Pumpkin

Pregnant. Surprised. Happy. Anxious. Scared.

I was a mix of emotions, and these emotions stretched on the entire length of the pregnancy. I had to remember that this was a different pregnancy, a different baby, a different outcome. We kept this a secret for a long time, scared that it would end similarly to the previous pregnancy. Even after our first ultrasound, which showed us our child. Our perfect, angelic child. Casey and I also declined to find out the gender. It was going to be the best surprise of my life! Thus the name "Pumpkin" was born. We also found out that our due date was my niece's birthday. It was such an exciting time. 

I have never in my life, felt as beautiful as I did while I was pregnant. I felt like I glowed. I was over the moon. I was also extremely conscientious of every single thing in my life. I watched what I ate. No deli meat or caesar salad. I did not polish my nails. I did not get near any fumes like paint. I only drank water. I WILL NOT mess this one up. 

All of my appointments were easy. My pregnancy was so easy. It flew by. I watched pumpkin grow and flourish. I watched my belly grow rounder and prettier. Sometimes, pumpkin would respond to a touch by touching us back. Nothing in life was better. I strongly preferred the most natural birth possible. I read books, I practiced hypnotherapy and I had a water birth planned for when the time came. 

Toward the end, as pumpkin grew, I did not. It started to get very uncomfortable for me. My torso is quite small and pumpkin was squished in there the last few weeks. It was hard to do much of anything. 

Then, out of the blue, at 5 am only 36 weeks in, my water broke. We followed our original plan for a natural birth and the hospital let us go home to labor. Not an hour in after we got home, my water broke a rare and second time and immediately, contractions started. I was the poster child for "plans can change." The pain was so bad, I felt like dying. Luckily I got to enjoy a nice PB&J before the pain since no more food until after the birth.

Epidural in, pain gone. I labored for around 8 hours. Pumpkin was sunny side up and it was creating a lot of pressure for me to get him/her out. Also, unbeknownst to us, pumpkin's cord was wrapped around the neck 3 times. This we figured out as soon as pumpkin popped out. 

It was a boy. Carter Keith Williams was born on April 14, 2016 at 36 weeks. He Was Perfect.