Tilson Glen Mack is Born!! (The Whole Story)

Pregnancy

A few days before I delivered Tilson me and Liz and our sister-in-law Ariel were discussing the discomforts of pregnancy. Liz mentioned that she thought that her first pregnancy was by far the easiest. She wondered if maybe pregnancy pains became worse or more noticeable with each pregnancy. And although I am a little weird and actually think it is fun to be pregnant once you get past the 13th week or so, I won't say that there are no discomforts involved. That would be silly. But I'll tell ya . . . if there has ever been a pregnancy that was "easy" for me, it would have to be this one. I pretty much felt superb throughout the entire pregnancy.

I had a goal this time around to keep running until the very end. I decided that I wanted to be able to run two miles a few times a week until I delivered no matter how slow that two miles ended up being. And I did it. I ran two miles the night before I went into labor. And although it was pretty slow . . . I still finished the two miles in 23 minutes which for 9 months pregnant isn't too shabby I think. I can't say for sure, but I think that the running might be the real reason I didn't have as many pregnancy discomforts as with the rest of the kids. I honestly felt like if I went two weeks over my due date, I would have been totally fine. And for anyone who has been pregnant . . . that is pretty much weird. The last month is the worst. So I plan on running throughout the rest of my pregnancies if I'm able.

Labor
The pregnancy wasn't the only easy part though. The labor went pretty easy too! On my Tuesday appointment my doctor suggested that if I didn't go into labor on my own that I come in before the week was through and they would break my water in order to start labor. He said that with VBAC's they don't really like to have you go over your due date if they can help it. So we scheduled for me to have my water broken on Friday the 4th, but I wanted soooo badly to go into labor on my own. I just think that going into labor is one of the most exciting things ever. I didn't get to go into labor spontaneously with Ada since she was breech and was taken by c-section, so I was really anxious to be able to have that experience again with this baby. And luckily enough I was able to.

On Wednesday morning around 8 I had a "real" contraction! Wahoo! And ouch. I was excited. I was like "Lamon, I just had a real contraction!" He was on his way to take Drew to school and by the time he got back I had had 2 more. "This might be it honey. I will keep you posted." So then Lamon went off to work. I got a little notebook out and started timing the contractions which were coming about 13 minutes apart. I had Liz come over just in case I needed to go to the hospital. In between each c0ntraction I packed mine and the kids bags, did some laundry, straightened my hair, did my makeup, played with the kids . . . and when I would have a contraction I would stop and breathe through it and then saying something like,"yep, that hurt" and then I would write it down. They started getting closer (about 7 min)and I told Liz that we should get the car seats in the car. I didn't want to get to the hospital dialated to an 8+ and irritated with anyone who attempted to talk to me like I did with Hayden. I wanted to get there early while I was still pleasant. And since my doctors pretty much required me to have an epidural (I asked them if I could have it placed but not have the drugs put in it and they politely said "no way" they want their VBACS drugged) I decided I may as well get there early and enjoy it! I was hoping to go natural purely out of curiosity and the fact that I just think I could do it. But hey if I had to have one, I wanted to enjoy it as long as possible. So we loaded the kids and headed down. Liz was like, "Mary . . . you don't look like I do when I am in labor. You are way to calm." And I told her that I was sure I was in the beginning stages of labor, but would probably get there and be to like a 4 and then they would monitor me for about an hour or so to make sure that I was in fact in labor and then admit me. Then a little while later I would get an epidural etc etc. That seems to be the protocal. So I wrote down the last contraction noted on my notebook when I got to the hospital. My notebook looks like this:

8:34

8:47

8:55

9:10

9:23

9:32

9:44

9:58

1o:15

10:25

10:32

10:44

10:49

10:57

11:05

11:12

11:19

11:27

11:33

And then Lamon and I walked into the labor and delivery with me not looking like a typical laboring woman. They took me to a room and the nurse had me undress and put a gown on and started asking me questions, and basically told me that they were going to do exactly what I told Liz they would do . . . monitor me and see if anything was happening. The contractions weren't really close together at that point so in an hour she would see if I was progressing. She asked me what I was dialated to before, and I told her that at my appointment the day before I was a 3 and 80% effaced. So she checked me and then she said, "Well, I don't think that we will wait an hour to admit you. You are dialated to a 6 and fully effaced." She said that she wasn't quite expecting that and then they started hurrying and preparing the room and getting me all prepped with an IV etc. and sent for the Anesteisiologist.

A little while later the Anesteisiologist came in and gave me the blessed shot, and we began calling and texting family to let them know it was happening. A little while later they checked me and I was an 8. They got the doctor and he broke my water, and shortly after that he came back and said, "Are you ready to have a baby?"

Birth
He had me push twice and out the baby came. He said, "What did you think the baby was mom?" And he lifted the baby up high in the air and . . . there HE was. It was a boy just like I thought he would be. I got to watch Lamon cut the cord and of course had all of those emotions come over me that you do when you have a baby. I loved that little guy immediately and couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I was pretty much sitting there thinking to myself, "Is there anything comparable to the joyous feeling you feel when you see your baby for the first time?" They took the baby over to wash him and weigh him and then the scariest thing happened. It seemed to last a million years. The doctor was stitching me up and I was looking over to see if I could see them take care of the baby and all of a sudden I couldn't hear him. He wasn't making any noise. He wasn't crying and a bunch of people started rushing into the room. The doctor stitched me up silently while all of this commotion was happening, and all I needed to see was the look in my twin sister and Lamon's faces to know that something wasn't right. When they had taken Tilson over to wash him he just st0pped breathing. Liz and Lamon said that he was blue as a blueberry and they pressed the code button and people rushed in and they bagged him for 5 minutes and then he started to cry and it was the most joyous sound I have ever heard. Those five minutes seemed to last a lifetime and I was just praying my guts out that everything would be okay. I don't know that I have ever been more nervous in my entire life! I was terrified and pretty much stopped breathing myself until I heard my little guy cry. They put him on my chest for a moment, but then they took him up to the NICU to put him on a CPAP? It was very weird and pretty hard to sit there for so long without a baby in my arms. They did take me up on the bed they were transferring me to my room on so that I could see the baby. The whole time I was wondering what was going on and if my little baby was okay. By evening they sent him down though and I was so happy! Now I could just enjoy my little guy. Liz was there for the whole delivery, My Mom and Dad started coming up from St. George as soon as they heard I was in labor and got here right after I delivered, and Lamon's parents came and visited as well. Karyn and Liz were my angels who babysat the kids during it all, and I am soooo thankful for their help.

As if that whole ordeal wasn't enough . . . that night at the hospital they had a convict escape from the ER and they had the hospital on lock down for a little while. It was quite the news story, and we were here! We heard that he was hiding out in the ceiling somewhere so Lamon was planning out how he would deal with him if he came out in our room! :) He escaped and they found him in Salt Lake City the next morning.

I thought my worries were over after that first night, but the following day they took Tilson to have him assessed by the doctor, and the doctor came in and told me that he was concerned about his breathing and wanted to take him up to the NICU again and do some chest x-rays and a bunch of blood work. I kept nodding and saying, "okay" . . ."uh huh" . . . "okay" But as soon as he walked out the door I burst into tears. You just never want to have anything wrong with your baby, and I thought Tilson was in the clear after that first day. So back up to the NICU he went for the rest of Thursday. Everything looked good though except for one little problem with a blood test. So they put him on antobiotics and the doctor said that he wanted to keep him in the hospital for an extra day so that they could finish antibiotics and wait for test results. So on Friday I had to go home without a baby, and it was extremely unpleasant. I had a new appreciation and empathy for mothers who have something go wrong with their babies. I at least was confident that everything would be alright.

It's now been three weeks and besides having to deal with Jaundice and deal with all the heel pokes and having him on the lights for a couple days . . . he is now healthy and alert and as cute as can be! What a sweet little angel he is! He sucks on a binky, which is a first for one of our babies; and he has been sleeping at night for 6 and sometimes 7 hours at a time!! Could life get any better?! I love our new little Tilson!

For the Books . . . Tilson was born on February 2nd at 2:32 in the afternoon. He weighed 7 lbs 7oz and was 20 inches long. He was born with a bunch of dark hair (which sadly is already coming out!)