love letters & adventures: Royce Matthew Curtis

October 2nd, 2014 was the happiest day of my life. Our little man came into the world and so I thought I would share the story. (You can just skip to the pictures as well if you don't want to read this novel.)

I woke up on Wednesday, October 1st thinking that Royce wasn't going to make an appearance for quite some time. I wasn't feeling too uncomfortable and he wasn't due for another 2 weeks so I thought I might even go past my due date. So, I woke up early and went on a walk with my sweet friend Vanessa. I even did the weird walking with one foot on the curb and the other on the street thing. It was probably really strange looking, but Vanessa told me this wives' tale had been known to work. (DISCLAIMER: I honestly think that there is not a real way to naturally induce labor... That did not stop me from trying at the time though, of course.)

Around 2:00 PM I realized that I had not felt the baby kick all day. This was very out of the norm for him, and so I started trying to get him to move and I laid still for and hour and nothing. I called Matthew pretty worried and I called the hospital and we decided to go in to get Royce monitored. We got there at about 4 and right when we got into the room I felt him kick. I was so relieved. Just to be sure, we were hooked up to a monitor and saw his healthy heart beat. The doctor said that he was a poster child for perfect vitals. Good job Royce.

I got checked while I was there and I was at a 1 cm but I was at about 70% effaced so it seemed like he wasn't going to come soon at all. But, at the end of our stay at the hospital, I had a few contractions in a row that were pretty close together. I wasn't too excited about it because that was my life the last month of pregnancy. At about 5:00 we went back home. The Doctor said just as we were leaving, "I am on call tonight and I wouldn't be surprised if I saw you again." Little did we know then, but he was going to be the one to deliver our babe about 12 hours later!

Well, going to the hospital earlier that day turned out to be a blessing because Matthew got off of work, and so I had him with me during the whole process. That was so lucky, because once the pain came, it really came.

So yeah, on the way home from the hospital I really started to have contractions. These ones felt a little different because there was a sharp pain with them that was unlike the Braxton Hicks contractions. They started off about 9 minutes apart. We stopped at the store and bought things to make pineapple curry (Matthew and I didn't know it at the time but pineapple and spicy foods are supposed to induce labor as well... According to some old wives.) We ate and skyped Matthew's parents and the contractions were about 8 minutes apart and getting a bit stronger. I was totally fine though. I was thinking at this point still that this wasn't real and they were going to stop. Silly me. I was in labor. Haha.

So, at about 9 pm Matthew and I decided to buy a milkshake and walk around a park. We got a strawberry oreo shake to share from this cute place and then walked around this little park. We made it a few laps around and then they were getting so bad that it was hard to walk through them. At this point I told Matthew, "Um... I think that we are going to have to go back to the hospital tonight." Then we both got pretty excited. Baby time!!!

Well, we got home at around 10:00 and they were pretty strong. They were coming at about 6 to 7 minutes apart now. My back was killing me so I took a shower. I would call out to Matthew, who was doing homework at the table, when they would come and he timed them. After using up all the hot water in the house, I was feeling the contractions pretty strong. I got to the point where I couldn't even think when they came. They just all of the sudden got so bad! I tried to be tough, but I couldn't take it anymore. So at a little after 11:30 we left for the Hospital.

When we got there, I was checked and I was at 3cm and almost completely effaced. Yep, it happened fast, but I was a little disappointed that it wasn't more. They let me wait in a smaller hospital room for an hour longer, and this was the roughest time. I hate this about my body, but whenever I am in pain, I also am extremely nauseous. Well that strawberry oreo shake turned out to not be such a great addition to this birth story.

The only thing that helped me through this time was holding on to Matthew and focusing on my breathing. The doctor came in at about 1 AM and asked if I wanted an epidural. YESSSsssss. They took me into another room and hooked me up. I was almost at 5 cm by this point and he broke my water. Honestly, after I got my epidural, the whole thing was kinda fun.

This was us post epidural. We looked pretty excited, huh? Last picture of us together as a family of 2! They put us in a bigger room that was like a suite. At around 2:30 I didn't feel any pain anymore at all, and at 3:00 everyone left us alone to sleep. Yeah right. Royce had to get re-monitored over and over because his heart rate would get too low. This happened until I finally switched over to my left side and then he was ok.

It was kinda fun to watch the contractions on the monitor. They would peak over and over and I saw that they were about 2 to 1 minute apart. At 4:30 AM, after many failed attempts at falling asleep, the amazing nurse named Aubrey (who was super sweet and a great friend during the whole stay) came in and said that we would be ready to push already in about 30 minutes!!

This was super exciting, and before I knew it, about half a dozen people were coming in and out of my room and the lights were all on again. Poor tired Matthew was by my side again.

Royce came in 20 minutes of pushing. I will never ever forget how it felt to hold Matthew's hand and to see that little scrunchy face for the first time. He didn't even cry. He just squawked at everyone just sayin hi.

Royce was perfectly healthy. He was here, our little guy. He was finally here.

He was worth it. Any pain that I had felt the last 9 months was completely worth it.

Matthew and his adorable son.

Royce Matthew Curtis was born at 5:23 AM and weighed 7lbs and 9oz and was 20 cm long at 2 weeks early. I am so glad he did, because he would have been around 9 lbs on his due date.

That day was so nice. At Orem Community Hospital they really take care of you. I just loved having time to sleep and adore that cute lil guy. I could just watch him all day.