Meet baby Mason

I started Labor Day weekend in Labor! 

Induced labor, as usual, but nonetheless, Labor!!

All of my appointments are always very uneventful. And I'll take it! But after the first round of blood work they noticed my platelets were low. I didn't know what it meant so I did a little research. When they called me on the phone to let me know I needed to redo some bloodwork, they didn't really explain it to me. I learned that basically my blood was really thin, and basically the risk was that during labor or after delivery, I could bleed out. SCARY!! And there wasn't anything I could really do to make the levels go up. It pretty much has to fix itself. So I had to have them checked each trimester, and each time they would raise just a tiny bit. But enough to satisfy dr. R, but I still had to be checked. The last week it had raised enough that the dr. was ok, but I still had to be checked one more time. 

Throughout my whole pregnancy the baby was doing fine as far as heartbeat, and growing. 

At 36 weeks dr. realized my belly had stopped growing. I was only measuring 34 weeks. Two weeks before, at my last appointment, I was measuring 34 1/2 - 35. So I had gone down, and my weight had stayed the same. 

At 37 1/2 weeks, I was still only 34 so we scheduled a non stress test. When I went in for it, baby totally cooperated. Which is good, but at the same time, I was SO done being pregnant, I was kind of wanting him to not move so they would send me over to have him. And on the other hand, I didn't want any problems, so I just went with it.

At my 38 week appointment, my belly had magically grown to a 36, 

but we still scheduled induction to be August 30th.

And another non stress test a few days before. At that appointment, my legs and feet were so swollen I thought for sure the dr. would want to send me over to L&D, but he never seemed very concerned. I complained about them hurting every time, I'd never swelled up like that with the other two.

It worried me, my mom, and Colby! But not Dr. R.

So…the baby not growing was what got us into the hospital a little early.

One week.

They called me around 4:30 friday morning and said they were ready for me to come and wanted me there by 6:00. I got up and told my mom they had called so she knew she would have to help with the kids. I got showered and ready and off Colby and I went. 

We left the kids to sleep and my mom would get them up and ready for school.

Once I got all hooked up and ready to sit and wait, Colby went back home and finished getting the boys ready and to school. Then he got Lexie ready and brought her to see me. 

She was there for a little bit and then Doug & Janet took her for the rest of the day. 

When the nurse checked me to see how far dilated I was, it was a disappointing 1 1/2.

We knew right then it was going to be a long day!

So we got comfortable and waited. 

Also, I had to have the B Strep vaccine. And they wanted to make sure I got 2 doses of it, possibly 3, but I had to wait 3 or 4 hours in between. The first round hurt my arm so bad I almost couldn't handle it. My arm was cold because of the pitocin, and super achy, like a really bad fallen asleep arm waking up. Like, Really bad!!

And I was nauseous from the pitocin and them not wanting me to eat, so they had to bring me saltines and ice chips.

The day went on pretty uneventful until around 2:00. My contractions started hurting pretty bad so I asked for my epidural. When the anesthesiologist came in to do it he started asking about my platelet levels. He was the most concerned I had heard anyone be this whole time. He wanted to know the whole history of it during my pregnancy, and kept telling me the risk of the epidural and low platelets.

He freaked me out. But I wasn't about to have this baby natural!

So he started the procedure. I leaned over and held onto Colby and as soon as he started I coughed. Then the left side of my back started hurting. Bad. I usually feel like I have a high pain tolerance, but after this, I started thinking differently. I told him it hurt and he did something different, but it started hurting worse. I started crying and mouthing to Colby to tell him it hurt.

By the time he was done, my left leg was TOTALLY numb, but my right leg wasn't. He told me it would take some time. Within about 30 minutes it was numb too, but it only lasted about an hour. 

By 4:00 I could move my right leg. And it freaked me out! I was so afraid I was going to feel this baby come out of me.

And my pain threshold can't handle that FOR SURE!! 

I told my nurse and showed her I could move my leg, and she said I could push my button, but I could tell she was a little nervous about it. 

At about 4:30 my nurse checked me and I was at a 10. FINALLY!

But I was still super scared about the pain. The whole crew came in and prepped everything for this sweet baby about to be born. Dr. R got there and we started pushing. Everything was going good, but in the back of my head I just knew I was going to feel this baby, and feel my body rip open for him to come out. So I think I was kind of holding back my pushes.

When it was finally time to make those final last pushes 

I was so emotional and tired from pushing I let out a scream.

I kind of laugh about it now, and am a little embarrassed. 

Dr. said look down and I pushed one last time and my beautiful baby boy was there!!

As soon as I felt him come all the way out, and he held him up I just let everything go.

My body felt like it flopped, in a relaxing way, and I just started crying. 

And I couldn't help it. I couldn't stop.

I kept apologizing to the nurses for crying and screaming.

Dr. R held him up and all I could see were rolls on his legs!!

The nurses took him and weighed him and measured him, when she announced "8 lb. 2 oz. 21 inches" Dr. looked up and said "He weighed what?!" We were NOT expecting an 8 pound baby. Maybe 6 - 6 1/2, but not 8! I felt horrible through my whole pregnancy. And I think it's because he was a lot bigger than we thought, and I must have been carrying him in my back. 

Now, he's here. He's healthy, and we're all happy!!

As soon as they gave him to me he was quiet. He just looked around, and he knew I was his mom. He was just as calm as could be. And I just hope it's a sign of what kind of baby he'll be ;)

Mason Colby Labrum

born August 30, 2013

8 lb. 2 oz.

21"

Our new family of 6!

minus me ;)

My mom came over around 3:00 and hung out the rest of the day. Doug & Janet brought the kids over as soon as we called to say I was pushing. They stayed in the hall but were there and got to see him as soon as they took him to poke, prod, weigh and clean. They got to watch it all. I had called Melanie and asked if she would come up and take pictures of him as soon as he's here and she was excited to play that part for me. I was planning on Sherie doing it, but since Stefanie had just barely had Wade, and he was still in the hospital (actually got released that day), she was in Texas with them. 

We stayed in the room until about 7:00 when I finally told the nurse that in order for me to get some privacy and be able to nurse she needed to move me up to my room, and then everyone would leave. 

I didn't want them to leave, but I knew that first feeding was an important bonding time.

My mom took the kids home with her once we got up to our room so they could see where we would be. They were so excited to see the baby, and just be with him, they didn't want to leave. 

I was able to nurse fine on the right side, but Mason just couldn't latch on to the left side. 

Colby stayed for a little while, then Brett, Julie & McKennah came by to visit. They stayed about an hour and then left. Once again, I didn't want them to leave, but I knew I needed to try and nurse again. 

During the night I asked the nurses to keep him in the nursery so I could sleep but to bring him to me when he needed to eat. They brought him down and I tried again, but the same thing. We tried all sorts of things, but he just wasn't eating. He would take so long to finally get latched onto my right side, he could only eat for about 3-5 minutes and would fall asleep. 

It was sad, and hard, and super frustrating for me! 

We tried again the next morning and same thing. He just couldn't latch on to one side. And the first side took so long, by the time he finally did get it, he was so worn out. I was super nervous that he wasn't going to be able to leave because he wasn't getting enough food. But they didn't really seem concerned about it.