Travis, sorry, had to be cheesy

So, I'm going to go ahead and apologize for being cheesy, but this has to be said. Travis has been incredible. He's the best and most loving dad and husband. He has taken such great care of me while I recovered. He would call my mom and made sure she was there with me, call to check on us, work from home some days, etc.

I know, without a doubt, that I wouldn't have recovered and been mentally prepared on a daily basis to be a mom if it wasn't for him. He helped from the time I got pregnant and still helping. He's made being a mom as easy as it possibly could be just by being there and loving us.

I never thought I could possibly love him more than I did until I had Jonathan and saw him with the baby. It was truly amazing. He's the best and most loving dad I have ever seen. He adores his son and that makes me the happiest woman on earth.

I love you Travis. Thanks for being such a wonderful husband and father.

Truly Blessed

God blessed us with incredible family and friends. My mom and Aunt were incredible during the birth. My Aunt talked me through it when I was crying too hard to focus and my mom didn't leave my side once after the baby was born. Those are things I will never forget. Travis was incredible too. He wouldn't leave my side until I made him go over to our son and check on him.

At the hospital, we had so many friends bring us meals. It was incredible. Then when we got home, we didn't cook for two weeks. Either someone brought us meals or my parents cooked for us. We wouldn't have made it without the help and support of everyone. Our friends, parents, and family made it easier for us to adjust and helped me recover without feeling rushed.

I want to also thank my incredible sister-in-law for all of her help and for loving Jonathan so much. She came over on her days off to help and hang out with us. Made me feel so special that she spent her days off with us. We love you Ashley!

We love everyone and feel so loved by our friends and family. We are so lucky!

The Birth

I feel terrible that I haven't updated our blog since our last baby shower, but we've been super busy. I'll update the blog now by telling about the birth of our beautiful baby boy.

On March 16, 2010, I spent the day at home with my mom, aunt, and Travis. My mom and I laughed a ton with my aunt while Travis tried to sleep. He didn't get much sleep the days prior from being nervous and anxious, I suppose. We met my dad at Provino's and all had a wonderful dinner together. Afterwards, Travis and I went back home and watched American Idol. We had to be at the hospital at 10:00 p.m., but I wasn't going to miss my American Idol, so we planned to be late. LOL! At around 9:15, I finally got nervous. I told Travis I was going to go in our bedroom by myself to get a grip on things. He didn't know what to think. LOL! After American Idol, we headed to the hospital. I didn't have time to get too nervous at that point since I was being induced and having all the IVs and such attached. They expected me to get some sleep. Yeah right! The anxiety was on high. Travis laid on the couch and I had to sleep on that awful bed. It's worse than sleeping on concrete.

The next day was crazy. I was doing great coping with the pain and got an epidural at about 5 cm. The guy comes in to put the epidural in. While he's injecting me he is singing. I was like, "Dude, stop singing and focus on what you are doing." I didn't say anything to him though. Two hours later the epidural had worn off. He sent in a young nurse to re-dose me. Well, guess what? It wore off AGAIN!!!! I told the nurse in a nervous tone, "I'm holding this baby in. He's coming out." She kept telling me that I should feel pressure, but not be in pain. I was like I feel it ALL. She checked me and sure enough I was 10 cm. I had to wait for my doctor and my dad to get in there. Crazy!!!!! When they get in there, I tell her I'm in pain and I feel it all. She tells me that I should feel pressure, but not pain. At this point, I start waving my legs in the air saying should I be able to do this, because I could get up and walk right now. Her face was priceless. Her and my dad said it was too late to re-dose me. I could have killed someone. Outside, we had Misa yelling, "Come on P, you can do it. Woohoo!" If I hadn't been in so much pain I would have laughed hysterically.

At this point, I had no choice but to have the baby. Travis and my dad were to my left. A nurse was to my right and my mom, Titi Laly, Debbie, and Ashley (thanks for taking all the pictures) were to my right as well. Travis was super sweet telling me I could do this, but my dad knew he had to push my buttons. He knew he had to make me so mad to push him out extra fast. He kept telling me that the pain was in my head and that this was no big deal, etc. I cried the whole time. I didn't cuss, I just cried. I know I know. Most people can't believe that I didn't say any bad words! Then my dad said something that really made me mad. I finally had to say something crazy. I said, "Dude, I'm going to cut yours off and sew it back on and then you tell me if it's in your head and not painful." The nurses lost it. Not my proudest moment. If it wasn't for my dad knowing to make me mad, I would have never had him as fast as I did. After I said that, my dad said 1 more set of pushes and you are done. Dr. Todd looked at him like why on earth would you tell her that, that won't happen. Well, I pushed so hard that sure enough I had him. I pushed less than 20 minutes. Jonathan Henry Schievelhud was born at 3:44 p.m on March 17, 2010.

He didn't cry at first so I was super nervous. He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. We had so many people outside waiting to meet him. We were so blessed to have great family there with us, great doctors and nurses in the room with us, and so loved by all.

I'm still not sure I'll ever do this again!