Mason's Birth Story Part 1: Pregnancy

I wanted to document the details of Mason's birth story while its fresh on my mind so I would always remember it.
Shortly after Blake & I got engaged we started talking about when we wanted to start a family. Both of us knew that we didn't want to wait long, I wanted 3 kids & he wanted 2 & we wanted a little time in between them. Years ago I had a seizure in my classroom, nobody knows what caused it or why it happened but it was followed by a series of abnormal EEGs. I had been so 3 neurologists, did ultiple tests & they all had the same abnormal scans so to be safe I was diagnosed me with epilepsy & took medicine daily for seizures. I knew the medicine I was taking was not safe for pregnancy & luckily had finally found a neurologist that I absolutely loved! He agreed the medicine would not be safe while pregnant so ordered another EEG to see if it came back abnormal. In May before our wedding I went in and had my EEG & was so blessed to finally have a normal EEG!! We made the decision I could stop my medicine & start to live life normal again. After the results we decided that after we got married we would start trying just see what happened, knowing it could take a while.
About a week after our honeymoon I decided to take a pregnancy test because I wasn't feeling well. It was 3 days before I was supposed to & in the afternoon. It was negative but my sister encouraged me to wait 3 more days & take another one. So on the morning of July 15th Blake went off to work & I woke up & went to take the test. I left it on the bathroom floor & walked off. Some ridiculous part of me thought if I sat & watched it would be negative. I came back 3 minutes later & it was positive!! I immediately called Blake & told him & he turned right back around. (No I couldn't wait to do a special surprise I had to tell someone right then!)5 pregnancy tests later (because I just knew the first 4 couldn't be right) we made our first dr. appointment. We had a blast telling friends & family!

Let's just start out be saying I was not the best pregnant person in the world. I envisioned pregnancy as the best feeling in the world! I thought I would just feel fantastic & full of energy. I thought I would continue working out every day & stay in great shape & love my ever expanding belly because that's the only thing that expands in pregnancy. I thought pregnant women were just adorable. What I didn't envision was gaining weight in every part of my body, namely my hips & thighs, heartburn like you wouldn't believe, acid reflux that would wake me up vomiting, my face getting swollen, aversions to literally every food I once liked, lack of sleep & a baby's foot crammed so high into the right side of my ribs that my ribs were painfully bruised. Please don't take this as I wasn't grateful for my pregnancy. My biggest fear in life was that I wouldn't be able to fulfill my biggest dream in life of being a mom. You see while I was incredibly grateful God had given me the dream I always dreamed of.....it was different then I imagined!
Because we found out at 3 weeks it felt like the first trimester literally drug on. I was a nervous wreck fearing miscarriage at any symptom I felt. I was also incredibly nauseous. I threw up a few times but mostly my days were just spent laying out the couch wishing I could throw up so the feeling of nausea would go away. Smells made me so sick & I had an aversion to every food I once liked. I craved pickles from Goldie's like crazy & my sisters special homemade salsa! Really mexican was a constant for my pregnancy because it was the only thing that didn't make me sick.
The second trimester was much better!! I got energy back & began working out again. Acid reflux began but it was manageable. Our dr. appointment days were my favorite because we got to see how much our precious miracle had grown. I just knew that you were a boy from the moment I took the pregnancy test so at our gender reveal party I wasn't shocked when blue confetti flew out. I just knew with every fiber of my being you were a boy! Daddy was thrilled & while I was excited I will be honest & say I was terrified! I had no experience with boys. I have 4 nieces that I've spent my life around the last 6 years. However within weeks of finding out you were a boy I couldn't imagine you being a girl. I found I had quite an aversion to sweets I always loved like cupcakes, cake of any kind really, chocolate, etc. I craved raisin bran crunch.

The third trimester was where the struggles really began for me. I still continued to work out, it was my goal to complete p90x3 and 21 day fix while pregnant so I pushed through. People told me that labor & delivery would be easier if I worked out & it made me feel amazing & strong! I will say I've heard people saying they couldn't do things pregnant but I never experienced that. I was able to put on shoes, lift up the couch to vacuum & carry on life as normal, just with a bigger belly. I attribute it to continued workouts. That was about the best part of the trimester. Acid reflux began to be so bad if I ate after 5:30pm I would wake up throwing up from heartburn. Mason's foot became lodged into my rib cage on the right side. There was a constant numbing pain from where his foot had bruised my ribs. My emotions were real! I found myself crying every day about mostly about weight & stretch marks. I'll be real I got them on my inner thighs. I was prepared to be ashamed of them & keep the fact that I got them when others hadn't a secret. But you know what, that's real life & I'm not going to be ashamed because my body carried a person for 9 months. It's allowed to have a few reminders of that. Food aversions became extreme this trimester. We could have a meal plan but often when dinner time came the thought made me my stomach turn. I ate lots of eggs and bacon this trimester. I also craved spicy boiled peanuts & sonic corn dogs. I developed an aversion to my favorite food, spaghetti. My craving for raisin bran crunch was still strong but it gave me the worst acid reflux so it had to be really worth it for me to eat it. We finished the nursery & had your baby showers.

I will admit, I LOVED the way my pregnant belly looked, I loved feeling him move around, I loved the things just he & I shared like the movement because he would freeze move if anyone touched my belly. I loved the quiet moments where it was just me & him & I made him the promises to be the best mom & shared with him the dreams I had for him. I did love a lot about pregnancy. However, I was hungry, tired of aversions & acid reflux, uncomfortable, emotional & done being pregnant.

With all that being said when the Dr. brought up induction I was like yes please! Where do I sign up?! I didn't care about everyone saying oh just let him come when he is ready, can you wait until the day I picked in the baby pool, oh I want an Easter baby, oh I want an April Fools baby! You know what kind of baby I wanted? One that was OUT! I wanted to be comfortable again, enjoy food again, remove his foot from my ribs, not cry about how swollen every part of my body was or about not knowing what to eat, not be so emotional. I wanted my poor husband to be comfortable again & stop having to sleep in pants, sweatshirts (with the hood on) & multiple quilts just to stay warm in our 65 degree house with the windows open to add even more cool air. God Bless him he is a good man, which you know if you just read all he put up with during my pregnancy without so much as a single complaint. I told you I was just not a good pregnant person! So our bags were packed & the induction date was set. Operation evict Mason would begin at 7:30pm on March 23rd. We were excited, but we were also terrified! We couldn't even begin to fathom just how much our lives were about to change. Tune in tomorrow to read Part 2: Meeting Mason