My Greatest Accomplishment and All of My Joy: Meet My Son

I  started to publish another blog post about mom life but realized I’ve never done one about my birth story and never posted any with his pictures or anything like that so decided I would post this one before I publish the next one. If you follow me on my personal page, @ambi_bambi, chances are you have seen way too many pics & already know some of this, but people ask about these things often actually. I meant to do this blog post, like 5 months ago.  Time flies when you’re having fun!  Being a mom with almost 2 full-time jobs on top of tha is hard work!  Doesn’t leave much time for writing. I’m actually currently writing this from my cell phone, while my son is asleep on one arm.  

BIRTH STORY

My son's dad and I went into the hospital on August 8th, which was my original due date, to be induced the next morning and stay the night.  YES, I chose to be induced, even though sooo many people tried to tell me not to.  My mom did it with all four of her kids, and that’s good enough for me ! They put medication inside me to start dilating my cervix because I was not near dilated enough but it was past 40 weeks when I went in. I started having contractions through the night and early as possible, the next morning, they gave me an epidural, which I HIGHLY recommend by the way. They say labor begins when you have your first contraction. I always asked people the whole way through my pregnancy what a contraction felt like no one could really explain it and now I see why.   I would explain it as the deepest cramp you could ever have, repeatedly, every hour at first, to then every few minutes. And I won’t lie to you, they hurt BAD!  I was in labor for HOURS, ended up being a total of 15 hours I think it was.  

Look at that belly !! This was taken on our way to the hospital. 

I had a whole room of visitors, the whole day waiting on me to go into labor.  I don’t remember much, because that epidural pretty much makes you feel like you are what you are, on drugs lol.  When you haven’t put much medication in your body for almost 10 months, then get that, it hits you hard !! Things are really foggy about the day, and honestly who all was there and what I even said to be honest, but thank God I have lots of pictures ! I couldn’t eat all day except for ice chips and i just remember really wanting him to enter the world in time for me to get a Milkshake from Reeves Sain before they closed at 6 . Typical me . 

GO TIME!

I knew it was go time, when I started trembling.  My entire body was shaking and would not stop. My nurse came in, cleared the room except for the people who were going to be in the room with me.  Speaking of that, there were only supposed to be like 2 people, but I had extras: my son’s dad, my mom, sister, sister-in-law, and best friend.  It’s hard to choose who you want to be present for your whole anatomy just out in the open like that. I don’t even change my shirt in front of people, so this was tough for me! Anyways I started pushing while the nurse counted with me repeatedly to 10.   This went on for over an hour, until he was almost out, then my doctor came in!  I honestly didn’t think I was going to be able to push a whole baby human out of me, but got what felt like superhero strength and made it happen!  What women's bodies ca do is miraculous to say the least.  My son’s head is apparently larger than most so it was stuck in the birth canal for apparently a really long time.  They told me I had to do this, because his head could not stay down there much longer !  I then told them i needed some pep rally music, ya know the kind you had in high school to get pumped up for a big game.  I requested “We Ready” by Archie, we played it and that gave me all the hype I needed. He came out to that.  I used every single muscle in my body to get him out of there! Freaks me out & the song part is really funny looking back on it ! Only me! That song & the support system I had in the room are what got me through it for sure !   

Denver Ford Dimick was born on August 9th, 2017 at 7:28 pm.  He weighed 7lbs, 1 oz and was 20.5 inches long.  Seeing him was the most beautiful, most real, crazy, unbelievable moment of my whole life ! I really never thought I would have a baby and be a mom.  It never really hit me that I was pregnant until two nights before I had him.  I couldn’t believe how beautiful he was.  I looked at my best friend Tamina and said “how did i do this?” I seriously think part of the reason I posted so many things about being pregnant, when I was, is to prove to myself that I was pregnant.  Ya know, the same reason couples who aren’t really that in love do lmao.  Who are y’all trying to convince yourselves or each other ? Lol, kidding, kinda.  Back to Denver, he was the most beautiful little guy I had ever laid eyes on!  

VISITORS AND BREAST FEEDING

I sincerely appreciated every person who came to visit after Denver was born, but I was honestly extremely overwhelmed by it all.  First of all I had no idea what i was doing with a baby, so I was trying to learn how to be a mom in the first place. I also had various nurses and hospital staff coming in the room what seemed like, every 47 seconds.  I was also trying to learn how to breast feed, which is the hardest thing ever by the way, and had people literally shoving my boob in my child’s mouth.  It made me feel very weird and also like a cow being milked and I was OUT on that! I tried. I really did, but the second i made the decision not to do it and switched to formula, it was like a 4 ton weight was lifted off my shoulder!! I didn’t want to feel the way i felt every time my son was hungry!  I at least then knew he was getting the proper amount of food that he needed.  I couldn’t wait to get out of the hospital and home!  

Overall Denver’s birth was very long, hard, painful and scary, but it was the most beautiful and amazing thing i have ever experienced and the absolute best day of my entire life !! I’ve never known a love like this before that’s for sure and i love him more every minute of every day !! Being a mom is my greatest accomplishment of all time and I think I’m doing just fine at it.  PS if anyone is looking for an OBGYN, i LOVED mine doctor by the way, Dr Pollock at MMC. I don’t think anyone can really prepare you for the experience of the emotions you feel when you become a mom, because everyone’s journey and birth stories are different. 

 Thank you guys for reading & be on the lookout for lots more mom related things & posts under this “life” section of my website !! You can also follow me on Instagram @nativeinnashville.  Here are a few more pictures from his first week of life!  Hard to believe that this week he will be 5 months old already !!Photos: Christie Lynn Photography

Life Lately: Riches to Rags

You guys don't understand how excited I am to be writing this blog post right now from an actual computer!!  Every blog post I have done up until this point has been from my phone, which has been a serious struggle to say the least.  There have been many long hours spent and many cuss words said over these past two months since I started "Native in Nashville", but I am excited to bring y'all some new and improved posts.  You wouldn't imagine the world of difference this makes to me and how much more I can do.  Who knew?

Isn't she pretty?  I'm seriously so excited and IN LOVE.  I decided to go with a MacBook Air.  I really wanted a MacBook, but only because it's the only one that comes with pretty color options  Luckily for me, the Apple store sells a case that made computer look rose gold, just like my phone.  WIN-WIN!  

Some of you won't care a thing about this post, because it honestly has nothing to do with Nashville at all.  No cool waterfalls, restaurants, food, or clothes...just me, myself and I and my life lately.  More like a "Dear Diary" post to be exact.  If I were you, I would probably x out of this right now.  For those of you who do want to read about my boring life, I salute you.

Riches to Rags....

I know you're probably looking at that line like, "hey, she wrote that the wrong way".  Nope.  I wish I could say that was the case.  As most of you know, if you read my previous blog about change http://www.nativeinnashville.com/blog/2016/3/1/a-change-would-do-you-good (copied here if anyone is interested)  I made a HUGE life change about a month or so ago.  One day I realized that I didn't care how much money I made working where I was, some things are just not worth it.  I did something really crazy and went on my lunch break one day and didn't return.  Enough was enough.

I had always told myself I would never be a waitress again in my life.  I am NOT knocking waitressing at all, I just want to say that up front.  I always said that because it's literally the hardest job a person can ever do in their life.  I think everyone in this world should be required to wait tables for at least 6 months, before they are even allowed to go out to eat.  Some of you may not even know that waitresses only make $2.15 an hour.  Plus tips.  Let me name a few or ten reasons why being a waitress is hard, and then I will continue this story.

  • Constantly on your feet
  • No breaks (if you have to pee, sometimes you can't even do that...)
  • If you are facing a problem at home, you might as well not even go into work =NO MONEY.  You HAVE to have a smile on your face, always.  No matter what. 
  • SIDEWORK.  After a shift, you are required to do like a billion other things before you can leave.(making $2.15 an hour, no more tips, might I add)
  • If the customer doesn't like the food, or the kitchen messes up the order, there goes your tip.
  • Have you guys seen the black chunky "no-slip" shoes? EW
  • The uniform in general....and having to buy most of it yourself, before you even make a dollar.
  • Most all restaurants have a "tip out" meaning part of the money you make off each table as a tip, goes to someone else (food runner,busers, the bar)  It's based off of sales, so basically if a table doesn't leave a tip at all, the server has to pay out of pocket.
  • 10% tips.  This brings me back to the fact that some people do not realize servers only make $2.15 an hour.  I say if your service is good, you should tip no less than 20%, no questions asked. 
  • Smelling like french fries at the end of the day.  Ain't nobody got time for that. 
  • Running food and side work.  Do you realize that even when servers are not with a table, they are constantly carrying heavy plates out to tables that aren't even theirs, if you suck at carrying them, like me, getting food all over their clothes.  Something always needs to be done, ice needs to be refilled, plates and glasses need to be restocked, silverware needs to be polished and rolled.  It's always something, you literally can't catch a break.
  • You have to have the best memory of all time.  I have ADD and a bad memory + anxiety.  Not a great combination.  Imagine the feeling I got forgetting what someone asked for, and how easy it would be.

This list goes on and on.  I'm telling you guys, its hard.  We need a training class on how to treat someone who is a server.  I hope you ALL read this and take notes.  Anyways, I started working at a restaurant.  At first, I was very excited about it.  Unfortunately, that feeling faded very quickly.  I think ultimately, the excitement factor resulted from me never having to go back to my other job again and the satisfaction of just doing something new.  I also enrolled in school, and I knew having a flexible work schedule would make it really easy on me.  VERY long story short, I had to do two weeks of training before I even began making tips.  When I did begin making tips I made very good ones, at least 20% on each table.  That wasn't the issue.  The problem was the fact that I may only get 4 or 5 tables today during a shift.  I was the new girl, in the worst sections, with the lowest amount of tables.  That just doesn't add up to much.

I went from making what I was making an hour, to making that much in a shift.  It would have taken me about 35 shifts to even make enough to pay my half of the rent and utilities.  It was bad you guys.  I would leave crying.  I was working so hard for what felt like nothing.  I was used to buying almost anything I wanted, whenever I wanted, and not thinking a thing in the world about it.  Being a waitress for about about 5 weeks, was a huge wake up call.  I started thinking about things in how many days it would take of work to pay for whatever it was that I thought I wanted.  There were times when I felt guilty, just for buying myself lunch.  I literally saved every penny, which between that and taxes, I am thankful for now.  My back and feet were constantly sore and I always smelled like french fries. I was constantly looking for ways to make extra money, I even became "Molly Maid" for my brother once. I realized quickly that I am not cut out for that kind of hard work and labor.  The cleaning I could definitely handle, it was the waitressing that got me.  I seriously salute anyone who does this.

Present Day....

I started vigorously looking for something else, anything else, that would not take a physical and emotional toll on my life.  I started reaching out to every person I knew, with any kind of connections to good companies.  I had several interviews and I am pleased to say I accepted a position with a Clinical Research company, in Nashville, a couple weeks ago.  My first day ended up being yesterday and I already love it, the people I work with, and the fact that it is something that makes a difference in this world.  I am happy I had the humbling experience of being a waitress again.  It was a real eye opener for me.  My life currently feels good for the first time in quite awhile, and for that I am thankful.  All of this happened because I decided to make a bold move and make a change.  Yes, I had to make some sacrifices along the way, but in the end, it was so worth it.  I think the key to life is having someone in it, who supports you.  It could be a friend, family member, lover, whoever.  All it takes it that one person to let you know it's all going to be ok.  It will all work out, exactly as God plans for it to.  I appreciate you all reading and supporting my little blogging journey.