Meet Baby Mason

Hospital Website Pics: http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/MountCarmelBabyDetail.aspx?birthid=09f2702f-59fb-481d-ba48-bc2b2f510bd2

By Jamie

Baby Mason James was born at exactly 12:00 midnight on October 5th!  He was 8.0 lbs and 19 inches long.  He is doing great!!!

Labor & Delivery:
Sunday afternoon I had a few braxton hicks contractions...maybe 3 at the most.  Sunday night I went to bed as usual and had a good night's sleep!  I woke up on Monday at my usual time of about 7:15 and began having contractions at 7:30.  I wasn't sure if they were the real labor contractions or not.  I ate breakfast and went into major nesting mode-laundry, cleaning, dusting, straightening up, etc.!!  I took a shower and did my hair & makeup.  Mya and I painted our nails!  Thecontractions began about 15-20 minutes apart, then after an hour and a half, they were about 12 minutes (I was tracking them on a website, which kept track how far apart they were and how long they lasted).  By 10:00, I called Jim to tell him to come home....and I was picking out which "Big Sister" shirt for Mya to wear when he got home at 11:30!

By 12:30, my bag was packed!  The contractions were now 5-7 minutes apart and I had talked to Sarah and my parents to let them know that it might be close to "the time"!!!  I waited until about 1:45 to call the doctor's office, and by 2:00, we took Mya over to our neighbor's house and were headed to the hospital!

I was only 3 cm dilated when I got to the hospital, and my blood pressure was high.  They were concerned that I had signs of preeclampsia again and said that if I didn't progress to at least 4 cm, I would have to go home and have to do a 24-hr urine analysis.  What?!!!!  I was a little confused at that, since I was having contractions...why would they send me home in labor?  But luckily my blood pressure went down and I progressed to 4 cm the next time she checked me, so they moved me into the labor & delivery room (I think it was about 5:00 by then)!

I got the epidural soon after that, and was feelin' good!!  I got to visit with my family, and they broke my water.  I went from 5 cm to 8 cm, and by 11:15, I was fully dilated and ready to push!!!  I'm just so thankful for how smoothly everything went...in between pushes, we were even laughing (which caused Mason's head to pop in and out towards the end!), and at exactly midnight, he was born!!!!  This is such an opposite experience than what I had with Mya, and it was a true answer to prayer!!!

(More later!!)  :)Jamie