Hello there friends!!! I have been wanting to do this post for a while but never seemed to get around to it. I never finished a baby book so I wanted to have somewhere where I can have this story forever and thought maybe some of you would enjoy reading it too. It's so funny how different everyones birth stories are so I love reading them...
Our sweet Bjorn Michael Nave. He was named after my husbands hero Michael Murphy (the Navy Seal). When I found out I was pregnant, I could come up with every girl name in the book but boy names just went right over my head... My husband came to me one day and said "what about Bjorn?" Hmm... Different, I like it. I knew it would be somewhat difficult and he may have some trouble when he gets older but we decided to go with a somewhat normal middle name in case he ever wants to go by that. We lived in Vista California at the time as my husband was in the Marine Corps. We ended up moving back to Missouri when I was 8 months pregnant (DO NOT RECOMMEND) It was so uncomfortable and we had a somewhat scary mishap at a gas station on the way including a man who was wondering around looking into our truck (we had the doors open to let our dog out and I was pumping gas and Taylor was inside paying) He had his hands in his hoodie pocket and I thought for sure he was up to no good. Luckily Taylor came out just in time but I always fear someone is going to try and steal my baby before it's born if you know what I mean... I don't know you just hear those stories and I fear everything.... Anywho... SQUIRREL!!
We moved back to Missouri and stayed with my parents while we found jobs and got settled into living back home. It was an adjustment for my husband for sure. We got settled and got through the holidays. We moved back at the end of October and I was due the beginning of December. Let me just tell you about our insurance issues... Lord have mercy. While Taylor was in the military we had Tricare. Basically everything was "free" for us. All of my doctors appointments were paid for so nothing came out of pocket. Taylors official day to get out of the Marine Corps was December 5th. My due date was December 5th. We lost our Tricare insurance ON December 5th at midnight. I was able to get a secondary insurance but it was only going to last through April because of complicated reasons so in April I had to find yet another insurance company to take on me and my baby... Such a mess. and it wasn't going to cover everything like Tricare was going to. We didn't have jobs yet so we were just praying he would come before then. As December 5th was approaching, I was super nervous. I didn't want to be induced, I wanted him to come when he was ready. I walked miles a day trying to help speed things up. December 4th came along and nothing. All day people were saying "oh there's going to be a snow storm, the pressure from the storm will make him come!" LOL YEAH RIGHT! I was just sure he was going to be overdue. Welp, I was wrong. at 3am on December 5th in the middle of the storm, my water broke. I was asleep, felt some pressure, stood up because I was kind of nervous and boom! Water everywhere. I was half asleep so I thought "did I just pee myself?!" in fact, my husband says I said that out loud. Then it hit me, my water had broken! You always see in the movies when the water breaks, everyone loses their minds, rushing around trying to get to the hospital... had I known what was in store for me next, I would have taken a bubble bath and relaxed... 3 pair of pants later, we were out the door. My mom and dad and Taylor all rushing around trying to get me out the door. Yall..... they don't tell you when your water breaks, it just keeps coming! Movies really aren't so accurate. It's not just one gush and then its over... I wen't through 4 pair of pants before it was all done and I was at the hospital... anyway...
We got to the hospital and I wasn't feeling any contractions then a couple hours later, some small ones started. I was thinking "oh man if this is it, this will be easy! What are all these women complaining about?!" I wasn't progressing so they had me bouncing on the ball... Finally after a few hours they started giving me pitocin. I wasn't happy about it but he needed to come out. They started a small drip and I started contracting harder. Taylor held my hand through every single contraction and I will be forever grateful for him being there with me. I don't know what I would have done without him. He kept me breathing and we got through 14 hours of that until I finally couldn't take it anymore and needed the epidural. I was so sad. As a first time mom, I think we all want to be superheroes and go without the epidural but I tell you what, I'll never go without it again! I finally was able to get some sleep...
I took a small nap until the epidural moved to one side... I could feel the contractions on one side so they switched me over to the other to try to even it out. At this point it was I think around 8pm on December 5th. I hadn't eaten or had anything to drink since the evening before when we had dinner. I was so thirsty and just craving water. I drink 100 oz of water a day so going without it for so long was miserable. My dad started sneaking me in some water when no one was looking but I started getting sick. I threw up every ice chip and swig of water that I took. They kept checking me and I had started slowly progressing but they told me he had turned the wrong way and if he doesn't turn soon, we will have to do a c section... NOOOO! I just went through so much...
I had THE BEST nurse and I don't remember her name and it makes me so sad but she basically flipped me halfway upside down to try to move this baby because she knew how important it was to me. She put some weird shaped blow up thing between my legs and had me in all sorts of weird positions, finally he turned!!! I was dilated to an 8 or 9 and they said ok we will call the doctor up! This is where it all just went crazy. Nurses coming in with tables and tools.... So many people around, everyone getting excited. Me as the emotional person I am, couldn't stop crying. I was a wreck! They checked and I was at a 10... I started pushing. I pushed as hard as I could. I gave the rest of my energy into pushing. I pushed for 45 minutes and bam! 10:20pm our little miracle was born. "RED hair" they said. What!? RED HAIR?! no.... LOL
After he was born I held him skin to skin. He was so warm and cozy. I felt so blessed. They took him to clean him off and weigh him. 8 lbs 1 oz, 19 inches long.
This next part is somewhat difficult for me to write, but I want to tell all...
Before anyone came in to see him, I was still laying in bed. Exhausted, my head hurt, I was still throwing up. I remember Taylor holding Bjorn and he asked me if I wanted to hold him. I looked at him and shook my head no. I didn't want anything to do with him. I felt numb inside and mentally and physically exhausted. I think it was a mix of all the stress of EVERYTHING moving, the insurance stuff, not having a home to bring my baby to, not having jobs, and the physical being in labor for 19 hours, dehydrated, sick, miserable. They asked me what I needed and all I could say was water. I drank some and got sick again. They gave me some medicine for the nausea and I was able to drink water after that. I started feeling better after about an hour and finally felt better mentally. I held him and we nursed for the first time. That didn't go so great but we figured it out. I just know, I don't EVER want to feel that feeling again. I love this child with my whole heart and going back to that moment is really hard for me but i'm glad that feeling went away and here we are 3 1/2 years later.
I stayed in Liberty Hospital and was pampered yall.... It is like a spa retreat up in there. I didn't want to leave, infact on the last day I said "what do I need to do to stay longer?" They wouldn't let me stay... oh well...
The first night was difficult. Taylor stayed with me on a small couch. I was new to all of this so I had no clue what I was doing. Luckily the nurses were fantastic and helped me through all of it. Something else they don't tell you is sometimes babies spit up fluid from your insides which looks a lot like blood... I had no idea until Bjorn started doing this in the middle of the night. I instantly wen't into panic mode thinking the worst and the nurse told me it was normal... UH WHY DIDN'T ANYONE WARN ME?! But after that I took a long bath in their spa bath, Taylor was so great, I fell in love with him all over again while we were in the hospital. He didn't leave my side and helped me with everything. I was so thankful.
On the third day we wen't home and the rest is history... Although it was a long labor and lots of stress in our lives at the time, I would change anything about this story. We love this little redhead more than anything in the world and I still can't believe he's mine.
It's so funny to me how different Bjorn and Rowen's stories are. I'll share Rowen's next. It's much shorter and less stressful ;)
I hope you enjoyed this story. He's such a joy in our lives and lets be honest, a little cray cray. But we love him to death.
Come be my friend!!