Hustla, baby.: Lexi's Birth Story

Warning: Somewhat graphic. If you don’t want to hear about mucous plugs and blood clots, exit out of this now. Read at your own risk!

Alexis Makayla --- 01/16/10;; 7 lbs. 2 oz. 20 in.

About a year after Ryan left Nevaeh and I, Tom came back into my life. We had dated when we were younger, but hadn’t seen eachother in a few years. We bumped into eachother at Walgreens and started hanging out again, and started dating shortly after that. We had only been dating for 4 months when we found out I was pregnant. With this pregnancy I knew I was pregnant immediately. I actually took a test when I was about 4 weeks pregnant, but it came up negative because I wasn’t far enough along yet for it to detect my pregnancy. After taking another test at 7 weeks, a positive result came up. Tom and I weren’t planning on kids for a long time. Once again, I started hysterically crying and called my mom. She talked me through everything and eventually I got excited about the pregnancy. This pregnancy was a lot more difficult than my first. I was 10x more tired, I had horrible morning sickness (I couldn’t get out of bed for a few hours everyday because every time I did, I’d throw up), and I got carsick constantly. (I had never been carsick before this pregnancy.) Heartburn was horrible, and once again I was considered high-risk. Alexis (Lexi) was born on her exact due date.

I woke up at 6 A.M. on 01/16/10, and I noticed very very minor cramping. I had been cramping on and off throughout the last month of my pregnancy, so I didn’t think anything of it. I went out and ran some errands with Tom and Nevaeh. By the time we got home, the cramping was getting worse, and I realized that these were real contractions. My mom was in town and she was really excited. I took a nap for a couple hours until the contractions got too painful to sleep through. When Tom and I woke up from our nap, he told me he was going to stop home for a little bit, and after a death glare from me he decided to stay. I packed my hospital bag and told my dad I was going to the hospital. By this time, contractions were unbearable, and I couldn’t walk, talk, or even breathe through them. My mom took us to Tom’s house to pick up his car, and he decided to fill the tires with air, get gas, and take his precious time with everything. I was so pissed. When we finally got to the hospital, I remember that guy that sings “Pants on the Ground” was on TV in the waiting room. They wheeled me back and I couldn’t even sign the papers but they said I had to so I just scribbled on them and tried to focus through my contractions. When we got up to the labor and delivery floor, no one was there. I just walked into the first empty room I saw, ripped off all of my clothes, and told Tom to go find a nurse. When the nurse walked in the room, she looked confused and I told her no one was there so I picked my own room. She made me pee in a bedpan because she didn’t want me walking to the bathroom. At this point I was screaming through my contractions. The doctor came in and checked me and told me I was 9.5 centimeters dilated. I told her I wanted an epidural, and she told me it was too late. I started screaming and crying because I was in so much pain, and wanted to rip her head off of her shoulders. Tom was sitting next to the bed focusing on my cell phone, and I could tell he was super uncomfortable and scared. I didn't even care what he was doing at that point, I was in so much pain. After about 10 failed attempts at trying to get an IV in me, they called a specialist. I told the doctor I felt like I needed to push, and she told me to wait. I couldn’t help it, my body was pushing by itself. My water broke and splashed all over the doctor and nurse, and it was pretty funny because they deserved it. Bitches. They were SO bitchy toward me. The specialist was still trying to get a vein to put the IV in, but I told him to stop because there was no point, I was already pushing. I remember making these crazy grunting noises, and Tom said I sounded possessed. How sweet of him. Once again I pooped while pushing, but at that point I could care less what I looked like to everyone. I wasn't embarrassed at all. After 2 pushes, the doctor said that the head was out. 1 more push and Lexi’s body was out. We didn’t know the sex, and when they said “it’s a girl”, we both looked at each other shocked because we were convinced I was having a boy. I was shaking uncontrollably, it looked like I was having a seizure. The nurses reassured me that was normal. After weighing Lexi and checking her vitals, they asked if I wanted to hold her. I held her and she grabbed my pinky right away. I asked Tom if he wanted to hold her but he said “not yet” because he was nervous. Tom went downstairs to get my mom, and my mom came up and held Lexi. Nevaeh was with my mom but Tom had to watch her in the lobby because swine flu was going around at the time and they weren’t allowing any kids on the labor and delivery floor. I was taken into the recovery room a little while after that. When everyone left us alone with Lexi for the first time, Tom finally held her. Tom had been around since Nevaeh was a year old, but I had never seen him with a newborn before. Surprisingly he did great...I guess his instincts kicked in and he was so good with her from the first second he held her. She didn't stay in the room with us that night because they needed to monitor her because her breathing wasn't "strong enough" when she fell asleep (everything turned out to be fine but they just wanted to watch her for the first night). I was super emotional because I wanted her in the room with us so Tom crawled into the little ass hospital bed and slept with me. Neither one of us really slept because there was no room and the hospital bed was uncomfortable as hell anyway, but it was a sweet gesture. :)

The recovery time with Lexi was about the same as it was with Nevaeh. The first week or so I was extremely sore but after that I started getting back to normal. My boobs got gigantic again (I went from what I normally am- a 34C, to a 34DD) until the milk stopped filling them up. That was super uncomfortable... any time something even brushed against my boobs I would feel like crying. I would imagine that's close to how it would feel while recovering from a boob job. Tom thought it was hilarious that my boobs got so swollen and he thought that taking pictures would be appropriate. I wasn't amused.

Both of my birthing experiences were at the same hospital but they were SO different. Nothing went 100% as planned either time, but the end result both times was absolutely perfect, and I couldn't ask for anything more. I had a healthy baby both times, and I'm so thankful for that. :)