THE STORY OF GIO
Gio’s first year has been such a crazy ride!
I remember other moms telling me to savor every moment because it goes by so quick. I believed them, but I guess I just didn’t realize how quick they were talking!!
Going through old photos & videos brought back so many memories. It reminded me of how tiny he was, all the little sounds he made (which you obviously can’t hear in this video, haha), how far he’s come & how lucky we are to have him. I’m so thankful for this child & all the joy he’s brought into our lives.
Below I’ve written the main highlights of Gio’s birth. I’m working on an in-depth post where I share all the details, my feelings etc.
The (TL;DR) Story of Gio’s birth:
It was just before midnight on February 26, 2014 when my water broke. I had just finished going to the bathroom so I kept questioning if that was what had actually happened. Tom noticed I was in there for a while & asked, “Babe? Are you ok in there?”
Me: “Yeah………………………….. I think my water just broke.”
Tom’s response? (nervously) “Uhhhhhh are you sure?”
Me: “Yeah.. I’m pretty sure”
*silence*
Me: “Honey?”
Tom: “So, we’re doing this?”
Me: “Uh….. Yeah…….”
So we grabbed the hospital bag & headed out. After a 45 minute drive we made it to the hospital. The nurse was pretty positive that my water didn’t break & that I had just peed myself (her words, not mine haha). Great. After an amniotic fluid test they confirmed that yes, my water broke. Thank you! Haha. So around 3am contractions started getting more than I could handle so we called the nurse in to give me an epidural. “Ok, we need to give you saline to hydrate you & we’ll be back with the epidural when we get your test results back.”
*4am*
Me: “Did they forget?” Tom called the nurse.
Nurse: “They haven’t gotten back to me at the lab”
5am, 6am….. Tom kept checking in with them & still no results.
At this point I was screaming, sweating, crying, dry heaving & shaking. I was such a mess.
Around 7am they finally arrived with the epidural. At which point Tom left the room because he has an irrational fear of needles, haha.
I could barely sit up, I was still dry heaving & shaking. The nurse said in a firm & unsympathetic voice, “You need to sit still. If you move, I’m just going to have to do it again. So don’t move. Let’s get it right the first time” If I wasn’t so happy I was finally getting the epidural I might have slapped that lady, haha! After a small pinch I eventually started to feel the epidural kick it. I started to not feel. And for the first time I was so excited that I was having going to be able to hold my son soon!
8:52am the nurse says it’s time to get ready for pushing!
3 or 4 pushes later at 9:16am Gio was here!!! Well, that was easy.
*What I thought it would be like*
Gio comes out. I hear him crying. They clean him off & bring him to me. We do skin-to-skin. We nurse. We bond.
*What it was actually like*
Gio comes out. No crying at first. Very faint cries as they clean him off. They bring him to me for about 15 seconds before they have to take him to the nursery to be monitored. His heart rate was up & he had a hard time breathing. No skin-to-skin. No nursing. No bonding.
Apparently he came out so fast that there weren’t enough contractions to push out all the fluids in his lungs so it caused some complications & they thought he wasn’t getting enough oxygen. Tom went to the nursery & stayed with Gio while I rested. After what seemed like a lifetime, he came back & said, “G’s doing fine they just need to make sure he’s all good. We’ll get to hold him soon, though!”
They finally brought him back to us & that’s where the video starts (:
Happy birthday, Gio! We love you to the moon & back!! Here’s to a lifetime of love, laughter & special moments (:
