Charming Charli’s Debut

For anyone new here, our little lemon, Charlotte (Charli), was born February 1st this year. She’s basically perfect, but I’m obviously biased. Charli’s personality has been nothing shy of hilarious, active, and just mellow. Just like my pregnancy, labor and delivery.

My husband deployed the previous July and didn’t return from Syria until she was about a month old. (Check Out: Daddy’s Deployment Homecoming)

I truly had the easiest pregnancy (once my 1st trimester morning sickness subsided). I had a great support system, including amazing work family.

Raven Vasquez Photography

Charli arrived two weeks early, the day after I started working from home to prepare.

At 4 a.m. I woke up to pee for the 10th time that evening… just as all very pregnant women do. As I stood up in the bathroom, I felt like I was peeing myself or more like my insides were just dramatically falling out of my body. So confusing when you’ve never experienced your water breaking before…

That statistic about less than 15%

of women actually having their water

break in a “gush” is crap, y’all.

I grabbed some towels, let the dogs out real quick, and hopped in my Jeep to drive to the hospital. On the way, I got ahold of my “on call” family members and told them I’d meet them there.

My aunt and cousin live way closer (1.5 hours away) than any other family members, and are also the most chill humans on earth. Having them with me during this experience was something I am so very grateful for.

My mom was working a midnight shift at the hospital. How she finished her 12-hour shift, drove the 4 hours to the hospital, then stayed awake throughout the entire day with so much enthusiasm still blows me away. Mother’s really can do anything when it comes to their children.

It truly was easier than I thought it would be for my husband to miss most of my pregnancy. I was able to get fat, eat ice cream for dinner, and be extra hormonal… and he wasn’t there to take the brunt of it. Truly, he made out like a bandit.

We planned this pregnancy, but we did not plan this deployment. I think we handled it so well because as a military family it’s just part of the job description. You constantly expect to be inconvenienced. However, not having your spouse by your side during the delivery of your first baby together… Ouch.

Anyway – I drove myself to the hospital, carried in my bags & supplies in preparation to be there a few days (Check Out: Hospital Bag Checklist), and was told that since my membranes had ruptured I had 24 hours to deliver this little lemon.

You guys, I thought she’d be here within like 2 hours the way my family was prepping me.

“I had Jane in the elevator.”

“I had John in the car.”

“Jack just fell out of me walking through the market.”

Okay, so they weren’t THAT dramatic. But I literally was expecting my nugget to arrive within 6 hours based on their history.

3 hours after my water broke I still hadn’t had a single contraction. I was hanging out in my triage room, still working on my laptop because basically, that’s all I had come to know since my husband left for the Middle East. It kept me busy and it kept me sane. I wanted to make sure I was constantly worrying about something else besides, “Is my husband going to come home?” or “What if this baby weighs 14 pounds?”

My aunt and cousin arrived by about 7 a.m., right about the same time they started harassing me to get my epidural. Mind you, STILL no contractions to be felt. I kept thinking “Uhhh , I don’t really feel like I’m in labor… so no, I don’t want the epidural yet.” I just wanted to have the full experience. Eventually, my support group talked some sense into me.

Seriously, it was such a chill day once I agreed to that bad boy. Personally, getting my epidural wasn’t painful at all. Getting the darn IV in my hand was literally the worst part of my day. At about 2:30 p.m. we decided we’d do a few practice pushes. I had the BEST labor and delivery nurse that day. (S/O to Nurse Allison) Seriously, she was an absolute rockstar.

My support group got in their positions – Mom counting to 10 each push, Aunt Janet keeping a cold rag on my head and wiping each tear as it fell, and cousin Natalie keeping Eli on FaceTime and the phone approximately 3 inches from my face. (Kidding, not kidding)

There was so much laughter and sarcasm in that room. Like, who has such a blissful labor and delivery? And who seriously has such an amazing support team? After those practice pushes they said it’d be a few hours, so I told Eli to get some rest and we’d call him back when it was time. Joke was on us.

The time was approximately 3 minutes later.

We got him back on FaceTime just in time for me to painlessly push 3 more times and our little lemon made her appearance.

Charlotte “Charli” Elizabeth Mixon

This kid was worth every little kidney punch and bladder kick. She’s always smiling, has the most blissful laugh, and is the living definition of my heart beating outside my chest.

It takes a village, guys. Everyone’s pregnancy, labor and delivery stories are SO vastly different. But it truly does take a good, solid support team to make it through healthy and in good spirits.

Meet, Charlotte “Charli” Elizabeth

6 lbs 12 oz  |  20″  |  4:37 pm  | 2.1.18

We love you, little lemon.