Preston's Birth

In light of Preston's 1 month birthday tomorrow, I thought I would finally blog about him. As you probably already know, we welcomed Preston Zachary into our lives last month. He came a whole month earlier than expected! I'm sure one day he will come to me with my wedding anniversary date and his birthdate and accuse Zach and me of a little pre-wedding hanky-panky, but HE WAS A MONTH EARLY, people. So we can nip that conversation in the bud right now.

Anyway, this month has been trying for sure, but I would do it all over again for this boy. He is the cutest, sweetest, cuddliest baby I have ever encountered and I love him more each day. Sounds mushy, but I'm sure every mother out there knows what I mean. I think it's a shame that you are so tired in the weeks right after your baby's birth because those are some of the most tender moments imaginable. Even though I had a tough c-section recovery, I have literally tried to enjoy every moment. Sometimes this is hard at 2 am with a colic-y baby, but I really have tried to enjoy the tough times as well. I am well aware that these stages don't last long so I want to enjoy every minute.

Having a baby has brought me closer to the people I love, namely my husband. Not many couples have the same experiences we did the first year of marriage. Marriage is an adjustment on it's own...and so is pregnancy. Those two combined proved difficult at times, but I'm happy to say that Zach and I passed with flying colors. I would not want to have these experiences with any other man, and I certainly would not have made it through without his encouragement, love and support. He is the best thing that could have ever happened to me and that becomes more and more apparent each day.

Enough of the mushy!

Here is the story of Preston's birth that I sent out to family. Enjoy!

On Friday we welcomed our baby boy Preston Zachary Shrader into the world. He was 6lbs 13oz and 19.25 inches. He was a month early, so the doctor said he would have been closer to 10 pounds had I gone full term.

Last Thursday I had contractions all day long. I didn’t think anything of it at first since I had been on bed rest for several weeks already for contractions. They started early in the morning and got more intense as the day went on. When they got to be 6-7 minutes apart I finally called Zach at work and we headed to the hospital. The nurse hooked me up to monitors and checked my labor progress. She was very sweet, but basically told me I was a first time mom who didn’t know what real labor felt like. She gave me a shot to stop my contractions and told me to take a warm bath to relax (in 100+ degree weather….) and take a Tylenol for the pain and I would be fine.

The shot they gave me to make contractions stop never worked and I continued to have them all night. They weren't as frequent as they had been earlier that day... only about every 20 minutes or so, sometimes not even that close. I tried to get as much sleep as I could but around 2am I woke up in so much pain. I was so tired that I just dismissed the pain and decided to go back to sleep…. then before I could actually fall asleep I had the pain again. The same thing happened a few times before I woke up enough to realized I was having contractions. I didn't want to wake Zach up with my whimpering every few minutes so I decided to go rock in the glider in Preston’s room because that is a better angle for my back, which is where the contractions were. That didn't help so I decided to take the laptop to the couch and watch a little Netflix to distract myself. We have a really big clock that hangs directly across from the couch and I started realizing that the contractions were consistently 5 minutes apart. I knew that I did NOT want to go back to the hospital because I didn’t want to get told my pain wasn’t “real” again, so I told myself that if the contractions were still this close together in the morning I would go back. I didn't make it that long. Long story short, 45 minutes later I woke Zach up, we said a prayer, and headed to the hospital.

By the time we got to the hospital the contractions were 4 minutes apart and making me cry. Zach had to push me in a wheel chair to get me to the second floor because the contractions hurt too badly to walk. When our name was finally called to go back to the triage station, the nurse tech started to chat with us but could tell by my face that chatting was not a good idea. The nurse came in to check me and said I was in active labor. It soon became apparent that a C-section would be necessary and would happen within the hour! I had remained calm this entire time—minus a few tears trickling down my face every now and then from the contractions—but the second I heard “within the hour” I started crying for real. So many emotions were running through my mind! I thought I had a whole month to plan for these feelings! Me? A mom? Wasn't I still a kid myself? Could I really do this? Zach and I had a little time to ourselves after the nurse left and he assured me everything would be fine. Of course I already knew this, but I was in so much pain and so hormonal/emotional that I needed to hear it from Zach. After I pulled myself together, Zach went into the waiting room to call our parents. I don't think I have ever seen him so excited. He was like a little kid Christmas morning.

The nurse came in and gave me medication to temporarily stop my contractions so I could sit still long enough to sign a bunch of papers, get my blood drawn, and start my IV. They gave Zach all the clothes he would need to wear in the operating room and told him they would come get him when it was time.

After wheeling me to the operating room, they brought the anesthesiologist to start my numbing spinal injection. The only problem was that the shot they gave me to stop my contractions had worn off, so I was in a lot of pain. The anesthesiologist tried several different spots in my spine to get the injection, but none of them worked. Eventually the anesthesiologist went vertebrae by vertebrae to get me numb, and never could. After 45 minutes of torture and many, many tears, they anesthesiologist decided to put me under general anesthesia. That meant that Zach wouldn’t get to be in the room, but at this point I knew it was the only way this child was coming out.

I don’t remember much else about that day because I was so drugged. I remember coming out of the anesthesia and wanting 2 things: Zach and my baby. I remember Zach being right by my bed the entire time and I remember him introducing me to Preston. Zach said Preston opened his eyes for the first time when he heard my voice. I remember thinking that his face was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.