Hospital Birth…It’s a BOY!

My name is Nicole and this is how Landon Alexander came into the world.

I went off birth control when my husband left for Iraq hoping that when he came home for leave we would get pregnant. This way we could get all the military perks, but also so he could be here for most of the pregnancy and the birth. And it happened!! We were so excited!

My pregnancy started out horribly, however, as I had severe morning sickness resulting in 3 threatened miscarriages. All while my husband was away in Iraq. It was a very scary time, but although I did have continued morning sickness (even through labor), it did get much much better to where I only threw up every other day or so. lol.

When he got home we decided not to find out the sex and I’m so glad we didn’t find out!

Starting around 34 weeks I started having braxton hicks every 5 minutes for days on end. I was exhausted and just ready for it to be over, but I knew I had to keep Eggo (because I was preggo lol) in there for as long as possible. I knew I wanted to go natural even when I was a little girl, so I was never scared even in the slightest for what was coming.

At 12:19 am on March 22nd my water broke!! I made it to 38 weeks 4 days. I was so very excited, because I knew I was done being pregnant and our baby was coming!! I soaked through 3 towels, but I knew I wanted to labor at home as long as possible. At around 8 am my doula said it was time to get to the hospital if I wanted a slightly comfortable ride there I still made my husband stop at Starbucks to get coffee for himself though. Haha!

I was 4-5 centimeters when I arrived. I had a very strong labor team comprised of my husband Mike, my best friends Ally and Wendy and my doula Ruth. Ruth used a lot of doTerra oils on me and they were amazing! I had a very smooth labor and never once even thought of asking for pain medication. The only time I cried was when I heard someone else’s baby crying and I just started tearing up for some unexplained reason!

To deal with the pain of the contractions all I could says was, “OOOOOOOOKKKKKKKK”. It was very funny! The only time I was in real pain was when I tried to lay down, as I have severe scoliosis and the baby’s head was so low it was right on my spine. I burst into sobbing tears the 2 times I tried to lay down. So from 8-5 I couldn’t lay down a single time. I finally got to start pushing at 3:40pm and delivered a BOY at 5:02pm.

During the entire pregnancy I just KNEW it was a girl, but boy was I wrong! Michael got to announce and let me know that we had a son! He was 8lbs 12 oz. 21 1/2 in long. I’m a tall girl (5’10) however, in no way did I ever expect to have over a 7 1/2 lb baby, so we were all very surprised.

After birthing him I delivered the placenta and lost a lot of blood. They had to give me pitocin and even that wasn’t working. They were about to administer another drug when I finally started slowing down. It took over 6 weeks to get my hematicrate level back to normal. They said that if i was .01 lower I would have to have a transfusion.

I had to be wheeled to and from the NICU where Landon had to be admitted for 5 days, because he stopped breathing twice. It is still unknown as to why, but it was a very scary time for us. He was on so many monitors all the time and I could never just hold my baby or change his diaper.

All is wonderful now and I have a 15 pound, 7 week old strong baby boy. He is so amazing and I looove being a mommy!