Mason's Debut

Since today was the EDD {Estimated Due Date} for little Mason, I thought it only appropriate to share his birth story with you.  I'm so thankful he was two weeks early!  Isabella was 8 days early {you can read her birth story here} and Mallory was 2 days late {find her birth story here}, so I really had nothing to go by with this pregnancy.  Here's how the day began...

April 13:
I woke up pretty early and felt a few contractions as I was getting ready for the day, nothing horrible, but they were noticeable.  Bradley got home from work around 6AM, and I mentioned that maybe today would be the day.  He climbed into bed and I went about my day as normal.  I thought it would be a great day for a baby, but tried as much as possible to go on as though nothing was going to happen.  I didn't want to just sit around waiting for the baby to be born and miss out on life!  The girls and I went grocery shopping, we made banana bread, and I painted a few projects in the garage {posts coming soon on those projects!}.  By the time I had one coat of paint on a chalkboard I'm making, I began to keep track of the contractions I was having.

11AM - The contractions started coming pretty regularly, about every 3 minutes, but this happened for several weeks with Mallory, so I just kept doing housework.  After an hour of this, and having to stand still during contractions, I decided to pack my bag for the hospital.  I wanted to allow Bradley some more time to sleep so he would be rested, should this be the real deal, so I waited until about 12:30 to wake him up and tell him what was happening.  He got ready pretty quickly, put on his 'birthing shirt' {he has worn the same button-down shirt for all the births of our children}, and then we started calling some friends to see who could watch the girls.  This was the only day/time frame that I hadn't really lined up any childcare!  Thankfully, our friends were willing to keep the girls, so we headed out to the hospital.

1:30PM - The girls were dropped off and we were on our way!  I really had no idea what to expect, but I was definitely uncomfortable.

2PM - Arrived at the hospital, told the nurses what was going on and was desperately hoping that I truly was in labor!  I'd had contractions every 3-5 minutes for the past 3 hours at this point.  I got into the lovely hospital gown {who invented those ugly things?!} and they hooked me up to the monitors.  Right away I could see the contractions coming pretty strongly and spiking really high on the charts.  The nurse checked me...I was only at 2 centimeters!!  They wouldn't keep me unless I was 4 centimeters dilated, so they had me drink lots of water and continued to monitor me for another hour.

3:30PM - Contractions were still coming just as regularly, but when they checked me again, I was still only 2 centimeters.  I KNEW I was in labor, though; I've done this twice before, so I could tell this was the real deal.  You can't convince the medical staff of that, though, especially when you're body isn't producing anything.  They chatted with the DR and meanwhile, my contractions started getting worse.  Worse like how I felt when laboring with Mallory dilated at 9 centimeters.

4 PM {ish}- They couldn't keep me any longer, so recommended that we go walk around the mall for another hour and then come back.  I was thinking to myself, "There is no way I'm leaving this hospital!  And, there's really no way I'm going to the mall to give birth to this child on an escalator!"  My genius husband requested that they check me one more time before we left.   They agreed and we were all very thankful to find that I was now at 4 centimeters!!  So, I could stay.

5PM - I GOT AN EPIDURAL!!  I am terrified of needles, and really enjoyed my other two labor/deliveries with no pain meds.  But, this time, I seriously felt much more pain earlier on.  I didn't want to know anything about what they were doing to my spine, and I literally almost passed out right after he stuck the needle in me.  Oh my goodness, though, how amazing it is to not feel ANYTHING!  It was cracking me up to watch the monitor and see contractions happening rapidly and strongly, but not even knowing they were going on.  "Better living through chemistry," as my dad would say.

6PM - A new DR was on call, and he came in to introduce himself, and he checked me again.  I was at 7 centimeters at this point, so he broke my water and we just waited.

6:50PM - Checked again and was now at 10!!  My OB/GYN walked in the door as they were giving me this news and I was thrilled!  I have never had my actual DR deliver my babies, so it was very nice to have him present for this one.

7:09 PM - The pushing began.  Let me just tell you that this was the weirdest thing for me.  I didn't know when I was supposed to push, obviously, because I couldn't feel anything, so it was a bit of a challenge.  That was really the only thing I didn't like about having an epidural.

7:28 PM - After a little help with the vacuum, our little BOY made his grand debut!  I wasn't surprised that it was a boy, as I had thought it would be all along, but Bradley was shocked!  I think he was anticipating have a house full of estrogen for the rest of his life!  What joy it brought me to know that my little guy was born, he was healthy, and just perfect.

My placenta took awhile to detach, so the next hour was VERY uncomfortable for me as the DR had to work to get that out.  I'm SO thankful I had the epidural or this part would have been unbearable.  I lost a significant amount of blood during that time, but they were finally successful and I thankfully didn't need any further medical treatment.

I wasn't able to hold Mason until two hours after he was born, and that was hard for me, but when they placed him in my arms, I was rejoicing in another precious little life that God had blessed us with. He is the sweetest baby and has quickly become such a part of our lives.  We look forward to all that God has in store for this little man!

Ready to push!

First breaths 

Meeting his biggest sister

The girls got Mason a stuffed tiger, and named him 'Tiberius'

Meeting his other big sister

Sweet little baby boy

 

Napping with Granddad

Snuggling with Daddy

Thankful my parents could be here for those first days

Me and my little man

Our growing family