Riser's Birth Story

Riser Mark was born on March 21st at 2:12 in the afternoon. I woke up around 3:45 that morning to contractions. I tried to go back to sleep but after about 45 minutes I realized that wasn't going to be possible. I went downstairs to try and let Benny get a little more sleep, in case this was the real thing. My contractions were between 2-4 minutes apart.

Around 7 AM I went upstairs to get in the bath. I told Eric he should probably call his boss and take off work that day. Bonnie was waking up so he went to tend to her while I labored in the tub. We still didn't know if it was the real thing (I'm not sure what we were waiting for to convince us, as my contractions were getting pretty intense and painful by this point). We toiled back and forth with asking mom and Katie to start heading our way. Mom thankfully started making her way down to us. We told Katie to wait until after she dropped the kids off at the bus stop before heading our way (which would have been around 9:15 that morning). However, by 8:30, I told Eric he needed to tell Katie to come now, contractions were only intensifying and I needed someone to take Bonnie so I could get Eric's support. Katie headed straight over. 

As soon as Katie arrived, she and Eric started moving quick to get us ready to make our way to the hospital. At this point, I was moving slow because I had to stop every couple minutes and wait through the contractions. I used the bathroom right before we left, and my water broke. We said our goodbyes to our sweet girl and were on our way to the hospital around 9:30. The drive was treacherous, things were consistently intensifying and I was not quiet about it.

When we arrived I was put in a wheelchair and everyone in the ER waiting room stared, as I was quite a spectacle at this point. We got to triage by 10 AM. I was checked and confirmed that my water did indeed break and I was dilated to 6 cm. Once they brought us to our room, I was checked again around 11 or 11:30 and I was already at 9.5 cm. It was clear things were happening fast so we were hopeful it wouldn't be much longer before I could start pushing. 

Unfortunately I ended up stalling at 9.5 cm for 2 hours. Everything was starting to feel pretty unbearable at this point and I had no idea how much longer I would be at 9.5. The anesthesiologist came in and prepped for an epidural. At the same time, around 1:30 PM, the nurse checked me and said she thought she could feel a little pocket of fluid that still hadn't broken yet. She brought the doctor in, he agreed, and broke it. After a few more contractions, I was checked and told I was 10 cm. The anesthesiologist was no longer needed so he left and I was more than ready to push.

We started pushing around 1:40. I told the doctor I wanted Eric to announce the gender when he/she came out. The nurse wishes she got the reaction on video, as she said it was one of the best reactions she's witnessed. At 2:12 PM, baby boy made his appearance, Eric screamed as loud as he could "Oh my God, it's a boy!!" and immediately started crying. 

We enjoyed some sweet sweet moments with our little one, something I was desperately hoping for this time around as we missed it with Bonnie. I ended up hemorrhaging and was losing a lot of blood. Our skin-to-skin time was cut a little short (though no less sweet) as the doctor aggressively worked on delivering the placenta and stopping the bleeding. 

It was a little unnerving for a bit while the doctor tended to me, but everything turned out just fine. I ended up losing about 1.25 liters of blood, but thankfully didn't need a transfusion and am now on iron supplements. 

Throughout the entire labor/delivery Eric was such a rock for me (and has been during my postpartum craziness too). It's been one of the greatest experiences we've ever had together. 

Our handsome boy weighed in at 7 lbs 11 ounces and 20.5 inches long (biggest grandkid yet). 

Mom and Katie were able to bring Bonnie to come meet her baby brother later that afternoon. It was such a sweet moment. Bonnie took to her brother much faster than I expected her to. 

The amazing women of whom I could not do life without. 

My sweet baby girl, now feeling so big in my arms!

And of course, my beautiful family of four. Doesn't get better than this.

We had quite a hard time deciding on a name for this little guy (we weren't prepared for a boy!) This guy has been such a redeeming experience for us, and has survived despite some odds that were stacked pretty high against him through IVF. The name Riser felt very fitting to us, as well as his middle name Mark (my father-in-law's middle name). 

They originally wanted us to stay an extra night at the hospital so that I could be monitored due to the blood loss, but we were able to leave after one night. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better experience this time around. I am so happy the way everything turned out and just feel so blessed. 

39 weeks:

40 weeks:

We are finally settling in, with a lot of help from my mom, sister, family, and our community of friends providing all kinds of meals and baby boy clothes. It has been a wild ride and I will share more soon - although it has been much harder to find time to blog in these early days! 

Riser has been the perfect addition to our family and we are all loving on him so much. He is such a sweet baby so far. Happy birthday son!