All about Austin

So yes, it's been.. forever. I missed holidays, birthdays, winter, everything. But finally, I'm back with.. A BABY! 

Let's back up. 

I took this the day I had Austin... just didn't know I was having him early! 

I was not good about taking pictures of myself while expecting. This was me a week before I had Austin.

I hope this won't become just a baby blog but for the next few I intend on playing catch up so deal. This is going to be the really long birth story. I fully expect to lose most of you 1/4 of the way down, it's okay. This is more for me anyway. 

 January 29th I went to the doc and she said the baby is big and we are going to induce on February 4th. Honestly I was kind of flipped out. I heard that you are more likely to have a c-section when induced. So after a night of panic I bucked up and made plans. Changed my maternity leave, called my sub and told him he would be taking over the musical, festival, all my classes, etc a week and a half early and then went out and bought crazy amounts of things I would just have to have in order to give birth. Now I don't even remember everything I bought, but I do remember being unnaturally concerned about a diaper pail.

January 31st rolls around and something is off. I'm not going into it in my blog, but I was confused so called the on call doc 5:00AM. She said I would probably have the baby soon and to go to the hospital. I didn't believe her. I had not had any contractions and didn't want to spend $400.00 to go to the hospital to be told to go home.  I decided to wait until the office opened and beg for a last minute appointment with my doctor. In the mean time, I cleaned the entire home and begged P to hang up pictures in the nursery. At the time I still didn't believe I was having the baby soon, but the hung pictures seemed to be of the utmost importance. P and I went in that morning and she said I was 4 centimeters and would probably have the baby soon. She couldn't say when, "could be tonight, could be this weekend, could be Monday". Since I'd had no contractions and am very good as self diagnosing I just knew it wouldn't be this weekend. 

P and I left the doc and grabbed lunch then both went back to work. I stayed for a 3 hour "Into the Woods" rehearsal, got a pedicure, and then P and I went to dinner with Sharon. We came home watched the last episode of 30 Rock. It started snowing and I prayed for a snow day.

 Finally around 11:15 I was almost asleep on the couch when all the sudden, my water broke. Luckily, several people told me what this felt like and I jumped higher than I had in 9 months to avoid ruining our couch. Priorities! I ran to the shower while yelling, "Philip, my water broke!" which he responded with, "are you serious?". I have laughed about this so many times. Like I would  be running to the bathroom 9 months pregnant all for a giant hoax. 

In the shower I had my first contraction! HELLO! While I didn't have them as long as some, they started with business! I had all back labor and the contractions started 4 minutes a part. I was so panicked by the pain I was having trouble thinking. I do not consider myself a weak person, but this pain broke me! Previously I had all of these plans of taking pictures of P and I on the way to the hospital, curling my hair, for some reason I believed I would swiffer the house before we left, and all I could think of was get me pain meds! I had my bag packed but had to add my hair dryer, curling iron (yes, I curled my hair while there) etc. P thought he packed his bag but realized he had only packed shampoo and no clothes... or anything else so he rapidly packed some stuff. I forgot about any other plans and just decided we are leaving right now. I grabbed all the bags and began walking to the car. God bless P for knowing not to argue with me. 

Did I mention it was snowing? One of the fun things you learn about people when you are together for a while are their quirks. P is the most stereotypical Tennessean about snow. He is so concerned about the weather really gets freaked out by the white stuff. One time he went out and bought firewood. Anyway, P drives to the hospital and grandmas are passing us. I adore that P was trying to be so safe but honestly in my head I was screaming because my contractions were so intense. After what felt like years we arrived at the hospital. I thought it would be all smooth sailing because we preregistered but I still had to do everything again in case my insurance changed. I cannot tell you the amount of self control it took not to scream at everyone. By then my contractions were 3 and 1/2 minutes apart and I was in crazy pain. 

We went back to some other room and they began to monitor the baby and then we moved to the birthing room. They told me I needed to "stay still". Hilarious. I had crazy, intense back pain and I am supposed to sit still. I had a better chance of voting for a Republican. Finally the sweet Lord smiled on me and sent in... the epidural. I didn't care about the needle, the risk, the side effects, nothing. Give. me. drugs. 

Even in the middle of the cold, snowy night, the birds flew in singing, a rainbow filled the sky, the pain was gone and I felt ammmmaaazing. P and I got 3 hours of sleep and I knew why life was worth living. I set an alarm at 4:30 and decided that if school wasn't canceled by then, I would request a sub. My tired self emailed principals, teachers, etc to make plans and at 5:00 AM I got a call saying school was canceled...so I wasted a sick day. Although I was in labor, this ticked me off so I fired off some more emails attempting to remedy this. 

Also around 5:00 the nurse said I would have the baby around lunch time and to try to get some sleep. At 7:00 she came back and said wow, you are 10 centimeters and ready to go, but the on call doctor just left and we haven't called the next one because we thought you would take longer. She said I would just hang out and wait but she did give me a popsicle. Finally, the nurse said let's start pushing. I was kind of flipped out because the doctor was not there but then I realized this nurse had done everything anyway so I just went with it. I also asked P for my makeup. He looked at me like I was crazy and asked, "are you serious?" umm YEAH. How long has he known me? Of course I'm serious. I was not bringing a child into this world without lipstick. 

At 8:30 I began pushing with the doctor. She was on a call doctor and I'll just say it was very awkward to meet her at that moment but the usual modest and reserved Natalie threw that all away and just went with it. At 8:51 our little Austin was born. Well really not so little. Our champ was 9lbs 4 ounces and 21 inches. 

Minutes after he was born.

Every single second of pain was worth it 1000 times over! He is so precious and every second of the day we are excited about all of the new adventures and challenges he has already brought. Life can never be the same and I couldn't be happier. 

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.