The Birth Story: Deacon Matthew

Blessed. This is the word that comes to mind as I relive November 1^st and November 2^nd. These two days forever changed my life and I am eternally grateful. I could not ask for a more perfect story. I will probably do a couple posts on this weekend just because it would be ridiculously long to fit it all in blog post. There are some incredible side stories that I want to share that go along with the big day, but for now, I will just tell how we came to meet Deacon Matthew.

The week leading up to November 2^nd I was pretty miserable. Between contractions, lack of appetite, and little sleep- I was a walking zombie. At my appointment on Wednesday, the doctor could tell that I wasn't my chipper self. She suggested inducing and I happily agreed. Although I felt a little like I was taking God's control and putting it in my own hands, Matt and I prayed over it and it became very obvious that this was God's will. Our first date of choice was November 1^st, but they had 9 scheduled inductions that day so the chances I'd get bumped were about 100%. The next possible date was November 2^nd. I was hesitant to agree to this day because I knew my best friend was already being induced and I didn't want to take away from Baby Kyle. I quickly called her to run the idea by her and she was beyond thrilled. She loved the idea of doing this together and so did I. It was set. Ashley and I would be delivered on the same day, by the same doctor, and in the same hospital. How perfect! (I will leave the rest of this side story for another post).

Matt and I arrived on Friday night November 1st to start the process. I won't go into details, but the medicine they used sent me into full blown labor (they told me this would be a possibility). By Saturday morning, I was dilated to a 3 and baby was on the way. I was consistently contracting and very miserable. I asked for epidural because I wanted to enjoy myself. I received the epidural around 9 and then began the journey. The most difficult part of the labor was the IV. I have horrible veins that do not like needles. I had 3 unsuccessful IV attempts, one that went to my bone, and they had to call in the IV specialist. This lady was incredible. She did it on the first try- no problem. Her training had been with ICU babies and IV's. She said she had to pretty much do those blindly, so my veins were no problem. I was so grateful. I couldn’t handle being pricked anymore. The first one caused me to almost pass out. I HATE NEEDLES.

Anyways, as time went on once the epidural was in, baby started to get closer and closer. It was awesome. I couldn't feel a thing and Matt and I had a lot of quality time together. I told him this was like a date night- he said it was more like the last supper. Matt is quite the comedian. I loved having him by my side. He provided so much comfort for me throughout the weekend. He was my right hand man and the best companion I could ask for. Around noon the doctor came to check on me and I asked when they would break my water. I was at a 7 and I knew that the final straw would be breaking my water. He said he would come back around 2 and after that he thought we would start the pushing.

At 2 p.m., the doctor came back and broke my water. The nurse had me switch on my side to provide a different position for the baby. At one point I asked her if it was normal to feel so much pressure. I thought the epidural was wearing off. She got this huge smirk on her face and replied that was baby's head. As I started to do the first push, the nurse quickly told me to stop. She said that I didn't need to push, the baby was already coming. She quickly called the doctor back in. Luckily, he had just stepped outside the door after breaking my water so he was able to hurry his way on back in. They told me not to laugh or not to sneeze because baby would come. The doctor got where he needed to be to catch it and the baby just naturally came. No pushing. The doctor had us guess gender as baby was coming. Both Matt and I said boy, and we were right! On November 2^nd at 2:21 p.m., we met our sweet son Deacon Matthew. He was 6 pounds 15 ounces and 18.25 inches long. This little peanut has already provided so much joy. Noah has really stepped into his role as big brother and is quite the little helper.

Praise God for a healthy baby and providing for us time and time again. We are so thankful for such a successful delivery and the experience of doing it with the Bakers.

More posts and pictures to come!