Hello World!

I'd like to welcome to the world our little man Maxwell.

Isn't he the cutest?! And so much hair! 😍  Can you believe it? We are parents! A whopping 8lbs 4oz and approximately 19 inches long. (They measured him at 21 1/4 inches but a few days later at his pediatrician appointment they measured 19?? So we aren't quite sure how long he really was at birth. Maybe he had a really bad cone head and it went back to normal in a few days...)

He is such a bundle of joy and the best baby we could have ever hoped for! <3

...

I started noticing what I was 75% sure were contractions around 9pm on Tuesday night. Max was my first, so I had absolutely no idea what anything was supposed to feel like, and my water didn't break at home, sooooo, yeah. I was texting my girlfriends during this time and they were pretty sure it was contractions. I tried to go to sleep but I just could not get comfortable! And I'm not used to going to sleep before 11, ha! Getting closer to 1am, Scott is starting to get ready for bed and I'm like...I think we need to go to the hospital... (I feel terrible mostly leaving him in the dark, but next baby I will be more prepared and know what's going on!) I call my Dr and he basically tells me to go to the hospital and the worst they can tell me is to go home. 

BTW, for me, contractions felt almost like menstrual cramps in the lower uterus area. More of an annoying pain than anything (at least at that point in time), especially since you can't really shove your fist in your stomach to make it feel a little better...

We get to the hospital around 3am. **If you are planning on delivering a baby and it's your first, I highly suggest you get some food on the way to the hospital! The only thing they will let you eat is ice chips and they are terrible after awhile! Just don't eat a full meal or anything too heavy, in the off chance you need a C-Section.** Luckily for us, I was 6cm dilated, which means we were staying! 🙌

It took FOREVER to get out of Triage. I think somewhere around 2 hours. It was terrible and boring. You do lots of waiting and baby monitoring there. Finally, around 5 ish we got to our delivery room. I was debating going natural but then decided against it. And glad I did because it was so much more enjoyable! I was getting super irritable before the epidural. Scott probably wouldn't enjoy dealing with a monster during such a special moment. 

I was not comfortable in the hospital bed AT ALL. I'm almost certain I was having some back labor or my lower back was just hurting because I couldn't sit/lay in a way for it not to. And I had to wait for the anesthesiologist, since the mom with 3+ babies was a higher priority than me...who would have thought? Good thing the best one was on the clock that morning! Totally couldn't feel any contractions with 10 minutes. Life was great! And I wasn't a monster anymore so Scott was now allowed to rub my back or my feet. I couldn't feel any contractions but I could still kind of feel my legs/feet, which probably made changing my dressings easier for the nurses. My water broke within the next 45 minutes. 

My nurse had me use the peanut ball and kept rotating me every 1-1.5 hours. It wasn't very exciting. She also kept asking me if I felt any pressure, which I never did. My Dr FINALLY got there around 9 and guess what, fully dilated! Boom! If he would have stayed, I probably could have delivered Max within the hour, but my doc had one last patient that morning and his office is literally 5 minutes from the hospital, so I didn't object. Besides, I couldn't feel anything anyway. 

Once the nurses got the call that my doctor was going to be there soon, they started prepping me for some pre pushing. Basically to get the baby in position so the doctor can deliver him. And guess what? Max was already crowning! That chunky monkey just slid right down my birth canal! Once my doctor got there, we got the show on the road! I pushed 4 times during each contraction and 4 contractions later...we had a baby! It was such a weird feeling having my belly huge and hard and then all of a sudden it was gone! I could see my belly button! And my belly was so squishy! Hahaha

He was perfect. <3 And still is perfect. We love him so much! And I'm so grateful for my good friend Annie who was able to capture the moment! The stars aligned and everything worked out perfect for her to be there! God is good! And my amazing husband. I love him so much! I couldn't have asked for a better man to be by my side. Our little forever family is growing!! 

Cheers!