Here's the Story...

Well, since my baby is almost 2.5 weeks old now, I figured it was time to tell the story.

So here it is:

The story actually begins at the beginning of July. At my 36 week appointment, my blood pressure was slightly elevated. I think it was like 127/88. I was told that I needed to take it easy, which I tried to do, but that's kind of hard to do with 3 kids. The next Monday (the 8th) my blood pressure was high enough that my doctor sent me down to Labor & Delivery for monitoring. I was terrified. I've never had issues with blood pressure during pregnancy, and I had no idea what to expect. While I was monitored, my blood pressure came down enough that I was allowed to go home, but was told that I was on bed rest, had to do a 24 hour urine sample (boy is that awesome) and needed to come back in on Wednesday to check my blood pressure again. 

For the record, bed rest is awful. I couldn't do anything to help the boys and I hadn't even packed my hospital bag. My mom was amazing. She came over every day and took care of the boys (and me), and she cleaned our house and did our laundry. I honestly don't know what we would have done without her! My sister was also a huge help and came to relieve my mom. My awesome friends made sure we had dinner every night that week. I'm grateful for the people that were willing to help! 

Wednesday rolled around, and my blood pressure was 140/104. NOT good. I was sent BACK to Labor & Delivery and was told that if it didn't come down while I was there, I would have the baby that day (hospital bag still not packed at this point) but if it did, my doctor was going to schedule an induction for that Friday (July 12) and that I was on strict bed rest until then. My blood pressure went down enough for them to send me home, and my mom helped me get my bag packed. 

Friday came and we were called to go into the hospital around 10:00. After dropping the boys off at my mom's house and completing the hospital registration, I was admitted around 10:30. They started the pitocin and my doctor came to break my water around 11:30. I was only at a 3, so I figured we would be there for awhile. About an hour and a half later, the contractions were killing me. The nurse could tell that I was in a lot of pain so she went to get the anesthesiologist. She came back to tell me that he was in a c-section and would come as soon as he was out. It felt like an eternity, and the contractions felt like they were right on top of each other. Once the anesthesiologist came, I immediately felt relief on my left side, but I could still feel some contractions on my right side. The nurse checked me after that and I was only to a 5. I was hoping I would get a chance to sleep a little, because I hadn't slept at all the night before, but the pain on the right was just enough that I had to breathe through the contractions. 

About 20 minutes later, I started to feel a lot of pressure. I called the nurse and told her what was going on. She checked me again and said that the baby was right there. She even had me push once and then told me to stop because he really was right there. She paged the doctor, but he didn't respond right away. He called her back a couple minutes later and said that he'd "be down in a few." In the mean time, I was doing everything I could to not push. Manuel says it didn't take this long, but I swear I waited like 20 minutes until I was able to start pushing. The doctor finally came and got everything set up. I started to push, but once his head was out the doctor quickly told me to stop pushing. I had no idea what was going on, but I waited until he told me it was ok to push again. After 4 pushes, Oscar Henry was born at 3:02 pm. 

He weighed 6 lbs 10 oz, and was 19 inches long. He looked a lot like Ben when he first came out, but as soon as he opened his eyes we could tell that he didn't really look like Ben. We're still trying to figure out who he looks like. I've had a couple people ask me if they were ever able to explain why I had high blood pressure. I wasn't showing any other signs of preeclampsia, so I really had no idea why my blood pressure was that high, especially since I've never had it with any of my other pregnancies. It was kind of a mystery until Manuel had a chance to talk to me while we were in the delivery room waiting to be moved to my hospital room.

He asked me if I knew that Oscar's cord was wrapped around his neck- twice. That is why the doctor had told me to stop pushing, because he was unwrapping the cord from the baby's neck. I had heard the doctor telling the nurse something, but I had no idea what he was talking about. As soon as Manuel told me that, I knew exactly why I had high blood pressure. It was because Oscar needed to come out right then. I don't even want to think about what would have happened had I not been induced early. I was originally scheduled to be induced at 39 weeks, which would have been July 23rd, but even after it was scheduled, the date just seemed wrong to me. Now I know why- because that wasn't the day he was supposed come! There are other things that have happened during my pregnancy that have shown me that everything is in the Lord's hands, and that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and it isn't always the plan we have in mind for ourselves. I know that each of our boys have been placed in our family for a reason, and Oscar is no exception.

Little Oscar had visitors waiting as soon as I was wheeled into my hospital room, and continued on into the evening. That included Manuel's mom, Josie, his sister, Stella,  and his brother, Chris.

My mom and dad had taken the boys to see Monster University while I was in labor, so after they had a chance to rest afterwards, they brought the boys over to meet their new little brother.

Sam had recently told my mom that he wasn't very excited for the baby to come because that meant that we wouldn't have time for him anymore. I was really worried about his reaction to the baby, but it was love at first sight. So much love, in fact, that he cried when he had to leave us in the hospital because Oscar was "just too cute."

Grandma :)

Grandpa :)

Tato holding Oscar for the first time. Now, as soon as Mateo wakes up in the morning, the first thing he does is ask to hold "Oxter." It's adorable and slightly annoying all at once. :) Especially when he insists on stealing the baby from visitors. 

All Ben wanted to do was sit by me. My left leg was crazy numb (and continued to be for the next 15 hours) so it felt really weird when he was crawling on me. 2 hours postpartum here, folks! Don't judge. ;)

I only stayed 1 night at the hospital. I can never sleep, and Sam had such a hard time leaving us I didn't want to be gone another night. I just wanted to sleep in my own bed and use my own bathroom! Plus it didn't help that the nurses kept asking me if I was staying for 2 nights. I kind of felt like they were trying to kick me out, so I jumped on the chance when I could. The on-call pediatrician made me promise to set up an appointment for the next day (it ended up being Sunday) and luckily our pediatrician was the doctor that night. I probably should have stayed one more night, but I felt ok to go home. The only concern I had was having to make an appointment for his circumcision, but our pediatrician was awesome and did it when I took him in for a weight check Sunday night. Apparently the nurses were talking about me though, because they told my doctor that I was "in such a hurry to leave" that they forgot to run a test on the baby. Oh well. 

Oscar is such a sweet baby, and we are so happy he is here. He has been an awesome sleeper since we got home from the hospital, and I am so happy for that! I'm a lot nicer when I'm able to sleep! We've had a few comments about "trying for a girl" or "giving up and adopting a girl," which aren't received very well. I know that each of our boys belong in our family, and I am totally okay with having all boys. They're pretty special, and definitely keep things interesting around here. We're so grateful for our newest little guy!