Now that Mason is only a few hours away from being a week old I figured it is about time I put his birth story up on the blog.
Monday July 23rd I went to my scheduled doctor appointment because I was STILL pregnant. I was not happy about it one bit because I was nearly a week overdue and just so anxious for Mason to be here. My doctor checked me and nothing had changed...again, so he told me that he would induce me on Wednesday July 25th. I was OVER THE MOON excited! I finally knew when he would be here!
That night Bradly and I went out to dinner (our last supper) because it was his birthday. Earlier that day I had decorated the house and baked him a birthday cake. I had to do something to keep my mind off of being pregnant still! Tuesday rolled around and we got everything tidied up around the house knowing that the next morning our lives would change. Wednesday is where the real fun began...
Wednesday, July 25, 2012:
We arrived at Riverton Hospital at 7:15am and checked in to the labor and delivery unit. It was a little surreal knowing that this was it, I was going to finally meet my son! We got settled in and Brad found the slushy machine real quick! :) By 9:00am the nurses had hooked me up to pitocin and Dr. Merrell (we call him Dr. Monte because there are two Merrell's in his office) came in to break my water. After he thought he broke my water he told me that the next time he came to check on me that I would probably be feeling very uncomfortable. My plan was to go completely natural so I was bracing myself for contractions to really begin. A few hours later (and by a few I mean two movies later) I was still not feeling uncomfortable...for heavens sake, we watched Grown Ups and I was laughing through the entire movie! At 12:00pm Dr. Monte came back in and gave me a puzzled look. He told me that I should definitely be feeling the contractions because I was on the highest dose of pitocin allowed. He decided to try and break a bigger hole in my water and that certainly did the trick. Within seconds of him breaking my water I could feel the contractions getting more intense and thought to myself, "Oh boy...here we go."
From 12:00pm to 4:00pm I was having awful contractions. They were no more than a minute apart and each one lasted for a good two minutes. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath before the next one started. At 4:00pm I finally gave in, I sternly told Bradly that I wanted the epidural because I couldn't take one more minute of contractions. He went and got the nurse and she got the anesthesiologist. After I got the epidural it took awhile for it to kick in, then only the left side of me was numb so he had to give me another dose in my IV...such fun. The nurse decided to check me and I was expecting her to tell me I had only dilated to a 4 or a 5, but she told me I had made it to a 7! Holy cow, I was kind of proud of myself for at least making it that far, but I was so relieved to be comfortable again! The nurse told me that she thought by 9:00pm we would have a baby here - so of course I was so excited! By 7:00pm I was dilated to a 10, 100% effaced and Mason's head was pretty low so the nurse told me that we would start pushing with each contraction. I pushed and I pushed and I pushed some more but for some reason Mason's head wasn't moving down any further. The nurse was a little concerned because she could feel (and see) his head and had a feeling that he was posterior (meaning his head was facing upward instead of downward and it would be very difficult for him to come out). She tried for a couple of hours to turn Mason's head every time I pushed but he just wouldn't move. Around 11:00pm Dr. Monte came in and tried turning him as well but he was stuck. When he tried turning him around Mason's heart rate dropped quite a bit for about two minutes. Dr. Monte was getting very concerned and didn't want to leave Mason in there much longer so he gave me my options. We could wait another twenty minutes to see if Mason would turn on his own or prep the OR and get him out right away via C-Section. He gave me the pros and cons of each situation and I knew that my plans of a vaginal delivery were no longer possible, Mason was going to be delivered via C-Section.
After Dr. Monte left the room I had a breakdown. A C-Section? It had never even crossed my mind as a possibility and now it was reality. Brad was so sweet and calmed me down and told me everything would be ok. I took a deep breath and pulled myself together. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me a dose of something 10x stronger to numb me from the chest down. Such a weird feeling being that numb! I was ready to be wheeled to the OR...don't mind my puffiness, I had been pumped full of fluids ALL DAY LONG!
Brad's awesome outfit for the OR
At 11:54pm I was in the OR and they were prepping me for surgery and I was anxious and nervous beyond all reason.
Thursday, July 26, 2012:
12:04am Mason Bradly was born weighing 7lbs 7oz and measured 20.5" long with a full head of brown hair!!
I was completely overjoyed and so in love immediately and simply cried as I looked over at the nurses cleaning him off. I couldn't believe that he was finally here! He cried for only a few seconds before Brad walked over and began talking to him. He quieted down and just listened to his voice. It made me melt.
Mason found his fingers the second his hands were free and they have been either in his mouth or by his face ever since!
First family picture
And another
At 1:30am my mom came to the hopsital to see her new grandson. I was so happy to have her there and she gave me the biggest hug! Nothing beats a hug from mom. She brought me a huge thermos of water because I couldn't bring myself to drink the nasty Riverton water (yes, I am that picky). I was so exhausted so I drank a huge glass of water and by 3:00am I was wheeled into the Mom & Baby unit and ready to get some rest.
Mason slept on my chest the entire night and I loved every minute of those snuggles!
Brad LOVES snuggling with Mason and I couldn't help but snap a few pictures of it!
Mason was having a hard time breastfeeding for the first couple of days so they suggested we use the soothie binky instead of any others so he didn't get confused on different nipple shapes. He held onto that thing like a steering wheel!
On a side note: a couple of the nurses/lactation specialists had me wanting to cry because I was so frustrated with breastfeeding. They were trying to demand that I use the football hold to get him to breastfeed and I told that that I just didn't want to hold him that way. One lady even shoved my poor baby's crying face onto my chest and tried to force him to breastfeed. I could have killed the woman! After that I told Brad that I didn't want any other "help" from them and that I just wanted to be left alone to figure out breastfeeding - just me and Mason. I couldn't handle being in the hospital anymore. I cried that day simply because I was on a hormonal roller coaster and didn't know how to deal with it! (FYI: The day we got home Mason took to breastfeeding like it was no big deal and has been a nursing champ ever since! Take that lactation specialists!!)
Saturday, July 28, 2012:
Saturday morning rolled around and the nurse came in to check my vitals as usual. Dr. Monte suggested that I stay in the hospital until Sunday so he could remove the staples from my belly (so painful), but I so badly wanted to go home. I begged the nurse to let me go home and she said she would start the discharge papers and if everything checked out good on Mason's end then we would be allowed to go. I hopped up and got dressed so quick! We packed our bags (which was a lot because my mom brought us groceries to last a week so we didn't have to eat hospital food) and waited for the "ok" to leave. Mason's pediatrician checked on him and said that all was well. His heart and lungs sound great, his circumcision was looking good, he hadn't lost too much weight and we were given the go ahead to take him home. I was SO happy to be leaving with my little family.
Since I had a C-Section my body was so sore (who am I kidding, I was in so much flipping pain)! Brad and I live in a townhome with a steep flight of stairs and he and my mom knew it was going to be a bad idea for me to be anywhere near stairs. My mom offered to let us stay at her house for the first few days until my body began to heal so that I didn't have to lift a finger. What a blessing she is in our lives because without her this last week would have been so hard and so painful. Brad had to go back to work first thing Monday morning but my mom was willing to take care of me and Mason while he was gone during the day. My mom literally bent over backwards to make our stay at her house completely stress free. I am not allowed to lift anything heavier than Mason for 6 weeks and my stomach muscles are literally in stitches so she did everything for me. She brought me three meals a day, she did my laundry, she changed Mason's diapers in the middle of the night when I couldn't get out of bed without help, she gave us her bedroom to stay in, she slept on the couch next to me every night so that I was never alone. I honestly can't thank her enough. She is absolutely incredible and I didn't deserve everything she did for me this past week. Tonight when Brad came home from work we packed up and officially came home. It was bittersweet because I am a little nervous to do this all by myself - thank goodness I have my Bradly!!!
This is the, "Mom, I just woke up, why are you taking a picture of me" face. Love him!
Side Note: Mason's billirubin levels kept creeping up (all the way to 17.3) so I had to take him in to the doctor three days in a row to get his foot pricked for more testing. Thankfully we received the good news yesterday that his levels had gone down and we didn't have to put him under any lights! Instead, we just lay him in the sun - I love my little naked BYU fan!
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