Boston Shane Tillotson

Our little family of 3 has now become a little family of 4. We are so excited to have this new bundle of joy. Getting him here was a bit of a challenge. A lot of people have asked how labor and delivery went. Well, for record sake and for the curious population, I will share the entire experience.

At 10:30pm on March 5, 2012, I started to have regular contractions. They were anywhere from 1 minute to 4 minutes apart and they were pretty dang painful. I was reluctant to just head in to the hospital, because at my last check up I was only dilated to a 2 and 60% effaced. So we timed them and we waited it out. Carter had gone with his dad (Which was super nice of him to help out for the week) so all we needed was the right time to get our little Boston out. My induction was scheduled for the 7th, so either way Boston was on his way in a decent amount of time. We left for the hospital at 12:30am on March 6th and we got checked in. I had only dilated a little bit more, but was having some pretty intense contractions. They watched me for an hour and decided to keep us and break my water. I got an epidural and family started showing up. (Keep in mind it was about 3:30am by this point.) They started me on pitocin and things moved really fast from there. I was completely dilated by 6:30am and started pushing at about 6:35am.

Patiently waiting for our new little man

Shane was a nervous wreck. The entire time he was watching monitors, checking on me while I went to the bathroom, holding my hands, feeding me ice water... He was great. When the epidural part came, he was a little nervous. He didn't want to be in the room even. But he stayed with me and held on to me. They missed the first time they put the epidural in, so they started over and I thought Shane would have a fit that they were going to have to stick me with that needle again. He watched my blood pressure, he watched Boston's little heart rate. He was just so full of adrenaline, I was worried he would never come back down!

A very anxious daddy..

At 6:53, on March 6th, 2012, our lives were changed forever as we heard our little Boston cry for the first time. I cried like a fool and Shane was overwhelmed with emotion. He had the sweetest little cry. They pulled him out and laid him on my stomach and Shane just stared in awe. (And took pictures as he was instructed to do so..someday I will share them.)

Boston just minutes old

As they whisked my brand new baby away to check him out, we realized we had some trouble brewing. My doctor said I had a prolapsed uterus and a hysterectomy was a possibility if they couldn't slow the bleeding or get the uterus back into place. I didn't realize how much blood I was losing or how serious it was until I saw Shane's face. He asked over and over again, "What is going on? Is she ok?" To which, no one was responding to. The next thing I know, I have a specialist, 2 residents and my own doctor in there trying to help me. I had the anesthesiologist in there trying to administer medications to help my body let my uterus go back into place and nurses everywhere. I remember looking up at Shane and everyone around me kind of faded away and my ears started to ring. I remember the doctor saying, "Women at this point usually lose consciousness due to loss of blood and shock." I remember looking at my blood pressure that was 80/40. They finally got the dust settled and handed me my perfect new baby. When I sat up, everything went black for a second, I started to feel tightness in my chest, nausea, and I began to cough. I looked over and my blood pressure was 71/36 and a whole team of people came running in. They took the baby from my arms and the next thing I remember, I was flat on my back. They made me have a catheter and wouldn't let me sit up. I was so bummed out. All I wanted to do was love my new baby! So the nurse put him in my arms and helped me hold him. A few hours later, they let me sit up and boy was I one happy little mama to be sitting up holding that baby!

I was so sick, but so happy!

They let me move into a wheel chair and go join Shane and the nurses in the nursery for Boston's bath.

Boston's first bath

A proud Daddy

A proud, super helpful big brother (This is the first time he held Boston)

A mom that looks like she has been hit by a truck, but so happy and thankful for her kids

As for the recovery, I am still working on it. I wish I could feel better, but I am still pale and extremely tired. I am thankful to be home with my kids, though!