grant's birth story

*taken from this post*

"...i had a bit of a revelation the other day...this pregnancy has been SO different then the boys' pregnancies, why would labor and delivery be the same?"

Bingo.

quick carson and harper labor and delivery story (they were pretty much the same): labor started when my OB stripped my membranes at an appointment. when contractions were 4-5 minutes apart, went in and had an epidural (didn't work either time). a few hours and a few pushes later, both boys were born. with carson, my water broke about 30 minutes prior to his birth, with harper it never broke. he was almost born in the sac, but the doc tore it off of him when he was in the birth canal. 

now, grants' story:

i had my OB do a membrane sweep at my appointment on the 16th (i was 39 weeks and 3 cm dilated). the membrane strip was unsuccessful. i went on with my week as usual. the morning of wednesday the 22nd was pretty routine. i took carson to school, threw in a load of clothes, and harp and i headed to walmart to pick up some groceries. i typically grocery shop on thursdays but (instinctively?) decided to go ahead and get it over with on wednesday. we got home, ate lunch, and harp took a nap. i was pretty tired myself so i laid on the couch and dozed off. after about 30 minutes of snoozing (around 1:30 pm), i awoke to a small gush of fluid...i had JUST downed a large sweet tea from mcd's so i obviously thought i had lost control of my bladder. i went to the restroom and after relieving myself, i felt a another gush of fluid. now, because my water has never broken prior to labor, i wasn't convinced it was amniotic fluid.  it was time to pick carson up so harp and i headed down the road. while driving, i began to gave lower back pressure. when i got back home with the boys, i felt another gush...i finally accepted that it probably was my water breaking. i had lower back pressure but no contractions so i cleaned the whole house, folded laundry, and packed our hospital bags, all the while gushing fluid. i had called kane already but told him that i was going to wait before calling my ob because i wasn't having timeable contractions yet. he got off a bit early at 5pm and came home. i had called my mom and MIL to let them know, and finally called my OB. I told him my water broke but that contractions were still far apart (around 10 min). He told me to come on in to get checked anyways. we got to the hospital around 7ish...after the typical procedure of getting checked in and sent to triage, they confirmed my water had broken and that i was still at 3 cm. they told me that because my water had already been ruptured for several hours and because my contractions weren't impressive yet that they would have to start pitocin around 1:30 am (12 hours after initial break) unless things took off on there own....i wasn't optimistic about that happening so we walked the halls for a while and finally decided that instead of waiting for the inevitable to happen, i would go ahead and get the pitocin sooner rather than later. at 10:30 pm they administered my first dose. i was okay until around 1 or so in the morning...my contractions really started to get intense so i asked for an epidural. by the time the anesthesiologist came in, the pain was terrible. it was almost 2 before i got my initial dose of medicine from it...after 2 am things got ugly...i could feel a LOT of pain and pressure down low. i hadn't been checked at all for dilation (other than the initial check at triage) because of risk of infection. i begged the nurse to do a quick check and told her i felt like i had to push...i don't think she realized how serious i was...she checked and i was at a 9...she started getting things together but told me not to push..ha! thats not how nature works. when we first came in to the hospital, his head was still very high. and when he finally did drop, it was intense and the urge to push was immediate. i told her i couldn't help it and that i had to push. i pushed for about 20 or so minutes before he was born at 2:40 am...believe it or not, this was my hardest labor. it was intense. i think the pitocin had a lot to do with it (i've never had it before) and the fact that he was so high at the onset of labor. i also had to push for a lot longer then i did with the boys...miraculously, i did not tear whatsoever and did not have to have an episiotomy.

we are SO in love with our sweet grant. he is a good mixture of the boys..he has dark brown hair (not quite as much as the boys had), and light blue eyes. he has a very defined dimple in his chin like his brother carson, a small dimple in his cheek, and he has harper's face. 

you cannot tell in the picture, but grant was born with skin tags on his face/ears (the blanket/cap are covering them). there are two tags on his cheeks (one on each side) and several on/around his ears. i really didn't know anything about them beforehand, but apparently they are pretty common on newborns. they are harmless and can be removed easily numerous ways (tying them off, freezing them off, etc.) it really is just a vanity thing...if it weren't for the two on his cheeks, i would just leave them alone for the time being. when we have his checkup early next week, we'll know more about when/how they will come off.

my sweet boy has been in the nursery getting his hearing test and circ, so i wanted to write this down while it was still fresh and while i have a few spare moments! he is a master at breastfeeding and slept so well last night, so i feel really good today! we'll be discharged around noon, and then it will be back to reality!

and now...now i will smell his perfect newborn-scented head.