Remembering...

So, Grayson is almost 1 YEAR OLD! Oh my goodness! I can't believe it! His birthday is the 25th of this month! So I've been getting quite nostalgic, and thought this tag was a fun way to reminisce about my pregnancy/labor experience! :)

1- Where were you when you first found out you were pregnant?

I was at home when I got my first positive at-home pregnancy test, and then got a positive test at the hospital too.


2- Who was with you?
I was alone for the first one, Steve was with me for the hospital one.

3- How did you find out that you were pregnant?

We had been trying to get pregnant for almost 3 years, so I kind of took pregnancy tests routinely -- every time I was late. But it wasn't an uncommon occurence -- my body was messed up in some way (never really found out why exactly), so I had learned by this time not to get my hopes up when I was late. So when I was late this time, I just took a test again, and it was positive!


4- What was your first reaction to finding out you were pregnant?

When my first at-home test was positive, I took another one (two in a box), just to make sure. It was positive, too! So I was feeling just a teeny tiny bit of hope that I might really be pregnant! But I STILL didn't want to get my hopes up, so I told Steve we needed to go to the store. I wanted to buy a different brand of pregnancy test - again, just to be sure! But I didn't want to get HIS hopes up yet, so I didn't tell him why I wanted to go to the store. He didn't really want to go, and wouldn't go unless I told him. I had this whole cute plan laid out for how I would tell him when I DID get pregnant, but that all went out the window then. I just put my arms around his neck and said, "I want to go to the store, because I want to get another pregnancy test. I just took two pregnancy tests, and they were positive, but I want to make sure!" He got this huge smile on his face! It was so cute! He thought I was crazy, but he indulged me, and we went and bought another 2-pack test. They were also both positive, but of course I was still afraid to get excited, so we went to the dr's office and got one of THEIR tests done, too! Steve still makes fun of me for having to have 5 TESTS done before I finally believed I was actually pregnant!!!


5-Did you get morning sickness?
yeah, but not too badly. I just had to make sure I snacked a lot during the day. Smells really set me off, though -- I threw up at work one night after helping a particularly...um, let's say fragrant...patient of mine change her pad. I did make it out of the room before I hurled, though. Wouldn't have been very professional to do it in front of a patient!

6- Who was the first person you told?
Steve, of course! And then, after the dr's office test came back positive, we went straight up to my mom's office in the hospital and gave her a little magnet that said "Best Grandma" or something like that -- the hospital gift shop didn't have a wide "grandma" variety :) She screamed, of course! We wanted to wait a while til we announced it to everyone else. We told Steve's parents a little while later. Then my mom told my dad, and anyone that knows my dad knows that he can NOT keep a secret -- he told everyone he saw -- even casual acquaintances! Probably strangers, too! :) So there really wasn't any point in keeping it a secret -- the whole town knew!



7-Did you plan to get pregnant?
yeah, we had been "planning" on being pregnant for a LONG time before it happened! Almost 3 years. Trust me, it's a lot longer than it sounds.


8-Was everybody happy for you?

Of course! Who's NOT happy about babies?! :)


9- Did you go out and celebrate?

Haha -- Steve and I went out to Arby's after we bought the other pregnancy tests at the store. Does that count?! :) We probably went somewhere else a bit fancier later when we were SURE about it, but I don't remember.


10- Did you want to find out the sex?

Oh goodness yes! I had to be as prepared as I could be!!


11- What was the sex?
A BOY, of course! Fun fact: every single person on my dad's side of the family has had a boy first! My grandpa was first-born, my dad was first-born, my brother is first-born, and then all my aunts (dad's sisters) had boys first. And now the next generation is following tradition, too -- my two cousins that have had babies so far have had boys, too. And then I had a boy. And now my sister is pregnant, and she is having a boy, too!!! Crazy stuff, huh! So I knew as soon as I found out I was pregnant that it was gonna be a boy! Wasn't surprised at all when we found out! :) Also, everyone in my family has a girl 2nd (after that, there's no set pattern -- just for the first 2!). So don't be surprised when my next kid is a girl. It's already pre-determined.


12-Did anyone throw you a baby shower?
I got 2 showers. There were 3 others that were supposed to happen, but never did. I was on bedrest the last 3 months of my pregnancy, which is usually when people have baby showers, so I didn't get to have many. I totally got jipped! I'm kind of a little bitter, I admit it!


13- If yes, who?
My best friends Kandis and Jessica threw me an awesome shower while I was pregnant (I got permission from my doc to go), and then my mother-in-law threw me one after Gray was was about 3 months old. So fun! Thanks, guys! :D You're the ones who REALLY love me!! Hehehe :D


14- Did you get any outfits at the baby shower that you just knew you weren't going to put on your baby?
Of course! But mostly because Gray grew so incredibly fast! Since one of my showers was when Grayson was 3 months old (and he was a very LARGE 3 month old), some of the outfits we got at the shower were already too small for him!


15- How much weight did you gain?
I try not to remember exactly -- it was 35-40 lbs, roughly.


16- Did you lose all of the weight that you gained?
I've lost that much weight since then, but I still have a very lovely baby-paunch and much wider hips. So I'm still working on the weight loss.


17- Did you get a lot of stretch marks?
Oh yeah. And you know they're bad when your OB/GYN remarks on them. I believe the direct quote was "Wow! He really gave you quite a road map, didn't he?". Disgusting.


18- What did you crave the most?
PICKLES! And anything sour! Couldn't get enough of the sour stuff!


19- Did you crave anything crazy?
Not really. The craziest thing was that I couldn't STAND chicken! And I LOVE chicken -- before and after pregnancy! But I could not eat it while I was pregnant! Just the smell of chicken would make me gag! Or even one little tiny bite! So weird! And as soon as I wasn't pregnant anymore, I could eat it again!!


20- Who or what got on your nerves the most?
As previously stated, I was on bedrest for 3 months! So of course lying in bed all day, every day, drove me NUTS! A lot of people would say "Oh, it would be so nice to just lie around and not have to do anything!" ooo that bugged me. Anyone that hasn't been on bedrest has NO idea how frustrating it is to not be able to get up to do anything! I was just allowed to go to the bathroom and take short showers. I couldn't even go downstairs to get myself FOOD, or answer the door, or ANYTHING! And when the nesting instinct kicked in, I went crazy!! The nursery wasn't done, I KNEW the house was a mess, and there were still a LOT of things I needed to get to be ready for the baby -- and I couldn't STAND that I couldn't do anything about it. Poor Steve had to put up with me going on and on about what needed to be done. He had to go out to Walmart late one Saturday night because I was SO anxious that we didn't have a car seat yet -- this a good month before Gray was born! He was such a good sport about it, though, and tried to indulge me whenever he could! And my mom helped a TON! She went and bought me so much stuff!! And she, my sister, brother-in-law, and my dad came and got the nursery ready for me! I am forever indebted to them!!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!


21- Were you married at the time?
Yes


22- Did you have any complications during your pregnancy?
I was on bedrest because I went into pre-term labor at 28 weeks. I had to take Terbutaline every time I contracted -- two or three times a day. And the Terb was terrible -- made me all shaky and anxious. So not fun. And nmkot only was I contracting, but I was dilating, too. I was 5 centimeters dilated when I finally went to the hospital to have him.


23- Where were you when you went into labor?
The irony: I had to be INDUCED at the end! Gray apparently changed his mind, and decided he wasn't going to come out after all! So I was in the hospital when they gave me drugs to put me into labor.


24- Did your water break?
the doctor came in and broke my water right after I was admitted.


25- Who drove you to the hospital?
Steve-o!


26- Did you go early or late?
Tried to go early -- then had to be persuaded to come on time :)


27- Who was in the room with you when you gave birth?
Steve, my mom, my sister, the nurse and the doctor! and the transition nursery nurse.


28- Was it video taped?
ooooooo no! yuck! took pictures after, though, of course!


29- Did you have any drugs for the pain?
heck yeah! Since I was already 5 cm dilated when I walked in, the doc said I could have an epidural any time I wanted. I went through about an hour of real contractions, and I was asking for the epidural. I applaud anyone that does it without meds, but I am NOT that person!! And it was a good thing, too -- my contractions came on top of each other -- no break in between, so I would have been beyond exhausted before I had to push. And I had to push for 2 1/2 hours, so I needed that energy!!


30-Did you go Natural or have a c-section?
Natural. They threatened a c-section, but I agreed to trying the vacuum first, and it worked! Yay! I got a 3rd degree tear, and Gray had a pretty sore, swollen head, but that's better than a c-section!


31- What was your first reaction after giving birth?
Overwhelming exhaustion! I seriously could barely keep my eyes open! Of course I was so excited and happy beyond belief! But my body was just plain worn out! And I was starving -- I hadn't eaten since 11 pm the night before, and I didn't have him til 8:20 pm!!!!


32- How big was the baby?
8 lbs, 8 oz; 21 1/2 inches!! :D


33- Did your Husband cry
No. I think he was tired, too! :) But he was so cute and smiled the entire time -- just this big goofy grin on his face! He wouldn't let anyone else hold the baby, either -- well, he let me hold him for a few minutes, but no one else got to hold him until a few hours after!


34- What did you name the baby?
Grayson Wesley Wayment


Was he named after anyone?
Wesley is a tradition for the first-born son's middle name in the Wayment household! It goes back to Steve's great-great grandpa (I think...)


35- Who came to see you at the hospital?
Lots of family and friends! And a lot of my work friends stopped in, too (since of course we were AT my work!) We are well-loved! :D


36- Did the baby have any complications?
He had a cephalohematoma from the vacuum -- and that gave him a little bit of jaundice. But he didn't have to go under lights or anything.


37- How old is your baby today?

Will be ONE YEAR OLD next week! on Feb 25th!!


38- When is the next one coming?

When it happens :D we want kids at least 2 years apart, though. So no, we're not trying yet!!


39-If you could, would you do it all over again?

absolutely! It was one of the best days ever! I'm honestly looking forward to when I get to give birth again! It's an incredible experience!!!