Mason's Newborn Pictures

We got Mason's newborn pictures taken on April 3.  Here is a link to the proofs.

http://jaimierosephotography.shootproof.com/event/33363

Our birth story

Taken 2 days before Mason was born.

Wow, it's so weird to go back and look at my last post and think that he was born 3 days later.  I figured I would keep this blog going for now to keep you all updated on how Mason is doing.  It feels so weird to be writing Mason in here.  We've been calling him BP for so long.  It felt really weird to call him by his name when he was first born too.  Right after he was born, the nurse asked us if he had a name yet, and I was so hesitant to say it because we'd been so hush-hush about it for so long.  It took a little bit to get used to us and everybody else calling him by his name.

Anyways, I thought I would give a little story about how everything happened for anybody that doesn't know the details.  I apologize, I have a feeling this post may get a little long.  Read what you want, skip what you want.  It will be nice for Garret and I to have a full birth story on record.

For a couple weeks before he was born, I really started to wonder whether the contractions I was having were just the braxton hicks or whether they were real.  I was getting so frustrated just feeling like I had no idea what I was looking for.  Looking back, this makes me laugh a little because once I started having real contractions, there was no doubt that they were real.  They started around 2:30 am on Friday, March 23.  They were definitely different than all the braxton hicks I was having previously.  They woke me up with pain, and little did I know, that was the last good sleep I was going to get for a long time.  I started timing them and they were consistently about 10 minutes apart for the rest of the morning.  I didn't end up going into work that day because I didn't feel comfortable driving all the way to Winona while having contractions and I had no idea how things would progress from there.  I started getting frustrated by late morning, however, because they became less and less consistent and the intensity was pretty variable, too.  Garret had to work that day, but actually came home a few hours early because he was going crazy at work knowing I was at home in early labor.  I was so thankful we had a regularly scheduled appt that afternoon with our midwife.  She was shocked that things had progressed that much that I was having contractions.  She did a check and I was about 2 cm and 90% effaced.  She tried to stretch me a little and was able to stretch me to almost 3 cm.  She said that she didn't think he was going to be coming that day, but after that, it was completely up in the air. 

A couple hours after we left her office, I started getting more intense contractions.  They were really picking up by the time we went to bed, but I wanted to try and get as much sleep as possible since we knew Mason was going to be coming very soon.  Unfortunately, sleep was few and far between that night.  About 10 minutes after I laid down, I had the most intense, painful contraction I had had so far that lasted about 4 minutes! I was crying and shaking and in a lot of pain.  We ended up moving to Mason's room for the night.  I slept on the recliner since I wasn't able to lay down without being in too much pain, and Garret slept on the floor.  I was able to get just a little sleep in between contractions, but they were definitely picking up.  By about 2:30am, they were around 7 minutes apart.  Since we had a 1/2 hour drive to Winona and I still wanted to take a shower, I decided it was time to get ready and woke Garret up.  We left our house around 3:30 and my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart by then.

I got checked in to the hospital around 4:00am.  I was 3-4 cm dilated by then.  They kept me on the monitors for an hour and called the midwife to see if she wanted me admitted to a room.  I freaked out a bit when the nurse mentioned they might be sending me home depending on what our midwife decided.  There was no way I was going to be able to go back home the way things were going.  I was already having a hard time breathing through contractions at that point and they were 2-4 minutes apart.  Thank goodness, I was admitted around 5:00am.  I was still around 4cm at that point.  The contractions quickly got more and more painful.  I squeezed Garret's hand and tried to breathe my way through them each time.  The pain was in my belly, my back, everywhere.  After a while, I was about at my limit and asked the nurse for an epidural.  I felt so defeated having to make that decision.  I had wanted to try to do it without any pain meds if I could.  I was also only at 5cm when I made the decision.  I just knew that things were going to get worse and couldn't handle much more.  By the time the anesthesiologist arrived to my room, things had progressed very quickly and I was already at 8cm!  They knew that with how fast my labor was going, an epidural would take too much time.  They decided the better route was to give me a spinal injection that would take less time to administer and less time to take effect.  While they were getting prepped, I was sitting on the edge of the bed and had another 4 contractions before they could give me the injection.  By that time, I was sobbing, convulsing, and squeezing the life out of Garret's arms and hands.  After I got the injection, it was amazing!!  It literally took seconds to take effect and I was then completely pain free!  I could still feel the tightness of the contractions, but there was no pain. :) 

They decided to call our midwife at this point to make sure she arrived by the time I was ready to push.  Shortly after, the nurse checked me and again was shocked to find out I was now 9 3/4 cm dilated.  She started rushing around getting the room ready for delivery.  The midwife still hadn't arrived so I was getting nervous she wasn't going to make it in time.  By the time the room was set up, I was fully dilated.  Our midwife was in the building, but was not quite ready yet.  By about 8:00am, the nurse got the word to start delivery.  She finished getting prepped and telling me what was going to happen and what I had to do.  At this point, I was getting really nervous.  The time had really arrived and our baby was coming now!  Our midwife didn't arrive until I had already gotten a few pushes in.  It was such a comforting feeling to see her and have her there. 

I blame TV and the movies for giving me such a distorted idea of the time frame it takes to actually deliver a baby.  For some reason, I thought it was only going to take a short time for him to come out.  Boy, was I wrong.  I also attribute some of this to the nurse and midwife getting so excited about my progress and giving me false hope that it was almost over.  I remember the first time I asked if his head was almost out.  They were getting excited and saying they could see his hair.  After I asked, they looked at me with a nervous expression and said "Um, it's going to be a bit longer."  I got so discouraged by this because I didn't feel like I could make it much longer.  Garret really helped me stay as calm as possible during the whole thing.  Originally, he had no intentions of watching the birth, but the midwife and nurse were encouraging him to watch when they could see the top of his head.  He watched everything from there on out.  It was so amazing to watch his face during the delivery, because he was so excited about watching his son being born.  Since I couldn't see anything, I watched his face to see him light up.  By the end of delivery, my pain meds were wearing off and things were getting really painful again.  I just pushed through when I felt I couldn't go on any longer and finally, after 1 1/2 hours of pushing, Mason was born at 9:47am.  :)

They laid him on my chest and it was the most amazing feeling in the world.  Garret had tears in his eyes and I was crying.  We finally got to meet our son that we'd been anticipating for so long.  We spent about 2 hours getting Mason checked out, cleaned up, and spending some time together.  Unfortunately, I also spent about 15 minutes after labor getting stitched up since I tore pretty badly.  Finally, after all this, our families that were waiting patiently to get the go ahead were able to come in and meet their new grandson/nephew.

I would like to take a little space here to give major thanks to my husband.  He was the most amazing, patient, supportive person throughout this whole thing.  I never would have made it through the whole process without him by my side.  I just can't even put into words how much he helped me out.  Having his hand to hold (ok fine, squeeze the life out of) during contractions, hearing his voice as he was counting during my pushing, and just having him by my side as our son was born was such an amazing experience to share with him.  I love you more than anything Garret!!  :)

I think I will save the rest of how these first few weeks have gone for another post since this one got a little longer than I anticipated.