The Richins Family: Looking Back: The Arrival of Alexander

This is the post I have been most anticipating since starting the blog! I am excited to share the story of how my little boy came in to the world, and I am excited that we are almost caught up to where we are today. So for all of my faithful followers, we are almost at the point of being able to share what is going on in our lives now!

Let's start with a little more background to lead up to Alexander's birth. The official due date for Alexander was Friday, August 12, 2011. I discovered that my doctor only delivered babies Monday through Thursdays and one weekend a month. Since we had moved to Utah when I was six months pregnant, I didn't have a lot of options as to finding a doctor. I really wanted a female doctor to deliver the baby and had finally started feeling comfortable with the doctor, so it was scary to think of having the baby delivered by someone else. Now that I have been through it all, it wouldn't have been so bad, but I was a scared first-time-mom.

Anyway, we started taking guesses as to when the baby would be born. We thought it would be fun to see who could come the closest to being right. Well, as we got closer and closer, I made my official guess for Thursday, August 11th. I had just been called to serve in the Young Women and they wanted to throw me a baby shower, but the only time they could do it was on Wednesday, August 10th, only a couple of days before the official due date. So I kept telling everyone that the baby was only allowed to come on a Monday through Thursday schedule and after the baby shower. At the baby shower and around that week, I would joke with everyone that Alexander would be born on August 11th, because it was the day after the baby shower and I had an appointment with my doctor scheduled for 3:20 pm, that day. I kept saying I would walk in for my check-up and she'd say, "Let's do this!"

As most new moms, I had a few fears about giving birth. One of them was being uncertain about what it would feel like if my water broke. I was concerned because I went swimming so frequently. I was worried that it would happen while I was swimming and I wouldn't notice it. Well, for the record, I had planned to go swimming the day that Alexander was born. Luckily he came early enough that I didn't have to test that whole water breaking in the pool theory. Anyway, at the baby shower the day before, I remember asking tons of questions about what it feels like if your water breaks. Well, at 5:00 am on Thursday, August 11th, my water broke! I remember that I had gotten up to use the bathroom and while I was lying awake in bed, I felt this weird feeling. It felt like the little guy had punched my bladder. About 5:30, I was sure something was going on, so I woke up Scott. I told him that I thought my water had broke. It only took a few minutes before we realized that is what had indeed happened.

The next fear that I had before giving birth was the immense amount of pain I would be in. We had went to the childbirth classes and seen women screaming in pain before they even left their house for the hospital. I had seen people in movies say,"It's time!" Then you would wonder if they would be able to make it to the hospital in time. For us, it was nothing like that. My water broke, and we leisurely got together our hospital bag. I remember us driving to the hospital and the sun was rising and thinking how beautiful it all looked. I remember Scott asking how I was feeling and I told him I was feeling good and was excited to know we would be having a baby that day.

When we checked into the hospital, they had to check to make sure my water had broke. They confirmed it did and started asking me questions. They asked the same dreaded question people always ask, "Are you having contractions?" I told the nurse what I told everyone else, "Maybe...I'm not exactly sure what contractions feel like." So she hooked me up to a monitor and said, "You're having one right now." That's when I responded, "Oh...so that is what a contraction feels like!" I share this with you so that you can understand how mild my contractions were when we checked in. Because my contractions were so mild, they had to give me Pitocin to help get my contractions going.

Up to this point I had planned a natural birth. I wanted to see how long I could go without drugs. They started the Pitocin at 7:30 am and by noon I decided I was ready for an epidural. I figured if I was crying it was okay to give in and take an epidural. The best part about the epidural was how quickly it worked to relax me. I remember only twenty minutes after the epidural watching Brian Regan, one of our favorite comedians, with Scott. It was so funny that our nurse sat down and watched it with us. I remember laughing so hard and not even being able to think about the pain. The epidural relaxed me enough that I was just about asleep by the time the nurse came in and said I was fully dilated.

She had me start pushing, and then quickly told me to stop so that she could get the doctor. The doctor came in and the pushing process was pretty quick. Our doctor, Doctor Twelves, was great. She helped keep the mood light for us, to the point that she even made a mohawk of Alexander's hair as he was being born. So cute! Scott had said that he didn't want to cut the umbilical cord, but once Alexander was born he changed his mind. I think he was so in awe of it all. I was super excited to see that he did it.

Well, for all of you who haven't yet had babies, I have to say that the rumors are true. The moment you hold that little one in your arms, everything seems worth it. The six months of morning sickness, the back aches, the heartburn, and even the contractions, all seemed worth it when I could hold my little angel in my arms. I have to admit that I totally cried the first time I held him. I was just in awe of the miracle of birth and that the little boy in my arms was my little boy. It was a sweet and precious moment. Alexander was born at 3:07 pm, on August 11th, 2011. It turned out that I had the closest guess as to when he would be born. I guessed that he would be born at the next appointment I had with the doctor, which would have been at 3:30 pm. So he was just a little early! He weighed 7 lbs 9 oz, and was 19 inches long.

Well, that is the story! Scott's family came to visit us at the hospital. We stayed at the hospital for two nights. Those were a rough couple of nights, but I was blessed to have the most perfect husband to help me out. Scott stayed with me the whole time at the hospital. He helped change diapers, and cuddled with him so I could get some rest. One interesting thing to note is that the very first diaper that Scott changed was Alexander's first diaper. So cute!