Daddy's First Business Trip

We were very lucky that Blake was able to not travel for March, April & the majority of May. However, at the end of May the thing I was dreading the most was quickly approaching, Blake's first trip. He has been one of the most hands on and helpful dads I could have ever asked for. At night I do the night feedings and he rocks Mason back to sleep. In the morning he wakes up early with him & holds a "man meeting" & lets me get a little more sleep before he goes to work. He comes home for lunch every day which is a nice break in the day. When he comes home from work he takes Mason & I get a little me time for the first time that day. He is just so wonderfully helpful & I feared how tiring it would be doing all of that by myself.
On Tuesday he headed out to Nova Scotia at 9:30. Mason was sleeping, mom got her workout in, all was going well. Mason napped well & ate well throughout the day, I got the chores done, I felt like I could totally do this!

 

My friend Monica came over to meet Mason that day & hung out with us from about 1-3. Then Rachel came over that evening. She had known how much I was dreading this day & told me that the first time Blake went out of town she was coming over to help me out. She was nothing short of a Godsend! Mase gets a little fussy at night but it didn't even phase her! She just walked in, took Mason & comforted & held him for 3 hours while I got some things done & ate dinner without holding a baby.

Tuesday night I moved Mason's rock & play into our bedroom & put Mason to sleep in there. I hoped it would go well but wasn't sure what to expect.

Both of us went to sleep and things seemed to go pretty well. However, about 12:45 the loudest storm I think I've ever heard hit. The thunder was shaking the walls of our house & both Mason & I kept waking up. The storm ended just in time for his 2:30 feeding. Then he was raring to go at 6:30. Mom was EXHAUSTED! I averaged about 3 hours of sleep that night & was so ready for Blake to be home. That next morning when Blake facetimed us was my favorite. Mason's face would just light up to see his daddy!

Tuesday he was very clingy. It took me 2 hours to complete my workout because he just wanted to be held. After my workout I just gave up & decided to give him just what he needed, we would spend the day just loving on each other. I mean dad would be home that evening so I could have a bath and relax when he got home. Life was good. About 3:00 I was struggling to stay awake. I refuse to let myself fall asleep holding Mason, while others are comfortable with cosleeping I'm just not, it scares me too much! Blake & I talked and I started my countdown, 6 more hours, I could do it! After my countdown began Mason became incredibly fussy. He refused to eat & just was incredibly fussy. I pulled out every trick in the bag I knew but nothing seemed to be working. About that time Blake informed me he may not make his connection in Chicago due to weather. He kept trying to be positive about making it back but after 4.5 hours sitting on a plane we realized there was no way he was making his connection as it took off in about 30 minutes. He called his travel agent but there were no other flights leaving out of Chicago that night. Our 1 night trip had just been extended & my countdown shattered. There I was holding a crying baby boy that refused to eat or let me put him down to even go to the bathroom. I was exhausted, I was disappointed & I was at a loss for what to do. So there Mason & I sat and held each other and cried for a good 10 minutes. It's as though my sisters live in my head sometimes because during my mini meltdown she text & said why don't you and Mason come over? I replied with he won't quit crying & I don't want to get him out like this. She immediately replied with heading to get dinner & I'll be there. BLESS YOU AMY! I never told her that she text me as I sat there bawling and praying for God to just bring comfort to my baby & give me energy to make it through that night. That night Mason slept much better & the next day he seemed much happier. Blake returned home the next day about 12:30, Mason & I have never been happier to see him.
Not only did this trip give me a greater appreciation for all single moms everywhere, it gave me a greater appreciation for everything that Blake does around the house and for Mason & I. We couldn't be luckier to have such a helpful, hands on husband and daddy.

Operation Lose The Baby Weight

This is going to be a difficult post for me. I've decided I'm just going to be completely transparent about my weight loss journey. The absolute hardest part of pregnancy for me was the weight gain. I felt so frustrated that I just watched the pounds climb on. To understand why it was so hard for me let me go back about 10 years. In high school I never really worried about my weight. I ate whatever mom fixed for dinner, I never worried about healthy meals & I was very active in tennis & cheerleading. While I wasn't the skinniest girl in high school I was happy with my body & never had to worry about what I ate. Fast forward to college. My first year  the freshman 15 was seriously no joke at all. I gained it all in the first semester. I knew I was gaining weight but it wasn't until someone commented on my "cankles" that I became really concerned and realized I needed to do something. Did I have cankles? Not at all! Was I heavier than I should have been, yes probably. So at 133 pounds I joined weight watchers. In less than a year I had lost 24 pounds. I felt fantastic & was the skinniest I had remembered being ever. After graduating college I began to work for weight watchers as a leader. I absolutely loved it! It helped to keep me accountable & helping people lose weight & get healthier  made me feel so good! I left my job at weight watchers when Blake & I decided we wanted to get married so I could have time for him but still continued the program.

Over the years my weight would go up & down but the one constant I realized was that the cankles comment was not only unnecessary it set me on a life long  journey of being concerned about my weight & how others viewed me. My weight & physical appearance became my biggest complex I compared myself to others daily & I was very hard on myself.

Before our wedding I decided I wanted to do p90x3 just to say I completed it. I tried so hard to do the nutrition plan but I was just too tempted by sweets so I would always go back to weight watchers. It was the best for me because it allowed you freedom to indulge. I also purchased the 21 day fix extreme program from beach body. I did several rounds of workouts but again failed at the nutrition aspect. I wanted to bad to just eat clean but couldn't so resorted to what worked from me.
Getting married I was in good shape but I was still about 10 pounds away from my goal weight. I had hoped to get to goal weight by the time we got pregnant. I even had started going to my weight watcher meetings the week we arrived home. We found out after my first meeting that we were pregnant. We were overjoyed! But the first thought was my fear of weight gain. The first trimester I felt awful! I was in survival mode, eat to not throw up. Of course it wasn't good food, it was goldfish & crackers & salsa & Mexican food. Each day I watched my weight climb (yes I'm a daily weigher like I tell everyone else not to be) around the 2nd trimester my dr told me to stop weighing at home. The weight gain was literally causing huge crying meltdowns. I didn't feel pregnant I felt fat & the fact that people weren't worried about telling me how big I was getting didn't help. So I only weighed at dr. appointments. After Thanksgiving I remember I gained 9 pounds and was mortified. After that appointment I stopped indulging in foods I didn't even crave & stopped looking at the scale. At my appointments I would step on backward & Blake would tell me if it was good or bad. (Bad being 3-5 pounds). I made the decision as long as I didn't make it past 200 pounds I would just give myself grace. That was easier said than done. As my body swelled my confidence dwindled. My husband was literally my rock letting my cry & just holding me & building me up. I felt strong from my workouts & knew I was supposed to gain weight while pregnant but it was a hard thing to swallow & accept. At my final dr appointment I weight 185 & had gained 45 pounds. Of course you can guess there were TEARS! As I look back now I wish I would have not worried about the weight so much & enjoyed pregnancy more. But at that point I didn't know how I was going to lose it & I felt so uncomfortable in my body. I felt like I was comparing myself to the weight gain of all of my pregnant friends which was so wrong.

While pregnant I would explain that I was going to start back with Beach Body & clean eating. A few people told me the weight would come right off but mostly all I heard was how difficult it was to lose baby weight & how impossible it was to work out. I had been talking to Annie, a beach body coach for a while & decided to take the plunge & sign up as a Beach Body coach. I told her if she didn't hear from me by May to come seeking me out.

So here we are after pregnancy. Left with a pregnant looking body minus a baby & you know what I was still hungry. I was eating just to survive because I was too tired to care. I was still craving things but now it was cheeseburgers & twix candy bars. I could inhale some twix. I knew breastfeeding helped but deep down I was doing more damage but good with my diet. My sisters had said to wait to weigh for a while & I was glad I did. I couldn't take that stress the first few weeks of having a baby. After 4 weeks I decided I couldn't prolong it any longer. I had to step on the scale or I was going to continue to eat into oblivion. 165 was what the scale read. I was down 20 pounds, not too bad. After that I tried to eat right but just struggled. We discovered Mason's acid reflux & my dr told me to refrain from anything that had tomato products in it. We then discovered he had a dairy allergy so I then had to omit all foods containing fresh dairy. Mason was still having a hard time when I would eat foods that contained cooked dairy products so anything containing any trace of dairy, milk, soy or whey protein was omitted from my diet. Needless to say my food was pretty bland. I felt like I was starting to eat healthier so I was going to give the clean eating 21 day fix food plan a shot. My start date was going to be on May 9th. I had full support from Blake which made it so much easier! The day before Blake & I prepared all of our veggies, meats, fruits & healthy snacks and got the packaged up for each day.

So on May 9th I started the 21 Day Fix Extreme program. Now is a good time to mention that I am the type of person that if you tell me something is too hard or I can't do it I am going to do everything in my power to prove that I can. So what was fueling me wasn't just my want to lose baby weight but the drive to prove to everyone that I was strong enough, that I could do it. I wasn't sure how it was going to go but I was ready to give it a shot & I had more motivation than I ever had before. The eating was the part I always struggled with the most but this time I was so surprised that it wasn't a challenge. I think it was the fact that anything I really wanted to cheat with (pizza, ice cream, mexican food, fries with ketchup) I couldn't because it would put Mason in severe pain. The workouts were more of a struggle than the food. Not only was a more out of shape then the last time I started, but working out with a baby is very hard. However, I wasn't going to let it become impossible.  Some days Mason would nap my whole workout, others he would be awake but entertained & others it would take 1-2 hours to complete a 30 minute workout. But I wasn't going to let that stop me. Remember that proving people wrong part? Every time I was tired or it was hard or I stopped to rock Mason I would tell myself prove them wrong!
The first weekend of the program Blake's dad came for a visit. That was hard as they indulged several times in BBQ, desserts, McDonald's breakfasts. But I wasn't going to give in. I felt strong and empowered in my nutrition plan. By the end of week 1 I had lost 5.4 pounds and 7.5 inches.
Week 2 was a little bit of a struggle because we were working late nights to pack up my classroom but I kept pushing through. By the end of week 2 I had lost 7.1 pounds and 15.5 inches.
Week 3 was definitely the hardest. Blake's mom & sister came to visit. There was pizza, cupcakes, southern fried home cooking, candy, chips. I was so tempted the entire weekend. However, this was my last week & I wanted desperately to see results. I was so determined. I wanted to lose 10 pounds by the end of round 1.
At the end of 21 days it was time to take my weight, measurements & after pictures. I didn't reach my 10 pound goal & I was disappointed but had to remind myself not to put too much stock in the scale. At the end of 21 days of clean eating with no cheats I had lost 9 pounds & 20.75 inches. While I was thrilled with the statistics, I was even more excited about my pictures. No, I'm not where I want to be yet, I have a personal goal to lose 25-30 more pounds but I am excited about how far I've come. I'm so thankful for the support of my wonderful husband, I couldn't stay on this clean eating plan without his help prepping and staying on track. I also am so thankful that I found Beach Body & my coach Annie. Her encouragement & the encouragement of our challenge group has been so helpful. I'm excited to be learning under her & can't wait to start challenge groups of my own. If anyone reading this is interested in doing a challenge group with me or starting their own journey feel free to message me.

The left side is on May 9th & the right side in on May 30th

 

Mason's Birth Story Part 3: Mason's 1st Days

Once all of the visitors were gone & I had all of my IV lines removed I could barely keep my eyes open. I know there is all kinds of controversy as to send your baby to the nursery at night, keep the baby in your room at night for bonding. However, I was so exhausted from not sleeping, the exhaustion of labor & the dose of pain medicine they had just given me that I knew I needed to rest & take care of myself in order to be able to take care of Mason. So off to the nursery he went. They brought him in throughout the night to nurse when he needed to be nursed & took him back to the nursery when we finished. Mason's night nurse was amazing while we were there. She had 2 girls of her own & was pregnant with her 3rd she was very helpful to us if we needed help with something & very comforting when we faced a hiccup with Mason in the coming days. However the best thing about her was every time she brought our son in she talked about how much she just loved him & how he loved to be held & her & the nurses were just eating him up. It was so nice to know that he was in the best place while I rested & recovered.
Friday Mason has several family and friends come to visit. So sad we didn't get a picture of everyone who came to visit but here are a few.

He also had his first visit from his pediatrician Dr. Sood. She gave him a quick look over & let us know he looked perfect, but that he was tongue tied so would need to come into the office on Monday to have his tongue clipped. While he had a good latch,  he was having a difficult time staying latched on because he couldn't stick his little tongue out. That day he also had his circumcision. This was a process I knew needed to happen but as a mommy I feared it for him because it just sounded so painful. Luckily they took him to the nursery for that & when they brought him back he was happily still asleep. The nurse said they put some stuff on it to numb it before the process & our little Mason didn't even wake up for his. That made me feel so much better! Later that evening he had to have some routine blood work done mainly to check for jaundice & things like that. We weren't really concerned because his color looked great. Mason's amazing night nurse, Kelsie, was back again & assured us that she felt the same way. It took quite a while so Blake & I decided to get me out of the bed & go for a short walk around the floor. We met Kelsie at the door with Mason & she let us know that she was shocked but that he did have jaundice & would need to be under a bilirubin light that night & have his blood work checked the next morning. Remember in the birth story when I said he wouldn't drop down into the birth canal? He formed a little capet on his head that was where the majority of the jaundice was.

She brought a light in the room & we tried our best to make him happy in there. It seriously broke my heart! As his mom, I felt so guilty, like somehow it was my fault even though I knew that wasn't a rational though. I was teary most of that evening however, I was hopeful that it would just be an overnight thing. Mom had been with us all day & at that point she was heading home for the evening & we were turning into bed so back to the nursery he went. That evening Kelise brought us back Mason when it was time for him to eat & assured us that he wasn't upset being stuck under the light, he actually enjoyed being on his tummy.
Saturday morning we woke up when Mason was brought back into our room & they began shift change. Kelsie let us know that while Mason's jaundice levels had lowered, they still weren't low enough to be discharged. She assured me that I wouldn't have to go home without my baby though so if Dr. Sood didn't release him then I would get to stay with him. She got him set up under the light for us & then it was time for her to go home. After she left my sister Lisa & cousin Katie came for a quick visit. While they were there both Mason & my day nurses came in. Let me just add that up to this point we had the absolute very best experience at our hospital. I couldn't say enough good about every person that took care of us. So back to our nurses entrance. The first thing out of my nurses mouth was "so your going home today" to which I replied "well I'm not sure our pediatrician is coming in later to check on his jaundice levels." She replied with "well he might not be going home today but you are. The insurance doesn't cover another day for you." Mason's nurse then joined in the conversation as to why I would be going home & why we may be leaving him. I'm not sure if they realized that I was a first time mom, or were just insensitive, but 2 people telling an hormonal, emotional, first time mother (not just first time I'm sure any mother) that she is going to have to leave here baby is just awful. The whole conversation was just not a good conversation. I told Mason's nurse we were finishing feeding & then could she please help us get him situated under the lights because he had been in the nursery all night & the nurses had done it. To which she replied, "you just put him under there if you want him on his stomach put him on his stomach." Next I asked my nurse if I could have my pain medicine. Her reply was "why? Take a sitz bath, its better anyway." I was thinking well lets see ma'am I've just had a baby & been stitched up & I'm in pain! I haven't had anything all night long. I was in shock at how insensitive and rude the nurses were. Because of Mason being jaundice & tongue tied he had lost almost 10% of his weight so we were having to supplement feed him along with nursing. While the nurses were talking to Blake & I my sister took Mason to give him some of the supplement he needed. As soon as the nurses walked out the door I took Mason from my sister, sat down on the couch and held my baby & cried harder than I had cried since I can't remember when. All I could think about was this is my baby & I can't leave him, he needs his mom! My sister & cousin left & I asked her to call & let people know we just weren't having any visitors that day. It was too hard. I was exhausted, too emotional, Mason hated being under the lights so once he fell asleep we tried to be so quiet & we weren't allowed to hold him except to feed him every 3 hours. While the whole situation was so sad & we hated telling people to stay away, that time in the hospital where it was just us 3 napping, caring for our son & spending quality time together was my favorite.

That afternoon, the dr. on call at my ob office came in to discharge me & Dr. Sood came to check on Mason. I asked both ladies about the situations that I had encountered that morning & they assured me that I would not leave the hospital without my son. They said if he had to stay then they would find a room where I could stay in as a guest not a patient & he could stay in the room with us. Dr. Sood said that we didn't have to leave the hospital until midnight so we had that long to get his levels under control. Her plan was for us to spend the day there with him under the light & have his blood work checked that evening. She said if it had dropped a little more she would let us take him home & have us come to the hospital to do more blood work to check his levels again. I could tell after both Mason & my dr. left they had stopped by the nurses station because she came in not too long after to see if I was in pain or needed anything at all & when discharged me she made sure I left with a replenished stock of whatever I might need & the kindest advice on going home.

At 7:30 that evening they came & got Mason for his blood work & brought him back. We ate our dinner & anxiously awaited the results. Shortly after they called at let us know we could start packing up to go home. While we were so excited to all be going home together it also was a little scary. These people had been taking amazing care of all 3 of us for the past 72 hours and now we were being sent home to figure it out on our own. At 9:30 that night the 3 of us left the hospital to begin our adventure of a family of 3. 

Side note: The drive home was the slowest we have ever taken. Blake says he was going 5 under the speed limit when I piped up from the backseat & told him he was flying & needed to slow down!

Upcoming blogs: Daddy's first business trip, Aunt Stephanie & Oggie's Visit & Operation Lose Baby Weight

Mason's Birth Story Part 2: Meeting Mason

I took the day of Wednesday so I could get extra rest before we went to the hospital. I was so anxious resting didn't actually take place. I did last minute chores around the house so we came home to a spotless house, repacked our bags, made a last minute trip to Walmart, washed & dried my hair & completed a 500 piece puzzle. They told us before we came to eat a big meal because I couldn't eat in labor. Let me just tell you I was such a nervous wreck I not only had to force feed myself because of nerves but I also sat at the counter just crying because I was so incredibly nervous. Blake of course brought my favorite: corn dogs & onion rings with a cherry slush. He also brought some delightful cinnamon cream cheese filled things from Taco Bell. The man knows the way to my heart!
We took our last pregnancy picture, stood in the living room & hugged for a bit to relish the last time in our home as a family of 2 & darted out the door. I of course grabbed the bag of animal crackers on the way out the door to stuff my face until I stepped into labor and delivery. I mean you cannot tell a pregnant woman who wakes up every night about the chew her arm off that she can't eat for possibly 24-32 hours & expect her to not stuff her face until the last possible moment.

Once we checked in they directed us to the waiting room to wait for our nurse. Everyone there was clearly waiting for a baby to be born because they had minimal items. Blake & I on the other hand traipsed in there with a rolling suitcase each, my purse, his book bag & a pillow for each of us. We looked like the classic Full House episode where Jesse & Becky take their first outing with the twins. Our nurse came & got us shortly & we went & got all checked in.

Once we were settled it was time to get started. I was supposed to take a pill to help efface my cervix but first she had to check me. I had been dilated to a 1 since 36 weeks & had tried every trick in the book to get this boy out but he was still as high up as he could possibly be so I made the joke I was probably at a -1 now. We both about fell over when the nurse said well you're actually in labor now & dilated to a 3. Who knew?! I thought he was pushing against my stomach a lot, surprise those were contractions! My cervix wasn't effaced but the contractions were coming too close together so they had to slow down labor & give me medicine to help get things ready. She turned out the lights, said "get some rest, I'll be back to check on you every hour" &, walked out the door. Let me just say as a pregnant woman being hooked up to every machine under the sun & having to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes because you have fluids running through you doesn't allow for much rest & relaxation. Bless Blake's heart I can't tell you how many times he got up, unplugged everything & got me to the bathroom & then plugged it right back in. Again, the man is a God send! Not once did he complain. In fact, he woke up one time and caught me trying to do it in my own & got on to me for not waking him up to help.
At 1am they came in & started pitocin. I was ready. I heard there was no greater pain than contractions with pitocin. I was shocked when still I felt nothing except for the overwhelming need to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes. It's safe to say, I didn't sleep a wink that night. At 1am they also started penicillin because I had tested positive for Group Strep B. No biggie, just another IV bag. Approximately 15 minutes after she left I got the overwhelming feeling of choking & not being able to breath. We called the nurse in there I drank water & it slowly went away. The nurse was in & out every hour checking on things. The next time she changed my IV bags & left it started again, the overwhelming choking, inability to breath. This time I could feel my airway starting to close. We were so scared. Blake called & frantically said my wife's having trouble breathing & not 2 seconds later a whole slew of people came rushing through the door. After some discussion we realized I was allergic to the penicillin. Once they rushed some medicine & flushed the IV we were back to smooth sailing.
Dr. Tran came in at 8:00 Thursday morning to check on things. I was still dilated to a 3. Surprise! I swear that boy wanted to live in me. She broke my water (OUCH!!!) Then told me how the day would go. I made the comment of "oh well I've been having contractions all night & haven't really felt them." I stupidly was thinking man I might be able to handle labor, maybe I'm just someone who won't feel them. Boy was I naive!!! She told me it should pick up & said we needed to have some pain to get things moving but I could ask for an epidural any time after that. Remember that part now where I acted like labor was going to be easy & possibly little pain? I was about to be humbled. Seriously not 5 minutes after she left I was like yeah ok this hurts pretty bad. 10 minutes later I was asking the nurse is it too soon to get an epidural? 15 minutes later was yep, I'm going to need you to call them now!!! In those 45 minutes while I waited for my epidural I gained a whole new respect for every woman who has ever had natural labor, namely my mother who gave birth 5 times naturally. The anesthesiologist came in & said how are we doing? Seriously, how am I doing?! That is the last thing you as a pregnant woman in active labor who just called you to remove any feeling she could possibly have in her lower body. I refrained for saying what I thought which was: Well sir honestly not great, I'm in an immense amount of pain & I'm pretty sure my husband has lost the ability to feel in his had but it doing a fabulous job not letting me know that. Instead I went with "I've been better." He got me all set up & ready for the epidural & waited for a contraction. I sat there in pain & completely terrified because to me this was the scariest part of labor & delivery. I hate needles so much I can't even have blood work done & keep my composure like one would expect an adult to. It was surprisingly painless & within 15 minutes his "how are you doing now?" was met with a smile and a "wonderful, thank you!" Everyone left & I passed out finally getting a little sleep. My family came in & out throughout the day & my labor progressed very quickly! I went from 3 to 5 to 8, 9 & by 3:00ish I was at a 10. The only problem....my son refused to drop into the birth canal, I tell you he would have stayed in there forever had I allowed it. We spent the next 2 hours trying every which way possible to get his head to drop but it never did. (Not kidding he wanted to live in there!)
Now is a good time to say, before we went in I told my mom I just wanted it to be Blake & I in the delivery room but to be on standby if I needed her. So about 4:30pm my nurse came in and checked to see if his head had dropped. It still hadn't but she said she could see his head & he had dark hair. Previous to this, every time that we discussed labor Blake said I'm staying by your head the whole time! However, the second the nurse said she could see his head & he had dark hair Blake couldn't wait to get a first glimpse of the son we had been dying to meet for 9 months. She said we were still going to give him a little more time to drop down on his own before we called the dr. but we were going to try some practice pushes. We got all set up and the second I laid back an extreme wave of nausea & dizziness hit along with a surge of fear & emotions. I burst into tears, looked at Blake & said "I need my mom in here please!!!" When she got there you can imagine the mess she walked into of "I can't do this! I'm too scared!" She was very calming & comforting & we made it through the practice pushes. Dr. Tran wasn't in there yet so I got comfortable & they gave me some medicine for nausea. My sister Amy had come in to check on everything & she & my mom left to give us some last minutes as a family of 2.
About 5:20pm Dr. Tran arrived & it was time for us to push. By that time the nausea medicine had kicked in & I had my emotions under control. After the practice pushes I felt confident that I would be able to do it with just Blake and I. We began pushing at about 5:25. The majority of the time pushing was spent getting his head to drop down, stubborn little man seriously tried to stay in there with every thing he had. The atmosphere was completely relaxed & wonderful. We just love our dr. & our nurse had been absolutely fantastic all day so the 3 of them cheered me through each push. At one point we realized Blake wasn't just cheering he was actually holding his breath & taking deep breaths in between pushes with me. We all 4 got a good laugh about that in between contractions. About 5:40 Dr. Tran said we were going to stop for a minute and several other people were going to come in, I wasn't really sure what was going to happen. She said that they could all be in there for a while but not to worry labor could sometimes take up to 2 hours. At that moment I thought, 2 more hours are you kidding?! Another contraction came & I began to push. I pushed 2 times & looked at Blake's face & saw his eyes completely light up & heard my Dr. say look at your baby mom! I was in shock! 2 thoughts went through my head immediately. First of all wasn't that going to take 2 hours not 2 pushes I wasn't prepared for it to be so fast?!" (again I'm accrediting this to my working out people told me to do) Second of all "that is my sweet baby boy! The baby I have dreamed & longed for all of my life. I can't believe he is here!" At exactly 5:45pm on Thursday, March 24th our perfect, sweet, beautiful Mason Porter Brown entered the world weighing 8lbs 4oz & measuring 20 1/4 inches long. He was absolutely perfect. He was laid directly on my chest for quite a while and we bonded (read I cried) for the first time as a family of 3.

After quite some time they did all the weights, measurements, etc. then handed me back our baby. They all gave us their congratulations & good jobs & told us we would have golden hour for the next hour with just us 3 & they all left. So there we were, Blake, Mason & myself together by ourselves for the first time. It took about 2 minutes before panic set in & we realized what in the heck do they think they are doing?! Do they realize we don't have a clue what we are doing here?! Also, this child is trying to latch on to me & I haven't the slightest clue what to do here!! Luckily my amazing nurse came in and was very helpful getting us set up & we spent the next 2 golden hours nursing our baby boy & getting him all cleaned up and acclimated to the new world.

Once we were all comfy the visitors began coming. At this point it was a whirl wind for me. The adrenaline was wearing off & so was the epidural the feeling of pain, extreme hunger & extreme exhaustion were starting to hit. However, we were so grateful for the friends & family who came to not only visit us that night but waited through the labor & delivery & 2 golden hours to meet our precious baby boy. I have to say thanks to my amazing husband, dr. & nurses, labor and delivery was hands down my very favorite part of the whole pregnancy, not just because we met our son but because those people made it the best possible experience I could have ever imagined! Stayed tuned tomorrow as we wrap up: Mason's Birth Story Part 3: The first few days 

Mason's Birth Story Part 1: Pregnancy

I wanted to document the details of Mason's birth story while its fresh on my mind so I would always remember it.
Shortly after Blake & I got engaged we started talking about when we wanted to start a family. Both of us knew that we didn't want to wait long, I wanted 3 kids & he wanted 2 & we wanted a little time in between them. Years ago I had a seizure in my classroom, nobody knows what caused it or why it happened but it was followed by a series of abnormal EEGs. I had been so 3 neurologists, did ultiple tests & they all had the same abnormal scans so to be safe I was diagnosed me with epilepsy & took medicine daily for seizures. I knew the medicine I was taking was not safe for pregnancy & luckily had finally found a neurologist that I absolutely loved! He agreed the medicine would not be safe while pregnant so ordered another EEG to see if it came back abnormal. In May before our wedding I went in and had my EEG & was so blessed to finally have a normal EEG!! We made the decision I could stop my medicine & start to live life normal again. After the results we decided that after we got married we would start trying just see what happened, knowing it could take a while.
About a week after our honeymoon I decided to take a pregnancy test because I wasn't feeling well. It was 3 days before I was supposed to & in the afternoon. It was negative but my sister encouraged me to wait 3 more days & take another one. So on the morning of July 15th Blake went off to work & I woke up & went to take the test. I left it on the bathroom floor & walked off. Some ridiculous part of me thought if I sat & watched it would be negative. I came back 3 minutes later & it was positive!! I immediately called Blake & told him & he turned right back around. (No I couldn't wait to do a special surprise I had to tell someone right then!)5 pregnancy tests later (because I just knew the first 4 couldn't be right) we made our first dr. appointment. We had a blast telling friends & family!

Let's just start out be saying I was not the best pregnant person in the world. I envisioned pregnancy as the best feeling in the world! I thought I would just feel fantastic & full of energy. I thought I would continue working out every day & stay in great shape & love my ever expanding belly because that's the only thing that expands in pregnancy. I thought pregnant women were just adorable. What I didn't envision was gaining weight in every part of my body, namely my hips & thighs, heartburn like you wouldn't believe, acid reflux that would wake me up vomiting, my face getting swollen, aversions to literally every food I once liked, lack of sleep & a baby's foot crammed so high into the right side of my ribs that my ribs were painfully bruised. Please don't take this as I wasn't grateful for my pregnancy. My biggest fear in life was that I wouldn't be able to fulfill my biggest dream in life of being a mom. You see while I was incredibly grateful God had given me the dream I always dreamed of.....it was different then I imagined!
Because we found out at 3 weeks it felt like the first trimester literally drug on. I was a nervous wreck fearing miscarriage at any symptom I felt. I was also incredibly nauseous. I threw up a few times but mostly my days were just spent laying out the couch wishing I could throw up so the feeling of nausea would go away. Smells made me so sick & I had an aversion to every food I once liked. I craved pickles from Goldie's like crazy & my sisters special homemade salsa! Really mexican was a constant for my pregnancy because it was the only thing that didn't make me sick.
The second trimester was much better!! I got energy back & began working out again. Acid reflux began but it was manageable. Our dr. appointment days were my favorite because we got to see how much our precious miracle had grown. I just knew that you were a boy from the moment I took the pregnancy test so at our gender reveal party I wasn't shocked when blue confetti flew out. I just knew with every fiber of my being you were a boy! Daddy was thrilled & while I was excited I will be honest & say I was terrified! I had no experience with boys. I have 4 nieces that I've spent my life around the last 6 years. However within weeks of finding out you were a boy I couldn't imagine you being a girl. I found I had quite an aversion to sweets I always loved like cupcakes, cake of any kind really, chocolate, etc. I craved raisin bran crunch.

The third trimester was where the struggles really began for me. I still continued to work out, it was my goal to complete p90x3 and 21 day fix while pregnant so I pushed through. People told me that labor & delivery would be easier if I worked out & it made me feel amazing & strong! I will say I've heard people saying they couldn't do things pregnant but I never experienced that. I was able to put on shoes, lift up the couch to vacuum & carry on life as normal, just with a bigger belly. I attribute it to continued workouts. That was about the best part of the trimester. Acid reflux began to be so bad if I ate after 5:30pm I would wake up throwing up from heartburn. Mason's foot became lodged into my rib cage on the right side. There was a constant numbing pain from where his foot had bruised my ribs. My emotions were real! I found myself crying every day about mostly about weight & stretch marks. I'll be real I got them on my inner thighs. I was prepared to be ashamed of them & keep the fact that I got them when others hadn't a secret. But you know what, that's real life & I'm not going to be ashamed because my body carried a person for 9 months. It's allowed to have a few reminders of that. Food aversions became extreme this trimester. We could have a meal plan but often when dinner time came the thought made me my stomach turn. I ate lots of eggs and bacon this trimester. I also craved spicy boiled peanuts & sonic corn dogs. I developed an aversion to my favorite food, spaghetti. My craving for raisin bran crunch was still strong but it gave me the worst acid reflux so it had to be really worth it for me to eat it. We finished the nursery & had your baby showers.

I will admit, I LOVED the way my pregnant belly looked, I loved feeling him move around, I loved the things just he & I shared like the movement because he would freeze move if anyone touched my belly. I loved the quiet moments where it was just me & him & I made him the promises to be the best mom & shared with him the dreams I had for him. I did love a lot about pregnancy. However, I was hungry, tired of aversions & acid reflux, uncomfortable, emotional & done being pregnant.

With all that being said when the Dr. brought up induction I was like yes please! Where do I sign up?! I didn't care about everyone saying oh just let him come when he is ready, can you wait until the day I picked in the baby pool, oh I want an Easter baby, oh I want an April Fools baby! You know what kind of baby I wanted? One that was OUT! I wanted to be comfortable again, enjoy food again, remove his foot from my ribs, not cry about how swollen every part of my body was or about not knowing what to eat, not be so emotional. I wanted my poor husband to be comfortable again & stop having to sleep in pants, sweatshirts (with the hood on) & multiple quilts just to stay warm in our 65 degree house with the windows open to add even more cool air. God Bless him he is a good man, which you know if you just read all he put up with during my pregnancy without so much as a single complaint. I told you I was just not a good pregnant person! So our bags were packed & the induction date was set. Operation evict Mason would begin at 7:30pm on March 23rd. We were excited, but we were also terrified! We couldn't even begin to fathom just how much our lives were about to change. Tune in tomorrow to read Part 2: Meeting Mason