Mackson's Birth Story

 Well, I can officially say I've missed the blogging world for the last few weeks. To say I've been busy with a baby is true, but the fact is we haven't had Internet at our place so blogging has been nearly impossible. I'm loving motherhood and I can't believe I have a THREE WEEK old baby! I've been excited to share Mackson's Birth Story with y'all!

My due date was July 28th and baby still hadn't come. I treated myself to having my hair done and bought a Solly Wrap (LOVE IT!) My 25th birthday was the 31st and I was glad baby didn't come on that day because I'm totally against sharing a birthday. August 1st I had an appointment with my midwife to have my membranes stripped. Which was pretty painful and she told me bleeding/cramping were totally normal- I was having both when I left the office. I had been dilated to a 1 for pretty much all of July, and left her office at a full 3 after having my membranes stripped.

Most of the evening I was cramping and it was gradually getting worse. I walked around the block a few times to get my mind off of the period-like cramps I've enjoyed NOT having for the last 10 months. I forgot how painful those suckers are. I started feeling really weird pressure in my bum and went to get in the bath hoping that would help the pain. I felt SO EXHAUSTED and went to bed around 8:30pm and woke up at 11pm with the worst cramps so I got in the bath for a second time. I was tossing and turning in bed so I went to our guest bedroom so I didn't wake up Spencer. That's when I realized my cramps were coming and going- and I started timing them. They were lasting a full minute, and they were exactly 5 minutes apart. I was in full on labor and didn't realize it. My midwife had told me to labor at home for about an hour so I got up and had to walk the hall up and down to keep my mind off the pain. They were slowly getting stronger and stronger. I didn't know what to do so I put my makeup on just in case we left for the hospital. An hour and 20 minutes later I woke up Spencer and told him we needed to go. By this time I couldn't walk or talk through my contractions so I asked Spencer to give me a blessing and we loaded up the car to go. 

We arrived at the University of Utah Hospital and got checked in around 2:30am and was at a 5 when they checked me. They had me in a room by 3:00am. My mom and Suzie Bishop our birth photographer showed up shortly after and I almost cried when Jessica my Midwife walked into my room I was so relieved to see her. My contractions were closer and closer together and they were much stronger. Jessica didn't leave my side and helped me through each contraction. I was feelin' good when she checked the monitors and told me I was having the strongest contractions on the floor and I was the only one without an epidural. I was ready for the anesthesiologist to come in anytime and got the epidural right in the middle of a contraction. It was immediate relief. They checked me again and I was an an 8 and things were moving along quickly. My midwife wanted me to rest for a while so everyone left to go grab food as I dozed off. I was sleeping when I felt baby kick, and heard a sound just like a water balloon popping. My water broke! I called Spencer and everyone came back up to my room. Around 8:45am they started prepping everything so I could start pushing which gave me a pretty good anxiety rush. I couldn't believe this was real life. 

My mom left the room and I started pushing at 9:00am. They would say "TWO PUSHES" And I would ask if I could do 3 or 4. I was feeling so good and I'm the weirdo that enjoyed laboring. Spencer was by my side and kept making sure I was drinking water and the nurses were so encouraging. We would laugh and joke in between contractions and I was getting so excited. They immediately told me to stop pushing and she took my temperature. They discovered my blood pressure was going up and so was baby's- I had correo infection and it was passing to baby Mack. They put an antibiotic in my IV line and told me they would probably need to take Mack to the Nursery as soon as possible. I wanted to delay cord clamping and do chest to chest with baby and they told me we wouldn't be able to do that, which was fine as long as Baby was taken care of. I could start pushing again. 

The Nurses said "THAT'S IT, THAT'S IT" and I knew they could see him. They told me he had lots of hair and I started crying. It had been 9 months of me feeling baby grow, watching my belly grow, feeling him kick, and the fact that the nurse could actually see him made this all so real. Spencer pulled out his phone and put on  the song "Here comes the Sun" and thought it was SO funny. The nurses totally got a kick out of it and he was pretty pleased. The nurses were all standing by as pediatrics came in and got ready to take baby. The nurses all got suited up and put gloves on and told me to do two more big pushes and I felt baby come out! Immediate pressure relief and at 10:05am THERE WAS MY BABY!! Seeing your baby for the first time is something I can't describe. It's so incredible. 

They quickly put Mack on my chest to warm him up and get him crying before they handed him off to pediatrics to immediately get an IV line for antibiotics and blood tests done since I had correo. Correo is where the small amount of amniotic fluid that I shared with  Mack was somehow infected, you don't know you have it until you start labor, and my temperature was gone- along with the correo as soon as baby came out. I sent Suzie and Spencer to the Nursery with Mack and my mom came in to keep me company. I had a level 3 tear that was pretty awful- they said they've never seen it happen to anyone before and the chances of me tearing the way I did are extremely rare. I'll spare you the dirty details. They had to bring an OR Doctor down to stitch me up which took about 2 hours. They were also concerned about my blood loss and started measuring everything to make sure I wasn't hemorrhaging. I did hemorrhage unfortunately and was feeling pretty weak the rest of the night. 

I was wheeled to a room in the postpartum unit and they wheeled baby around the corner and I was so excited to finally be with him again! The rest of our hospital stay was a little hectic with my meds every 4-6 hours, they would come in and make me walk around and help me to the bathroom every 2 hours, try to help me feed Mack every 4 hours, and they would come in to flush Mack's IV about every 4 hours, and take him to the Nursery for antibiotics every 4 hours. All of which = no sleep. Spencer was drained but some sort of no-sleep-mom-super power kicked in for me. 

We had lots of visitors, I had a bit of a rough time in the hospital which is a whole separate post, and we finally got word Monday afternoon we could be released and Mack could come with us! They were worried they might have to keep him there another week. We packed up the car and headed home- the saying is true- there really is no place like home. 

And we started our life as a little family. 

Thanks to everyone for the encouraging texts, phone calls, visits,  and meals. 

We have an awesome support system and we are so lucky.

Here are some of the pics from Mack's Birth- thanks to Suzie Bishop Photography. 

These are such a treasure to me. 

Baby Mackson born August 2nd 2014

10:05 am 

7 lbs 10 oz. 20 inches long

Welcome to the World Baby Mackson 

We love you so much!

XOXO