home salz: 6 months ago

6 months ago I was 37 1/2 weeks pregnant at home sitting on my couch in my white WSU sweat pants (that detail will be important later I promise) watching Grey's Anatomy re-runs on Lifetime as I did most afternoons. It was either that or America's Next Top Model. In fact Nick could tell you the winner of seasons 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. He would come home for lunch, see Tyra, Nigel and Ms. J and say - AGAINNNN?!?! I am obsessed.

*My pregnancy journey every 2 weeks starting at week 20.

**Yes that is Nick sleeping away in my 34 week pic. We were in Mexico. He was a bum. I was ready for the pool.

At that time I was working as a division recruiter for Combined Insurance. I was responsible for the recruitment activity for 8 states so needless to say I was busy and traveled WAY too much. I am pretty sure I calculated attending over 40 university (one time can we please talk about how a 22 year old engineering major at WSU asked me to dinner and drinks at the career fair??!?!?! Oh yeah, I was 5 months pregnant and had just told him about how I met my husband there. What nerve!)/community career fairs or specific Combined recruitment events in 2010. At 35 weeks pregnant, my doctor put the kibosh on travel so my work was confined to my living room until Cruz decided to come.

Anyway...it was 3:15pm.

I had gotten done with my work for the day, had showered and was browsing through my Rachael Ray Magazine for dinner ideas. My plan was to figure out dinner and head to Albertsons to grab groceries. I sent Nick a text message (verbatim from my iPhone): “Do u want buffalo chicken tacos or nut crusted tilapia?”

No answer

I wait 15 minutes and decide myself we are having the tacos - cause well nut crusted fish sounds inappropriate and as I am writing my grocery list, it happens. I feel THE gush people warn you about. Very quickly I get up off the couch and run to the downstairs bathroom hoping I had just peed my pants. I WAS NOT READY!

I looked down at my white WSU sweat pants and there it was - pink. I looked down in the toilet - pink. HOLY CRAP, my water just broke!

I grab my phone to call my sister. Em answers on the third ring (yes I totally remember that BTW) and I go, "Uhhhh I think my water just broke". There was only a slight silence before she starts freaking out! She tells me to call my doctor and to call her right back.

I call my doc - she tells me to head to labor and delivery as soon as I possibly can. HOLY CRAP.

It is 3:45pm, I call Nick. No answer

I call again, no answer

I call for the 4th time when he picks up the phone. He goes, "Sorry I was on the phone with a client. I want the tacos".

FOR GOODNESS SAKE, he thought I was bugging him about DINNER!

I told him that my water had just broke. Ohhh - what a good way to really throw someone off guard. He asked me if he needed to come home right then. I practically yelled YES, you need to come home in the midst of my SOBS. I was shaking, sobbing and so scared. I really wasn't ready. I hadn't gotten my delivery mani/pedi, hadn't packed my bag, Nick's bag was not packed, my designer delivery gown was still in the dryer as it had come HOURS prior, Cruz's bag was half packed, the house was not cleaned, meals were not made and frozen, the dogs were not taken care of and worse yet - my mom was on a flight back from New York and was not scheduled to arrive till 9pm. At least I had showered - but what people DON'T tell you is that the amniotic fluid doesn't stop leaking once your water breaks. I was dribbling pink amniotic fluid all over the house like a rusty faucet.

After he calmly told me to relax and that he would come home right away to help me get ready he ended our convo with - Woah, we are having a baby tonight! And he was right.

Everything from then on went rapid speed.

5:15pm: Head to the hospital

5:30pm: Check-in - thank goodness we didn't have to go far.

6:00pm: Dilated to a 1

6:00pm: Erin arrived with all of my entertainment mags and a carton of oreo cookies. She knows me so well. Starting at about 25 weeks, NO JOKE, I ate one carton of reduced fat double stuffed oreos per week. ALL BY MYSELF. Nick would make fun of me at which point I would go to the pantry and stuff my face. Ask me if I cared? Don't keep the pregnant lady away from her food.

6:30pm: I feel my first contraction.

6:30pm: Nick runs to get Jack in the Box. He totally ate in front of me. Since clearly we hadn't eaten dinner yet the last thing I ate was a Lean Cuisine at 12 and I was hungry. You are not allowed to eat once you get checked-in. He was nice and asked if I cared but what do you say to that?

7:00pm: Dilated to a 2. Request an epidural. I am sorry but even at at 2, I was super uncomfortable. I am a total wuss and have MAD respect for women who can do it without drugs. I am most certainly not one of them.

7:30pm: Receive my epi.

7:35pm: Feel LOADS better.

8:00pm: Erin leaves. Nick and I turn on Fox News.

9:30pm: Mom and Em arrive. Dilated to a 4.

10:30pm: Dilated to a 6

12:00am: Dilated to an 8

1:00am: Dilated to a 10. Time to start pushing. HOLY BALLS!

1:39am: After 39 minutes of pushing to the point I thought my face might literally fall off or I might break every blood vessel in my eye balls, Cruz makes his entrance.

The first week was tough. I felt like a crazy lady - crying at nothing, trying to figure out how to take care of something so entirely dependent on ONLY you, dealing with Cruz's jaundice, hearing him scream getting his blood drawn every day for the first 7 days of his life.

People don't tell you this could happen to your baby.

Being a parent is still not easy. In fact, it is the hardest thing I have ever done in my whole life but boy is it worth it. Every milestone, every smile, every precious moment...

I remember 6 months ago because it goes by so fast. I remember 6 months ago so I can always remember Nick's voice on the phone when I called to tell him it was time, remember being wheeled down to my room, remember what getting an epidural felt like, remember how I felt when Erin dropped everything including a dinner date to be by my side, remember how strong and able I felt pushing so hard, remember how my mom, Emily and Nick encouraged me every one of those 39 minutes I was pushing my hardest then yelled when he came out and most importantly remember how it felt to have Cruz placed on my chest and have that first moment finally happen – the moment when Nick, Cruz and I became a family.

So for the sake of remembering, let's take a look down memory lane at Cruz's first week of life.