The newest addition to the Mitchell family finally arrived on Saturday August 17th at 1:20pm. Sawyer Boo Mitchell weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces and was 21 inches long. Here's his story....
The week previous to his birth, I swore I was in labor almost the entire time. I would have irregular contractions every day, mostly at night. I would wake up thinking "is this it?". Then I'd go back to bed knowing if it really was labor I wouldn't be able to sleep through it. We were scheduled for induction on the 19th, so the end was in sight no matter what.
Saturday morning I woke up at 5:46 and started timing my contractions. They were consistent and strong enough I had a feeling it could be the real deal. At 6:07 I realized Kincaid's alarm was still set for 6:10 (school time) and I didn't want him to wake up if he didn't have to. So I went into his room to shut off his alarm and felt something. I was having bloody show from my cervix stretching. I woke up Michael and told him it was time to head to Pella. I jumped in the shower as he got Kincaid up and packed the Terrain. We dropped off Kincaid at Michael's grandparents' house and headed to the hospital. On the way there, I told him it was not time to get good mileage. The faster he drove, the better. My contractions were getting closer to 5 minutes apart and very painful.
We got to the hospital around 7:15. The nurse in OB checked me and I was at 4 cm. They decided I was in labor and put me in a room. The contractions continued to get stronger and I was ready for my epidural. However, the anesthesiologist was in another surgery and I'd have to wait. I had a dose of Fentonal to take the edge off. Problem with that med is it only lasts an hour... and mine wore off at 40 minutes. I was counting down the minutes to my next dose. As my nurse was pumping it into my IV, the anesthesiologist walked in the room. I was dilated to 5 cm by this time (10:00). My epidural was administered, and I started to relax. The next two hours Michael and I talked to the nurse and watched tv. A little after noon my doctor came in to check me and I was ready to push.
I should mention that both my parents and Michael's parents had just arrived to the hospital... which was what happened when we had Kincaid. Next time they are going to follow us so I don't have to wait so long to push.
I started pushing around 12:30. My doctor suggested turning off my epidural, which I finally agreed to. I was afraid of it wearing off too fast and feeling the worst of the pain. Nope, still had a pain-free delivery. I was having conversations with the doctor, nurse, and Michael in between pushes. By 1:20 a beautiful baby boy was born. Sawyer cried right away then just chilled while being looked over. He was perfect.
Our parents came in to see their newest grandson. Michael's grandparents brought Kincaid over to meet his little brother. It was pretty cool to see Kincaid's reaction. He couldn't remember his name though. We never told him ahead of time in case he couldn't keep the secret. Kincaid is a very proud big brother. He couldn't wait to hold him and show him off to everyone!
Disclaimer: It's gonna get gross and graphic...
By 5:00 everyone had left and that's when things got really exciting. The nurse wanted to feel to make sure my uterus was contracting like it's supposed to. It wasn't so much contracting as filling up with blood and clots. She wanted me to use the bathroom so they could change my bedding. As they held the padding in place while I walked to the bathroom, I could feel the clots coming out. It was the exact same situation as last July after I lost the twins. The bathroom looked like someone had been massacred. I sat on the toilet as my body hemorrhaged and nurses and technicians rushed around to clean up the mess. My blood pressure dropped to 73/37 and I passed out almost completely. After I came back, they wheelchaired me to my bed and started trying to find the problem. My doctor was called back in and I was given multiple medications to contract my uterus more and stop the bleeding. My hemoglobin was checked in case I needed a blood transfusion. I was also instructed not to eat in case I would need an emergency D&C. The entire time Michael was by my side. He is such an amazing husband.
Things calmed down after an hour. The scary stuff passed and my body started to recover. We have no explanation why I have hemorrhaged twice. In the future I'll do a few tests to see if we can pinpoint the issue.
The rest of our stay in the hospital was normal. We had a hand-full of visitors to see our precious baby. By Monday morning we headed home as a family of 4.
Sawyer has brought so much joy into our lives. Going back to the newborn stage is hard at times, but rewarding many others. Kincaid is an awesome big brother. He is always checking on Sawyer and helping us. A 6 1/2 year age difference wasn't our intention, but God has His own plan for us.
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| Proud Big Brother |
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| Sawyer Boo Mitchell |
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| Proud Daddy |
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| Leaving the hospital soon. |
