Thursday, May 24, 2012

Introducing Leia Madeleine

It was a beautiful Sunday. I was bored at home and feeling blue, as I was accustomed to feeling toward the end of my pregnancy. The stress of being pregnant, tired, overworked, and losing patience was getting to be too much. I called my parents and they came and picked me up to hang out with them. I hadn’t slept for 2 days. I’m not exaggerating, sleeping was near impossible at this stage of pregnancy. If it wasn’t the acid reflux waking me up, it was just being uncomfortable. Sleeping during this entire pregnancy was near impossible and I was always sore and exhausted. Well, although I had slept, I pushed myself along to go food shopping and accompany my parents to Pier 1 and a gardening center/nursery. I then asked to go to Babies-R-Us to get into a baby mood. As I said, I was feeling blue and exhausted.

My parents fed their huge pregnant daughter and drove me home. I finally had a chance to lay down and sleep. Jeremy was home and tired too (when Maraley doesn’t sleep, Jeremy didn’t get a chance to sleep well either).

“I’m gonna’ lay down and watch some Netflix” I said to Jeremy.

I lay down on the bed and get good and tucked under the covers. Finally I’m tired enough to sleep in any position. And then…

“Jeremy…Jeremy….Can you help me up out of bed….I uh…think my water just broke” it was 9:15pm on May 6th.

It wasn’t the gush that you see on TV and in movies. Just a small trickle every few minutes. I was very calm about it all. I called my sister, who was the ride to the hospital. She started freaking out. I told her to take her time because I wanted to shower and get ready. Yes, I wanted to get dressed, complete with make up and hair done, before I went to hospital.

Jeremy took a nap.

My sister arrived and we left shortly after 12am. It hit me. I was going to have my baby in my arms very soon. Finally, after 9 months of waiting, she was going to be here. Jeremy was exhausted and seemed very out of it.

Well, hours passed with no progression to my labor. I didn’t sleep all night and morning soon came. I came in the hospital dilated at 3cm….and at 12pm I was only at 5cm. The Pitocin was just not working, and my baby was not dropping. Finally, we all came to the decision that she had to come out with a Caesarian Section. She was in a ROP position and could not descend the birth canal. She was stuck. Baby and I were very tired. Doctors were throwing around the idea that she was significantly large. My ultrasound a week prior estimated her size to be 8 lbs, but I didn’t think she was any bigger than that since I gained only 35 lbs my whole pregnancy and my belly wasn’t all that big. Ultrasounds have the notoriety of being off by a pound or more.

They prepped Jeremy and I up for the procedure. I was trying to stay as calm as possible. The doctors were remarking how I was going to be an excellent mom if I could keep so calm and have a steady heartbeat. I was scared shitless.

“You won’t feel any pain, it will register as pressure,” Mr. Very Nice Anesthesiologist said.

Well, pressure is fucking pain, let me tell you! With some snips, incisions and careful yanking, I hear Dr. Cha, my amazing OBGYN say, “OH MY GOD LOOK AT THAT HEAD” and I shoot an angry look at my dear large headed Jeremy.

“Oh my god look at that gorgeous face. She’s so beautiful…oh my god, she’s soo big. Holy shit this is the biggest baby I think I ever delivered.” I thought it was all exaggeration.

With a final yank, and lots of friggin pressure, I hear her cry. Her beautiful soft cry. I see the nurses rush her over to get cleaned and Jeremy’s first words about her are “She has hair!”. We both thought she would be bald since we were bald babies ourselves. The second thing he says, “She has my eyebrows!”.

At the weigh in I hear them say, “10lbs, 4 oz”

“GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” yes, that is what I said. How she got so big without me eating a ton, having gestational diabetes or some other health problem, I still do not know. As my doctor said, “Some women have big babies”. Lucky me.

Jeremy was trying to get looks at her, but I had his hand in a death grip since I was being sliced up and sewn up and in pain. Finally, I look at him, let him go and say, “Go to her”.

Jeremy fell in love. Seeing him hold his daughter for the first time was probably the most beautiful moment of my life. More so than when I first got to hold her.

Everything else was a blur. When I first held her, saw her, fed her. It wasn’t till the next day that I really got my first good looks at her.

She still needed a name though. Jeremy and I decided to wait to give her a name. So she could help us choose it. We had a list of names we both liked. Audrey, Madeline, Celeste, Charlotte. Nothing fit her.

If you know Jeremy, you know that he is obsessed with Star Wars. It is kinda creepy and ultra nerdy. So before we even knew the sex of that baby I wanted to beat him to the punch. I said, “If it is a girl, her middle name can be Leia,” I figured giving him that small victory would save me hours of saying no to all these other crazy Star Wars OR Lord of the Rings names (his second obsession).

Well, one night while trying to sleep in the hospital it just hit me. Leia Madeleine. I looked over at her. She just looked like a Leia. All the other names were too dainty and polished, but when I looked at my daughter, I just saw this strong, tough little girl with such a big attitude. She just seemed like a Leia. When I suggested it to Jeremy the next morning, his stupid face lit up with excitement. He won. That son-of-a-bitch won.

We named her Leia Madeleine (Lay-Uh Mad-Uh-Line).

Here she is at the hospital, still swollen -

  

 

Here she is at home!

She is basically a brown version of her dad. I don’t know what I gave her. She has my eyes, nose, and lips but the overall structure of her dad.

He’s making the face she normally always does. They have the same haircut though!

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Here is a rarity now-a-days. A picture of a very swollen and sore me. Look at those legs! Ugh, I’m so glad my body is back to normal now. But yeah, that’s me and Leia. I really hate taking pictures. This one was snuck passed me by my sister. I have to get better at taking them.

But yeah, that’s my chubby little baby girl! We love her soo much!

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