Mason's Birth Story

This post will be filled with numbers, and too many details for some. But as you can tell from the title, it's a birth story, so if you don't want to know these kinds of details, move along. I want to write everything down so I will be able to look back and remember the day that Mason joined our family.

Week 36: dilated 1cm
Week 38: dilated 1.5cm
Week 39: dilated 1.5cm
Week 39+3 Christmas Eve: dilated  2cm at this appointment my doctor let me know that she had scheduled us for an induction on Friday the 28th (his due date) just in case we decided to be induced. If we decided against it then we could cancel. My doctor was going to be on call the 28th-30th so if we wanted her to be our doctor then we would need to either be induced, or take the chance I'd go into labor on my own that weekend. I really wanted her to be our doctor when we delivered because she knows my history and we had a plan to hopefully prevent me from tearing. With Noah I had a 3rd degree tear so preventing that was one of our main goals with this delivery. I decided that after Christmas we would try out all of the wives tales of how to naturally induce labor. I've never ate so much pineapple as I did in those next three days. Every night after Noah was in bed Dayne and I would go on a walk. I did my best at curb walking, but with the recent snow fall it was pretty difficult.
Week 40: dilated 3.5cm She said I would be a good candidate for induction if that's what I wanted to do. After talking with Dayne we decided to head down stairs and be admitted. We went down stairs and got settled into our room.
By 10:20am they had me on Pitocin and started at a level 4 (I have no idea if it is referred to level? setting? milliliters?) Every 30 minutes they would increase the Pitocin by 2. They let me wear a portable baby monitor so they could continue monitoring baby while I walked the halls.

12:47pm Pitocin at 14 now
1:38pm 4cm 60% effaced
3:00pm Pitocin 18
3:30pm Pitocin 20 (which is the highest it will go)
From about 10:20 until 4:00 we walked the halls. We would walk for a while and then sit in the bed and rest, walk for awhile and then rest again. The contractions were painful, but not unbearable. I was able to walk/talk through them. Since we hadn't chosen a name yet, walking the halls was a good opportunity to continue discussing names for this little boy.
4:00pm At this point the contractions were intense, I no longer wanted to walk the halls though.
4:50pm 5cm 80% effaced Dr. Kinghorn thought it was best if we go ahead and break my water. The process of breaking the waters is such a strange feeling! There was a lot more water than with Noah. When she broke my water I decided to go ahead and get the epidural, and good thing I did because within a little while the contractions became unbearable.
5:25pm My epidural was in and working! Getting the epidural was by far the worst part of my labor. The anesthesiologist took a long time from start to finish and it felt like he was more rough than my previous one in Billings. Obviously I don't really know what he was doing, all I know is that it was a lot more painful than my epidural with Noah.
5:45pm 6cm
6:05pm 9cm Although my nurse had just checked me 20 minutes prior, I was feeling a lot of pressure so she thought she better check me again. I was surprised and relieved to hear how much I had progressed. My doctor came in less than 5 minutes later and I was at 10cm and ready to push. I pushed one good 10 second push, and then my doctor directed me to do a few 3 second pushes. I did that a handful of times and before I knew it little boy was here.

6:22pm Mason George Shaw was born.

19.5 inches 8 pounds 2 ounces 

 The next morning my parents brought Noah to meet his little brother. At first he was unsure and just wanted to look at him. When it came time for him to head home he was very upset and wanted to hold Mason and love on him for a bit (probably to just postpone his nap, but we'll say he just really loved his new baby brother.)

Mason LOVES baths, specifically getting his hair washed. 

 Noah is a great big brother. I'll often find him laying on the floor right next to Mason. He gets right up in his face and say things like, "Hi Mason, I love you, it's okay Mason", it's absolutely heartwarming. I love seeing my boys together, I'm one lucky Mama. 

My parents are here for a few weeks to help and I am so so thankful. My sister comes a few weeks after my parents leave and I'm sure it will be heaven sent. My mom has been making dinner every night and getting Noah up in the mornings and down for naps/bedtime. I am so lucky to have such awesome family willing to help. Mason is doing really well, eating like a champ and sleeping like a baby ;) We are so thankful delivery went so smoothly and he is here in my arms. I just love my little Mr Mason.

In November my sister Rachelle and her little boy Maddox came up to visit. I love having family come over! Noah adores all of his cousins. He still asks about Maddox and when he's coming to play again, and every now and then he'll surprise me and break out singing "Happy Birthday Auntie Shelly" haha

While Dayne was on break from school he made sure to spend a lot of time with Noah. One of Noah's favorite things to do is ride on the train with Daddy. His first train ride was up to a U football game so of course whenever he talks about riding the train it's followed with "Go Utah!" 

We like to watch football in our house. Noah put on daddy's headphones and was walking around the house yelling numbers (I don't know where he got that from) finally I realized he was pretending to be a football coach. This kid has the coolest imagination! 

Noah got a new church outfit so of course I had to snag a picture of them matching!

For Thanksgiving we went up to Grandma and Papa's Shaw. Besides playing with all the toys and games, I'm sure his favorite part was being able to actually drive the little snowmobile. My mama heart was bursting, when did my baby get so big?