I was young when Jeremy and I got pregnant with Grayson. Since I was young, I didn't really know the first thing about being pregnant or what to expect. We only knew what we learned from watching the show "Birth Day" on Discovery Health. We were pretty poor and only got three channels, channel 4, channel 11, and Discovery Health. So we watched alot of Birth Day.....and season one of American Idol. We also attended a class at the hospital. I am thankful I never noticed looks from people, because I am sure we got them.
Grayson was an extremely inactive baby. I don't think he moved around like I have felt my others move around. So for this reason I had to go twice a week for non-stress tests. They always made me drink OJ or soda to get him to move. Finally they realized it was because I was not eating enough. Well in the beginning of my pregnancy I could not hardly eat, so the habit carried over to the rest of my pregnancy. So once they told me to eat more often....I got pretty carried away. In one month I gained thirty pounds. No one told me that my metabolism would change after a baby. That the weight doesn't come off automatically. So I gained close to eighty pounds with Grayson.
He still wasn't a big mover, but I guess that was just his personality. Towards the end of my pregnancy they realized I was getting bigger but Grayson wasn't. I was sent for ultrasounds. He wasn't growing anymore. They estimated him to be just over four pounds. So after a week of no growth, the sent me to the hospital to be induced. I was just over 37 weeks. Looking back now, I think I would of fought to stay pregnant longer. I was young and immature and just wanted to not be pregnant anymore. I was willing to go along with whatever they told me just to get him out.
So over to the hospital I went. This was the first grandchild on both sides, so everyone was excited. I got there about 11:00 in the morning. Some after most of our families followed. My room was pretty crowded. Things moved along slowly. They put a gel on my cervix to soften it. And then a few hours later started me on pitocin. At 7:00 that night everyone crowded into my room to watch the show "Friends". It was the season premiere, even the nurse watched it. After the show was over people FINALLY started to go home for the night. Thats when all the exciting stuff happened.
I was finally starting to really feel contractions, and make some progress. While I was waiting I had my sister french braid my hair....into pigtails. So I had pigtails and braces. I was just laying in bed waiting for my epidural when it felt like a ballon popped. Nope it was just my water. It flowed down the bed and onto the floor. And after that I was really feeling my contractions. The nurse got me all cleaned up, more comfortable, so Jeremy went downstairs to get something to eat before stuff closed. I don't know why he was hungry.....I was the one doing all the work. When he was gone the moniters started going crazy. I guess Grayson was not handling labor very well at all. They told me I needed a c-section right away. Someone ran downstairs to get Jeremy and he made it back just before they were ready to take me.
Once I got back to the OR I don't remember much. I only remember being in recovery. There once the anestesia wore off, I started throwing up. Really that has become my recovery tradition, I almost always throw up on someone. Sometimes the nurse, sometimes family, the only time I was not throwing up after a baby was Brinley. By the timeI got back into my room in was pretty much the middle of the night. Then I just slept. I don't remember getting to see Grayson again until early morning. He was five pounds eleven ounces, and born at 9:59pm.
By the time I saw Grayson again I think they had given him a bottle in the nursery. I had specified he was going to be breastfed but I do not think I was very convincing. When I tried to nurse him he would not have anything to do with it. Honestly, I think I could of tried harder. Only once did he nurse, he was about six weeks old. That was the only time. To feed him I pumped and we gave it to him in a bottle. That lasted for almost three months. While we were still in the hospital and I was pumping milk for him, I noticed it had a yellowish color to it. I thought it was that color because I had eaten a whole bag of candy corn.
In the hospital we had LOTS of visitors, mostly family. Some of Jeremy's friends came to visit. I think it was good birth control for them. Since it was my first c-section I did not know what to expect afterwards. I did not get out of my bed for atleast twenty-four hours. I should of been up awhile after the numbness wore off. I did not walk the halls until a whole day after my surgery. I did not know I was supposed to. This made the recovery time much longer I think.
Once we finally got home we were able to fall into more natural roles. We were young, but we knew what Grayson needed and how to care for him. He is a joy in our lives. He helped us learn to become parents.
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