It’s been a month since we welcomed our little prince into the world. We’ve been enjoying every second of our time with him.

I don’t know if this little guy will be our last child or not. But I will say he was worth every ache and pain from the moment I found out we were blessed to the excruciating night he arrived. I was afraid that the 18 year gap between this one and my daughter would be hard. It’s been a piece of cake and I am so in love with him.

On April 6 I went in for my 39 week check up. I was still dilated to a 3 and about 60% effaced. I had my doctor do another sweep and scheduled an appointment for the following Monday to discuss induction if this little guy didn’t make his appearance over the weekend. After leaving the office, I was having some cramping and thought it would dissipate. Through out the day I was experiencing a foamy discharge and always felt wet. I didn’t think anything of it. That evening my husband and daughter decided we should go on a walk. We walked a good 3.5 miles. I was exhausted and still having some mild cramping. The following day we went to watch my nephew’s soccer game. I was still having the wetness but no cramping. Around 5pm I was sitting on the birthing ball in the living room and felt a little wetter than before so I went to change my clothes. As I was changing, a little trickle ran down my leg. I knew instantly it was my water breaking. I decided I needed to get ready to go in and be checked so calmly I went in the bathroom and got ready to go and made sure both my bag and baby’s bag was ready. I went and told my husband it was time to go to the hospital. He looks at me like I was nuts because just 20 minutes ago I was sitting in front of him like nothing. I didn’t want to tell any of my children yet. I didn’t want them to show up yet. I needed some alone time with my husband. He was so panicked that I offered to drive. The poor man couldn’t remember our zip code to punch in the gas pump. When we arrived at the hospital more of the amniotic fluid hushed out as I got out of the car. O wasn’t worried that we were having a baby, I was worried about looking like I peed my pants. We got checked in and as I’m making my way to the elevator to head up to labor and delivery, a trail of fluid follows me. We get checked in and I get tested to see if for sure it’s amniotic fluid. The nurse assured me that it was and I was staying. My husband calls our girls and tells them. The nurse checks me and I’m at 3 still and still 60% effaced. I was having some mild cramping again. We go over my birth plan. It’s now 7:30pm. I got all the forms filled out signed. My girls show up around 8:20 and then my sisters and dad. Things seemed to be going as they should be. By 10:30 the contractions were a minute apart and lasting a minute. I got checked again and was still at a 3. She couldn’t feel baby’s head. I asked for some pain meds in my IV and was told that I couldn’t get anything because the babies heartbeat wasn’t changing the way it needed to. His heartbeat would drop to 70 during a contraction and then go back to 145-150 afterwards. I guess they needed his heartbeat to increase. I was in so much pain that I needed my hips squeezed to help alleviate some of the pain. My husband , the nurse, and my sisters all took turns squeezing my hips. By 11:30 pm the doctor came in and checked me again. No progress. She wanted me hooked up to pitocin to help me. All this time my contractions were a

Minute apart and lasting 30 seconds to a minute apart. She kept telling me that if I don’t progress we will have to go with a cesarean. By 1:30 they decided to give me 5mg of pain meds. I was contemplating on getting an epidural because the pain was so bad that I couldn’t control my breathing and my hips hurt so bad. They had to put an internal monitor in so they can get an accurate measurement of my contractions because of how intense they were. The dr. Thought I was exaggerating or something. When the internal monitors showed that my contractions were actually a minute apart and lasting a minute they apologized for keeping me in so much pain. It’s now 2:30 I’m the morning and I still haven’t had any relief from the pain. The dr checked me again and still not much progress. I was now at a 4 but she still couldn’t feel the babies head all that well. She talked to my husband and I about doing a cesarean. She said that with me experiencing the wetness on Friday after my appointment it was best that we do the cesarean because there wasn’t much fluid and they were having to use saline. We decided that it was best to do the cesarean. I had to get a shot to help stop or slow down my contractions before being wheeled back, it didn’t work, the contractions kept coming every minute. One after another. It took 30 minutes for my spinal to get done. Once it took, I was released from all the pain. I’m so glad we did the cesarean, The cord was wrapped around babies neck and chest. His head was wedged sideways in my pelvis. After 7 hours of labor, we welcomed baby Leo Alexander!

One thing I’ve learned from this pregnancy was that no matter how hard you plan something, the higher power has better plans. Last year before finding out we were having a baby, we were planning our last child’s graduation and a trip for my husband and I for this spring. Now we are planning a graduation and raising a beautiful little boy!

Leo Alexander born April 8, 2018 at 3:39am weighing 8.15.8

Our perfect little blessing💙

My beautiful daughters and their baby brother Leo