I woke up around 3:00 am on Thursday 4/7/2011 with an urgent trip to the bathroom. To spare the details, my stomach was very upset! I had trouble getting back to sleep, but must have dozed off at some point because I was abruptly awaken from a deep sleep at 5:00 with what I thought was a bad stomach cramp that would require another bathroom trip. I jumped out of bed (well, the best I could being 40 weeks pregnant) and ran to the bathroom. However, this did not seem to be the problem this time. I went back to bed and between 5:00 and 5:30 it became evident that these contractions (3 of them) were the real thing! Towards the end of my pregnancy I was concerned that I wouldn't know when I was really in labor or have false alarms. Several people told me that I would just know! At 5:30 I decided to get out of bed and pack my "ditty bag" (make-up, tooth brush...) and see if the activity would make them go away. No amount of activity took these contractions away. At this point Scotty woke up when he noticed I wasn't in bed and the lights were on. I told him that I thought I was having real contractions, but wanted to give it a little time before we went to the hospital. Next I took a shower, dried and straightened my hair. At 6:25 I went in and told Scotty that he needed to go ahead and call Howard to let him know that he wouldn't be in to work. I also called my mom to let her know that we were on our way to the hospital, she was thrilled! Then about 15 minutes we were on our way to the hospital. We made a pit stop at 7-11 for something to drink and snuff for Scotty (he needed his fix too).
On the way to the hospital I called my dad to tell him the good/bad news. Dad was in Boston, MA at a training for his work. He had been praying really hard that Mason would wait to come once he was back home. But, God & Mason had other plans. We talked most of the way to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital around 7:00 and went into the triage. At this point my contractions were about 6-7 minutes apart and I was dilated to 5cm. I had been 4 cm the day before at my Doctor's appointment. Scotty assured me that they wouldn't be sending me home being 5 cm (remember, I didn't want any false alarms). Thankfully, Scotty was right. When the nurse called Dr. Lamar, he told her to go ahead and admit me and give me my epidural as soon as I was ready. I always knew I liked this man ;-)
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| Waiting for Mason to arrive |
Teresa was the first one to make it to the hospital and she joined us in the labor, delivery & recovery room when were moved down there. Mom arrived shortly after. My first few contractions in the LDR room were very uncomfortable and brought tears to my eyes. My labor & delivery nurse was named Lacey and there was a nursing student with her named Marti. When the nurse first came in to introduce herself she let me know that there was a lady delivering a breech baby and therefore the anesthesiologist would be tied up with her for another hour or so. She offered me some pain medicine (Statol, I think) to tide me over until he could give me my epidural. She warned me that the medicine would make me a little woozy. I wasn't sure exactly what she meant by woozy, but I found out pretty quick. At first I felt a little dizzy and then it was like the room was spinning. The strange part was that instead of the room going around me from one side to the other, it was actually spinning up from top to bottom. I think I said a few really silly things at this point and my speech was slurred. However, it did it's job and took the edge off my pain!
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| Momma, a little "woozy" on pain medicine |
Mom & Teresa came back into the room with me while Scotty was gone. However, I don't remember much about this time because I took a little nap. Between the woozy drug and the epidural taking my pain away, I was able to fall asleep very easily! I woke up when Scotty came back. He told us how he went to McDonalds and they gave him a hamburger without the meat! He was NOT a happy camper ;-) At this point it was about 12:00 and I told everyone that they should go get something to eat since it didn't seem like anything would be happening for a while.
Not too long after they left, a nurse came to check on me because Lacey was in with another patient who was delivering. I told the nurse that I felt like I needed to empty my bladder. So she gave me a catheter, and I couldn't believe the amount of pee that came out of me! (Sorry, TMI. This is for my memories. I feel the need to remember every detail, just can't help myself). I asked her when I would be checked again. She initially said that Lacey would check me once she was finished with her other patients delivery, but she went ahead and checked me. I was 9.5 cm!! She told me that I would probably start pushing in about an hour. I called down to let Scotty know.
A little bit later Scotty, Mom & Teresa came back up to my room and Brenda was with them this time. I think they all got to be in there for about 10-20 minutes before Lacey came back to check me again. At this point I was 10 cm, fully dilated. So, everyone left the room and it was just Scotty and me from then on out. I think that I started pushing around 2:15 pm.
They started out having me push by grabbing the back of my legs, sit up a little, and tuck my chin into my chest. This method was making my back hurt and didn't seem to be very effective. So, next we tried the towel method. Lacey tied a big knot in the end of a towel. She gave me the knot to hold on to and she pulled me up while I would push. It was like a game of tug of war ;-) This method didn't seem to be very effective either. So, next she pulled out some handles from the side of the bed. She instructed me to grab the handles, tuck my chin into my chest, and bear down and push without lifting my back up off the bed. This method was much better and I started to make good progress.
We all made guesses about the time that Mason would be born. Lacey thought it would be 3:00, I guess 3:25, and Scotty picked 3:17. We quickly discovered that we under estimated. So, we guessed again. This time I chose 3:55 and Scotty picked 4:05.
Dr. Lamar came into the delivery room around 3:30. Lacey told him that we were having trouble getting the baby's head past the pubic bone. Dr. Lamar responded that we'd get him right out of there. Dr. Lamar sat down on a stool at the foot of the bed and instructed me to push. The first few pushes I held back because I could feel him trying to help stretch me to make Mason fit through. I was afraid that he was going to cut me or do something else painful without giving me a warning. I finally told him what the problem was. After this he walked me through everything he was doing and I was much more at ease and able to concentrate on pushing. He did eventually tell me that he needed to do a little cut, about 1 mm (or was it cm???). I actually didn't even feel him do it, such a relief! Shortly after the cut was finished, Mason's head was out. At this point it became painful! No amount of epidural could mask this pain. Dr. Lamar told me that I could rest until the next contraction came, but I asked if I could keep on pushing because it was so painful. Scotty & Dr. Lamar were impressed with my determination. Just a few more pushes and Mason shoulder "popped" out. This was probably the most painful part, and Scotty thinks this is what caused me to tear. But, after the shoulder was delivered the rest of him just slid on out. I was able to look down and see his head as he was brought into this world. They immediately put Mason up on my chest and I was overwhelmed with joy and love for my new baby boy! He gave us a little cry to assure us that he was breathing ok, but then he was peaceful. I did the crying for him ;-) I just kept looking back and forth between Scotty and Mason. Nothing could have prepared me for the magnitude of love that I felt for Mason in those first few moments of his life. It was a beautiful moment. Mason lay peacefully on my chest and help my finger for the first time! He was precious, perfect, and ours! Telling about this now brings tears to my eyes. I'll cherish these moments as long as I live!
After about 5 minutes together the nurses had to take Mason and get him cleaned up, weighed, and all checked out. This is also when Dr. Lamar stitched me up while cracking jokes with the nurses about what one would name her baby if she were to get pregnant now. She was probably in her mid-late 40's. She said that she would name the baby Jesus, because it would have to be immaculate conception. Those 2 kept us laughing for a while.
When they first tried to weigh Mason it became evident that the scale wasn't working correctly. I think it first showed his weight to be 6 lbs something, then 9 lbs, then 7 lbs. So, they gave up on the scale and brought in one from the nursery. We finally confirmed that he weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches long! Once they were done checking him out, we was able to hold him and love on him. We spent some more time with Mason as our new family of 3 before we let everyone come in and meet him.
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| The 1st picture of Momma & Mason |
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| So in love! |
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| Daddy showing Mason off to Papa Marte |
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| Mason & My Mom (Nonna) |
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| An awful "mug shot" of Mason just a few minutes after birth |
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| Our first picture as a family of 3 |
We spent about 2 hours in the LDR room after Mason was born then we made our way to our Post-Partum room. I rode in a wheel chair and Mason took the ride in his bassinet. It was nice to get some fresh air outside of the LDR room and see some new sights. We had some more visitors in the PP room, and just enjoyed our time with Mason while taking more pictures. At this point the pictures tell the story best:
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| Flowers and chocolate cake from Mom & Mario |
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| Momma & Mason about 2 hours old |
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| Mason & Nonna |
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| Mason, about 2 hours old |
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| Mason about 2 hours old |
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| Bless his heart, he had a little cone head. |
Again, I hate that my picture coverage for this time frame is far from my standards! The only pictures I have came from my mom's camera, so naturally they are mostly of her. I promise it gets better in the next few days as I felt well enough to take over camera duty again.
Our first night with Mason was a little rough, but thankfully all of the nights since then have been MUCH better. Hopefully we got the worst one out of the way. I think that I got about 15 minutes of sleep that night and that was while I was holding Mason. Bless his heart, I'm sure it was quite a shock and big change for him as well. However, he did nurse some that night and showed off his new skill quite well. Scotty stayed with us, as he said that he wanted to be with us as much as possible. He got a little more sleep than me, but not much. We worked as a team that night to try and sooth Mason, as well as change diapers. The nurses told us to expect one wet and one dirty diaper in the first 24 hours. But, Mason wanted to break the standard and gave us SIX dirty diapers in his first 24 hours of life ;-) Over achiever!
I will always remember this day as the very best day of my life so far! I never could have imagined all of the emotions I would feel this day. And, for all my fears of labor and delivery, it wasn't bad at all. I had a few moments of pain, but it was mostly pain free and suprisingly enjoyable. I wish there was a way I could have known this in advance and saved myself the worry. However, I really wouldn't change a thing about the whole experience! This day is the beginning of our new life together as a family of 3 and we can't wait to see what God has in store for us. We love Mason with all our hearts!!
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