He's Here!

Presenting:

MacKay Carlisle Paxton

January 3, 2011

6 lbs 11 oz

19.5 inches

3:31 am

Birthing Story:

Saturday (January 1st) late in the evening, I started having some bad cramping and irregular contractions. Since I was exactly 38 weeks, and I didn't have Whitney until almost 41 weeks, I decided not to get my hopes up for an early delivery. The entire night I had weird cramping, and it led into the following day.

Sunday during church, I was uncomfortable to say the least. I kept thinking, "Man, I can't believe I'm going to feel this crummy for 2 more weeks!" I was getting super swollen, to the point where I must have been complaining a lot because Sunday after church, Whitney put on my ONLY pair of shoes that I could squeeze my feet into and said, "I'm SO swollen!" as she walked around the house.

Sunday afternoon, I really needed to get out of the house and go on a walk. Kendall joined me in freezing temperatures and it felt SO good to get out and walk. It was my only relief from pain. She kept saying, "Maybe you'll go early!" I still wasn't convinced.

Whitney took a super long nap that afternoon, and I went to lay next to her to sort of wake her up. Before I knew it we were both waking up around 5:30 pm. I guess I was really tired.

Because Whitney took such a late and long nap, I knew she wouldn't go to bed until around 10 pm. So I laid next to her in her bed as she and I read books and talked. When I "tried" getting out of bed, I honestly felt like the baby was just going to fall right out of me.

Then I started having some hard contractions.

I decided I better shower.

Around 10:30 pm, I used the restroom and I was bleeding. I was still having short (10-20 second) contractions but they hurt really bad. Bart and I were debating on what we should do. Around 11:30 pm we decided to call Kendall and Ryan to come stay with sleeping Whitney so we could go over to the hospital to get checked. I really thought that I would get checked and they would say, "Oh, everything is just fine. You're still at a 1-2 cm."

I am sure I gave Kendall a fright when I was trying to put on my jacket and I had to hunch over the staircase because I was in pain.

As we drove to Riverside Hospital, I am sure I was still in denial. Bart kept telling me that, YES, he did think I was in labor. For some reason, I just didn't. Shock, maybe?

We walked into the hospital and up to the labor and delivery area. I was sort of bugged because I didn't have on any makeup and my hair was wet. I didn't even get a "before delivery" picture to document how large my belly was. I just wanted to get some makeup on because if this was the real deal, I didn't want to look like a nightmare in all the pics. You may think that's vain, but I'm just being honest.

As I was waiting to be checked in triage, the nurses kept laughing at me trying to do my hair and makeup (without a mirror, mind you) in between contractions. Although I wasn't fully satisfied with my "do" I figured that was as good as it was going to get. The contractions were super hard and about 1-2 minutes apart.

Next, the nurse checked me and said, "Oh, you're almost a 6. You're having this baby tonight!"

Say what?

I was glad that bed had wheels on it because I just don' think I could have walked to the next area. I started making a lot of noise during contractions, which I am sure was embarrassing for Bart. But if you're going to have a baby, you might as well make it dramatic, right?

After using the restroom in the delivery room, I kept asking for my epidural. It was at this point I really felt like natural birth (no epidural) is insane.

Luckily, the anesthesiologist came in around 1:30 am to get me going on some drugs. THANK YOU!!!

I asked him, "Are you fast?"

I just didn't want to be in a contraction while he was shooting me up with drugs.

He said, "I'm efficient."

We had a very sweet L&D nurse who took good care of me. Bart's jokes didn't start to get funny until my epidural set in- but then I thought he was really funny. Yes, a working epidural is awesome.

I was rapidly progressing and quite comfortable. I kept saying, "THIS is what childbirth should feel like! It should be the reward after being uncomfortable for 9 months."

We were waiting for the resident to come and break my water. Soon I was at a 10 and my water broke on it's own. But there was a problem:

My water had a ton of dark wine-colored blood in it. I was bleeding and we needed to get our little guy out. They had already called the "on call" doctor, and he was on his way to the hospital. With each contraction, our baby's heart rate was dropping and it would take a while for it to return to normal. The resident told me that they might have to use the vacuum on him to get him out faster. I didn't want the vacuum, but I was very scared that he wouldn't get out fast enough.

It was time to push. We decided that we didn't want wait for the doctor, so the resident "suited up" in her space suit. Bart stood at my left side.

I felt the urge to push and gave it a bit of effort.

I don't remember this, but the resident said, "Okay, let's get the vacuum."

Bart remembers me saying, "Hold on, I've got it!"

I pushed one more time and out he came. Now, that was a lot easier than my first labor.

I saw his tiny, little wrinkly blue body.

He started crying after a few seconds. He needed to be checked immediately because of all my bleeding.

He looked great, and didn't seem to have problems. I then got to hold him for some skin to skin and he was a great little nurser. He kept looking up at me and was so snuggly and cute.

For about 5 hours after his birth I had to stay in the delivery room because I kept bleeding. I am so grateful for modern-day medicine and that I was able to have my baby in a hospital where trained doctors knew exactly what to do to help my baby and me. After getting a shot of medicine, I stopped the heavy bleeding. Luckily, I didn't loose enough blood to need a transfusion and I am fine.

I was then wheeled into my recovery room and they brought our little boy into see us. At this point I was beyond exhausted as was Bart.

We love our little boy, MacKay. I am grateful for guardian angels who made sure everything went well.

MacKay has a sweet disposition and is patient with me. He's been through a lot this first week. He now has jaundice and is under billi-ights 24 hours. The last two blood draws, he hasn't even made a peep or fussed. What a sweet boy. We love him so much.

MacKay's first photo:

Mommy & Baby Brother: (See what I mean about the hair? Oh, well. What can you do?)

Daddy & his boy:

So sweet:

Baby Brother & Whitney