Bringing Home Baby

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our 3rd Musketeer.  He came in as our biggest baby (by only 1 ounce) at 8 lbs 7 oz and measuring 20" (so not the longest),  He is healthy and came into the world with only a few whimpers.  Most surprising of all is he came with a full head of dark hair.  He is as cute as a button and we absolutely love him, even if he keeps us up a bit at night.  On February 12 we met this wonderful little guy, Louis Tanner Monson.

Realizing he is no longer in his warm little womb.

Our midwives made us his first little lei.

Then we brought this guy home and introduced him to his brothers.  It was absolutely a priceless few minutes for me.  There was an instant connection between these guys.

And now we are all just adjusting to being a family of 5.  It is going well, but I am nervous for when Jake goes back to work.  Three boys 3 and under, I can do this. 

Now if you are interested in the birth story you can keep reading. 

So, at my 39 week appointment my midwife told me she was going to schedule my induction right at 41 weeks, because she was going out of town and wouldn't be able to schedule it for me later.  And so me, with my positive thinking, thought no problem I think this baby won't be too late since Grant was only 4 days late (I did not want to actually have to be induced).  So an induction date was set for February 12.  The due date came and went, with only Braxton-Hicks contractions to tease me.  I started to get worried that I might be induced, but I tried to stay as positive as possible.  I was walking a good distance every day, since I walk Penny twice a day and I was definitely active chasing after Pace and Grant (who just didn't understand why I didn't feel like rough housing anymore).  As a family we even went to the park and played tag a few nights that week and I "ran" as best that I could.  Believe me one night there was a group playing basketball and I could tell they were trying not to laugh as I waddled/ran with our family.

On February 11, I woke up with quite strong contractions, but even those slowed down to regular Braxton-Hicks before long.  So we went to the aquarium to keep me distracted (even though there was a downpour of rain).  

Finally I did wake up on February 12 with strong contractions fairly regular at midnight.  I couldn't sleep.  I walked around the house for an hour and a half or so.  Then I jumped in the shower and told Jake to get the stuff ready in the car.  I wasn't as far along as with Grant when we left, but we were farther from the hospital so I thought we should make sure to leave enough time to drop off the boys and get there.  Roads were completely clear around 3:30 am on a Sunday morning, so we made it there fast.  It was so empty we even saw a wild pig run across the road near the hospital.

I still felt like I had quite a bit of time, so we went for a walk across the Hospital grounds.  We walked for about an hour an a half (if not more).  We had beautiful weather and views of Honolulu city lights.  Also, we had the company of dozens of huge Hawaiian snails.  It finally got to the point where my legs were too shaky to walk much more (the nerves were shot and I was tired).

We went in and checked in.  My midwife checked me and looked happy and said something like, "Yep, you are in labor."  While in my mind I was like there is no question I'm in labor.  I was dilated to a 6.

They took me to a labor room, which apparently was really cold because the ventilation system wasn't working, but I didn't really notice at that point.  They told me my blood pressure was up so I had to get an IV.  They tried so hard to get the IV in a point in my arm where I didn;t have to bend it too much, but after 10 tries or so (no exaggeration) it went in the crook of my elbow (like I have always had it).  I think being poked so many times really stressed me out.  After that I started begging for an epidural.  Jake was so sweet and tried to talk me out of it, like he knew I would want him too, but I just wouldn't back down.  I was weak, couldn't handle the pain anymore, especially because I knew there was probably a few more hours.  So the anesthesiologist came and gave me the epidural.  He was very good, and knew how to calm me down and talk me through it since he knew I had concerns because of a the epidural headache I got when Pace was born.  Everything went smoothly with the epidural, no major side effects this time.  Just relief.

After shaking my way through the last hours of labor (I had been shaking all night because of my hormones, even before the epidural.  It didn't help that our room was so cold either.).  I only pushed for about 15 minutes and Louis was out.  For the first time for me there was no episiotomy, forceps, or trauma with the baby.  I got to hold him right away.  He was so healthy and happy, he hardly cried.  He was born at 9:58 am.  I cried I was so happy to be the first to hold my baby.  Jake got to cut the cord and everything was smooth from there. We only stayed at the hospital until the following afternoon.  Being a busy hospital they only keep patients about 24 hours after the births, unless there are complications.  I am so glad to have Louis in our family.