Down South: Ames Anthony Houle.

It's crazy to say that I have officially been a Momma for 12 days. The title of Mom still doesn't seem real. These past almost 2 weeks have been a whirlwind filled with every emotion possible. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. I am already learning so much and I know I am just beginning. Here's the story of how mine and Nate's lives changed forever (for the good of course!):

Monday, October 14th I was 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant. As with every Monday morning Nate and I headed to the doctor's with bets on how far dilated I was. I was a 2+ cm dilated and 60% effaced; things were moving, but slowly. Nate and I were both pretty anxious for this little guy to get here so we were a little bummed when our doctor said she didn't expect him to come early. She asked us if I wanted to get my membranes stripped to see if that got things going. We both wanted this ball rolling so we agreed. She said that something could happen in the next couple of hours or it could do nothing at all. Obviously we wanted something to happen but tried hard to not get our hopes up.

After the appointment we both went to work. I was feeling crampy but I figured it was just because of getting my membranes stripped. But during my last class (around 2:30 pm) the cramps hurt more and were coming on in intervals. I had no idea what to expect a contraction to feel like but after about an hour of these 'cramps' I decided that they must be contractions.

After my class go out I headed straight to Nate's work. He was out with the team at practice so I hung around till I got him alone for a second. I told him I was having contractions but I wasn't totally sure. We decided to walk around to see if that made them better or worse. We walked a little over a mile and they were definitely getting stronger and more frequent. We called the Doctor and she said that I should go in to the hospital! We rushed home and grabbed the last minute things we needed for the hospital bag. Just that morning Nate had said that we needed to "stop by McDonalds or something on the way to the hospital because I can't go through your labor on an empty stomach." So, on our way to the hospital, with contractions coming about every 3 minutes, we went through the golden arches drive through haha.

We got to the hospital and I was dilated to a 3+. They said they were going to monitor me and see where I was at an hour later. If I had progressed enough we would stay. That next hour we paced the hospital halls. I was definitely uncomfortable, especially in my lower back! I never expected contractions to hurt in the back so much. After an hour they checked me and I hadn't progressed. I almost cried when they told us to go home. I was so so bummed! They told me I could take some tylenol to help with the contractions. We got home from the hospital at around 9:00pm. I took a warm bath, lots of tylenol and the contractions slowed down enough that I was luckily able to fall asleep around midnight.

At around 5 in the morning I woke up with contractions. They weren't too bad so I didn't think much of them. I couldn't fall back asleep though so around 6 I got up and decided to just get ready for work. I had tons of time before work so I decided to curl my hair. As I was curling my hair the contractions were coming quicker and harder. I kept telling myself that they were probably nothing; I really didn't want to go to the hospital just to get sent home again. However the last 2 layers of curling my hair were miserable! I would start curling a piece than have to throw the curling iron down and curl my body into a little ball. I told myself I was going to finish curling my hair and then wake up Nate to decide if we should go in or not. I barely made it through curling. Once I did I went and woke Nate up. As I was in the middle of telling him about my contractions I got a really bad contraction which ended with me running to the toilet and emptying my insides. That definitely got Nate up and out of bed. Luckily everything was ready to go from the night before so we just hopped in the car and headed to the hospital. The contractions were definitely worse than the day before; I had to bend over or lean into Nate during them. Yet I was still nervous that we weren't going to be able to stay. Once we got checked in they checked me and I was at a 4. I was super bummed that I hadn't progressed much and was really nervous we were going to get sent home. However right after she checked me I had another really bad contraction which made me throw up again. As I was barfing (sorry, this post is not going to be modest) I felt a gush of water down town. Once the contraction ended I announced I had either peed my pants or my water just broke. The nurse checked me and my water had indeed broken. Nate and I were so relieved because that meant that we were going to stay for sure! I told them that I wanted the epidural and they said the anesthesiologist was just in the next room so it would be pretty quick. As tough as I was trying to be, I was definitely relieved that the contractions would be over soon. They needed to get the IV started before I could get the epidural...turns out I have terrible veins! My veins are pronounced and the needle would go right in, but when they would try and thread the IV my veins would roll. They had 3 nurses try and finally on the 5th prick they got it going (keep in mind I was having contractions this whole time still and was having to hold still during them...not so fun). Once they got the IV in the anesthesiologist came and put the epidural in. I was told by many people that once you get it in you have almost immediate pain relief. Well I waited, and waited, and pushed the self dosage button to the max and still could feel all the contractions! Only my legs went numb. Finally around 1:00 pm the anesthesiologist came in and adjusted the epidural and I finally went numb all the way. I don't know how you women do it naturally, having contractions from 2:30pm on Monday till 1:00pm on Tuesday SUCKED. More power to you.

Once I was finally out of pain I dozed in and out and visited with Nate's and my family (Nate's Mom & Dad and 2 sisters came and my Sisters and Mom came). It was weird though, cause even though I couldn't feel my body working hard, it was and I threw up a few more times. I was progressing so slowly. It wasn't until 6:00 that night that I finally got to start pushing. Around 5 the epidural was wearing off and I was getting nervous to push because I didn't want that pain again (I know, weak). However, once I started pushing it actually helped to be able to feel the contractions because I knew exactly where to push. It was just me Nate and the nurse during most of the time I pushed. They both were so great and as weird as it sounds, I felt so much love for Nate as I pushed and he took care of me. The nurse was so great as well. Just like the labor though, pushing went sooo slowly. I made it through the first hour pretty well, but as we started into the second hour, I was getting pretty tired. A little into the second hour I threw up once again...but throwing up were actually some of my best pushes haha. Once Nate was able to see the head he made much more motivated. Our doctor finally showed up and they started prepping things. I knew I didn't have much longer so I made every push count. Finally almost 2 hours on the dot our little baby boy entered this world at 8:14 pm, after 29 hours of labor.

As soon as he came out I was bawling and couldn't believe he was actually here! I remember looking at him and looking at Nate and just feeling so much love. Literally 1 minute after he was born the doctor made Nate get the camera to take a picture of his head...he had the BIGGEST cone head they had every seen! haha. Luckily it has gone away, but it was HUGE (see picture below...)! Once I was all cleaned up all of our family (who had been dying) rushed in and he got loved on. That night was such a good one and once we switched rooms and it was just me, Nate, and our little man it just felt so right :) The next day we finally decided on his name...and that is how our little Ames Anthony (Anthony after his Dad and Grandpa), weighing 7 lbs 2oz & 20 inches long came into this world!

The 2 weeks since his birth have been some of the best and hardest times in my life. I am going to do another post on the "baby blues" but they are definitely real. Yet at the same time, you feel more love and joy than ever before. It's definitely been a roller coaster of emotions, but roller coasters sure are fun :)

I can't thank our families enough for all of their love, help, and support. Especially my Mom. She stayed with us till Saturday morning and it was the best thing ever. She did everything and more and I am having withdrawals with her gone. However, I love being our own little family. I hardly know anything about being a Mom, but I do know it has made my love for my family, especially Nate, go up so much and I already am so so much more thankful for my Mom and all the mothers in the world. Here's to you Mom's; keep up the fantastic work! :)

And now, a picture overload: