Back from an insane couple of weeks!

I have now endured what ultimate stress feels like, choosing between mom and teacher duties, and finishing off my first full quarter back to work as a mom.

Over these past couple of weeks, we've pretty much just "kept swimming" (in the words of our favorite, Dory), but there are a couple of great milestones to celebrate.

First, Emerson has slept through the night, from about 8-5:30 or so, about 5 times already. I don't let myself get too excited about these nights, as they are rare, and in between we had a few nights of him waking up every 2 hours again, as if he were back in the newborn stage.

Second, we are celebrating the year anniversary of when we found out we were expecting Emerson. I can't believe that a year ago I was filled with pleasant surprise and anticipation as we found out that the tiny inkling I felt deep down (that I was pregnant) was actually reality. I did not expect things to move as quickly as they have this past year.

We are also celebrating Emerson's first trip to Colorado (3rd time on a plane) but I will definitely be sharing more about that later.

Happy Spring Break (if you are one of the fortunate who have one). If not, happy March!

All bundled up for the Colorado weather

I captured the evidence

What I've learned thus far...

Today was supposed to be my due date. I had thought my entire pregnancy that even today was too early to expect little Blueberry to arrive. Boy, did I learn an important lesson in not having everything go as planned...

This brings me to reflect on the lessons I've already learned in the short 2.5 weeks since I've officially become a mom. First, I must have some sort of sixth sense because I somehow felt that I was going to go into labor the night I did, and asked Kyle to come home from his guys' night. Now I can tell that this "instinct" to parent is most definitely real, as all the "ideas" I have in my head, such as how to calm Emerson down when he is grumpy, seem to work in reality when I implement them. Today, for example, Emerson was not happy, and would cry if he wasn't eating. He didn't nap like usual, so I assume he is over tired, and is only turning to hunger because, like an adult, he doesn't know what else to do. So, my idea was to distract him, take him outside on a walk where he couldn't concentrate on being hungry or sleepy, and wouldn't you know, he immediately stopped crying in the fresh air and sunshine and was happy as a clam until the minute we walked back into the house. It was seriously instantaneous crying once we were back home until he got to eat again. But the experience helped to get him back into his feeding routine.

The next thing that I've learned is that the SIMS in NO WAY really helps to simulate parenting. The reason I bring this up is because back in 2000, around the time the SIMS was released, my siblings and I had a little problem with fighting over who got the most computer time to play the game. I remember my summer home from college and staying up all night to play so I wouldn't have to share the computer with my family. In this game, if your characters had a baby, for 3 computer-simulated days you would have to be prepared to wake up at any given moment and feed the baby, rock the baby, sing to the baby, play with the baby... Then, magically, after 3 days, the baby became a kid. Then you never knew what your kid would look like. Sometimes they were annoying kids. In one famous incident, my sister locked her kid out of the house until it died because it was too ugly. (There are many embarrassing stories about my characters, too, but not dealing with the parenting of the game). Well, SIMS, your simulated parenting in NO WAY helped me to prepare for the challenges of actual parenting. Kyle will be the first to tell you that every time it is feeding time in the middle of the night, I ask for "just 5 more minutes" before I can get up the energy to go get Emerson out of his crib and stay up with him for an hour to eat. To minimize the monotony, I play a lot of Mahjong on my phone. (That was a highly alliterative sentence). So, I guess what I've learned is that this really is a challenge that you can, in no way, prepare fully for, or understand the difficulty of, until you have experienced it.

I have also learned that I can pretty much immediately fall asleep on demand now, knowing how precious a commodity true sleep is.

I have learned that eating with one hand while nursing a baby is a valuable skill.

I have learned that having backup clothes readily available at all times is essential, for Emerson can pee all over everything at any given moment. Backup clothes for him and you, the parent, that is.

I have learned that the great outdoors really is helpful for a little man named after the great Transcendentalist, Emerson.

I have learned to ask for help (although I am still really bad at it) and to trust in the help that I receive (like from my coworkers who had to step it up to get my sub transitioned).

I have learned that daytime TV is horrible. Except for HGTV.

I have mostly learned that I can't control, plan or count on anything going smoothly when I am no longer the one making the calls in the family. I've had to change and cancel plans because of feeding schedules, and I've had to let some things I've wanted to do go, like attending the grand opening of the new J.Crew outlet store.

But most of all, I've learned that I truly love and appreciate my family, all of it, from my parents and in-laws, to those who are considered family but not by blood. And of course, above all else, I love my husband and my little one more that I'd ever imagined. Even if I am just a food cow and an incubator for them...

My eyes are open more and more often these days!

Dad likes to nap with me on the couch.

Well, at least one Davis is early!

I know it has been 9 days since it all went down in a blaze of midnight glory, but I have to share the wonders of Blueberry's latest adventure- BIRTH!

Announcing our wonderful, adorable, lovable, and perfect little man-

Emerson Ryder Davis!

Born October 16, 2013 at 6:07 a.m.

Weighing in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces

19 inches long

Here is the REST of the story! (It is rather long, but I really don't want to forget all these details!)

Having already planned to give birth at Mercy Gilbert Hospital, we had luckily toured, registered, and taken our classes (as you already read about), but other than that, we really weren't ready for our little bundle to decide to join us nearly 3 weeks early! I was at 37 weeks, 3 days, and had no indication of early labor at all throughout the pregnancy, much less the day he decided to arrive!

At about 11:00 p.m. on October 15, after returning to work following my 2-week fall break, I had just finished a really productive day after the best sleep I had had in days. I got most of my work done in a timely manner that Tuesday, feeling really confident in my ability to finish the rest of it in the following 2 weeks until my maternity leave was set to start. I always spend Tuesday nights on my own, since it is Kyle's guys' night out, and so I had attended prenatal yoga, had dinner on my own (a salad), talked to my mom about my last blog post and her concerns about my mental health after reading it, and settled in for the night. I was feeling restless, which is not uncommon for me on the night before going back to work. I sent Kyle a text and asked him when he was planning on heading home. He joked that he was going to the casino, but showed up about 11:30. By this point, I had a terrible back ache, and politely begged him for a tennis ball massage of my lower back. Again, this is not uncommon to me by this point, as my back has hurt more and more throughout the third trimester.

And then... I turned over in bed and felt the pop. That indescribable, but undeniable popping sound and sensation that told me things were about to change for the rest of my life! I remember just laying there, wondering when I'd feel the gush of my water breaking. Baby Blue was still moving about, but it took about 5 minutes before I felt the warm sensation like I had just peed. But I didn't pee. I started to call out Kyle's name. I called, and called, and then finally, I called. No, I mean, like picked up my cell phone and called him. He was just downstairs, in a zone of video games and TV. I feel the need to revisit one of my popular wedding blog post's genre at this point to depict the six hours that followed more accurately.

Kyle: Hello? What's up hon? (probably expecting me to whine about needing another back rub or some water.)
Erica: Honey, my water just broke. I need you to come up here and bring me a towel.
Kyle: Like, your water broke, like this is labor. Like this is the real thing?

[10 seconds later, Kyle arrives at the door, runs in the bathroom closet and grabs a grubby old towel, hands it to me]

Erica: Ok, I am going to head to the bathroom to check this out.
Kyle: (already beginning to get frantic) Ok, well, this is really happening, huh? Are you having contractions?
Erica: No, not really contracting, but feeling the adrenaline and now I'm wide awake.

[In the bathroom, I'll spare you the details, but the decision is made that my water has most definitely broken. 4 towels and some time later:]

Kyle: Should we call the doctor?
Erica: Yes, probably, who else can we call. Oh wait, it is 12:30, your brother is just getting home from work. Call him!
Kyle: (calling his brother) Casey, so lets just say someone's water just broke. What should we do now?
(not sure what happened at this point as I was distracted and only heard Kyle talking about getting stuff together).
Erica: I should probably call the doctor.

[Dials the doctor, pushes 0 to get the doctor on call, gets transferred to an answer service, waits to get transferred to doctor, doctor is not answering, gets answer service to leave doctor a message. 5 minutes later, the phone rings in a call back from the doctor. Doctor tells me it is ok to wait a little bit, to pack up and take a shower, but that once your water breaks, you should try to get to the hospital pretty quickly.]

And the rest of the play looks a little like one of those sketch comedy segments that they run in fast forward to emphasize the chaos of the situation. I get in the shower, while my water continues to "break", and Kyle runs around getting things together to bring to the hospital. The following list includes all that we did in that hour before getting in the car to head to the hospital:
-Packed clothes for Kyle, and some PJs and robe for me.
-I showered and then had to change about 3 times due to the mess. Finally settled on a tank, sweater, and sweats that I didn't care about, and grabbed an extra towel.
-Started laundry as we hadn't washed any of the baby's clothes.
-Called Casey and Karen and sent texts to the rest of the family that "It was time!"
-Called my mom (for the following 3 hours) until she finally realizes that a phone has been ringing and calls Kyle back
-Downloaded a contraction tracking app for our phones
-Started contractions that weren't too painful or frequent at first, for about 25 minutes, but progressed to 5 minutes apart by the time we got in the car

I know this is a lot of information by this time. Thank you if you are still reading.

We arrived at Mercy at about 2:00. By this point, I had 3-4 painful contractions. I wanted to be on all fours or standing, so the car ride was excruciating. In the ER, no one is at the check in desk. No one is in the waiting area. Kyle finally calls out to get an answer. As we are checked in, I am standing with my head down on the counter. Luckily Kyle thrusts my ID and insurance card at the clerk. A wheelchair arrives. My contractions are about 3 minutes apart by now. WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

I get to triage. They tell me to put on the robe and then leave a urine sample. I could have given them a sample of amniotic fluid, it was all over the floor (sorry for the over-share), but not urine as I was then in a lot of pain and contractions were pretty much constant. I was in triage for about 3 minutes and they moved to admit me into a labor room.

The nurse came in, all I remember is requesting an epidural. They made me lay down to get my IV and to draw my blood, which I don't even remember. I remember gripping onto the sides of the bed and pulling while I fought through the pain. I had some serious back labor, so laying down was the LAST thing I wanted to do. I got hooked up to the contraction and fetal heart monitors. Then the nurse checked my dilation.

8.5 centimeters!!! WHAT THE CRAP!? It was only 2 hours since my water broke and I was about ready to push out a baby?! This is my first pregnancy, right? The one where labor is supposed to last 24 hours and move at a snail's pace. My only concern was that I was too late to get the epidural. I almost panicked.

Then my best friend arrived. The anesthesiologist. I love him. Somehow, by some miracle, he was available, and arrived by 3:00 a.m. to administer my epidural. Even though watching a video of one had previously freaked me out, at that moment, I didn't care as all I wanted was the pain to stop. I somehow fought through one last strong contraction sitting perfectly still (most likely because Kyle whispered to me that it was the last one I had to feel), and then PURE HEAVEN! I felt nothing. I made the comment "Why doesn't everyone get one of these?!" I lay down, completely relaxed. This was the point where Kyle finally got a hold of my mom and she headed on her way to the hospital. I had also made Kyle log in to my computer and get a sub for the following school day for me. The nurse came back and told me I was too numb to push, but was at 9 centimeters. I took a nap.

Mom and Kyle were great to assist me during labor pushes, which I started sometime after 4:00 a.m. I think I only had to bear down about 7-8 times (sets of 3 pushes during contractions) and I had Emerson Ryder on my chest. Being a little early, he didn't want to take his big breaths, and he had to spend a little time in the nursery with some oxygen, but he was here, and I couldn't believe it was all over after only 6 hours.

So, in the grand scheme of labor stories, I had a pretty great one. The rest of the 48 hours in the hospital are for another post, but now you all know about Blueberry's latest adventure... his whirlwind appearance into this wonderful world.

And henceforth, Blueberry shall be referred to as Emerson!

Pictures:

Pre-birth, post epidural

Emerson's first photo- not too bad for a new, newborn!

Weighing the little man

The cutest little feet- he got his dad's!

First mother-son picture (his eyes are gunky from the solution they put in them at birth!)

Stats

First picture of father and son!

Our "professional" hospital shot

A New Meaning to Labor Day

As a teacher, I just got my first day off of the school year (6 full weeks without a break!), with Labor Day. But I can't help but contemplate that "labor" will mean so much more to me in just 9 shorts weeks. That is right, only 2 months from today is my due date. I usually feel like 2 months is a long time, but when it comes to waiting on a baby to arrive, 2 months does not seem like nearly enough time to feel ready.

We spent our Labor Day weekend busy as usual. From bridal showers to pool parties, to dinners with friends and some catch up on TV, we sure know how to fill up a weekend. We even spent some time doing manual labor as we finally started to paint the baby's room!

Sneak peak picture for you...

Sorry for the finger glare... one of these is the color we chose for the accent wall!!

And it is hard to tell, but this is the gray base!

Hope you all had a relaxing and safe Labor Day weekend!

The Stats

Due Date: November 3, 2013

Currently at 21 Weeks

Baby is about 12 ounces, 10.5 inches from head to heel

Gender: ?????? :)