The Pearson Project

Tuesday, June 24

Instead of posting one pic for the day, I thought I would do one post for this special day. I didn't feel well yesterday and I found out it was because I was in labor. I had called and rescheduled my induction for Tuesday anyway but by 8:00 Monday night, I was in so much pain, I didn't think I could make it to my induction. I made a last-minute decision to call Grandma Sharon and ask if we could bring the kids to her for a sleepover and of course, she said yes.

 

Instead of heading home, we decided to go to the hospital just to "get checked out". I thought my contractions were about 10 minutes apart but when they hooked me up to the monitors, they were actually every 4-5 minutes but because they were so painful, I wasn't feeling every other one. I also had a fever that was over the 100.4 mark and my blood work came back showing a white blood count of 22 (11 is the high end of normal) so they knew I had some sort of infection going on. As a precaution for the baby, they started me on IV antibiotics immediately.

 

My pain was so intense, I finally opted for an epidural and got that in the wee hours of the morning. Although it did help the pain tremendously, it failed at the very end leaving me with the feeling of a natural birth followed by numb legs for a couple of hours. It also kept making my blood pressure drop so constantly throughout the night, they had to come in and lay my bed down then give me tons of fluid to keep my pressures up. The baby also started having heart decelerations that came just after my contractions then migrated to just before. I was scared this was going to lead to a C-section; a prospect that scared me to death! However, as you will see, everything worked out beautifully and my sweet angel baby girl has finally arrived!

Jenni did a beautiful birth story that included about 150 pictures. I only included a few here for this post. 

 The sunrise around 5:45 am. Jenni took this on her way to the hospital when things really started progressing.

Because I go from 7cm to 10cm in a matter of minutes, the epidural didn't keep up with my pain and I found myself in a very emotional state trying to cope with the pain. My mom felt bad for me and was trying to soothe me the way that only your mommy can do (even when you're 30 years old).

My sweet hubby was doing all he could to help me through this. That is a cool rag on my forehead because I got very nauseated right before she was born.

Not my best picture but I think it really shows what I was going through.

Dr. Twelves counted to 10 once, had me breathe for a moment, then started over. When she got to 2 or 3 she said, "Okay, you can stop pushing. She's here!"

The moment they set her on my chest was amazing. The first few things I said were, "Holy cow, this is a huge baby!" and "Is it for sure a girl?"

I was totally right; she was a huge baby! Rickelle Jane Pearson was born at 6:49 am, weighed 9 lbs 3 oz and was 21.5" long. Oh, and she's perfect!

Daddy is already wrapped around her precious little finger.

 

And mommy can't get enough of that silky smooth newborn skin.

 

Little princess after her first bath. How cute is she?!?!?

I have to give a HUGE shout-out to my amazing sister! She's always there, right by my side, and doing things that I would never even think of. She has been my photographer, leg holder, keep the kids for a sleepover, rock with all of my deliveries. I am so grateful that I was blessed with a sister! She is the reason I insisted that Kendra get a sister!!

Our first picture as a family.

 

I am so blessed! I have 5 of the Lord's elect living in my home and I couldn't be more thankful for that. I am also so very grateful for my extended family that took such great care of the kids and I. I truly do not know what I would do without them!