Xavier Kade Johnson

It has been forever since I've posted! We recently welcomed a new addition to out family and we are completely in love with him already! Xavier was born on Valentine's Day--of course! Now I might actually like Valentine's Day, haha. As I said we are already so in love with him. He is so adorable and such a sweet baby. He is so well behaved and so expressive. We love just watching him because he is so interesting to watch. He also is very strong.

Anyway, I don't know if everyone is interested, but I figured I would write a little about his birth, since some people seem interested in knowing. So I will just jump in! I was getting SO done with being pregnant. I just wanted him to come because I was so sick of carrying him around in my stomach. So how happy was I when I woke up around 5am on Valentine's day feeling like I had been working out all night. I woke up with consistent contractions but just piddled around the apartment, unsure of if it was the real thing. It felt different from the Braxton Hicks contractions I'd had, but I didn't want to cause a big fuss if it wasn't the real thing. Around 6:30 I woke Spencer up to go on a walk with me because I wanted to see if my contractions would get worse. But before we could go on a walk I decided I didn't want to go because the contractions were steadily getting more painful. I talked to my sister Kat on the phone for awhile and she said it certainly seemed like I was in real labor and encouraged me to call my doctor. I finally did end up calling him and had a contraction while I was on the phone with him, so he told me to go to the hospital and get checked. That definitely put us in gear. We took showers and got ready to go to the hospital. We got the carseat installed and finally headed over. Driving over was not the most pleasant experience, but we live really close to the hospital and I was grateful for that! We got parked and had to walk a ways to get to the right place, and I was absolutely sure this was for real because I could no longer walk/talk during contractions. So we got to the hospital around 10am and it took awhile before I was taken to a room and was able to get checked to see my progress. I was 5cm dilated when they checked me, which made Spencer and me very happy! This was definitely it and we were going to have a baby by that evening! Things had been going pretty well to this point and I wanted to have him naturally, so I kept breathing through contractions. Spencer was so great! He helped me to concentrate on my breathing and relaxing through the contractions. They increased pretty quickly. In my birth plan I said wanted intermittent monitoring, and I didn't want a constant IV, and they were very accommodating. They put in an IV that they could just put caps on and give me stuff when I needed it. I quickly got to a point where I was starting to have a really hard breathing and relaxing through contractions. I was starting to want to give up and really not thinking I could do it. I broke down a few times and Spencer was so encouraging and loving. I could not have done it without him. I really needed him and he was so helpful. When I really started struggling he told me to focus on his voice, as he was counting and telling me when to breathe. It was very helpful. I got to the point where the contractions were so painful that I asked the nurse if there was anything they could give me just to take the edge off. She said I was too far along at that point that I couldn't have anything. That was both saddening and also very encouraging! If I had gotten this far I could do it, right?! I got to a point where I really wanted to start pushing and I told the nurse that. She came over and helped me figure out how to push. I was very grateful that our doctor, Doctor Jacob, was able to get there. Things were progressing quickly enough that we weren't sure if he was going to make it or not! But thankfully he got there pretty soon after I started pushing.

When he got there and they were checking me they told me my water was still in tact. So Dr. Jacob broke my water and things kept going quickly! I guess I started pushing around 1:45pm. Pushing was so painful, but also very relieving. It felt so much better to push through the contractions. And I actually pushed a lot more during each contraction than normal, I guess. Most women get in three good pushes per contraction. For me, because of the pressure I was feeling, I was pushing 5-6 times per contraction. At this point I was totally out of it and in my own zone. I was so oblivious to what was going on around me. I was so focused on pushing during contractions and relaxing between them. Spencer was so amazing through it all! Again, I have no idea what I would have done without him. He counted for me when I was pushing and was encouraging me the whole time. I was so out of it that when Xavier came out I didn't even realize it until I heard him screaming. And he definitely came out screaming! He has quite the set of lungs (he just doesn't use them very frequently)! I had requested delayed cord clamping, so they did that and then let Spencer cut the cord. They immediately put baby on my chest for skin to skin time. He was all icky but absolutely beautiful! I held him while Dr. Jacob stitched me up. I had a second degree tear, so I got to hold our sweet baby while they stitched me all up. Eventually they took Xavier to look him over. He was 7lbs. 3 oz and 19" long. And he was healthy! It was all the road to recovery at that point. Eventually they took Xavier down to the nursery and Spencer went along. I was in the room alone for awhile and I had a moment of euphoria. I just had a baby! And I did it unmedicated and completely natural! I was so amazed and proud... and sore! And I was exhausted. I just wanted to sleep but couldn't because I was uncomfortable. Eventually the nurse came in to take me down to Mother and Baby to get situated in our room. That was so uncomfortable! Normally being in a wheelchair would be great, but I was so sore that sitting in a chair was horrible! They helped me get into the bed (which was much more comfortable than the labor and delivery bed, but still very uncomfortable!) and I just relaxed and chatted with the nurse that helped me in labor and delivery and the new nurse that was going to be helping me on the mom and baby floor. It made me so proud when the new nurse found out that I did it all unmedicated. They kind of praised me and I really can't tell you how wonderful it made me feel.

When Spencer and baby got back I was so happy. They encouraged me to try nursing, which I wanted to try anyway. So long story short, Spencer and I wanted to leave the hospital as soon as possible. One night there was more than enough for us! But Xavier was having a hard time eating and we could tell one of the nurses really didn't want to let us leave, but we were insistent, so we were able to leave on the 15th. It was pretty late when we left, and then we ran to Walgreens to pick up my prescriptions. We were so happy to get home and be in our own space! It is much more comfortable than the hospital.

Xavier continued to struggle with eating until Monday night when my milk came in. Oh boy! That was an interesting experience. I was very grateful, though, because Xavier started eating better. Nursing was still a struggle and I totally broke down a few times. It hurt so bad sometimes and I just was really struggling. I went to a lactation consultant on Friday-exactly one week after he was born, and I kicked myself for not going earlier! She was sooo helpful and made me feel so much better about it. He did a great job and I was so happy to finally know how to get a good latch, and I knew that Xavier could do it. It was so encouraging and I have been much more optimistic. Xavier has been doing a lot better with nursing and I don't feel like giving up constantly, so I think that's a great sign.

Overall we have just been absolutely loving having him home with us. He completely has Spencer wrapped his finger and it is adorable! Spencer loves cuddling him. When he got home from work tonight I was holding Xavier on my chest. Spencer immediately wanted to take him and snuggle him but I told Spencer to eat dinner first and he reluctantly agreed. haha. We love our little boy so much and think he is just perfect!