This was an interesting submission for me to receive, as I am the perpetual planner. Preparation is my middle name. Not really, but sort of. I am forever planning meals, vacations, my client's weddings and parties. I handle all the schedules, appointments and most date nights. Some might say I'm a control freak. I wear it like a badge of honor.
These maternity pics are so cool. I am not this cool. I can only aspire to be this cool. Morgan is my hero. I need to take a lesson from her chill book.
Hey Morgan, tell me about how you got here....
My husband, Steve, and I got married this past September and knew we wanted to start a family right away. We started trying during our honeymoon, thinking it would take a few months so we were surprised to learn we got pregnant on the first try. When my husband proposed he said "are we gonna do this?" and the morning we found out we we're pregnant he said "I guess we're doing this!".
I approached this pregnancy the same way I approach life, with a care free and go with the flow attitude. I knew I wanted to try and have a natural birth and avoid an epidural.
However, never having done this before I told myself from the beginning that I wouldn't get upset with myself if I did decide to get an epidural. Initially to prepare I looked into having a duala and different birthing classes but at the end of the day I figured this baby was going to come weather I take a class or not so I decided to wing it! Instead I found a podcast "The Birth Hour" and listened to other women's birthing stories to prepare myself.
I think every first time mama has the same idea- go natural and know you have options. You just don't know what you are in for. I'll have to check out that podcast though, it sounds great!
My pregnancy was pretty uneventful and boring which my OB said was a good thing. I continued to do crossfit and yoga up until 38 weeks which I think that made a huge difference making the overall experience pretty easy. We had our families come out for the gender reveal, and had planned to smash eggs against our foreheads. We had 6 blue eggs and 6 pink eggs 11 were hard-boiled and the 12th was raw that held the gender. We also had a cake, that one you cut it open had the gender...because I really wanted cake. We had all 3 Grandparents filming and Steve and I took turns smashing the eggs against our foreheads. It was down to the last two a pink and blue egg. I had boasted I knew I was having a girl so Steve gave me the pink egg and at the same time we smashed our eggs to find out that we were having a baby boy! It was then we found out that none of the 3 Grandparents had actually hit "start" on their phones so none of the reveal was captured...their first duty as Grandparents and failed.
During the whole pregnancy I was never nervous or scared especially about the labor process. If anything I was looking forward and really excited about what was going to happen and to finally have my own story. So when we checked into the hospital on July 8th to get induced I was eager and ready to deliver this baby...and to see if I had what it took to have a natural delivery without medication. Turns out those contractions are not joke. I was tolerating them up until they broke my water at 6cm then it was like I was transported to another place. Steve had just returned to our hospital room with a fresh cup of coffee, before he made it across the room I yelled "get that coffee out of here!" He turned right around and walked out just as the nurse walked in who I promptly told to order the epidural. About ten minutes later I was in a happy place and Steve had his second cup of coffee.
I totally understand that!
We spent the next few hours watching the contractions on the monitor however, it was ultimately decided I was not dilating fast enough and the baby wasn't handling the contractions wells so we would need to do a c-section. Even though I wanted to deliver vaginally, a healthy baby was all that mattered. So at 10:15PM on July 9th our baby boy, Jody Ira Pine, was born! Everyone is right, there are no words to describe the feelings when you first see that little face. It felt like I've known him forever but just hadn't seen him in a while. He's our new favorite and we are beyond obsessed with our little family. We're doing this!
Photos: Micheal Segal Photography
Santa Monica California