My beautiful baby

So I have a baby now and he is absolutely beautiful!

It was a tough thing. I was induced Tuesday morning at 6, and went all day, getting to maybe a three. They broke my water and everything, but not much happened, so they turned off the pitocin and I went to sleep.

Wednesday morning at 5:30 they plugged me back in, and it started working very quickly. By noon I was in a lot of pain. My midwife came in and said she'd check me at 3, and hopefully by then I'd be a five and they could take me off the pitocin and let me labor normally.

Well, that didn't work. I was still a four, and by then I was exhausted and in so much pain, I couldn't stand it anymore. I just wanted it to end.

My midwife highly recommended an epidural, because she felt that I would have to have a c-section if things didn't improve. I didn't really want to, but Mike gave me a blessing and we decided it was the right thing to do. So around 330, They got me started on the epidural.

Then things started getting scary. A couple of hours later, I was just a five, and my midwife was getting concerned because Mason's heart rate was dropping after the good contractions, which could mean he was having problems. So she called the doctor who does c-sections, and told us we might have to have one for the baby's safety.

I was devastated. I started crying, I couldn't hold it back. Mike was having a tough time too, but he gave me another blessing, in which he promised everything would be ok. So I held on to that and prayed like crazy.

The next time they checked me, I was a six, so they said we might be able to manage it. And when the doctor came and checked me, he said I was an eight (although my midwife did not agree with that) and to keep going, just watching things. The next check, which I'm not sure when it was, I lost track of the time, she said I was ready! Everyone was so relieved!

I had to use the stirrups, because I had absolutely no control over my legs. It was pretty funny, actually, because my midwife had trouble with the stirrups. So I started pushing with my contractions, and they ended up using a vacuum to get him out faster, because they were worried about the baby's heart rate, and I pushed through about six contractions, then he was out!

He was a mess! The fluid at that point had a lot of meconium (aka baby poop) in it, so they had to take him and clean him up, but he is absolutely gorgeous! He latched on right away when I breastfed, and he is so sweet. He likes to cuddle, he cried when they brought us breakfast, but he wasn't hungry, he cuddled with me for a minute and then went to sleep.

I am so grateful that I got induced, and that it worked out so well. I started to think I'd made a mistake getting induced, but all the meconium in his fluid, which could have caused problems if he had inhaled it, and the fact that his placenta was aging verifies to me that he needed to be born. We are blessed that things went so well.

Mason Gordon, born 9:58 pm on July 28th, 2010. 8 pounds 6 ounces, 20 inches.