Mason Arthur

Alright, it's been two weeks and a day since Mason was born, and I thought I should write the story down while it's still a little fresh in my mind. So without further ado, here's his story:

It really began on Tuesday, February 16th when I went to the doctor for my weekly appointment to see if there'd been any progress. After waiting about two hours in the waiting room for the 3rd week in a row only to discover that the doctor had to go do a delivery right before entering my room, I saw the nurse instead. I was a little frustrated, and on top of that, she said there had been no progress. I asked if since I was a week early with my first if that was any indication for the second, and she assured me that I was in for the long haul and not to set my hopes on this happening any earlier than my due date. I was disappointed and when I checked out I made an appointment for an induction on my due date incase nothing had happened by then. I spent the rest of the day pretty grumpy... I think I complained to at least 3 people about my experience at the doctor and the upsetting news that nothing was changing. After the doctor that day I went to the park, and that evening I did a bit of my visiting teaching. I felt completely normal the whole day.

That night, at about 11:30 Jeremy and I were saying our prayers. I was praying for our family prayer out loud when I felt some drips in my underwear (TMI? Sorry!) I had just been praying that the rest of the pregnancy would go smoothly and that we'd be prepared for Mason's arrival when the time was right... ironic? I started hurrying the end of the prayer when I realized I couldn't hold these drips in... I was worried I was losing complete bladder control! I quickly sat up and there was a little gush. At this point I still thought I just couldn't control my pee and I was really embarrassed. Luckily it was late and Jeremy had no clue anything was wrong. I just jumped up and ran to the bathroom. Jeremy was saying his prayers, still unaware that anything unusual was happening. I was struggling to figure out why I couldn't control the leaking that was going on. After a few minutes of being in the bathroom unable to move without more leakage, it dawned on me that this could be my water breaking. I called to Jeremy and said I thought my water might have broken. He also thought I had just lost control of my bladder and didn't believe me until I explained that I couldn't move without leaking more. after he saw how big the spot on the bed was and that I was still leaking, he began to believe me.

I was in complete shock, and oddly enough, it made me giddy. I was giggly for the next few hours while it sank in that this was really happening. So we made some calls to family and our sister-in-law came over to sleep the rest of the night at our place with Brenna while we went to the hospital. While we were waiting for her to get there, we had to pack a hospital bag since I didn't even have one started. Luckily as part of my nesting stage though I had made a detailed list of what I wanted to take so it wasn't too hard.

As we drove to the hospital we were thinking of names and trying to decide if this was real, and also realizing how unprepared we were for it to happen right then. We were practically out of food, the house was a bit of a mess, and we didn't even have a name picked out! I was, fortunately, too giddy to let any of this bother me too much. I think Jeremy was half sleepwalking through all of this, but I kept him awake with my constant jabbering and laughing (seriously, it was weird how much I was giggling).

Alright, I will try and speed this story up a little and give a little less detail since it's getting rather long. So we arrived at the hospital and they discovered that it was in fact my water that had broken and I was dilated (only slightly, to like a 1 or 2). I still wasn't feeling contractions or anything until about 2 in the morning. We had to wait in triage for a long time while a room got cleared for us. Jeremy kept trying to get a bit of sleep before things started to get interesting, but I kept talking and talking so he couldn't drift off. We finally got to our room and things started progressing. I started feeling the contractions and braced myself for a long journey. With Brenna I didn't use any pain medicine or anything, and I was planning on doing it that way again this time. Around 4:30 AM the contractions started getting really painful and really often though, and with Jeremy snoozing on the chair beside me I quietly decided that this time I would use an epidural. Having not slept for over 24 hours, I didn't have the discipline to breathe through the contractions while watching my husband snooze away. haha so I got the epidural, and from then on, it was bliss. I slept for about 40 minutes, then I woke up at 7 and started calling more people and texting the exciting news. Around 8 AM I started feeling the contractions again. I called the nurse and she gave me a button to manually increase the epidural with. I tried that a few times (ok I was pushing the button almost constantly) and when it didn't work at all I called the nurse again. She decided to check me and was shocked to find that I was a clear 10 and she could easily see the baby.

I, of coarse, started bawling when she said this. Was I really ready? Too late now! She started frantically getting the room ready while my doctor hurried over for the delivery. I was prepared for a lot of pushing, especially since I couldn't really feel what was going on. Once the doctor arrived though, it all happened so fast!

By 8:42 I was holding a slimy Mason in my arms with tears streaming down my face. He was beautiful and perfect! He was VERY purple though! They let me hold him for a few minutes, then cleaned him up a bit and brought him back. He was 6lbs 15oz and 19 1/4 inches long. Just a tiny little guy! We still hadn't decided on

a name, but we quickly both agreed that he looked like a Mason. It was really special to have him with us. I was emotional (surprise surprise) but what was neat was to see Jeremy get a little emotional about it too. His dad visited first (actually like minutes after Mason was born) and was very emotional as well. A new baby is something so special, I guess even boys can cry!

Mason is a very good baby. He so far mostly just eats, sleeps and poops. Brenna loves him. I have to be careful that she doesn't smoother him with her love. She always wants to hold him and kiss him and hug him.

My mom arrived on Saturday, and helped me until this morning when she had to go back home. I am trying to be strong about it since she will be back in 3 weeks with the whole family. I can't wait for my family to meet him. We love him very much and already can't imagine our lives without him. We're blessed with two beautiful children!