Our Newest Arrival

Dawson Danny Allen

03-09-13

3:26 am

9 lbs 2 oz

21.5 inches

One week before March 9th

I am already very aware that this will be my largest baby.

I have been extremely uncomfortable and in pain for a couple  months now.

And my belly is MUCH larger than it ever was with any other baby. 

3 days before March 9th

It's a Wednesday.

All 3 previous babies were born on Wednesdays....this was Dawson's last chance to opt out of being the black sheep....instead, he opted in

Saturday, March 9th, I woke up around 1:15 am with a pretty hard contraction.

I had been having contractions for several weeks. All fairly mild and very inconsistent.

I had another hard contraction 10 minutes later.

I got into the tub to try to relax.

Big mistake.

We should have gone straight to the hospital.

By 2:00 my contractions were every 3 minutes. 

I called my friend who came over to stay with the kids.

Good thing we did not have to get them out of bed and take them somewhere.

We wouldn't have made it to the hospital, I'm afraid.

Gary drove fast....but not fast enough for me!

By time we got to the hospital and up to the labor and delivery wing it was about 2:45

They asked me to pee in a cup.

I tried for about 10 minutes and cried in the bathroom, by myself, through contractions that were coming every minute or so.

Finally, I yelled, "I CAN'T PEE!!" And came out of the bathroom...mad. I was in SO much pain.

Before all else, the good nurse decided to check me.

She could not tell how dilated I was because the water sac was in the way. She got another nurse to help. 

The nurse said, "We're at a 9 plus! Call the doctor!!"

They asked if I wanted an epidural. I'm sure it was because I could not stop yelling that I was in pain. I kept asking them all to "PLEASE HELP ME!!"

In came the anesthesiologist.

Bless him!!

I told him that I always have an allergic reaction to the tape they use. It's never fun to be recovering from childbirth and have a back that itches like crazy that you can't reach. He asked if I knew what the tape looked like. I REALLY wanted to yell, "IT'S ON MY BACK! How would I know what it looks like?!?!" Instead, I simply yelled, "NO!" He said he would use as little tape as possible.

He had me sit on the side on the bed and curl my back "like a cat! a cat!!" and hold really still! I imagined he could see the pain I was in and that he would work his magic at lightening speed. Instead I sat...and sat...and yelled a lot! I was squeezing Gary's hand and one of the nurse's hands. I didn't realize I was squeezing so hard until I looked down at my hand and my thumb was purple from Gary squeezing me back. I informed him of the situation. He let go. And I squeezed his arm super hard instead :) At one point I recall yelling, "What's taking so long?!" One can only "curl like a cat" on the edge of a bed for so long when about to give birth! He said he was working as fast as he could. I told him to go faster!

And, finally, some time around 3:10 or 3:15 the sweet relief of numbness came! (I think everyone in the room was relieved)

I wasn't really completely aware of everything that was going on, but at some point I do recall hearing someone say "She's GBS positive." I had no clue what that meant. Nor did I really care at that point. However, my hand started hurting and it wasn't until then that I realized they had even put an IV in my hand. I asked about the burning in my hand and arm. They said it was from the penicillin, which I actually didn't even need, because at this point the doctor was in and it was time to have a baby!

The doctor broke my water, said it was pretty much the only thing keeping that baby in, and told Gary that if my water had broke before we got to the hospital then Gary would have been the one delivering this baby! I think Gary said a silent prayer of thanks at that moment!

They put this oxygen mask on me. I'm not sure why, but there definitely was NO time for asking questions!

After less than 5 minutes of pushing (I pushed through 2 contractions that were only 1-2 minutes apart)

our little man arrived!

And then we learned that he was not so little, after all!

But still the dang cutest thing ever!!

AND...he has LOTS of DARK hair!!

Are you sure this dark haired chubby baby is mine?

Yep, he's one of ours! Even through his chubbiness he looks like his siblings.

All smiles already

Oh, I could eat him up!!

His eyes seem to be too chunky to open

OH. MY. CUTENESS!

One proud papa!

matching hair :)

kisses

So, since I was GBS (Group B Strep) positive, they told us they would need to keep a close watch on Dawson. Especially because I should have been on antibiotics for 4 hours prior to his birth. We're lucky if we got in 4 minutes. Well, in the middle of the night Saturday he got a fever, so they immediately put him on antibiotics and took him to the TLC nursery (it's a nursery that's between the well-baby nursery and the NICU) 

Here he is sporting his IV hand

This little man is a champion eater!

He eats every 2-2 1/2 hours and after I nurse him we give him a bottle of formula and he usually drinks 1-2 ounces of that! He was so fussy and acting hungry ALL the time so the nurse recommended we supplement. Feeding every 2-21/2 hours is better than constantly.

 cute face fat rolls :)

He can open them!

one of the very few times this little man decided to show his eyes

in LOVE!!

I have been officially discharged from the hospital, but Dawson has to stay an extra day because of being on the antibiotics. They are letting me board here until tomorrow, when we can hopefully all go home! The other 3 kids are anxious to get us home. Since it's RSV season they are not allowed to come and visit...and they are just dying to hold their baby brother!! 

And who can blame them?