Familia Verde: July 2015

Our sweet Mason was born on June 26, 2015 at 6:59 p.m. weighing 9 lbs 2 oz, 20" long. On Friday morning I was scheduled to be induced at 6 a.m. Casey and I woke up at 5 a.m. to get ready. My parents got to our house at 10 p.m. the night before so they were all set to watch the girls for us. At 5 a.m. I got up and got in the shower. After I had been in the shower for 2 minutes Casey came and told me that the hospital just called and had to bump my induction back until later that day and they'd call me later and let me know. Thankfully I was able to go back to sleep pretty easily. The hospital called at 7:30 and told me to come in at 9. It ended up being perfect because I could eat breakfast and spend time with Carly and Holland and my parents before it was time to go.

We got to the hospital at 9 and the nurse got me hooked up to an IV pretty quick and then the waiting began... When I came in I was dilated to a 2 and about 80% effaced. My nurse started the pitocin at 10:15 and a house doctor came and broke my water at 11. I got an epidural at 11:30 and it made the right side of my body super numb and the left only a little numb. My nurse came in after the epidural and told me that my doctor (Dr. Kraus) was expecting me to deliver at 1:30. That lifted my spirits a little bit thinking that the doctor thought I'd have a quick labor. 1:30 came and went and I was only dilated to a 3! I was so frustrated. I just kept waiting and waiting and my body didn't want to react quickly to the pitocin. I couldn't feel anything and I was pretty comfortable but I was sick of waiting and feeling like I couldn't do anything to help the labor along. At 6:30 my doctor came in and said I was at a 9 and almost all thinned out. She said she'd come back in 30 minutes and I'd be ready to push. I felt really bad because my doctor was waiting on me to give birth so she could leave with her family on vacation. Her kids were waiting at the hospital! She didn't act rushed or frustrated though, which I was very grateful for. At 6:50 she came back and told me to start pushing. I pushed twice and Mason was born. Dr. Kraus put Mason on my chest and he made a few sounds but the nurses took him away quick because he wasn't breathing well. 7 other nurses, nurse practioners, and neonatologists were working on Mason and I couldn't see him or anything they were doing. After about 10 minutes they wheeled him away to the nursery. Nobody told us what was going on. My nurse and Dr. Kraus were great and kept smiling and said everything would be fine. Casey and I couldn't stop crying though. We had no idea what was going on with our new baby. We waited for 45 minutes until a neonatologist finally came in and gave us an update. Those 45 minutes were the worst of my life. I seriously had no idea if my newborn baby was alive or not. I just kept praying that everything would be okay and we'd feel peace.

The Neonatologist said Mason was having trouble breathing and they didn't know why. She said the only conclusion she could come to what that he "was shocked" when he was born and took longer to start breathing.She named a few things they did like give him an IV and a "fluid flush" and said that he was stable but he'd have to be in constant care for at least 24 hours and have an antibiotic regimen as a precautionary measure and to make he wouldn't develop pnuemonia because of the fluid that had been in his lungs. Casey was able to go see Mason in the nursery but I couldn't go until the epidural wore off. I bawled when Casey left without me. I felt so helpless. I was supposed to be snuggling and nursing my new baby right now! At 9:15 I was finally able to go see Mason. I went and held his hand and talked to him and he looked at me the whole time and then closed his eyes and went to sleep. Mason's nurse told me that he wouldn't be able to eat for 12 hours. I was so sad. That night I started pumping every few hours.

The next morning at 9 my nurse told me I could go see Mason again. When I walked in to the nursery the nurse told me that I could hold him and nurse him! I was ecstatic! I didn't want to put him down. I just held him and snuggled him for about an hour. From then on they let me come and nurse him every 3 hours. Later on that day a neonatologist came and told me that Mason would need to stay in constant care for 48 hours and continue to receive antibiotics and then he wouldn't be discharged until Monday morning (I would be discharged Sunday night). I was crushed! I thought they were going to take his IV out and let him room in with me after 24 hours. I was so anxious to let Carly and Holland meet him, and I was so frustrated that I would be discharged before him. The girls and my parents came to visit at the hospital on Saturday and they were able to see Mason a little bit through the nursery window. The girls loved hanging out in my hospital room. They thought it was the funnest thing ever. It was my dad's 65th birthday on Saturday so we kept the kids with us at the hospital for a few hours so my parents could have a break and go out somewhere fun. On Saturday night I walked down the hall to the nursery to feed Mason every 2.5-3 hours. During the day there were usually only 2-3 other babies in there but at night there were 12 babies! It was so fun sitting in there nursing Mason and hearing all the babies making noises.

On Sunday morning my nurse came and told me that Mason would be able to get his IV out sometime in the morning but that a neonatologist would have to come in and give an okay for it to be taken out. The neonatologist was on call and the nurses didn't know when she'd come in to the hospital since it was Sunday. I was so tired of waiting and waiting on other people! An hour later my nurse came back in and told me that the neonatologist was there and she heard her say that Mason could leave that night!. I was so excited that Mason could come home when I did! Right after Mason's nurse came in pushing Mason into our room! He had all the cords off him and the IV was gone! I called my parents quick so they could come in and bring the girls to meet and finally hold Mason! Right after the neonatologist came in and said Mason is perfectly healthy, and she saw no reason to make him stay another night so he could leave that evening. I wanted to hug her! She said he had a rough start but bounced back quick and is doing great. We left the hospital at 6:45 to come home! It was such an awesome feeling to finally be home.

Mason is now 1 week old and is the sweetest, best baby! He sleeps all the time. He sleeps 4 hours chunks at night and would probably sleep longer if I didn't need to wake him up to feed him. He rarely cries and loves just looking around contently while he's awake. We sure love our Mason muffin!!

Meeting my sweet baby boy for the first time.