 4 OZ
Height: 20 Inches
Yes, a whole month early and on Easter. My due date was April 22nd which is the day Thomas has his graduation ceremony. If he came a week earlier than that then he would have interrupted finals week. But thankfully he actually came at a time where Thomas could miss school and work. Seriously this kid and his timing.
It all started on Saturday night. We had a friend over and ended up going to bed around 12:30. I've pretty much gone to bed from 9-10pm every night of my pregnancy so it was a pretty big deal I stayed up that long. I got up an hour after laying down to go pee. Then another hour passes and as I was laying down sleeping, I feel a gush of water come out but by miracle I was able to hold it..(well most of it..). I woke up Thomas and said "I think I'm peeing the bed! Help me up!!" So I seriously run waddle with my legs closed, probably looking really awkward, to the bathroom and I "peed" like a race horse. I was soooo confused for two reasons. 1) I had peed an hour before and there is no way I could have that much liquid stored in my bladder for that short amount of time 2) it was 2:30 in the morning and I was so sleepy that nothing made sense at that point. I told Thomas and made him look at my pee (what are husbands for??) which was a weird orange color. With the two of us being really groggy we put it together that maybe, just maybe, that was my water breaking. I didn't really think about my water breaking ever. Apparently only 10% of women experience their water breaking naturally. We thought "lets just go to the ER, worst case scenario we will just do the walk of shame home because I peed myself."
Luckily I had been so OCD and anxious about James' arrival that I had already packed my hospital bag weeks before so we just put some last minute things together and I took a body shower (because RIP clean body for the next 24 hours). We were then on our way to the hospital! I decided to drive which probs wasn't a good idea because that's when I started feeling my first contractions. It was only like a 10 minute drive so it wasn't too bad. We show up to labor and delivery and I tell them about the gush of water. They tell me that they have to take a swab to see if it really is amniotic fluid and it'll take 30 minutes to get the results back. But the nurse tells me she is like 98% sure that my water did in fact break and they already start admitting me to the hospital. By 3:30 am I was officially "in labor."
I was 3cm dilated at that point which the nurse said was great for a first time mom. Cool? Thanks I guess? Now it was a waiting game. By 5:30 am, I had already gone through 3 nurses. Apparently Easter was a popular day and a ton of women went into labor so there was a shortage of staff. Honestly I couldn't even tell because I was very much taken care of. By 7 am, the sleep deprivation and the hunger strike. They were able to feed Thomas but I made him go on the other side of the room since I couldn't eat. Worst feeling ever. Yes, even before labor. BUT I could eat ice chips. It was the good ice too...ice pebbles AND it was flavored. Stepping their game up. They said if I had come in a few weeks, they'd have a snow cone machine by then. Not fair. Jk.
Anyways, I try to sleep but between the hunger, the nurses asking a billion questions and the stupid blood pressure cuff squeezing the crap out of my arm, sleeping was a joke. Not to mention the contractions getting stronger. By about 10:30 AM, I was dilated 6cm and thats when I asked for the glorious epidural. The anesthesiologist was my best friend solely because he complimented my newly done pedicure and well because he gave me the drug. Because I've been shoving a needle inside me every week due to my arthritis, the epidural didn't scare me one bit. I am so glad I got it. It really was the best decision for me. I loved labor, especially the pushing part. Yes, I could still feel it. I only "practice" pushed with my nurse for 30 minutes then my doctor came and 4 pushes later at 2:51 pm James was here! She held him up and said "Woah! He's a big preemie!"
Thomas was able to capture when I first saw James
the final push
my first reactions
^^ we like this photo because it looks like James' is so happy...which he better be..jk jk.
The whole experience was perfect. I honestly can say I enjoyed labor. It was great to have my husband by my side the entire time and it was the most beautiful way to celebrate Easter.
It has now been a little over two weeks since his birth. I'm recovering very well..
^^...except for the massive elephant feet I had for a week..
and we're still adjusting to little sleep. Thomas has been the perfect dad. He's super hands on and really stepped to the plate even though he's never really been around a newborn. He's a natural.
As for James, well he's been a fighter since day 1. He didn't need any NICU time and he passed all of his test which made our hospital visit just 48 hours. He did, however, have Jaundice and he was in basically a tanning bed for 2 days. That was pretty terrible for multiple reasons that I don't want to remember. There are times where I want to get frustrated/mad at James for being a bit needy but then he'll smile really big in his sleep, and it melts my heart even though I know he's only smiling because he's farting...motherly love, eh?
And now heres a few pictures of my little J crew
xoxo
