Beulah's Birth Story

Let me just start this by telling you that I started writing this blog post when Beulah was 6 weeks old... yea, she's almost 7 months now if that is any indication of the whirlwind that is new mommyhood. But it's been wonderful. Woohoo :)

Photo by Andrea Pascalau
Eighty7 Photography

the P-word
Where to begin? First, I'll share that I was NOT one of those women who loved being pregnant. Sure, I love the end result (the bebe) but I did not have a glow other than perspiration secondary to puking my brains out over the toilet 10 times a day. Lovely it was not. An additional thing I will share is that I NEVER thought I would be able to function properly again. A seemingly easy task, such as putting laundry in the dryer from the washer, or paying a bill online, was a daunting task that would take HOURS to complete. Even thinking about doing things would be enough to lay on the couch and watch HGTV for the rest of the afternoon. I'm not kidding. My husband probably wanted to murder me when he came home from work and I was still in PJs and nothing really done around the house. He was wonderful though and didn't say a word and cooked me a meal I would pick at before running to the bathroom. So, that was pregnancy. Oh, and I had high blood pressure (but not pre-e) and the last couple of weeks I ITCHED like I have never, ever itched before. Like I was rolling around in a fire ant bed. I still have scabs from the intense itching that resulted in my itching holes into my skin. Sick. But, like everyone said (and at the time I was like "yea, yea") I forgot about alllll that the second Miss Boo entered the world.

D-Day
My doctor thankfully allowed for me to be induced due to aforementioned high blood pressure and the intense itching all over my body that made me want to rip my skin off. So, at 39 weeks, we were scheduled to be induced at 11 am on 6/25/13. This was wonderful for me, as I am extremely type A personality, and the induction allowed for me to plan. No water breaking in the middle of the night for me! I knew when I was going to get the ball rolling with this motherhood thing, and this made me very happy. It also allowed for my mom to come into town, a luxury we wouldn't have had otherwise since we live so far apart. Let's fast forward to 7pm because nothing really happened all day. I had an epidural and couldn't really feel anything but nothing was happening anyway. 4-5 cm dilated.

First picture of me and Boo
minutes after she was born

So, I'm not exactly sure on the timeline, but I started being able to feel contractions. I was not happy about this. I pressed the nurse call button and because there were several other people coming into labor and delivery that were in active labor like you see in the movies, my nurse ignored me for probably an hour or so, which really made me mad. There were tears. I have a lot of respect for women who choose to go through labor and delivery with NO medication, because let me tell you, those contractions were for the birds. I can't imagine how it would have felt without an epidural even though it was running out. So, when the nurse finally came in, low and behold, I was at 8 or 9 cm. The anesthesiologist came in to redo the epidural and let's just say he "hooked me up" and not in a good way. Y'all, I was SUPER out of it. For one reason or another, they over medicated me, then my heart rate went sky high, then I puked, then they gave me medicine to slow my heart rate down, then I felt tequila drunk and then the doctor came in, said there really wasn't any time for me to "get it together" and that Miss Beulah was ready for her debut.

I'll spare you the details, but let's just say I was so horrified that due to my state I wouldn't be able to deliver her, I really gave it my all and Beulah was born after about 30 minutes of active labor. Wam bam thank you ma'am! She came out with a full head of hair and screaming her little pretty lungs out! I was shaking from the pure adrenaline rush of what the heck just happened and happily chowed down the best turkey sandwich I had ever eaten as the nurses did their thing with the bebe.

Photo by Lori Sapio - 12hrs old

The rest of the hospital stay was pure bliss as me and Adam navigated our way through the beginning of parenthood with this little angel. She nursed like a champ (albeit with a bad latch, which I didn't figure out until a couple of days later), and started night 1 off with no false advertising. She showed us that she was going to be a dance party nocturnal Nancy from the start. My mom was there during the days, Sammy came to visit to meet his baby sis. A couple of wonderful friends I have made here in Illinois came to visit. We felt very loved as we received text messages, phone calls, cards and gifts from all of our family and friends (THANK YOU).

Photo by Lori Sapio
12 hrs old 

what's in a name? Our sweet little angel is named after Adam's great grandmother, the original Beulah Boyd, born Beulah Taylor, from East Texas. Everyone who knew her said she was the sweetest person they had ever met, a characteristic I hope that our little one has as well. "Never heard her say a bad thing about anyone." Although she was Adam's great grandmother, she lived until Adam was 20 or 21. He spent summers as a child mowing her grass and spending time in her garden. When I met Adam's brother Vance, and he mentioned Great Grandmother Boyd one night and said "it's a shame she never met you, she would have loved you" that's when I knew Vance approved of me as Adam's then-girlfriend. We have Great Grandmother Boyd's gravy boat that we use every Thanksgiving and her fudge recipe that is OFF. THE. CHAIN. - we make it as a Christmas tradition. Adam loved his great grandmother so much. When we found out we were pregnant, although Adam swore our baby would be a boy (he was wronnggggg), we decided on names for a boy and a girl. There really weren't many other names in discussion. I loved how old fashioned it was. I loved that it was a family name. I loved that it was unique. I loved that it represented someone who was such a wonderful person and who Adam loved so much and vice versa. I know that she is likely the only non-Grandma that has her name. And I LOVE that.

Fast Forward to 6 Months

I don't know much more than I knew when I wrote this blog initially. Other than once you think you have it figured out, you will learn REALLY QUICKLY that you don't. And what you think you will do, you might change your mind. I succumbed to the devil dust (formula for those of you unfamiliar with the terminology) and now she exclusively formula feeds, as well as three hearty meals a day of baby food. I thought I would make her baby food from home, but honestly y'all, she just really likes the stuff from the jars. And it's easier. She lovesssss her some fruit baby food, seriously. She still wakes up to party at least 1 time each night, but some nights it is only one time, and for that I am seriously thankful! The other nights it is 2-3 times, and I want to gouge my eyeballs out. :) We are dabbling in sleep training (modified CIO, don't hate) and the first week she did really great! But then I think she caught on to me and hasn't been as great with it this week. She's training me as much as I'm training her.

Photo by Lori Sapio - 6 months old