Braxten's Birth Story

I have been meaning to write this for the past few weeks, but with two kids I am just now getting around to it. So here I go! This is Braxten's birth story.

My due date was January 19th, but we scheduled an induction for earlier. On January 16th at 7:15 a.m. we left our house with our family of three and dropped Braelyn off at my in-laws house. Tyler and I arrived at the hospital at 8 am and since I pre-registered, we were able to go straight to our room.

My first nurse was named Carol-Ann and by 9 am she had me on the pitocin drip and everything was underway. We watched season 4 of the Big Bang Theory while we waited for things to happen. Around 11:30 my doctor came it to my room to break my water and strip my membranes. I went from an almost 2 to an almost 3 just by her doing that. I got a new nurse named Cari (from Mountain Green) and she was absolutely incredible! She was very friendly and helpful and was able to keep me relaxed a bit better. At 2:30 my nurse checked me again and I was only a 3+ so I decided to go ahead and have my epidural. Dr. Patel came in within the next 10 minutes to start it. It took about 20 minutes to fully kick in, but I kept it so light I still felt the pressure of my contractions, just not the pain. Just before 4 the nurse checked me again and I was a 9+. It took me less than an hour to dilate 6cm! The epidural allowed me to relax and let my body do what it was meant to do. My nurse just let me finish dilating and wait until I felt ready to push. By 4:35 we started a couple practice pushes. Halfway through my second contraction she told me to stop because the baby was coming and she didn't want to be the one to deliver him :) She left and called Dr. Lister who got there by 4:45. She came in and gowned up while I pushed two more times, during which Tyler asked "What more can I do to help." After asking if it was okay with me, Tyler was gowned up as well. They got ready and I pushed 3 times through one more contraction. On my next contraction I pushed twice and Braxten's head was out! I loved hearing his little cry! I pushed one more time and my little man was here. They put him on my chest while Tyler clamped and cut the cord. This was the point where I could not hold back the tears. He was such a handsome little baby! I was a proud mama!

Braxten was born at 4:56 pm weighing 7 pounds 9 ounces and was 20 inches long. He has been such a little joy to our lives and Braelyn absolutely LOVES her baby brother. I do have some pictures below. There is some leg showing so if you don't want to see, don't look!