in baby
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
MASON'S BIRTH STORY
It is crazy that our little Mason was born over 3 weeks ago. The days have been foggy and blended together, but it seems like he has been with us forever. He brought new life to our home and fits right in with his big brothers and fur siblings!
Onto Masons birth story. My due date was August 18th but I technically thought it was the 11th based on my short cycle the month I got pregnant. In my head I was mentally preparing myself for an early August birth considering my first two were a week and 10 days early but of course, we all know due dates don’t really mean anything. Well, August 11th passed us by and I was still very pregnant with no signs of labor except a couple Braxton Hicks contractions which I had been having for weeks. Up until this point I was fine with going a little late. Once you have a kid or two you know how much your life is flipped upside down once the baby comes. That thought changed quickly when I got to a point where I was starting to feel claustrophobic. I can’t really explain it but it wasn’t fun and I was ready for this baby to evacuate. Rob had grounded himself from travel and was working from home some days, the kids were home from school but I was too tired to take them anywhere and we just felt like we were in limbo waiting to meet this little guy. The days were crawling and I was just waiting to go to bed hoping that I’d go into labor each night. After meeting with the Dr. on the 16th, she asked if I was ready to have this baby and I think Rob and I answered her before she was done with the question. We scheduled our induction for the next morning even though I thought 8.18.18 would have been a cool birthday, I was done. I had never been induced with my other kids so I didn’t know what to expect but I felt relieved that I knew when everything was going to happen. I didn’t have to worry about whether or not it would take us an hour to get to the hospital with traffic, whether or not my water would break in front of my 12 year old and traumatize him for life, I didn’t have to worry because we now had a plan. Although that’s when reality and fear set in that this was really happening.
Onto Masons birth story. My due date was August 18th but I technically thought it was the 11th based on my short cycle the month I got pregnant. In my head I was mentally preparing myself for an early August birth considering my first two were a week and 10 days early but of course, we all know due dates don’t really mean anything. Well, August 11th passed us by and I was still very pregnant with no signs of labor except a couple Braxton Hicks contractions which I had been having for weeks. Up until this point I was fine with going a little late. Once you have a kid or two you know how much your life is flipped upside down once the baby comes. That thought changed quickly when I got to a point where I was starting to feel claustrophobic. I can’t really explain it but it wasn’t fun and I was ready for this baby to evacuate. Rob had grounded himself from travel and was working from home some days, the kids were home from school but I was too tired to take them anywhere and we just felt like we were in limbo waiting to meet this little guy. The days were crawling and I was just waiting to go to bed hoping that I’d go into labor each night. After meeting with the Dr. on the 16th, she asked if I was ready to have this baby and I think Rob and I answered her before she was done with the question. We scheduled our induction for the next morning even though I thought 8.18.18 would have been a cool birthday, I was done. I had never been induced with my other kids so I didn’t know what to expect but I felt relieved that I knew when everything was going to happen. I didn’t have to worry about whether or not it would take us an hour to get to the hospital with traffic, whether or not my water would break in front of my 12 year old and traumatize him for life, I didn’t have to worry because we now had a plan. Although that’s when reality and fear set in that this was really happening.
I didn’t get much sleep on Thursday night because I was having contractions so we woke up bright and early and headed into the hospital. Knowing we were going to meet our baby that day was such a great feeling...scary but great! We got checked in and to labor and delivery, had one of my favorite almond croissants from Au Bon Pain (sorta bad and good that this was downstairs at the hospital) and got everything rolling. I broke down a couple times because I hate needles. They can never find my veins and the digging around is enough to keep me on the verge of passing out. I’m so fortunate to have Rob who is a rock in these situations. He’s so familiar with hospitals because of his line of work and his dad being a Doctor that he puts me at ease and I know I’ll be ok if he’s there. They started the pitocin around 10am and they said hopefully we’ll have a baby within 3 hrs. Well, that wasn’t as successful as we hoped because the baby wasn’t liking it. His heart rate would drop after each contraction so they had to stop it. Although it was helping to make my contractions more consistent and stronger we had to let everything progress naturally. When the Dr came in and checked me I was only 4cm dilated so we waited and I received my epidural. This had to be done twice and I’m lucky I didn’t pass out again. I really wish they didn’t have to describe what they’re doing as they’re doing it. I tried to rest a little bit because I thought I had a long night ahead of me. I’m still traumatized from my first ones birth (24 hrs of labor in the hospital and 3.5 hrs of pushing). After a couple of tricks from the nurse to try and get the baby to move into position my contractions started coming on strong. I asked the nurse if I should be feeling them and she had the anesthesiologist came back in to check to see if it was in the correct position. He told me it’s normal to feel them. With my last son I felt nothing so this was new to me. I thought I wasn’t supposed to feel anything, isn’t that what the epidural was for?? Let’s just say they weren’t fun. They started to get stronger and so the Dr. checked again 3 hrs later and I’m still only 4cm. Fear is now setting in at this point. Is his head as big as his brothers, is he not going to drop down, am I going to need a c-section, is the baby ok, am I going to be pushing for 3.5 hrs?? Then all of a sudden the pain and pressure that I felt was unreal. The nurse called for the Dr and I had gone from 4cm to 8cm rapidly. I wasn’t breathing through the contractions because I hadn’t had a birthing class in 13 years and I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing so instead I held my breath and prayed for them to stop. The opposite of what your supposed to do, right?! Then all of a sudden I said to the nurse I think he’s ready. The Dr came in and it was go time. Our little man arrived at 5:18PM on August 17th waving with his hands next to his head as he made his way into this world at 7lbs 2oz and 20 inches long. The smallest of his brothers and capturing our hearts from the moment we met him.
Since we delivered later in the evening we didn’t get to postpartum until after visiting hours so Mason’s brothers had to wait until the next day to meet him but it was the sweetest thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life. We knew our 12 year old wasn’t really thrilled about a new baby coming and our 9 year old was acting like his older brother even though we knew he was so excited to have a baby. He’s begged for another sibling for years. Has always been obsessed with babies and his friends little siblings. He’s a natural nurturer. He scooped up his baby brother and is so in love with him. There is a BIG age gap between our kids so it’s really neat to see the interaction with the older ones and hope they'll remember these days with their baby brother.
We’re so excited to welcome him to our family and couldn’t be more in love with him. Rob and I have both said to each other this makes us want more babies (about an hour after he was born). I’ve always wanted 4 kids but our first 2 stopped us in our tracks. So you never know what will happen but for now we’re going to enjoy this little bundle of love!
Thursday, February 15, 2018
WE’RE HAVING A BABY!
Surprise... we’re having a baby! I’m sure you’re about as shocked as I was. Let’s just say this wasn’t planned but it also wasn’t not planned. I always wanted 4 kids but life hands you obstacles you weren’t expecting when you have kids such as Autism and children who still don’t sleep and sometimes it stops your original dreams in their tracks. We’re finally in a good place with the kids as some call it, the sweet spot. We can sleep in on weekends, sneak away for a couples getaway and (sometimes) I can shower in peace. Well, we can kiss all that goodbye! I may have cried this to my husband as I showed him that little positive sign on the pregnancy test. Going back to diaper bags, sleepless nights, plastic shit everywhere and being pregnant for 9 months was not something I could get my head wrapped around even though in my heart I always knew wanted more kids. We said to each other the only way this was going to happen was if it’s a surprise and that it was. Rob was beyond excited and I’m not going to lie I was a blubbering mess. You see, I don’t have good pregnancies, like puking from 5 to 18 weeks with month long migraines that I can do nothing about. This is one of the reasons why we stopped at 2 kids. I was actually researching more about adoption before we got pregnant because I was so traumatized by pregnancy. So as you can imagine I was terrified of what was to come. Fortunately this little one saved me from hugging the toilet bowl and mostly free of migraines but instead left me a zombie. Like SOOOOO tired I fell asleep at a red light and was terrified to drive for a bit. I’ve never slept so much in my whole life. It could be my advanced maternal age (gotta love those words) or the fact that I’m battling hypothyroidism during this pregnancy but I don’t remember this with my other 2 maybe because I was throwing up so much I didn't realize how tired I was. So I apologize for going MIA the past couple months but I had to save every bit of energy I had for my family and clients and it’s been a struggle. I’m hoping to round the corner soon and regain some energy as I head into the second trimester. Like any day soon would be great!
Although this wasn’t in our plans, I mean who in their right mind would choose to be 9 months preggers in the middle of August, it’s such a blessing and we couldn't be more excited. Our youngest is soooooo excited to be a big brother. He has asked for this forever (actually he asked for 6 kids and I may have mumbled you’re the reason we only have two under my breath) and our oldest, well let’s just say he can’t believe he now has to worry about 2 siblings, my god you’d think it’s like we’re asking him to raise the baby. Which by the way he’s informed us he doesn’t have time for... 6th graders!!! Their reactions were exactly what I expected and I can’t wait to see them with a little baby. I’m hoping our oldest has a change of heart when he sees how much his younger brother admired him and I may be more excited about seeing our youngest as a big brother then he is.
So as we embark on another exciting chapter in our lives that I’m more nervous about then I was with our first two. All I pray for is a healthy baby/pregnancy and that my husband is still as supportive in August as he has been these past couple months. God bless him though. I’m already miserable in the heat when I’m not pregnant I just can’t imagine how pleasant I’ll be pregnant. So if you see him this summer give him a drink. Just make sure it’s not a margarita because it may get ugly because that’s all this baby craves right now. Well that and Dairy Queen oreo cheesecake blizzards and since I can’t have one of those I think it’s ok to have 2 of the other.
Cheers to thinking I can eat whatever I want! 🐷
We'll also be doing a little re-arragning and remodeling of a couple boys bedrooms as we prepare for little brother to arrive so I can't wait to share all of my ideas and progress as the kids soon get the coolest rooms in the house.
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