Catch Carmen: Welcome to the world Baby

Crew Alexander Stephens
Date: 1/18/14
Time: 1:42 PM
Length: 21.5 inches
Weight: 9 lbs 4 oz
Location: Providence St. Peters Hospital

I woke up at 5 a.m. on Friday 1/17/14 having horrible cramps and contractions then I tried to work through it without waking Brandon up. I took a hot bath, sat on the exercise ball, tried to do some stretches and laid back in the bed with Brandon to have him hold me and call in to the Family Birthing Center and see if they felt it was warranted a visit. After getting ourselves all ready and dropping Ryder off at school we went in around 11, passed an NST with flying colors and my contractions & cramps all but stopped I felt so disappointed they were interested in induction but I was still wanting to hold off on that as a last resort. Off we went to wait some more, we went out to lunch at Pataya Thai in downtown Olympia and then home to relax and wait!

last picture pregnant!

Saturday I woke up and deja vu! 5 a.m. cramping and total discomfort I just couldn't sleep. I did the same thing; hot bath, sitting on the exercise ball, light stretching then I realized I had started bleeding so I woke Brandon up and off we went again. Dropping Ryder off with his Grandma and checked in to the family birthing center around 9 a.m. and was able to get a room. Brandon and I settled in not knowing what really to anticipate since with Ryder I never went into labor and had to be induced at 42 weeks we had to wait a life time to get labor actually started, something like 24 hours. At any rate, we got fluids and everything running and waiting and I was progressing nicely and my contractions began getting more and more uncomfortable. I wasn't begging for an epidural when it was offered but he was coming down to give one to someone else so I said ok, boy am I glad I said yes because by the time he came I was READY! The anesthesiologist came in and completed the epidural around 11:45 a.m./12 p.m. I laid down to take a nap and woke up just about an hour later at 1 p.m. to find that I was ready to start pushing! I was so surprised but happy to do so, I felt like by the time it was time we were ready. 8 long and sweaty pushes later our big guy was here and was so perfect! He came out screaming and ready to hold his mama, I couldn't even bring myself to quite his scream because it was literally music to my ears and why not let the kid exercise his fresh lungs?! He felt so perfect on my skin, his warmth and mine were the exact same and with his screams I just stared at him, looking back to Brandon to make sure it was real. I was so in awe of the fact that I would now be a Mom to two amazing boys! Next step was to get Ry to the hospital to meet him, bath time could wait, I wanted to see them together SO BADLY! I was so thankful that during our visit there wasn't an outbreak of any illness so we could actually have visitors at the hospital. After Ryder asked the usually meeting a baby brother questions like "where are his teeth?" "How does he get the milk from you?" and so on. Finally we moved to our over night room and began letting everyone know our little bundle had arrived so they could visit. Being a week and two days over due really helped grow the anticipation I think!

One very special thing I got to do, thanks to a wonderful friend of mine, is get my placenta encapsulated. I have personally experienced many benefits to taking my pills such as increased energy, my uterus shrinking more quickly (also big thanks to my belly bandit, if only I had a size smaller now to keep going with it), better moods, increased milk supply and probably more but nothing I've been made overly aware of. I couldn't be happier that when she asked what I wanted more than anything that when I told her she wasn't completely turned off by the idea and even more thankful that she found someone who could do it and do it with a less than 24 hour turn around! I received a beautiful blue glass jar with 176 pills and specific instructions. Diksha with Blissful Birth Initiations Mother's Bliss was wonderful to meet with prior and so sweet to have visit us in the hospital, and she also offers Doula services!

UPDATE on us as of today:
Crew went in for his 2 week old check up and is officially 22.5 inches long and 9 lbs 12 oz, he has passed his birth weight!!! I am so proud! He was circumcised today and I can't say he's been very happy about that. Other than today's fussiness he's been such a dream to have. So sweet and a wonderful sleeper all around! The day after we came home from the hospital Crew had his first outing to the outlet mall to see if we couldn't find some pants for him! We used the ergo baby and he did wonderfully, since then we have gone out on many trips to the store, visiting friends and family and some times just to take brother to school. He's so easy going just like Ryder was.
As for me, I am one pound from my pre pregnancy weight but still pretty weak from giving up on working out for most of my pregnancy not to mention nothing is in order like when I was working out. I haven't been cleared to workout yet but I am thinking some light exercise (planks, squats, lunges, baby as weights for arms, and walking) might be in order because I feel like my body is ready. Most days I am ready to go but today I am EXHAUSTED from the doctors appointment. I can't believe how traumatized I am from it all. HAHAHA price you pay I suppose.

Enjoy the pictures and I'll Catch ya later!