A Valentine's Day Arrival

Grant Carter Monson was born Valentine's Day, February 14, 2015, at 5:29 a.m.  He weighed 8 lbs 6 oz and was 21.25 inches.  So this guy was a bit bigger than his older brother when he was born.  He is so sweet.  We love his little coos and grunts.  And of course all the cute expressions he makes.  We could not be happier to finally meet him.

Pace got to meet him the next day and we promptly learned that our camera had only enough batteries for a couple pictures :(  Which is so sad, because Pace was so delighted with Grant.  He was all smiles and was trying to see him and touch him right away.  He even tried to share his pacifier with him (and if you know Pace, thats a big deal).

We love Grant.  So excited to have him join us!

So now for the birth story.  If you are not interested in those, you can tune out here.  Friday I got out of bed with a lot of heavier contractions (I'd been having lighter contractions for the last couple weeks, but nothing too uncomfortable.  I could still sleep).  So I was hoping that it was the day.  However, as the day went on they were still there but had slowed considerably.  We had a great day as a family, since Jake was off of work for President's day weekend.  We even got to go grocery shopping and went out to eat as a family.

That night I even got to sleep.  Although the contractions woke me up frequently.  I felt as if I got at least 4 hours of sleep, although interrupted.  By about 3 am I couldn't sleep I was so uncomfortable.  Every time Grant moved around it hurt and then there were contractions as well.  When I got up I decided to walk around downstairs and realized they were three minutes apart.  I wanted to be cautious about getting excited too early (with Pace I had many false starts) so I walked around till about 3:40, but the pain was getting much stronger.  I told Jake to get up and load the car and then I jumped in the shower to handle the pain a bit better.  I hurt even more, but after I got out I even asked Jake if I should lay down to see if they would slow down (I was still skeptical, thinking it could be a false start).  But then the pain ruled over and I though we at least needed to get Pace to the babysitter.  So we left around 4:15.  We dropped Pace off and I struggled in the car.  Trying to breath and relax the best I could.  By the time we got to the hospital I could barely walk.  I was sweating, despite freezing temperatures, and I just wanted to get comfortable.  There was once I even felt like pushing while we were walking.  When we got to the labor and delivery unit at 4:30  they did their check and I was already dilated to an 8.  They asked me if I wanted an epidural and silly me, the pain taking over, said yes.  Jake even tried to talk me out of it.  They moved me right into the delivery room.  Told me I didn't have enough time.  the doctor was there really quick.  They told me Grant was in distress and he needed to come out now.  I needed to push with the next contraction.  I am pretty sure from then on everyone in the hospital could hear me screaming as I pushed.  But with a little help from the forceps Grant was out in 3 or 4 pushes.  He was born within the hour after our arrival, perfect as can be.  I am so thankful there wasn't enough time for that epidural.  I didn't really want it.  The recovery with Grant has already been so much better than with Pace.  For starters no epidural headache and secondly my muscles were not nearly as sore.  So glad for that.