Three years later.... Remi is born

I have not opened this blog in three years. In fact I just closed my domain name account a month ago. I figured I needed a space to share our life events if for nothing else, but for me. I loved being able to look back on my pregnancy with Riley while I was pregnant with Remi and I'm a bit sad I didn't document more of Remi's pregnancy but I do have the weekly belly photos! I wanted to share his birth story here.

our first family photo as a family of FOUR

Remi's Birth Story

At my 38 week appointment on a Wednesday, I expressed my concerns of having a large baby. I had been told over and over that baby number two is typically bigger and boys are bigger. With the experience, I had during Riley’s birth and almost having to have a C-section, I wanted to not go over my due date. Dr. Andrews offered to go ahead and schedule me for the following week. I kind of freaked out and told him I would wait until the following Monday for my next appointment before I scheduled anything. Monday came and I expressed the same concerns to the doctor. She walked out of the room and came back in saying “check in Wednesday at 9:30am with Dr. Jarvis and Duke Regional.” I went through every feeling possible now. Not to mention mom and dad had plans with the company Wednesday.

We decided for Grandy and Pawpaw to hang out with Riley that morning and after we got checked in and things started, Mamo and Gigi would join us at the hospital. We all had a feeling things would go a lot faster this time around. (Riley was 19 hours of labor at the hospital and 3.5 hours of pushing.)

We woke up Wednesday morning and I had Michael run to Harris Teeter at 6am to get balloons for Riley while I made her a sign that said “Happy Big Sister Day!” I’m not sure why I thought to do this at 6am and not the night before. She woke up at 8:30 and was so excited. She got a chocolate donut and a few prizes and of course loved her balloons. We walked her next door to mom and dad’s so we could head out.

I hugged her goodbye and told her I would see her later that day for her to meet her baby brother. Then I hugged my mom and that’s when I lost it and couldn’t hug anyone else. I did manage to get up to the office to hug my dad.

That drive to the hospital was SO long. We hit every single light, construction zone, school zone… you name it. That is also when I decided my kids will never go to DSA. That traffic is insane. We got there right before 9:30 and it was starting to rain so Michael dropped me off at the front door and went to park. When he got inside, we headed to the 4th floor. We told them my name and they took us back. We got to choose between room 4 and 5 and we picked 5 because it had a window and reminded us of the room Riley was born in.

That’s when we sat there and sat there and sat there. Now looking back, I’m surprised they didn’t reschedule us. When she brought me a gown, Michael and I struggled for a while to get it on… who knew you had to snap the sleeves first for it to even resemble something to wear and not a sheet. It was funny. We sat some more… My nurse came in around 10:30 and started asking me all of the questions about our family history, etc. She hooked up my IV and took my blood pressure. At 11:45, Dr. Jarvis finally got to me and she broke my water at 11:50. Then we were told to wait for the contractions to get worse. They started Pitocin before the water was broken and upped it a bit afterwards. I labroed until 3:00 when I finally asked for an epidural because they started getting pretty bad. It wasn’t until 3:50 when they finally got to me because of some pharmacy approval they were waiting on. My nurse was amazing. Her name was Lauren and she was fairly new but she was great.

At 5:40 Dr. Jarvis came to check me and I was at 8cm. She had to go to take care of some other patients and told me I would be ready to push by 7pm (tip off for the Carolina/State game!) I asked how I would know if it was sooner if she was not coming back until 7 and she told me when I felt constant pressure to let them know. I was given a big ball to put between my legs and they kept rotating me side to side to keep my epi flowing. At 7 I got a new nurse. She was actually the nurse I had when we had to go for the 4 hour NST a month prior. Her name was Casey and she was also great. She immediately pulled the ball out and told me to let her know if I felt constant pressure. At this time I kept telling everyone I felt pressure but it was n’t constant because I kept hitting my epidural button and it took the edge off. At this time, Casey informed me that Dr. Jarvis was in on an emergency and she would be at least another hour. She told me there was another doctor in the hall if I wanted her to check me. Looking back, Casey knew how far I had progressed and knew if she checked me she would be forced to call in the other doctor. I told them so many times I REALLY wanted Dr. Jarvis to deliver so she kept waiting.

At this point, dad and Mike and Riley were there and Tyler had almost arrived from NYC in his uber from the airport. They watched the game in the waiting room and Riley got to come see me. I was sad because I had told her all day it was big sister day and she was absolutely exhausted and ready to go home.

At 10:20 Mike and Tyler came to say goodbye and they were heading to take Riley to bed. I was super sad because I wanted her to meet her baby brother. I was scared because I knew how bad it hurt giving birth to Riley and knew that was coming soon. I hugged her goodbye and laid there bored out of my mind and starving. Ten minutes later, Dr. Jarvis walked in the room and I was shocked to see her. She walked to the foot of the bed and lifted the sheet. I was crying and said “Is his birthday going to be today?” She turned and looked and the clock and laughed. She said “Yes! Did Riley have hair?”I said yes and she responded “It looks like he does too!” I couldn’t move my legs at this point because the epidural was that good and she pulled out the stirrups and started putting on gloves. The nurse started telling mom to push the call button and they started flopping my legs into the stirrups. Dr. Jarvis told me to push and I thought she meant like push my body to the bottom of the bed so I said “I can’t “ and she said “push like you are trying to poop!” So I did and then I freaked out and said I was scared it was going to hurt. She laughed again and said “Are you hurting now? If not you are not going to hurt.” I didn’t realize his head was already out. I pushed three times and he was plopped up onto my chest. 10:40pm. His cord was wrapped around his neck but not tightly. I just remember asking if he was OK because he wasn’t crying. They suctioned his little throat and he let out the most beautiful cry. Three pushes! THREE! I felt NOTHING. Nothing at all. It was seriously the most picture perfect labor and birth ever.

We didn’t really even get any birth pictures because it all happened so fast. I didn’t even realize Mike and Tyler had turned around with Riley so she could come meet him and mom sent her into the room before I was even completely covered. I got to have skin to skin for over an hour and Riley got to meet him within twenty minutes of him being born. It was just perfect. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

Happy birthday, Remi Michael.