Mason Spencer's Arrival

Well it all started Wednesday at my 40 week check up... 

Once we found out how big Mason probably already was my doctor started pushing the idea of a c-section, his reasoning - you won't be able to push that baby out. I basically told him there was no way I was having a baby that big, just going by the other kids' birth sizes and mine and John's it just wasn't possible. Yes, I would agree that Mason would probably be a bit bigger than the others, but not THAT MUCH bigger. I mean just going by John and I it wasn't possible, I'm 4' 11" and a bit over 100 pounds and John is 5' 8" and 140. A baby measuring close to 7 pounds at 36ish weeks has to be just a misreading of the ultrasound.

Back to my last check up... I talked the doctor out of c-section for the beginning of the next week. We came to the agreement that we would try an induction on Friday, the 23rd, and if he was unhappy with the amount of progress I wouldn't argue over switching to a c-section. To me this was a huge win because I just couldn't bring myself to just setting out to birth with the plan of it being a c-section.

Thursday was a whirl wind of doing last minute baby prep. I didn't do a lot, but I delegated a lot. John went ahead and took the time off work and my family all came to help. After taking Bella in to the doctor's and picking up a few last minute things needed from the store I felt horrible. My stomach had gotten so big that the skin and muscle always hurt, and even the slightest bump to it felt like someone was stabbing me. I wasn't having any contractions or even Braxton Hicks, I just felt bad. Not to mention how horribly swollen my feet, hands, and ankles were. I decided since everyone else was at the house helping - including my older brother who would be sleeping over to take the boys to school the next day (we'd have to leave by 4:30 am for the induction) - that the least I could do was make something easy for dinner for everyone. It was great having everyone over and as long as I was sitting I enjoyed it too. It kept me from freaking out over how it would all go the next day. I went to bed praying that I'd already made some progress on my own in hopes that the induction would work.

At 10:30 I felt this weird thing. It wasn't a pop like when my water broke with Bella. It felt more like a kick - but not a kick. I had to go to the bathroom anyway so I figured I'd just get up and go and see if anything happened. Well it did. I stood up and this steady stream of liquid just started coming out. Once it slowed I sort of hobbled to the bathroom and made it there just in time for a bigger gush and some bleeding. My water broke. My water broke a lot. From that point on I leaked and gushed almost the whole entire time until Mason got stuck in the birth canal. It was gross. I was so wet from it by the time we arrived at the hospital I almost refused to go in it was so embarrassing. John and my grandmother had to force me into a wheelchair to get me in. However... like everyone pregnant in the area had apparently gone into labor also so we had to wait.

All it took was one big gush of water on the emergency room's floor and, voila!, there is suddenly room for me in Labor and Delivery. lol At some point on the way to the hospital my contractions finally started, but they wouldn't stay regular, and each time I had one it would cause even more water to gush out. I was a right mess by the time I got into a room, plus having another contraction, so it took two nurses to help me undress, put on the gown, and get into the bed. I was so happy when they checked me and said that I was dilated 1 cm and had already started to efface. It wasn't as much progress as I was hoping for, but it was some. When my doctor called the hospital to say I was on my way he told them to go ahead and proceed with the induction as well, I think he figured I'd need all the help I could get, so I was immediately offered pain medicines and hooked up to IVs. 

Once the pain medicines were started things got kind of foggy until around 4 am. I woke up at 4 freezing, shaking, out of it and feeling like I was about to throw up. Turned out my blood pressure dropped from 120/88 to 80/50 something. The epidural amount plus all the fluids I was losing had caused my blood pressure to crash. So the epidural was cut down, and they tripled the amount of fluids going into me. My blood pressure started correcting almost immediately, however by about 5:30 we realized the epidural might still might be too much because I couldn't feel anything in my stomach or legs at all. If it wasn't for Mason's heartbeat increasing and getting louder with each contraction I never would have known when I was having one, I couldn't even feel his movements. 

At 6 the nurse came in and put me on oxygen. When I asked her why she said that Mason seemed to be going a little into distress and they needed to get more oxygen to him. I asked her about checking my progress, because the last time they had was around 4 when I woke up and I was only at 3. She said sure, but that my doctor had arrived and was getting ready to come see if I'd made enough progress to continue the induction or to see about preparing for a c-section. She said with mine and Mason's overall health he was really leaning to just doing a c-section. Then she goes to check me and only got as far as lifting the blanket. Mason was crowning... her reaction "Oh my God, that is his head. I'm going to get your doctor now, we're having baby."

If before sucked this part was actually even worse. 

I couldn't really push, or at least not enough to do any good. I got as much as his head out and then nothing. I couldn't get the rest of him out, not even with the doctor trying to guide him as well. We ended up having to have two nurses pushing on my stomach, another using a vacuum, and in the end the doctor still had to reach in, grab Mason by the shoulder and pull while all of us also pushed. They finally had him out, but things were just starting.

Mason wasn't breathing. They placed him on me, told me to rub his chest, then they got busy trying to get him breathing. After a minute that took forever they got him to take a few breaths, but it was a rough few minutes to keep him breathing. Those moments of holding him, and feeling his little heart beat, but not feeling his chest rise and fall for breathing was terrifying. I think by the time they got him going enough to do his measurements we were all still in so much shock that none of us really noticed when the nurse said how big he was. At least not until the doctor said "Wait, how much did you say he is?!"

We got to hold him for about an hour and then we had to hand him over to NICU because his breathing was messing up every so often again. But I had him back by noonish and he's been perfect since.

Mason Spencer - 3/23/12 @ 6:39 am, 9 lbs 12 oz, 21 inches