Baby Sawyer Meadows decided that he wanted to hang out a little longer than expected with mom before making his official appearance into the world. I was due to have him on Friday, December 16th. After four days of no baby, I had a false alarm on the following Tuesday night, and I did something that you should all know I swore I would never do. I said so many times, "I will not be that girl who shows up at the hospital until I am SURE that I am ready to deliver"...Well, on Tuesday afternoon, I started feeling a little weird and scared myself into thinking I was in labor, so I called Steven at work. He came home a little early in order to take me to the hospital. After spending about two hours hooked up to the monitor and talking it over with my nurse, I was released and told that I was not actually in labor. I left that night feeling a little ridiculous and growing more anxious by the minute. On Wednesday, I had an appointment at the Women's clinic. My doctor told me that they were going to try to induce me the following afternoon. Both sets of future grandparents were already on their way to New Bern. Mr. Steve and Mrs. Theo arrived at around 9:30; not expecting anything to happen that night, we sat up visiting with one another until around midnight. Later, after changing clothes and getting ready for bed, I reached over to turn on the fan in my room when suddenly my water broke. I will not go into detail on here, but wowza, no matter how much I prepared myself or how much reading about the whole scenario I did beforehand, nothing could have prepared me for that experience...
We made it to the hospital around 1:00 that morning. I wasn't really feeling any hard contractions at the time, so they advised me to take a nap until "the real pain starts". However, napping was not in the cards for me that night. I was so anxious about Sawyer's arrival, not to mention the impending "real pain" starting. So instead, I turned on the television and watched a couple of cheesey but comforting Lifetime Christmas movies while Steven rested in the recliner. The next morning was a blurr. I started to feel my contractions more and more, so they offered to give me some pain medicine because I was still not dialated enough to administer the epidural at that point. My nurse warned me that it would make me a little drowsy, but I had no idea that it would almost knock me out for a couple of hours (Steven says I was trying to talk to him, but I was slurring all my words together and made no sense...I have no recollection of any of this happening).
Later that morning, I was far enough along that I was given my epidural, but I knew something was wrong because I never felt any difference...by Thursday afternoon, I was definitely feeling the "real pain" and couldn't believe the epidural had not kicked in yet. After trying my best not to be a diva and complain, I called the nurse in and told her how I felt. While she was listening to me complain, Steven pointed to the top of my bed where the epidural tubes were draped and said "Is her bed supposed to be wet like that?" The nurse looked at it and said "Oh no, there's a hole in her tubing." The whole time the epidural had been pouring out of the tube on to my bedding, which is why I never felt the medicine. This was figured out at approximately 4:50... I was in pushing by 5:15; you do the math. Who's the girl who said, "I would rather die than have a baby without an epidural!" Yep, this girl. I have been eating my words a lot here lately! The good part is the Lord blessed me with a very short delivery process. I only pushed 10 times or so and Sawyer was here. Steven was a champ during the entire delivery. I would not have been able to do it without him!
At 5:33 Steven Sawyer Meadows was born. He was officially 20 and 1/2 inches long, weighed 7 pounds and 14 ounces, had all of his fingers and toes, and was sporting the cutest chubby cheeks I had ever seen!
As soon as I saw him, my world changed forever. I just couldn't believe something so perfect could be mine. It was a day that I will never forget. I thank the Lord every day for such a precious moment in my life.
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| Love |
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| We were so happy! |
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| Chubby Checker |
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| Proud Grandparents |
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| Big Papa |
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| Nana B |
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| Uncle T |
I was so very thankful to have so many friends and family at the hospital. I felt so very blessed!
It was a very special moment. No matter how much you read or the number of people who tell you what to expect, it's not until you experience it, that you realize how much a child changes your life. Other than salvation, I feel motherhood is the greatest gift God allows women. This grandmothering is pretty cool too. Love you.
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