Awaiting Baby Fox
As my due date drew closer, I kept waiting for that moment when I would feel
absolutely miserable. Fortunately, it never came. I would say that overall, I
had a very easy pregnancy. My biggest "complaint" was not getting as
much sleep as normal, but I think my body needed that to adjust to our new
schedule around here! But, I'm getting ahead of myself. I wanted to do one last
pre-baby post so I won't forget the weeks leading up to his birth.
Nesting for me started around 36 weeks. That's when we preregistered at the hospital. As they were getting all of our info and telling us what to expect, Kyle and I looked at each other. I can't quite describe our shared sentiment but it was somewhere in between excitement, disbelief and sheer terror. In that moment, it hit us that this was actually happening. In a matter of weeks, we would be checking into the hospital as a family of 2 and leaving as a family of 3. Were we ready? Could we handle everything that was coming? Probably not, but are you ever really ready for your whole life to change?
So my way of preparing was to focus on the things within my control. Like the nursery. We had already made good progress in there. The old office furniture had been moved to the spare bedroom, the baby furniture assembled, the walls painted and most of the decorations had been bought or given to us. Now we were ready for the finishing touches. We took several weekends to finish the job and little by little, things started coming together. By the time my 38th week rolled around, it felt so good to have that done.
Now all that was left was settling on a name and packing bags for the
hospital.
Deciding on his name was really hard for me. Much harder than I thought it would be. I had looked through books, made lists of names I liked and still nothing was really speaking to me. Kyle really wanted to pass on Gene, his middle name, since he and his father share it. So then, I started pairing my list of names with Gene to see what fit. Nothing sounded quite right. So every week or so, I would throw out some names to Kyle as we were laying in bed. Most we agreed we didn't like, but we did have a short list of about three that were contenders. When Decker came up, Kyle liked it right away. So from then on, any name we came up with, we would compare to Decker, and Decker always won out. At about 36 or 37 weeks, I was telling Kyle how stressed out I was that we hadn't found a name, and he said, "Yes we have. We both like Decker, and that's what we should name him. It really isn't that hard." Maybe he was right. I tend to over analyze decisions from time to time. If he was certain about it, perhaps we had found it. So I went out and bought letters for the nursery. (I MAY have saved the receipt just in case.)
So that checked off the name and only left packing for the hospital.
Throughout my pregnancy, I was pretty certain Decker would arrive late. I was 4
weeks overdue, so I didn't expect him to be early. So, I was in no hurry to
pack a bag. At the first appointment where my doctor checked me, he was surprised
that the baby had dropped so much. He said that was uncommon for first-time
moms but it didn't necessarily mean Decker would come sooner rather than later.
So we continued on with weekly appointments. When we showed up on January 17, I
had no idea that it would be my last check-up before baby.
The doctor came in and checked me. I was dilated to a 1-2 and 50% effaced. We listened to the heartbeat, and then the doctor said, "How do we feel about having this baby next Friday?" Kyle and I looked at each other, stunned. We hadn't even hit his due date and we were already talking about being induced! We asked the doctor if it would be better to wait until the week after his due date, but he told us it didn't work early in the week for the hospital and with first-time moms he prefers not to let the baby get too big. We weren't really sure what to do, but we agreed to be induced on his due date. Then the doctor said he didn't need to see us the next week since we'd be checking into the hospital Thursday night. So that was it. This was our last appointment and our last week before baby makes three.
What should you do on the last weekend you have before a life-changing
event? We weren't quite sure. I wanted to get a pedicure, see a movie (Hidden
Figures) and have a date night with Kyle. He agreed to all of that, so we
decided Saturday night would be date night and Sunday would be the movies. I
had a birthday party to attend on Saturday night, so Kyle and I agreed to go
out just after he got home from work. On my way home from the party, I called
to make sure he didn't have a late customer. He said he had just gotten home
and would be ready to leave as soon as I got there. As I got closer, I called
him to let him know I was turning into the driveway, but there was no answer. I
walked in to find him doubled over in pain.
Ever since he got sick in December, he feared he had another hernia. It got bad enough that we finally made an appointment with the surgeon for a consultation. He confirmed that it was a hernia and surgery was the best way forward. However, I was 39 weeks pregnant at the time, so we agreed to wait until mid to late February. The doctor explained to us the risks with waiting and the need to come to the hospital if Kyle felt like the hernia was strangulated. Well, that's what he was feeling that Saturday, so we rushed to hospital to get it checked out. I thought if we were rushing to the hospital the weekend before my due date it would be for the baby and not his daddy! Fortunately, at the ER, they were able to get everything back in place, which meant no emergency surgery. They told Kyle to just take it easy and keep an eye on things until he could get it fixed.
So that pretty much ruined date night, but we did check off all of the other
things on my list. Well, all except packing my hospital bag. In fact, I waited
until I got off work on Thursday afternoon. Talk about waiting until the last
minute! In my defense, Decker had slowed down a lot that last week. Any slight
contractions I had felt in the weeks past had stopped, so I was pretty certain
he wouldn't be getting here before his scheduled arrival.
Thursday was full of excitement for us. We both worked that day but took off early so we could get things together before it was time to check into the hospital. Both sets of parents were in town to have one last dinner with us at Freddie Paul's and to wish us well. It was just after 7 p.m. when we arrived at labor and delivery to check in. Ready or not, Decker was on his way!
Nesting for me started around 36 weeks. That's when we preregistered at the hospital. As they were getting all of our info and telling us what to expect, Kyle and I looked at each other. I can't quite describe our shared sentiment but it was somewhere in between excitement, disbelief and sheer terror. In that moment, it hit us that this was actually happening. In a matter of weeks, we would be checking into the hospital as a family of 2 and leaving as a family of 3. Were we ready? Could we handle everything that was coming? Probably not, but are you ever really ready for your whole life to change?
So my way of preparing was to focus on the things within my control. Like the nursery. We had already made good progress in there. The old office furniture had been moved to the spare bedroom, the baby furniture assembled, the walls painted and most of the decorations had been bought or given to us. Now we were ready for the finishing touches. We took several weekends to finish the job and little by little, things started coming together. By the time my 38th week rolled around, it felt so good to have that done.
Oliver was right there to help
us during all of the furniture assembly.
The finished product.
Deciding on his name was really hard for me. Much harder than I thought it would be. I had looked through books, made lists of names I liked and still nothing was really speaking to me. Kyle really wanted to pass on Gene, his middle name, since he and his father share it. So then, I started pairing my list of names with Gene to see what fit. Nothing sounded quite right. So every week or so, I would throw out some names to Kyle as we were laying in bed. Most we agreed we didn't like, but we did have a short list of about three that were contenders. When Decker came up, Kyle liked it right away. So from then on, any name we came up with, we would compare to Decker, and Decker always won out. At about 36 or 37 weeks, I was telling Kyle how stressed out I was that we hadn't found a name, and he said, "Yes we have. We both like Decker, and that's what we should name him. It really isn't that hard." Maybe he was right. I tend to over analyze decisions from time to time. If he was certain about it, perhaps we had found it. So I went out and bought letters for the nursery. (I MAY have saved the receipt just in case.)
The doctor came in and checked me. I was dilated to a 1-2 and 50% effaced. We listened to the heartbeat, and then the doctor said, "How do we feel about having this baby next Friday?" Kyle and I looked at each other, stunned. We hadn't even hit his due date and we were already talking about being induced! We asked the doctor if it would be better to wait until the week after his due date, but he told us it didn't work early in the week for the hospital and with first-time moms he prefers not to let the baby get too big. We weren't really sure what to do, but we agreed to be induced on his due date. Then the doctor said he didn't need to see us the next week since we'd be checking into the hospital Thursday night. So that was it. This was our last appointment and our last week before baby makes three.
37 weeks
38 weeks
40 weeks
Ever since he got sick in December, he feared he had another hernia. It got bad enough that we finally made an appointment with the surgeon for a consultation. He confirmed that it was a hernia and surgery was the best way forward. However, I was 39 weeks pregnant at the time, so we agreed to wait until mid to late February. The doctor explained to us the risks with waiting and the need to come to the hospital if Kyle felt like the hernia was strangulated. Well, that's what he was feeling that Saturday, so we rushed to hospital to get it checked out. I thought if we were rushing to the hospital the weekend before my due date it would be for the baby and not his daddy! Fortunately, at the ER, they were able to get everything back in place, which meant no emergency surgery. They told Kyle to just take it easy and keep an eye on things until he could get it fixed.
Thursday was full of excitement for us. We both worked that day but took off early so we could get things together before it was time to check into the hospital. Both sets of parents were in town to have one last dinner with us at Freddie Paul's and to wish us well. It was just after 7 p.m. when we arrived at labor and delivery to check in. Ready or not, Decker was on his way!
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