Mason's Birth Story

My poor blog has been very much neglected, but I assure you, it was for good reason. Mason Michael was born March 24, at 11:23 PM. Life has been just a little crazy, so my poor blog took a backseat. But... I'm back!! :)

In a previous entry, I mentioned there were a couple of exciting opportunities in the works for my family. One of those opportunities was that I was asked to write a monthly article for a new magazine being published in the Springfield area. My article was a mothers perspective article, titled... The Mommy Journey. I say was, because unfortunately, the magazine is no longer being published. One of the articles I wrote was Mason's birth story. I thought I would share it on here also. Enjoy! :)
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On Monday, March 21 I had my final doctor’s appointment. After an ultrasound to check Mason's progress and talking with our doctor, we decided that if Mason did not make his arrival on his due date, March 22, then I would be induced on the 24^th.

The 22^nd came and went without any sign of our little man making an appearance. My husband decided to take the next day off before my induction and told me not to make any plans. Little did I know that he had planned an entire days worth of activities for us to do. Our “Date Day,” which we called it, started off with breakfast at our favorite place, Gailey’s. When we finished eating we did a little shopping down town, where Matt bought me a very cute dress from 5# Apparel. From there we did some arts and crafts at Firehouse Pottery, went for a walk, ate a very snazzy lunch, caught an afternoon matinee, and wrapped up the day eating pizza at home, catching up on some television.

At the time we really hadn’t thought about it, but that would be the last night of just the two of us. The next morning we made our way to the hospital, bright and early at 5AM. On the drive there, everything seemed so unreal. We knew that when we returned home again we would be a family of 3, but it didn’t seem like it was actually finally happening.

Walking in the hospital with our overnight bag and my nine month pregnant belly was like holding a bright neon sign that said “Show Me to Labor and Delivery.” We made it to our room and got settled in. After hearing horror stories of epidurals sometimes taking five plus hours to arrive, I made sure to request mine as soon as I changed into my gown. I must say getting my IV hurt worse than the epidural did! After both legs seemed numb and I was sure the drug was working, I made my husband promise me one thing... not to tell me about the contractions on the monitor. I did not want to know!

The hours passed and the visitors started to come. The nurse said I was progressing fast and she seemed to think that before she went home at 7:00 pm, that baby Mason would be here. Little did she know. In between the hours of 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm I moved from a 4-6 cm dilated. By 6:00 pm I was all the way up to a 9. All Matt and I could think was that Mason was coming soon, and we were ready! By this point, I was tired, hungry, and emotionally spent. When 7:00 came and went my first nurse went home and the second nurse came on shift. To be honest, I was a little sad. I grew fond of my first nurse. She cared for me, talked to me, and had a very compassionate attitude.

We continued to wait for Mason to come. Every hour they came and checked on me. At 7:00pm I was still at a 9. 8:00pm a 9. 10:00pm a 9. I couldn’t help but think... Is this ever going to end!? Then I felt it. I knew it was time. My husband looked at the monitor and noticed the contractions were coming fast. We called for a nurse, and she quickly came in. After a quick check all she said was “It's time to push!” When she said push, it was like I had the biggest rush of energy. I pushed for a little over an hour. Strangely, I never felt tired. I never felt weak. I felt empowered. At 11:23 pm, Mason was born. He had the sweetest cry a mother could ask for. He was beautiful and a gift from God. To be honest, I didn’t even count his fingers or toes, because all I cared was that he was here. The nurses checked him over and finally I got to hold him. He was 7 lbs 2 oz of pure love.