I'm going to back it up to right before delivery (since my last post I was 35 weeks pregnant). I'll TRY to make this short and sweet. My due date was June 19th. I was set to be induced on Thursday, 4 days after my due date. My doc swept my membranes on Tuesday (I was only 1 cm dilated and 75% effaced), and my mom made me some "speed up your labor" cookies (courtesy of Anna Ziegler), and lo and behold I started having contractions the next day. They started out about every 6-12 minutes. By 3:30 pm (this was Wednesday, the 22nd), they were a little stronger and happening every 5-9 minutes apart. I called a nurse from my OB's office, and she told me to go ahead and go to Labor and Delivery. Well, I couldn't go to the hospital looking the way I did, so I took a shower and dried my hair. I felt a contraction coming on, so I went to my trusty little cell phone app to time it, and as soon as I sat on my bed to wait it out, my WATER BROKE!!!! Sweet, this was it. Time to go to the hospital. BUT, I still couldn't go to the hospital looking the way I did, so yes...I straightened my hair, did my makeup, all with a towel between my legs. :) I should mention that at this time Billy was running around like a mad man trying to get things together, bags packed, everything turned off in the house, the cat fed. We had both planned to be at the hospital by 5:30 the next morning to be induced, so we were prepared, but not THAT prepared. So 6:00 pm...time to go to the hospital. By 6:30, I was in a triage room. They confirmed my water had broke and checked me - I was 3 or 4 cm dilated. In my room by 7, epidural by 8, dilated to 10 cm by midnight. My wishful thinking was that I dilated to 10 cm so fast...the next part (pushing) should be a breeze. Not quite. I pushed for 3 hours. My epidural wore off halfway through. My over 8 lb baby was turned slightly, so they needed to use the vacuum device to help turn him to the correct position. The first vacuum broke while trying to attach it, so they had to try again. In my mind, it took about 30 minutes to pull our baby out once he was past the birth canal. But according to Billy, it happened quickly. To say childbirth is painful is a complete understatement. Although I would get an epidural again and again, unfortunately for this time, it didn't work, and I felt everything. There were definitely moments when I screamed at the doc and nurses I couldn't do it anymore...take me in for a c-section. But I'm so glad they had faith in me that I could get through this. And to see and hold my precious newborn for the first time was worth every single inch of pain I went through. And as everyone knows by now...IT'S A BOY!!!!
Post epidural...Heavenly, while it lasted. ;)
Last family pic while it was just the 2 of us.
Introducing...Mason Benjamin Boatman
Born: June 23, 2011
2:48 am
8 lbs. 6 oz.
22 in.
First family pic of the 3 of us!
Evan and Julia were very excited to meet their new cousin Mason.
L.O.V.E.
Coming home
First trip to the pediatrician!
8 lbs. 1 oz.
By two weeks, Mason weighed 9lbs. 7 oz. - he gained all of his birth weight and then some!
I have MANY more blog posts that I need to catch up on. Hopefully this trend will continue, and I'll actually get it done! If not, just know that I'm busy loving on my little man. :)
