martin richard smith...welcome, baby!

 

exactly one week ago our lives changed forever.

and it all started with a spicy dinner at buffalo wild wings.

actually, it started when my due date came and went on monday

and i decided i'd do whatever it took to go into labor, whether it

was taking long walks, getting a deep tissue massage, or eating all

the spicy food i possibly could.  it was tuesday night, which is date

night for us, so we went out to eat, and ordered some labor-inducing

buffalo wings.

 

 

 

last date night before our duo would turn into a trio.

 

 

i was startled awake just before 3:00 in the morning when

i felt like i was peeing the bed.  nope.  just my water breaking.

i'm not gonna lie, i wasn't 100% sure that was what was happening,

but i consulted my "what to expect" book, and it confirmed that, yes,

my water did just break.  so i woke richard up by whispering to him

that i thought my water just broke.  i don't know why i whispered, but i

did.  he immediately started feeling my side of the bed to make sure that

i didn't just ruin our mattress, something we'd joked about in the past.

i didn't.  i felt really gross from not showering after my massage the night

before, and the amniotic fluid that was running down my legs, so i jumped

in the shower, and then he did the same.  we ended up checking into the hospital

via the emergency room about an hour later.

 

 

 

there was a lot going on with a delivery down the hall from us

when we first arrived, so richard pretended to be my nurse for awhile.

 

 

they started me on pitocin, which is when i started to feel my

contractions. not fun.  but i thought i could tough it out for a little

bit longer.  dumb.  the anesthesiologist was assisting on a c-section

so i had to wait for my epidural.  man, i loved that epidural.  not only

did i get out of feeling my contractions, but they gave me a catheter

so i didn't even have to get up to go to the bathroom.  which was the

most annoying and disgusting part of labor thus far because i had to drag

the dang i.v. tower with me, and richard had to help, and it was just

rediculous.  i'll say it again: i loved my epidural.

 

 

around 9 or 10 we got our first visitor.  i'd sent my mom and

dad a text message letting them know not to go into work because

we were at the hospital.  when my dad saw it he was on the train on

his way to slc, but got off at the next stop and turned right around.

chelsa brought me some magazines to keep me distracted, and was a

welcome distraction herself.  a little later the rest of the family showed

up to keep us company while we waited.  they mostly hung out in the

hall, but it was nice to know they were there.  and i really appreciated

them letting me and richard spend most of the day just the two of us

in our room.

 

 

things progressed nicely, and before i knew it i was where i needed

to be to start pushing.  the family was in the waiting room, but we

asked sarah to stay in and document this major life event for us.  i'm

so glad she said yes.  the pictures she took are so special to us.

 

 

we originally thought richard would stay up by my head.

especially after we watched a couple of birth videos online - yuck.

but its true what they say, its different when its you.  so he made

his way down to the foot of the bed behind nurse patricia, and he even

talked sarah into joining him at the very end of things.

 

 

we also had the video camera going, which i'm so happy about, too.

going through it was kind of an out of body experience, and it seemed

to go by so fast.  there have never been a faster 13 hours.

 

 

i'd only been pushing about ten or fifteen minutes before patricia

told me to stop.  apparently i'm a really good pusher.  she called

dr. hartman to let him know i was ready, and then we just waited.

 

 

 

it was a little weird having those few minutes to wait for the doctor

to get there.  i started to get nervous and think, "holy cow, this is really

actually happening."  you'd think that thought would've crossed my mind

earlier on, but no.  i was a little scared, but mostly it was a feeling i've

never ever felt before, so its hard to even put into words.

 

 

dr. hartman finally got there (we really only waited maybe 5 minutes),

and when he walked into the room he stopped, looked at me, and said,

"ya in the mood?"  of course we all just started laughing, and it was nice

to have that little ice breaker to lighten things up a bit.  and after that the

rest is history.  they had me keep pushing, but not for long.

 

Sidenote: Richard was filming my face, but the picture might make you think otherwise.

 

 

before we knew it, our baby was here.  words can't describe how

full my heart was when i heard that little cry.  Richard said that the

moment he put his hand up was the moment he heard Martin's first

cry and that an indescribable flood of emotions immediately set in.

   

 

 

 

 

richard cut the cord and then followed him over to be cleaned off,

weighed, and measured.

 

 

he was 7 pounds, 11 ounces, and 20 inches long.

 

 

i watched from across the room as that was happening, and

as dr. hartman took care of things downtown.  then they swaddled

him up and brought him over to me.  my life and capacity to love

changed so much in those precious moments.

 

 

its funny how i didn't think i could love richard any more than

i already did, but seeing him with our sweet little baby, and just

having this new family dynamic that we created together opens up

this whole new chamber of my heart.

 

 

after we'd spent some time together as a new little family,

richard went to get my family and bring them back to meet

the new addition.

 

 

aunt chelsa was the first to hold him.

i'm pretty sure it was love at first sight.

 

 

next were grandma and grandpa.

 

 

 

and last, but not least, aunt sarah.

we were glad that uncle shae was there, too.

 

 

after the fam met little marty, and i stopped shaking, one of

the nurses helped me to feed our little guy for the first time.

then they wheeled us down to our postpartum room, where a

friend from our ward who is a nurse had decorated our room.

 

 

just a little while later they came to give marty his first bath.

 

 

he had a little trouble bringing his temperature up, so i

got to hold him skin-to-skin to warm him up.

worked like a charm.

 

 

richard changed the first diaper.  it was actually the second because the

first diaper change took place during the first bath.  thanks, nurse susan.

he's a pretty big fan of meconium, comparing it to taffy.  i actually only

changed one diaper the whole time we were in the hospital.

richard is the best.

 

 

to prove it, he showed up with my favorite roses and

balloons the next morning.  i love him.

 

 

we got a few other flower arrangements:

the ones on the left from rachel jenkins, who has been under the

weather and is therefore not allowed to visit us yet, and from my

mom, who also knows my favorite roses.  she got one for each of us.

 

 

we soaked up our time in the hospital.  we absolutely loved all

of our nurses.  thanks to them, we know how to swaddle our boy.

 

 

our last day there we had a room service lunch date.

 

 

as we were getting ready to leave, we experienced our first

wardrobe malfunction when marty peed on his going-home

outfit.  the replacement ended up being cuter than the original.

 

 

it felt a little crazy that they were actually letting us leave

with our baby in tow.

 

 

but they did, and we made it safely home.

 

 

and since then we've been doing a lot of this.  who knew

looking at a baby could be so much fun?

 

 

you'd think that nine months of preparation would've gotten me

somewhat ready, but i don't think there's any way to know what to

expect.  it's just so much more - so much better than i'd ever imagined

it would be.  i feel lucky to have had the wonderful pregnancy, labor,

and delivery experiences that i did.  and i was seriously blessed to have

richard to have gone through it all with.  he was such a good sport about

the fact that i started snoring, stopped cooking (much), was moody, and

turned into large marge.  he always made me feel better, and was 100%

supportive, and that's all i've felt from him, but more, since our journey

was kicked up a notch last week.  i love him as a husband, and now as the

father of our amazing son, more than i can say, and more than he'll probably

ever know.  i'm lucky to have both of my boys.  so lucky, and so thankful.