Russell's Debut

Warning: Birth Story AHEAD! Continue at your own risk. Also, I'm a bit sleep deprived so excuse the rambling, grammatical errors, etc.

Due Date: 10/13/2013
Birth Date: 10/9/2013

Tuesday, October 8, 2013, I had my last doctor's appointment before this little man made his way into this world. I got up at 5:45am, got ready and packed the car. For the last couple of days, I made sure to have our hospital bags in the car, just in case I went into labor. I had been having weird pains, but nothing that I associated with labor pains. Any cramping or contracting was never consistent so I didn't really worry about it. We live about 45 min (with no traffic) from the hospital I was delivering at so I wanted to be as prepared as possible. With Wesley, I was induced on my due date so I wasn't sure how this one would go. Anyway, by 6:30am Wesley and I were on the road to SA. I dropped him at my parents' house and went to my appt.

My awesome dr (Dr. Satterfield) checked me and I was at 4cm. The week before I was at 1cm so this was good news to me! We scheduled for me to be induced on Monday, October 14th, but she was fairly confident I would go into labor before then. She actually said, "I'm giving you 48hrs. This baby will come within 48hrs."

Well she was right. What she should have said was "You will go into labor within 4-8 hours." Because that's practically what happened. I spent the rest of the afternoon at my parents' house doing homework while Wesley napped. I felt crampy, crappy and uncomfortable all afternoon, but this seemed normal to me. I'd been feeling cramps after the last few appts when she checked my cervix. It was normal to feel that way for a few hours after so I just dealt with the discomfort. By 4:15pm I was back on the road to New Braunfels. I had this distinct thought enter my mind: "We should stay the night in San Antonio, just in case." But I ignored the thought and pressed on. Travis called me when I was about 10 minutes away from home and we agreed I should pick up tacos for dinner. Tuesday nights are really busy for us. Travis has scouts' at 7pm and I have a class I attend virtually at 9pm. The thought of making dinner was exhausting so I went through a drive-thru and was home by 5:25pm.

Around 5:30pm, I stood up from my seat to get a drink and I felt a gush. I paused and looked at Travis. He asked what was wrong and I said the classic, "I either just peed in my pants or my water broke." I was confused because it wasn't a huge gush. I went to the bathroom and with each step I took, a little more came. I tried calling my mom but got no answer. This all happened within 5 min because at 5:35pm there was a knock on the door. For some reason, I ran to see who it was and found 2 missionaries standing on our doorstep.

Please remember, panic had already begun to set in and I was very scatterbrained at the moment. I invited the missionaries inside. I then went to our bedroom and tried calling my mom again, but her phone was on silent, in her purse and away from her. So I called my MIL. She told me to head to the hospital. By the time I walked out, the missionaries were gone. Travis politely told them, "my wife's water just broke so we gotta go" and they dropped off an invitation to a baptism and left. Haha. I love the missionaries.

I was still very scatterbrained, couldn't figure out where my bag was, my shoes..... anything. Somewhere along the line I grabbed a towel to sit on and Travis told me to just go sit in the car and he would get Wesley and everything else. What took maybe 2 minutes felt like a lifetime with me waiting in the car. Travis came out with a thousand things in his arms, including Wesley, and I did my best to not panic and burst into tears and freak Wesley out. Before we left the driveway, Travis started putting hair product in his hair. I started laughing and asked, "what are you doing??!" He said he was getting prepared for pictures. We were having a baby, so there was going to be pictures taken. Duh!

I couldn't help but laugh and that helped me calm down a bit. The majority of my nerves involved the anxiety of MAKING it to the hospital in time. Remember, we live 45 min away with NO traffic. This was 5:45 when we were entering major traffic. However, the Lord blessed us immensely and we made to the hospital in 40 min. My mom met us there shortly after we got there and took Wesley. She was very prepared. She took Wesley to dinner and had new trucks for him to play with. She also supplied his current obsession, endless amounts of Bubble Guppies. Whatever keeps 'em happy, right?

Just after my mom got to the hospital, they sent me back to be examined. They needed to make sure I was actually in labor I guess. Then they let Travis come back and I immediately started crying. I guess my adrenaline slowed down while I was waiting in the exam room but my hormones were still raging. I was crying because I didn't say goodbye to Wesley. Travis reassured my crazy hormone-raging-self that Wesley was fine. Within a few minutes they whisked us away to a delivery room. I guess I'll throw in my IV experience. With Wesley's birth, I threw up when they gave me the IV. With Russell's birth, I almost threw up... and passed out but I was able to keep it together thanks to a cold wash cloth. Haha.

I'm not sure what time we were actually brought into the delivery room, but I delivered Russell about 9hrs after arriving. I got some meds in my IV, then the epidural. I slept for about an hour and a half and then pushed for a little less than 30 minutes and he was here! He was born at 2:59am, weighing 8lbs 5oz and measuring 20.25inches long. He has dark hair that will hopefully stick around. We still aren't sure if he'll look more like me or if he'll be a darker version of Wesley (which would be a darker version of Travis). I'm kinda hoping the later because they're just sooooo handsome :)

As they were cleaning him up, I thought (and maybe said out loud), "Did we seriously just have a baby? Can you believe we just had another baby?!" The entire labor experience was surreal and wonderful. And it's continued to be. Sure there's been ups and downs with the whole breastfeeding thing, dealing with a baby who spits up (Wesley rarely did), dealing with a circumcision, etc. But everything has been pretty smooth. Russell is a wonderful baby. He's soooo cuddly and his hair is so soft. He makes the cutest frowns. He sleeps well, eats constantly and we just love him so much.

Wesley is coming around, slowly. Today he's patted Russell on the head a few times, gotten in his face a bunch, "tried" to be sweet, and given him a kiss or two. He's done a few sweet things like that each day since we brought him home, but he's had a bit of a hard time adjusting to sharing the spotlight. His birthday is coming up in a couple weeks so I'm hoping that'll help him feel loved and adored :) Travis has been awesome about taking him out for one-on-one time and my parents have been great with all of their help with Wesley and Russell. We have awesome parents. I can't say that enough. Travis' parents came by Wednesday to see us at the hospital and all I wanted was something like a donut to eat. Well, here comes Mimi walking in with a dozen Krispy Kreme. She also brought pretty flowers and presents for Wesley. I'm telling you, our parents rock. 

Because we delivered in the middle of the night, they made us stay 48 hrs from the day we actually delivered. Not the day we came into the hospital. So it felt like I was in there forever but we finally got to come home Friday afternoon.

We're doing great! Tired, dirty and hungry describe our constant state, but we are loving every minute of it. Thanks for all of the prayers, warm wishes and visits. We are truly blessed and we feel so grateful for this time in our lives.

Family of 4. Wow. That happened fast. And I'm loving it. Pictures to come. Hopefully I'll get some newborn pictures done...while he's still a newborn :)