Motherhood
is one of those great gifts that a number of us are afforded, but many of us
take for granted. Being a mother is indescribable and wonderful but I must
share the story behind my journey to motherhood. November is a CRAZY month for my household: there’s my wedding anniversary, my
birthday, my brother’s birthday, my mother’s birthday, Thanksgiving of course,
and now the birthday of my son, Roswell Lawrence, III.
With most
things in life I try to plan everything down to the letter…that’s just who I
am…But I guess you can’t exactly PLAN
on when your baby will come. Roswell
Lawrence, III or Tre as he is affectionately called, arrived on November 6,
2014…just MINUTES after our
wedding anniversary which is on November 5th. He was 7 lbs and 9 oz and 21.5 inches
long. He stole our hearts right away.
Let’s back
track for a moment and gradually work our way up to Tre’s spectacular
arrival. When Roswell and I discovered
we were pregnant, we were SO excited.
The first OB appointment where we could actually see and visualize this
little baby that WE had created was awe inspiring. The doc told us that little Roswell III was
due on November 12th 2014….. Wait…what? November 12th…that’s
MY birthday! Well because of a
previous abdominal surgery, I was going to have to have a cesarean anyway and
should avoid laboring, so they scheduled the little prince to make his debut on
November 7th. Okay…this
avoided our wedding anniversary AND
my birthday and would give him his own special day.
Well from that point on after
that initial OB appointment, it was eat right, exercise, drink water, GAIN WEIGHT! I was told that because I
was already allegedly underweight,
that I needed to gain between 30 and 40 pounds. I was like “what the chuck?” I
mean as a healthcare provider, all that knowledge went out the window and I was
like “wait a minute doc, if the average baby is only 6-8 pounds, what the heck
does all the extra weight entail?!” So once the initial shock was gone, I HAD to download this MyFitnessPal App….now I say HAD because SOMEONE was tracking my calorie intake. J MyFitnessPal is designed
for people wishing to lose weight and track calories and exercise, well I used
it to track increased caloric intake.
It was fun. Entering my meals
into this APP every day and trying to ensure that I ate a little here and a
little there to break that calorie mark at the end of the day! Whew!
So
throughout the pregnancy, I don’t think it ever REALLY donned on me that I was going to be someone’s mother. I took pregnancy photos to track my belly
size, I kept ultrasound photos, I had baby showers, etc., but I don’t think it
ever REALLY hit until the wee hours on November 6, 2014 that I was a MOM.
Roswell and
I had gone out to dinner on November 5th to celebrate our 4th
wedding anniversary. I was pretty big
and pregnant at this point so we decided to do it low key. We had a lovely dinner downtown Athens and
chatted for some time. I started to feel
a little indigestion but I thought of
course it may be this fancy food I’m eating.
I felt the indigestion one
more time while at dinner, but paid it no mind.
We went for a nice walk downtown and then proceeded home to relax and
watch a movie. While watching the movie,
I had this feeling that I needed to umm… poop…so…. I did and the feeling
subsided. Well then it came back again and again and finally we were like “HEY!
We’re in labor.”
We grabbed
the bags, rushed to the car and headed to Athens Regional. Now I had JUST
preregistered the day before and done all the necessary blood work but for some
strange reason, while I’m laboring and my contractions are about 2 minutes
apart, they insist on asking me questions like name, DOB, address, etc….ALL of
which I deem irrelevant as there is something trying to escape from my body. I
pushed through and when it was all done, I was put in a room for observation.
Now, MY PLAN was for them to just tell me
these were Braxton-Hicks contractions (false contractions) and send me on my
way…I mean it was our wedding anniversary. Well after being put on the fetal monitor to
monitor my contractions and being told “I was rocking them out” by the nurse,
it was deemed that this baby would come tonight!
*My OBGYN
practice has like a thousand providers….throughout the pregnancy I purposely
had appointments and met with the various doctors, midwives, and nurse
practitioners…but of course the ONE physician that I had yet to meet was the
one on call this night! LOL *He turned
out to be excellent but there’s nothing like your personal OB who knows your
body and your history. *
Everything
worked like a well-oiled machine after that. Anesthesia, the on-call OB, the
nursing staff, and my husband seemed to work in tandem to make this little
miracle happen. It was not until I held
that little boy in my hands that I realized…”OMG…I’m someone’s MOM.” Someone
depends on Roswell and I for EVERYTHING.
We are parents!
Now many of
you have heard me joke that there should be some kind of application process
prior to reproducing and I stand behind that. Some people, for various reasons should NOT
reproduce! I mean, no one asked me about
my job, home life, motherly instincts, etc. before I had a baby! BUT my dear
husband assured me that we are in a prime position to raise a child!
Thank you
to my husband Roswell for all the comfort and joy. Thank you to the staff at
Athens Regional for your wonderful care and compassion. Thank you to all my
family, friends, coworkers, etc. who came, called, and sent well wishes.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD ROSWELL LAWRENCE, III
"For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him:" I Samuel 1:27
