I was so blessed to have a pretty flawless pregnancy. Aside from the bulging belly, I had no other real signs of pregnancy, minimal morning sickness, no swelling (even in the 90 degree weather), I gained 28 pounds and managed to go through my entire pregnancy only purchasing 4 pieces of maternity clothing (2 of which I never wore). Someone up above was watching out for me.
Maternity pictures with Payton's sister, Lesley
24 weeks
Around 28 weeks I had what was supposed to be my last ultrasound, and the nurse immediately told me that our little guy was breech, meaning his head was were his feet should be and his feet were where his head should be. Things were already pretty tight in my belly, so the chance of him flipping himself were pretty slim. We briefly contemplated a procedure where the doctor would manually turn him, but decided against it after talking to people who had gone through the experience (some saying the pain was worse than their actual labor). Unless he flipped on his own, we would have to schedule a c-section for the week of my due date.
July 16, 8 days before he arrived.
As my due date approached and we made final preparations for his arrival, we had one of our last doctor's appointments where it was confirmed that he was still "head-up" and our doctor suggested we go ahead and schedule the c-section. We didn't want to have control of deciding his birth date, so we asked her to choose a date for us, and so we had what we thought would be his birthday...Monday, July 26th...my doctor's first day back from vacation. We planned to have a cook out with our family and friends the Sunday before at our house, our last "big hoorah" before the big day...and my last decent meal for at least 48 hours. Eli wasn't quite satisfied with that plan and chose to come early...
The Friday before our scheduled c-section, Payton and I decided to head to the Domain for dinner at our favorite restaurant, North. This is also were we had lunch soon after we found out we were pregnant, for my birthday, and the day we found out we were having a boy. Before dinner, we decided to go and pick up Payton's new iPhone. With any new Apple product, you don't just "go and pick it up", you go and wait in line for hours, and that is exactly what we did. We stood in line for over 2 hours so that Payton could get his new iPhone 4, and finally sat down for dinner around 9:30pm.
The next morning, Saturday, July 24th, at 8:00am, my water broke, over the toilet...how awesome is that? Not in public, or in the middle of the kitchen, while I was sitting on the toilet! I immediately called the nurse who said to head to the hospital. Because he was breech, it was important that I make it to the hospital as soon as possible so they could confirm I was in labor and schedule a c-section. Well, I hadn't washed my hair in a few days, so 2 hours later we arrived at the hospital...after I washed, dried, and curled my hair, put on makeup, and dropped the dogs off to be boarded. We called our family and told them we were headed to the hospital and everyone started to make their way to Austin.
Arriving at the hospital, the big day!
We arrived at North Austin Medical Center, checked in, and it was confirmed that I was in labor. We had ANOTHER ultrasound to confirm that booger was breech, and a c-section was immediately scheduled. Less than an hour later, I was walking myself into the operating room. I sat on the table while they got me all prepped, and again, less than 15 minutes later, Charles Eli Bridges was born. The first thing that I heard when he was born was "Wow, that's a big head, you're lucky you didn't have to deliver that head!". Payton saw him first and I saw a picture of him soon after. I can still remember the sound of that first cry, one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard! Because of my surgery, I wasn't able to hold him immediately, and was taken to the recovery room while Payton went with Eli to get his first bath and be with him while they ran the standard tests.
Our first family photo
In the recovery room, I was greeted by my dear friend, Cara, who had come to the hospital as soon as she heard the news. Next was Payton's stepfather, Calvin. My mother came soon after. The next few days are kind of a blur, but overall, we really enjoyed the time in the hospital with our newborn. The hospital was fabulous, as were the nurses. The food was great, our room was perfect (a nice big corner room), and we were almost sad to go home when it was time.
We stayed three nights in the hospital because of my c-section and during that time we had swarms of friends and family, including my mom, dad, and brother, Payton's step dad, mom, sister, niece, and nephew, my dad's parents, my aunt and cousin, my friends Cara, Alisa, Brandi and Chris, Lori, and Lindsey. Between visits from friends and family, taking care and learning about our new boy, there was little time for sleep, but we did manage a few hours every now and then. Payton stayed with me all three nights and kept me company during the day. It was such a blessing to have him around and such a blessing to have the support and love of all of our friends and family.
Payton, me, and Eli with my parents
When we were finally given the green light to head home the Tuesday after his birth, we had so many emotions running through our heads. The drive home was nerve wracking for me: he looked way too small in his carseat, like it just swallowed him up, all of the cars on the road just seemed to be buzzing by, and unless we were going 30 miles per hour, we were driving too fast!
We're finally home!
Our first few days were filled with more visitors, lots of emotions, and little sleep. Payton stayed home for the entire week and we would go for walks in the mornings and spend the rest of the day trying to keep up with Eli. When he would sleep, we would spend that time just staring at him, in awe of what we had created, and what had been in my stomache just a few days before.
Overall, I was so blessed to have a textbook pregnancy, a wonderful birth experience with some of the best doctors and nurses around, and so much love from those surrounding us. The entire experience was priceless and so beautiful!
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