Merritt's Birth Story

I've been wanting to get this post up for awhile! I wanted to make sure to journal Merritt's arrival before I forget all the details. Yes, it's probably better to FORGET some of those moments, but I thought it would be nice to go back and read him this story some day.

I remember feeling my first contraction on Friday morning, August 22nd, 2014. I already had a doctors appointment scheduled for that morning at 10:00am so it worked out pretty well. My mom and I went into the doctors office and they confirmed that I was contracting (about every 5-6 minutes). They sent us home, with the understanding that it could be several days before things might actually get moving. But I knew otherwise! My mom had actually planned to leave that day to head back to Salisbury (I wasn't due for another week) but she obviously opted to stay.

We decided to head to the hospital later that night, around 6:00pm. My contractions were closer to 3 minutes apart and getting more and more uncomfortable. I was assigned a room and checked to see if I was dilated, which I was not. AT ALL. So we decided to wait around for a few hours to see if things might progress. Thomas and Mom both took turns walking the hallways with me.

After several hours, I was checked again and still was not showing any dilation. I was so upset at this point. I had really hoped for at least a little progress. So my options from here were to head home and wait it out.. or to be induced. I really wanted things to progress naturally so I opted to head home.

This was by far the longest night of my life. My contractions were steadily happening every 3 minutes... and it was to the point that I was DREADING when that 3 minute period was up. I tried sitting, I tried standing, I tried the bathtub, I tried the shower, I tried holding on to the back of the couch.. NOTHING helped. I was so incredibly miserable. But luckily, morning came and I decided we had to get back to the hospital. I couldn't take another minute at home. I had been up all night and I was physically exhausted.

We checked in Saturday morning, where I found out I was 4 cm dilated. I almost immediately got my epidural and I've never felt such instant relief. It was one of the happiest moments of my life!

The rest of the morning and afternoon were pretty low key. My dad traveled down from North Carolina and met us at the hospital.. and I was able to get in a quick nap before the delivery.

Merritt arrived at 4:48 Saturday afternoon. It was a smooth delivery with no complications.

We had a few visitors at the hospital, including my parents, thomas' parents, and some friends of ours, Blake and Jen.

We did end up spending at extra 48 hours in the hospital because Merritt had Jaundice. He didn't enjoy being under the lights in his bassinet, but we pushed through and eventually made it home.

Merritt is just over 2 months old now and I actually have found time to blog! WHAT?! The first 2 months were a little rocky, but we've witnessed a much happier baby over the past 2 weeks and we are thrilled! He smiles and babbles all the time, as well as just happily hangs out in between feedings. That was UNHEARD of several weeks ago. He was constantly upset, with the two of us trying to decipher what was wrong.

We're so thrilled that Merritt is finally here. Its surreal. We both couldn't have imagined how much we could love this little guy- but he's definitely changed our lives forever!

Thomas' new Office!

We've been busy trying to get Thomas moved out of the babies room and into his new office, which is currently our formal living room (that we don't use). My dad came down several weeks ago and we installed french doors to close off both openings to the room.

Luckily we were able to do a set of french doors and a transom window in each opening with minimal sheet rock work. 

We've been working off and on for a couple weeks to get the doors and trim painted. You'd be surprised how long it takes to put 2 coats of paint of doors that have a million little cracks and crevices. Luckily, my in-laws came down this past weekend and helped Thomas finish up while I was gone. They finished all of the interior trim and also managed to paint the walls and ceiling of the room. There is still a little organizing to be done but its starting to come together!

After a little more painting on the adjacent rooms and a little organization in the office itself, we'll be done! And now the babies room is completely empty and we can get to work in there also! More pictures of those projects to come...

Pregnancy Progress...

A few facts to note during this pregnancy so far!

Favorite Food: In the beginning (while in survival mode), Pop Tarts and Nilla Waffers; favorite food now- strawberries, bagels with cream cheese, Now and Laters, Japanese Food, and apples

Morning Sickness: YES! More like all day sickness for a solid 13 weeks

Exercise of Choice: Swimming and Walking :)

When we found out we were Pregnant: A few days before Christmas

How we told our Families: In person over the Holidays

Due Date: August 28th

How many weeks to date?: 20 weeks, 5 days

Gender: BOY!

Name: Still to be decided!

Other things to note: Baby Tuck likes to move a lot at night time, I'm really uncomfortable wearing anything but dresses and my favorite baby books so far are Consumer Reports: Best Baby Products, The Hot Mom to be Handbook, and What to Expect When Your Expecting

9 weeks

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20 weeks