On Love and Family

Surprise, surprise...I LOVE being a mommy. It is hands down the best thing I have ever done.

I knew that the second that Max came into the world things for Nick and I would change drastically, but you never really know what exactly how the change will occur until it does. His birth changed EVERYTHING, and I am not exaggerating at all...our responsibilities, our feelings about life in general, and the way we tackle everyday tasks/how we live our daily lives among other things. Most surprisingly to me, however, is how it changed our love for each other.

I am a firm believer in the common advice that babies don't fix relationships. Nick and I really had no relationship problems before Max arrived though, so please don't misunderstand me. We had an enormous love for each other and for our life together prior to having a baby. Now...that love has grown even more. I never realized that we could love each other quite as much as we do and in the way that we do now. Seeing my husband as a father has caused my love to expand for him in drastic measures...and it seems that he feels the same way about seeing me as a mother. I LOVED being married and living our life together before Max came along, but I have learned very quickly that I love my life even more now that we are a family.

Max has completed our relationship in a way (at least for a few years...we want a big family, so there is definitely room for growth in the future!)...everything just feels right, and I love it.

This picture was taken by my Momma...at the exact moment that I was realizing how much I love being a family of 3 (literally. That is one of the things I can remember very clearly from my labor and delivery experience). The look on my face says it all...

Max's Arrival

We had the most amazing delivery experience with Max :)

He was delivered at Women's Hospital in Greensboro. We had a great nurse throughout the day on Wednesday, and she played such a big part in how well everything went. She previously worked in a birthing center and had lots of tips on how to control pain naturally prior to me getting an epidural. She taught Nick to read the monitor, which he loved, and was very supportive. By the time Max arrived we were very comfortable with her and it made a big difference in our overall experience. I really believe that it was all because of our nurse and my amazing doctor that everything went so well and so smoothly.

I was given Cervidil overnight on Tuesday, which very slowly started my contractions. By Wednesday morning I was in active labor, and my contractions were coming pretty regularly by themselves. However, they went ahead and gave me Pitocin to help me along a little quicker. Honestly, a lot of the day was a blur. I do know that my contractions were pretty intense after I was given Pitocin, and I don't think it was long after that that I got an epidural. I do remember that getting the epidural was not nearly as bad as I had expected it to be. I expected it to be very painful, but it really wasn't. It was more of just a strange feeling, and was a little uncomfortable, but so much less painful than the contractions I had been having (I guess labor pains will put everything into perspective for you)! After I had the epidural I started progressing a lot more quickly and even took a nap. I did get sick twice, but it was pretty insignificant really didn't even phase me. After they checked me and told us that I was 10cm dilated, Nick asked the nurse how much longer she thought it would be before Max arrived. She responded by saying that since I was a first time mom that I would probably be pushing for about 2 hours. BUT...apparently we exceeded the odds...because I only pushed for 35 minutes and he was here!!! :)

Turns out, Max is quite the little miracle baby. We knew that his umbilical cord had only 1 artery instead of the usual 2, and that it was attached to the side of the placenta rather than the top...none of which really worried us. However, after he was delivered we discovered that his umbilical cord was barely attached to the placenta and could have easily become detached. Our nurse was very interested in it...she said that she had never seen that because they very rarely ever make it to delivery apparently.

I absolutely cannot say enough thanks to Nick and Momma, who were both in the delivery room with me. They were both so very supportive and helpful, and I couldn't have asked for two more perfect people to have with me for such an important event.

Nick and I are so extremely happy, and we just love being a family :)

He's Here!!!

As I imagined it would be, life as a new mother is crazy. And of course completely wonderful!

But honestly, my priority has not exactly been posting news about our precious little boy all over the internet...so, sorry it has taken some time ;)

Max Parker Brown was born at 6:32pm on March 30th. He weighed 7lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long...and is completely perfect, in our opinion!

We came home on Friday morning and we are all doing wonderfully. Nick and I love being parents and everything is going really smoothly (so far so good)...

I will post more about our new addition and our labor and delivery experience later on, but for now, here is a picture for your enjoyment!

This was taken just moments after Max arrived