New Addition!!! I'm now a mother of THREE!!!

Well, it’s official, I am now a mother of THREE. If you would have told me 10 years ago that at 30 I would have three kids I would have said NO WAY! Haha. It’s been about a month or so and in ways it still feels surreal. It’s been great, beautiful, stressful, overwhelming, difficult, amazing, and everything in between. I fell in love with my little boy the minute I saw his face and although going through the parenting thing all over again is tough, I just look at his chubby little face and I smile :) I know this time will go so fast so I am trying to enjoy every minute of every day before it is gone.

Day 1

A tiny smile!

9 Days Postpartum

Hanging with daddy

With big sissy #1

With big sissy #2

As for the birth itself, I think I said before that I was leaning more toward a natural birth and away from a c-section. I had a scheduled c-section date for about a week after my due date though, just in case, but was planning on seeing if my body would go into labor spontaneously. And that is what happened! I woke up at 4 am to feel a gush of fluid and realized my water had broken. I hadn’t actually started having contractions but knew it would be soon. Unfortunately my husband had just gotten the flu and was feeling pretty bad, and so the timing was terrible! I got up and waited for things to start happening, and within an hour they did. I had irregular contractions, 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there. I was planning to labor at home as long as possible and then go to the hospital when I was close to giving birth. I wanted to be comfortable in my own environment as long as I could but unfortunately that didn’t happen! By about an hour later I was having contractions a minute or two apart that were lasting a minute or two. I knew that generally only happened when you were getting closer to the end. I got my husband up and thought maybe I should go get checked just to be safe. My mom had had easy deliveries with us kids and with me, she only felt crampy for awhile and by the time she got to the hospital, she was totally dilated and I was born less than an hour later! I thought maybe I might be another anomaly like that so we went.

The doctor checked and I was only 2 cm. dilated!!! I couldn’t believe it, and was so upset. I definitely would have stayed home longer had I known that. But the contractions didn’t stop, and it basically went on that way almost the whole labor. It was really messed up! Most women only get the bad contractions at the end…mine were the whole time :( I wanted to go med free but it was tough being hooked up to a bunch of machines and barely being able to move around. My husband was a great support though knowing what I wanted to do and keeping me encouraged. I think I handled the pain pretty well, actually! Every time the doctor checked me, every few hours, I would only have progressed a centimeter or so, despite the heavy contractions. It was ridiculous!!! Several hours in I started to get really fatigued because I had only had a couple hours sleep and had not eaten. At one point the baby’s heart rate went down and everyone rushed in as if it were a real emergency. It was scary! But his heart rate improved. The doctor gave me a shot of terbutaline to slow my contractions because she said they were too close together and baby wasn’t tolerating it. It did slow them down and allowed me to rest, which was nice, but then I stopped progressing at all. Eventually they picked up again and I was hurting, but was only about 6 cm. at that point. I had been laboring for over 12 hours with contractions a minute or two apart med free and was so exhausted. The doctor wanted to give me Pitocin to help me progress, but I didn’t want it. So I went a little longer and finally gave in and agreed to an epidural. Not because the pain was unbearable but because I was so exhausted I knew it was going to take a lot longer and I didn’t think I’d have the energy to even push the baby out by then!!! After the epidural, I felt nothing and was able to relax again and just talk and laugh with my husband. I was disappointed that I couldn’t go all natural all the way but was proud with how far I did go. 

Around 7 PM there was a shift change and the doctor I had been seeing for my OB care came on shift. I was so happy to her, someone I trusted! She said I was at 7 cm. but the contractions had slowed again and again mentioned the Pitocin. I said I wanted to hold off a bit longer. So she came back a couple hours later and pretty much said it would either be the Pitocin or I would need to have a repeat c-section, so I opted for the Pitocin. Within a minute of it being administered, baby went into distress again. Everyone rushed in and started rushing around and messing with me. His heart rate did not improve and the doctor said we needed him out now, and we went off for an emergency c-section. It all happened so quickly. Luckily I had a similar experience with my twins so although it was scary I wasn’t as worried as I was then.

By the time I got to the OR his heart rate had been down for 8 minutes and the doctor said she would have him out within 1 minute of making sure my epidural was working. Then suddenly baby’s heart rate improved. But because of the risk, we decided to go ahead with the surgery and get him out. The doctor could not use the epidural for anesthesia and so I was put under general anesthesia. I went out and that was that.

When I awoke I was a new mom and my baby boy had been born. Sadly, because of the anesthesia, I only vaguely remember holding and nursing him the first time :( In all the photos I look so out of it the first couple hours!!! But the good news is, he was perfectly fine and healthy, and a whopping 8 lbs. 13 oz.!!! I couldn’t believe he was that big. No one in my family has had kids that big!!! I was just shocked. But he is the cutest little thing ever, with chubby cheeks and rolls, big lips and blue eyes :) He stole mama’s heart!!

As for recovery, it’s been up and down. In the first couple days I recovered SO much better than my first c-section!!! I was amazed. The first time, I couldn’t walk for nearly a week afterward and was using a wheelchair most of the time because of the horrendous pain. This time I was able to get out of bed and walk within hours of the surgery. I steadily did more walking every few hours and was actually able to be discharged a little early because of how well I was doing. Granted, I was on pain meds that helped, and when they wore off I was hurting something awful. But overall, the experience was better than my first and I healed better as well, at first. I did have a LOT of swelling due to the amount of IV fluids I got, and that hurt more than the incision after a few days! By about a week after surgery I was able to get out of the house and even washed my hair and put on some makeup!!! A far cry from my first c-section days where I wore pajamas for a month :( So after a couple weeks I thought I was out of the woods, however I developed plugged milk ducts in my breast (VERY painful) and that has slowly been resolving, then I developed an abscessed infection in my incision! It hurt so much I was in tears and could barely walk. Luckily I am now on antibiotics which seem to be helping and I anticipate that at the end of the 10 day course the infections should be eradicated. 

I decided to try breastfeeding and since it went well in the hospital I continued when I got home. And baby has been fed nothing but breastmilk since. I admit it is hard work and VERY time consuming, but its something I really want to do, so I am keeping at it. There is nothing like holding my baby close to me and watching his contented little face as he eats and knowing I am giving him the best possible. However that means I get sooooo little sleep and that is the hardest thing. Even though my husband has been home with me, he can only change diapers and rock the baby at times. If he was able to help feed like we did with my twins, who were formula fed, it would be soooo much easier to take turns and get more rest. :/ I’m sure part of the reason I’ve been more susceptible to these infections is because I am not resting or eating well and basically my body and immune system is run down. But I’m hanging in there! I know after another month or so, things will improve. But the early days/weeks are so tough.

My mood for the most part has been great. I have felt really happy (except for the last week and a half where I have been in massive amounts of pain, then I was actually somewhat depressed)!!! But still, I am enjoying my baby a lot. Having a family is the most beautiful thing. I am grateful for all that I have and just love this little guy so much. My kids are the world to me, I couldn’t ask for anything more.