David Michael Stewart

The day before induction day, Marcia took Lilah so that Mike and I could go on one last date. 

We decided to try a new restaurant. It was ok. Not sure that we would go back but we enjoyed our meal. 

After our lunch, Mike took me to get a crepe. I sure love crepes. I was so full afterwards. It was a great date night. 

After our date we went over to pick up our little girl from Marcia's. 

She loves going over to grandma's house. Can you tell by her face?

Induction day! I had, had a doctor's appointment the day before and he had told me that the L&D floor was full and they did not have a room for me. I figured I would probably not get a bed the following day or that it would be late at night so I woke up feeling pretty relaxed. To my surprise they called me that morning and said to be there in an hour, which was noon. I finished putting the last minute things into my bag and Mike got his overnight bag ready. My mom decided to stay home with Lilah since we learned from last time that it would be a long process. 

Mike holding all the bags as we walked into the hospital. 

Induction time!

At 3 pm they started me on Pitocin. They had first put in a balloon to help me dilate a little since I was only at 1cm 80%. To my surprise I dilated to 4cm within the hour and the balloon came out all on it's own. The doctor said she would come and pull on it in an hour to help things move along but she was surprised to find that we were all done with it. 

Pitocin started for a couple of hours without doing much so they kept going up every hour. The machine kept beeping and I kept silencing it because it would say "line kinked" I should've left it alone because a couple hours into it I found out that the nurse never unclamped it, that's why it kept beeping. Once I unclamped it, the contractions started all of a sudden. That's what I got for messing with the pump instead of being a good patient. 

The next couple of hours weren't bad. I remembered to do my hypnobirthing breathing during contractions so that the baby would get enough oxygen. The doctor came in and kept saying that the baby looked great so they kept increasing the pitocin. The contractions still felt like bad cramps but the nurse let me stand at bedside so I was able to rock through them. We kept that all night long. My mom and Priscilla had gotten there that night but around midnight, I finally convinced them to atleast go lay down in the car because it would be a long time till we met the little guy. By this time Joel had brought food for my mom, Priscilla, and Mike. I tried to distract myself with my phone and kept rocking through my contractions. They checked me again late at night around 1AM and I had, had no change. The nurse said that was fine because it would be a long process so we kept moving along. At this time I was tired and the contractions had come in full force from going from no Pitocin to 9. I wasn't coping with the contractions so I asked for an epidural. 

The girl putting in the epidural had a hard time. I told her I could feel medicine going in on only my left side. She said they would wait and see after I laid down for a bit. I could feel my left side going really numb but it wasn't really affecting my right side. I could still feel the contractions on my right side but it was better than nothing. 

That night the nurse helped reposition me with a peanut ball every 30 minutes to help the baby descend. I was very thankful to her because I was worried the epidural would stall everything. She helped me reposition all night long, which meant I didn't have good sleep. 

The doctor came and checked me again and since I hadn't dilated any more, she broke my water. The contractions kept coming but the epidural made them comfortable, or atleast for a while. At one time the epidural stopped working and I was feeling everything. It was excruciating. The nurse called the anesthesiologist and she gave me a bolus which helped. After that I remember being able to get some sleep. 

By morning time I was completely exhausted but I had gotten to 7cm so I wanted to keep on going. The contractions where coming in so strong and didn't leave me with much time in between to relax. I could feel myself shaking and remembered that's how I felt when i got chorio last time around. I was cold and my nurse kept checking my temperature to see if it would spike. Since I had gotten the same thing last time around, they had antibiotics ready as soon as I spiked a fever. 

Around noon I couldn't take it any more. The epidural wasn't working. I was shaking, puking, crying, and was so tired. The nurse checked me and I was 9cm! She said it would be time to push soon, so she started gathering all of the equipment and clearing out the room. I was in pain but was so close! She said the doctor would be coming in to check me as well. The doctor came in and said i was at 9.5cm but there was a little bit of cervix that had not dilated yet because the baby's head seemed to be turned to it's side. 

She started talking C-section but I was still willing to endure a few more hours of torture to see if the baby would reposition himself. I tried all of the Spinning Babies techniques I could do with my numb legs. At one time another nurse came in and told me I needed to stop moving because they couldn't read the baby's monitor. SO discouraging. The doctor came in an hour later and was pressing for a c-section. I asked for 1 more hour and continued to move around in bed and tried my best to move the baby into optimal position. The doctor came in and said it was time. I was discouraged that I had come so close, 9.5cm! only to end up at the same spot as last time. I kept moving around in bed but the nurse said that "It was a bummer that we made it so far but C-section was the right thing to do now". That's not what I wanted to hear from someone who had just set up my room to have a baby vaginally. At this time I realized I had no one on my side and just relaxed while my epidural worked for the last hour. 

I was so discouraged but had told myself that when it was time, I would have a c-section. I was sad but there were no tears this time around. I was sad that the nurses and doctors were not very encouraging about trying non invasive things since we were so close, but what else would I expect from the hospital. 

The next hour or so I tried not to think about anything. I didn't want to be excited, I didn't want to be sad, I just wanted to go home!

The anesthesiologist came around and said he didn't want to give me another bolus for the last hour in case I pushed. He didn't want me to be too numb. I wish I would've known I would end up with a C-section. It would've been nice to be pain free for a couple of hours. 

They got me ready for my C-section. It's so dehumanizing being naked on the OR table. I just wanted to fall asleep. I started shaking like I did last time. My heart was racing as they were numbing me up more for the operation. It really is the worst feeling. 

The next minutes were foggy. Mike was next to me by now. I remember they showed me the baby but I was so sleepy. I wanted to take an OR picture like the ones they usually take but we didn't get to do that, whatever. I saw the baby and didn't even think about where he had gone after coming out of my belly. I realized later that he had been taken back by NICU. They had started an IV to give him his antibiotics because of chorio. I hated that IV on my baby. 

When they were all done, I woke up from what had been a great nap. I was so glad to have slept through all of it, just like I wanted to. We went back and had an hour of one on one time with the baby for breast feeding and skin to skin. At this time I just wanted to go back and be with family so that they could meet the little guy. It was still so surreal that he was mine and that it was the same baby that had been inside of me just an hour ago. 

Here he was, so perfect. So content and relaxed. I was glad to have a healthy boy in my arms and be done with the whole operation deal. 

 Here he is meeting daddy. After two hours of being in the PACU, we finally got wheeled back to our own room. 

We were so lucky to have our own room. I can't imagine having to share rooms with someone else. That would've been the cherry on top for an awful day. 

Lilah meeting her little brother!

Abuelita meeting David!

Such a sleepy little man

Apparently when the mom has chorio, they bathe the baby on the first night. Here he is having his first bath in our room. 

David Michael Stewart

7 lbs 15 oz 18.9in

When they had first weighed him in the OR they said he was 8lbs 8oz but when they weighed him in our room he was 7lbs. He definitely did not look like an 8 pound baby. Not sure what happened there. 

I'm in love with his cute lips. 

Daddy's chin. 

So, so cute!

Marcia took Lilah on Sunday and took her to church. I was so grateful for everyone's helping taking care of my little girl while my attention was elsewhere. 

She loved holding her brother. 

I'm a BOY mom!

My coworkers came up to meet David before their shift. So sweet of them!

There was a lot of baby feeding, TV watching and food eating. I was so happy not to be sharing a room with anyone. 

Can't believe this cute boy was inside me just a few days ago!

On May 9th we got to go home!

Daddy putting David in his new car seat. We had to figure it out on the spot because we never thought about playing with it before. It still had the tags on that day.  

Leaving the third floor with our little BOY

When I found out I was having a baby in May, I thought, perfect it'll be nice and sunny. I swear we have not seen the sun this entire month! We have had so much rain, which I am grateful for. I love having a few more months of chilly weather but we haven't been able to take the baby out on walks. 

When we got home, abuelita had helped Lilah make us a welcome home sign. So cute!

Lilah loves her little brother and always wants to hold him. 

Thankfully she is so sweet with him. We are still working on the being 'gentle' part since she sometimes treats him like a doll. 

Cutest big sister!

Holding brother any time she can. She's got the choke hold down. Poor little David is getting LOTS of loving from big sister. 

Lilah climbed up on the bed and cuddled up to me while I was burping David. I loved having my arms full. 

Pretending to sleep like the baby.

I love laying him on my chest. He fits so perfect and he smells so good. 

The sweetest, happiest boy. He just sleeps, wakes up to eat, poops, and goes right back to sleep. 

Mama loves to stare at him while he sleeps. 

Lilah helping feed David. She shoves the bottle half way down his throat when she "helps" but never the less she's a great little "helper"

Baby stretches

For mother's day we attempted to take some pictures of my babies. After a meltdown and 30 pictures we ended up with these. 

Lilah has been more cooperative about getting in the car lately. She'll go anywhere as long as her baby is there. 

Lilah's expression when she some me pumping for the first time, priceless!

She was so confused, haha!

And then she thought it was funny.

I'm excited to watch Michael teach his son everything his dad taught him. 

I took a picture on the changing table for reference to see how much he will grow in these next couple of weeks. 

Love those squishy cheeks and lips. 

I love my little angel so much and I am the luckiest to be his mama. In these few weeks I have fallen in love with him and feel like the luckiest to get to snuggle him to bed every night. I love that I can comfort him and put him to sleep by nursing him. He loves being held and has 4 hour stretches of sleep at night. I love you my little David!