Professional Photos by Amy-Cole Photography
I have been trying to find time in this crazy new phase of life to sit down & put these words down somewhere, whether in a journal or here on the blog and I'm so glad I was able to steal a few minutes to do just that!
As you all probably know from this announcement/introduction post, but we welcomed our first baby-a little boy, Charles "Charlie" Levi Upchurch into the world on September 13th, 2018 at 11:35 PM & this is his story. . .
The Friday before; September 7th, I was about to hit 41 weeks pregnant and my doctor had requested we come in for an ultrasound, just to check on our boy & make sure he was still doing okay since I was right at my due date of the 8th. He checked out great on his ultrasound & we were given the go-ahead to wait until the following Monday (my regular appointment day) to come back in for a non-stress test & to make a final decision for our boy.
On that Monday, the non-stress test went really well, but rather than just waiting to go into labor naturally, we opted to be induced on Wednesday the 12th because my doctor wouldn't be available starting Friday the 14th at lunch until the following Monday and it was very important to me that she be there, if possible!
So, on Wednesday the 12th Chris & I headed towards Birmingham for one last little afternoon out before we had to check in to the hospital at 5. We went out for dinner & dessert, we just enjoyed our time together as a family of 2 before becoming 3! (Or four, because Forrest 😉)
One last selfie before heading into the hospital & then one last selfie before we got everything started Wednesday night! (PS doesn't everyone want one of those stylish hospital gowns?!)
Wednesday night was pretty tame, we got everything ready for Thursday morning & tried our best to get some rest.
Thursday AM, my nurse was in bright & early to get us ready for my doctor. She came in at 7 AM, broke my water and got us dosed up for the day, then she said she'd be back around lunchtime.
Needless to say, when she returned I had made 0 progress, still stuck around a 3 or 4.
In fact, despite everyone's best efforts by 4 PM there still wasn't much progress going on & the term c-section was starting to be mentioned, which of course I wasn't in favor of if I could help it.
Thursday AM, my nurse was in bright & early to get us ready for my doctor. She came in at 7 AM, broke my water and got us dosed up for the day, then she said she'd be back around lunchtime.
Needless to say, when she returned I had made 0 progress, still stuck around a 3 or 4.
In fact, despite everyone's best efforts by 4 PM there still wasn't much progress going on & the term c-section was starting to be mentioned, which of course I wasn't in favor of if I could help it.
My doctor sort of gave me the deadline of having to make progress by 6 PM or we were going to have to start thinking about changing our course of action, so I really started praying that things were going to be cranking up.
I had an epidural around lunchtime, so I needed an extra boost twice and it still didn't give me the relief that everyone says it does-so I was in some pretty intense pain by this point, but I was totally committed to doing whatever it took for us to bring our boy into this world-hopefully without surgery!
When my doctor came back to check on me, she had great news-I was progressing!
So, basically after several hours of waiting and praying that we would get to this point, we started pushing around 8 or 9 (y'all-time really flies by when you're trying to get a baby out!) and he arrived at 11:35 PM. It couldn't have worked out better (except for maybe a little earlier ;) ) but our photographer was there & that meant the world to me, and both of our families were in the waiting room. 💙
The first moments with our boy were so sweet.
He unfortunately swallowed some meconium when he was born, so we didn't get to hold him as soon as he was born-but it was just a few short moments after & Christopher still got to cut the cord.
I couldn't have been happier with my choice of doctor & the team of nurses and medical professionals I had while in the hospital. They all knew how badly I wanted this birth to go as I had envisioned and they worked with me to get me to my goal.
Our sweet little man was born with the most beautiful head full of hair!
His daddy finally got to hold him before we headed up to our hospital room, he had been itching to get ahold of our boy for the longest time!
He was and is absolutely smitten. 💙
When we got upstairs to our room, the sweetest nurse in the world helped me get ready & into the bed, then gave Charlie his first bath (including washing all of that hair!) right in the room with us.
Then, Christopher brought all of our family in to see him-such a sweet moment!
Almost as sweet as when he brought me a giant meal of chicken tenders, grilled cheese, and corn nuggets because I hadn't eaten anything for 24 hours! 😂
On our first full day, the pediatrician with hospital expressed a little concern over Charlie's bilirubin levels, so he had to spend some time under the lights, but was still able to do so in our room.
Chris & I hated to see him cry because he didn't like being exposed after being swaddled, but it was necessary.
In fact, we ended up staying a full extra day after I was officially discharged because his levels were borderline.
My sweet husband knows just how much I love getting flowers & we definitely needed something to brighten up our hospital room, so he arranged for his mom to bring some flowers when his parents came to visit us on Friday night-they were so beautiful!
Also, our hospital does something called "Birthday Boxes" where they send each new baby a box with birthday hats, a mini birthday cake, an engraved baby spoon, a onesie, etc. Just a lot of cute little things to celebrate being born-it was precious!
On Sunday morning, we were up bright & early hoping to be discharged & the pediatrician didn't disappoint-we were able to go home...Chris & I have never packed up a room so fast before!
(I also don't think I've ever posted a makeup-free photo on the blog before, but I definitely didn't care about wearing makeup that day...I just wanted to be back at home as fast as possible!)
My sweet mother-in-law & our neighbors both showered us with sweet blue ribbons to welcome us home, both on the door & on our mailbox! We absolutely love our family & friends-they made coming home even better than we imagined.
When we got home, we had to have a little birthday party to celebrate Charlie's homecoming-so we pulled out the birthday hats & his little birthday cake and celebrated our baby boy.
Sweet cousins 💖
Chris' parents celebrating our boy!
Another makeup-less picture, but who cares because Charlie is the only one anyone is looking at ;)
Aunt Trystan and the cousins 💛
Charlie was born just thirty minutes before Chris' birthday, so when we got home we celebrated Chris' birthday too-of course Forrest had to join in on the fun too!
My parents love baby Charlie!
This was Charlie's coming home outfit-you can't really see it but even the ear tag on the calf has his initial!
Big Brother Forrest loves his little brother Charlie-they're so sweet together & I cannot wait to watch them grow up together.
Well, that's Charlie's story-of how he got here & the first few days with him.
It's hard to believe he's already two weeks old & growing and changing each and every day.
We are absolutely in love!
Until next time. . .
xoxo,
What a sweet story! I'm so glad your induction went well and did not end up in a cesarian. Charlie is just precious. That little birthday hat about made me tear up... how sweet!!!!! Congratulations mama!
ReplyDeleteI've been dying to read your post! I teared up and laughed at the same time (chicken nuggets), I am SO happy for you, such a beautiful baby. congratulations!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your sweet little boy!!! So glad you were able to have the birth that you wanted for Charlie. I did not even notice you weren't wearing any makeup!! You looked great! Hope you are enjoying your little one.
ReplyDeleteAwww so sweet Jordyn! Congratulations again!
ReplyDeletexoxo A
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