My due date wasn't until the 4th of July, my family went on a week long vacation, my photog bestie just left for Cancun, I barely had anything in my hospital bag, and I still had errands to run before the baby got here. But he didn't care about any of that....
Thursday, June 19th...
Sophie had a photo shoot or a magazine cover, so the girls & I woke up early to eat breakfast and get ready for the day. I knew I only had a couple of weeks left until the baby got here, so I wanted to make the most of the fact that I wasn't in pajama's all day and decided to run errands after her photo shoot. So we left the house and headed out for Sophie's 15 seconds of fame. lol
After we were done doing Sophie's thing, we went for frozen yogurt and shopping. We we're gone from about 10:30AM until around 4PM. Once we got home Ray was here so we went to go have dinner, and then I made him take me to Target for more last minute things I needed to get the baby. Running errands was getting really hard for me to do by myself, with the wobbling and having to go to the bathroom every time I got out of the car & all... So we got home at about 11PM and Ray and the girls relaxed in the living room and fell asleep to a movie. I on the other hand, just HAD to learn how to use the sewing machine my mom let me borrow while she was on vacation. I mean, the baby was coming, and I just needed to learn how to sew before he got here, right? (rolling my eyes at myself right now) 2AM came before I knew it, so I decided now is a good time to get some rest. I woke up not even an hour later having to go to the bathroom. And when you're pregnant, ignoring a bathroom call isn't as easy as it was pre-basketball belly. I was spotting when I went to the RR, so I went ahead and called the overnight number for my doctor and was told to go ahead and go into the hospital. After getting Ray up, and getting dressed we got to the hospital around 2:44AM. I know, I got some really great rest, be jealous. Anyways....They admitted me and we waited to hear what was happening. I called my mom and sister who were in Florida for our annual summer vacation. Yeah don't even get me started on how bummed I am that I had to miss it this year. Even though my sister insisted we go, because I wasn't going to go into labor that week, she just knew it. I let my mom know what was going on, & she was pretty bummed because she knew as soon as they left this would be her luck. She has been in the delivery room for every one of my kids being born. But they were coming back in 2 days so she told me to keep her updated. I had only dilated 3 centimeters, and after being there until 6AM, I was still at 3 centimeters, so the nurse said they were going to send me home and that I needed to come back once I was in labor. Funny, thought I was in labor, with the labor pains I was having and all... By the time we made it home I was in more pain. We tried to lay down but I had a contraction every 3-5 minutes and they were starting to hurt like hell. So Ray put me in the bathtub where I stayed for a goood while. I didn't want to get out. I wouldn't have gotten out. But Ray made me. Once I got out I couldn't stop crying from the pain, and I had started bleeding a lot, so I threw on clothes and we rushed back to the hospital. Sophie didn't want to stay home, so she went with us. I figured I would get into a room and enough time would pass where someone would be there to take Sophie while I was having the baby. Nope. But we'll get to that in a minute. The car ride was pretty intense. I was screaming and crying. I was trying so hard not to because I didn't want to scare Sophie but she kept saying "its ok mommy, the baby's hurting you". lol Yeah, something like that. 8:55AM and we are at the hospital. I am trying my hardest to walk into the hospital without stopping from the contractions. As soon as I walk in they put me into a wheel chair and start asking me annoying questions..."what is your name" "is this your first baby" "how many pregnancies have you had" "what is your doctors name"..... Can't you ask me this once I'm in a bed?! Wouldn't you know this already if I wasn't sent home?! They rush me to the elevator to try to make it up to Labor & Delivery, but before the elevator door could even open, my water breaks and I can FEEL his head ready to come out. They had to turn around and rush me into the first ER bed they see. I had to push. I wanted to push. I didn't have any drugs. I wanted drugs. I really wanted drugs. But I didn't have time. There was so much commotion, I don't even remember how many doctor's and nurses were in there, but I do remember who was in there...Sophie. She saw everything. And I mean everything. Again just like in the car I thought she would be scared to see her brother being born, but she was excited. She was ecstatic. Ray told her to stay in the corner and cover her eyes, but instead she stood on the chair in the corner smiling and watching. 9:08AM and Phoenix was born. Thank goodness, it was quick since I wasn't able to be drugged up. Which in all honesty, I was scared, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
Remember how I told you my photog best friend was in Cancun? Well she had JUST left for vacation and she was suppose to photograph my birth. And if she couldn't make it for some reason, my sister was going to do it. But Phoenix decided to come when both of them were unavailable. One of the nurses asked if we had a camera, and when Ray grabbed it she started snapping photos. Since I shoot newborns indoors my settings were already set up for indoors, but they weren't perfect. So I got a lot of blurry shots, but I did get a couple of good ones, and that was okay with me.
Every time nurses came in to check on me, Sophie would put gloves on and stand next to them.
This is the last photo I took that Thursday before we went to run errands. My last photo with Phoenix in my belly. 38 weeks pregnant and I could still paint my toes. Huge accomplishment! ;)
-Nicole
