Miller's birth

I really thought Miller would come early, so when he didn't come until 40 weeks, 4 days, I felt like I'd waited on him for so long! I felt really good pregnancy wise, and was sleeping good, which I was so thankful for. G was born 10 days late, Bowen was on his due date, so in my head this baby might be 10 days early. I'd been anxious over logistics for the big boys (even though we had people in place) and not making it to the hospital in time (I had checked in at 9 cm with Bowen)... so mentally I was ready to stop thinking about those things and how they would go down.  

I was scheduled for an induction on Thursday morning and was supposed to be at the hospital around 5am. I had had an appt on Tuesday morning and I was still at 1 cm (which was disappointing). The dr suggested going ahead and scheduling an induction and let me pick a day. We had called Cindy, and she and Art were planning to come in on Wednesday evening to be here to keep the boys. I was thankful that at least I wouldn't have to worry about care for the big boys with the induction being a set time. 

On Wednesday, I was able to spend it knowing it would be my last day before the baby came. We did some grocery shopping, cleaned up around the house, spent a few hours at the park with friends and had a sweet day together. I thought all day "this is my last day with Bowen as my baby".

I haven't ever really felt any contractions prior to it actually being labor with any of my pregnancies. But I thought maybe I had felt some tightening in my stomach on this day. Around 7pm on Wednesday evening, Chad's parents arrived and I noticed maybe there was a little discomfort with the tightening. 

We hung out, got the boys in bed and were sitting around talking with Chad's parents. Around 9pm I decided to head to take a shower and get in bed since it was going to be an early morning. I made a casual comment about how maybe these were contractions and maybe we wouldn't make it through the night. 

As I got in bed around 10, I started tracking the contractions on an app. They were coming about every 8-12 minutes, but were totally bearable. I called the nurse and she said even if they weren't that uncomfortable, they were contractions and if they got to 5-6 minutes apart, to head to the hospital. 

Chad went to sleep and I kept tracking them, unable to fall asleep. They got down to about 7 minutes apart by 11:30 and I woke Chad up and told him I thought we should head on. We left for the hospital at midnight and I had contractions every 5 minutes all the way there. It was such a relief that Art and Cindy were already at our house!

We easily got to the hospital and got checked in and around 1:15am they assessed me and said I was at 4cm and considered it active labor. woohoo! We were supposed to be there in about 5 hours for the induction anyways, so I was hoping they wouldn't send me home even if I wasn't far along. I told Chad if I was still at 1 cm, we would just sleep in the car for a few hours :) I felt very calm and just kept telling Chad how thankful I was to be at the hospital and that his parents were with our boys. 

By 2:15 they had put me in a labor and delivery room and I was at 6 cm. I was still able to breathe through the contractions and handle them well. Around 3:30 I got an epidural and after managing and being concerned about my low blood pressure for about 20 minutes, they left us to try to rest for a few hours. Chad was able to sleep from about 3:30-5:30, but I wasn't able to turn my mind off and could never fall asleep. I did rest though. 

At 5:30 I was at 8 cm and was very comfortable and munching on ice chips. Dr. Rhodes came in and broke my water at 6:15 and said I was at 9 cm and she thought she would see me soon to deliver a baby. With all of my deliveries, my body goes into shock (I guess?) and I get uncontrollable shakes... like I'm really cold or something. They wrapped me in warm blankets and I told them I felt like I was at the spa :) Chad says I talked nonstop... that even while pushing at 10 cm, I was asking the student nurse about how she liked her school and what she wanted to do next.

Around 6:45 they checked me and said I was at 10 cm and ready to push. The nurses (they seemed so young! one had been working a few years and other was a student who was shadowing... but they were great) were rotating off of their shift at 7am and said they were hoping to meet the baby by the time they got off. I pushed a couple times with the nurses and after a couple pushes she called in Dr. Rhodes. I had forgotten how very last minute it is that the doctor comes in. Dr. Rhodes came in and I pushed once for her and Miller was here! I remember Dr. Rhodes saying "look!" and she held him up and I was just so shocked he was here! It's SUCH a surreal moment. Miller was very clean when he was born, but they took him and weighed him and cleaned him and then gave him to me. Chad and I were both shocked that he weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces... the smallest of all our boys. I was expecting upper 8's.

They had me cleaned up and in a new room fairly quickly. I hadn't slept since Tuesday night and he was born early Thursday morning, so I expected to be wiped out all day Thursday, but I think I was running on adrenaline and didn't feel too bad. Art and Cindy brought the boys up that afternoon to meet Miller and it was so sweet to see them with him. I keep waiting for the "honeymoon period" to wear off for them, but they are still just smitten with him.

Chad and I stayed at the hospital until Saturday morning with Miller and were able to enjoy his first few days with lots of quiet and snuggling. It was a sweet time of getting to know him and enjoy his newness. You forget how small they are! He's been the sweetest baby and the perfect addition to our family.

Miller William Ferrell
Thursday, April 27, 2017
6:57am
7 pounds, 2 ounces
21 inches

Here's a bunch of pictures from our time in the hospital...

at the spa in my warm blankets :)

just the sweetest time getting to snuggle him all day long!

such a sweet surprise to get to see Brandy and for her to meet Miller on his birth day... loved having her and Liz stop by

some excited big brothers!

first picture as a family of FIVE

so thankful for Nana and Papa! 

hospital dates... Chad walked to get pho for lunch on Friday

Friday afternoon nap

 At this point on Saturday morning we were waiting for him to poop to be discharged. They finally called in the "poop whisperer" nurse and within minutes she had worked her magic and we were out of there!

{here is Grayson's birth story and here is Bowen's}

Bowen's birth

On Tuesday (January 13) morning I woke up around 5:00am with some pains that I assumed were contractions. I've never had any false/early contractions (with Grayson or Bowen) . Never felt any Braxton Hicks or anything. I know Grayson is only 2 years old, but I didn't really remember what contractions should feel like. I was uncomfortable enough that I got up and went to the couch and slept there until about 7:00 when Grayson woke up. 

I had contractions off and on all day. Sometimes they would be 5 minutes apart and sometimes they would be 30 minutes apart... but I had them throughout the day. I would kind of have to stop what I was doing, and maybe bend over or something, but they were bearable. I had a doctors appointment at 3:15 that afternoon and I thought I would just wait and be checked then. 

Thinking that this might potentially be labor and that they would tell me to head on to the hospital from my doctors appointment, I spent most of Tuesday getting stuff ready around the house. I finished packing our bags, making sure Grayson's stuff was all taken care of, I made dinner and cleaned a bit, hung out with a friend. I felt ready. 

I went to the doctor at 3:15 and it took them forever to see me. I usually never have to wait. I didn't see the doctor until about 4:30. I had about 7 contractions while sitting at the doctors. He finally came in and saw me, said I was still 3 cm (which is what I had been the week before) and that I should go home. He said my contractions would either taper off or intensify. I left disappointed. 

I had a contraction driving on the way home (that's probably not very safe), and by the time I got home around 5:00 my contractions felt even more painful. I downloaded a contractions app and they were about 4-5 minutes apart. Within 30 minutes they were about 3-4 minutes apart. I googled "how long does a contraction last" and realized these really were lining up with what I read was labor/real contractions. It might sound crazy that I was having contractions 3-4 minutes apart. But I had JUST left the doctors office where they had sent me home and so I felt crazy driving to the hospital. It's a 45 minute drive and to have to get someone to stay with Grayson... I didn't want to go if it was nothing.

We pretty quickly decided we needed to head on to the hospital.  We called our friend Krystal at 6:00 to come stay with Grayson and we quickly started getting everything loaded in the car. Krystal arrived shortly after (thank you Krystal!) and we pretty quickly hit the road for Greenville.

I continued to have contractions pretty close together (about 3-4 minutes) the whole way. Ouch, that's a fun drive. And we had to stop for gas :)

Chad dropped me off outside the hospital and I found my way up to the 4th floor while he parked the car. I had to stand in line behind some people at the desk and I was doubled over while standing there. Chad got upstairs and we got up to the desk and they're asking us to fill out some paper work and some questions while my contractions are still coming. One of the ladies behind the desk finally yelled "get that info later and get that girl in a room!"

I got placed in a triage room so they could assess me and see if I needed to be admitted. I had been saying over and over I just hoped they didn't send me home. They checked me and all of a sudden people jumped into action. She looked at me and said "you're at 8 or 9 cm!"  I was shocked but so thankful I wasn't going to be sent home without a baby.

They quickly wheeled me to a labor and delivery room and nurses started whirling around getting IV's in me, asking lots of questions and prepping the room. It was all a little surreal to me because things were happening so fast.

Soon after they got me all prepped, they asked if I wanted to try to push. I was trying hard to wrap my mind around doing this without an epidural as the window seemed to have passed. I was about 9.5 cm, they broke my water and I pushed a few times through my contractions and they decided I better wait to push anymore until I got to the full 10 centimeters.

At this point they asked if I wanted to get the epidural and I was a little surprised because I thought it was too late. I was in crazy pain and having contractions even closer together because they had broken my water. I decided to go ahead and get it and they had the anesthesiologist in there very quickly. It was amazing to me how quickly the epidural brought relief to my body and I was able to rest pretty comfortably and let my body reach the time where I was ready to push. This epidural was very different from Grayson's. I really could hardly feel a thing and thought they were crazy to tell me to push because I couldn't feel anything. Chad and I were able to talk, I ate a ton of ice and we were able to text and call people and tell them the baby was coming.

Soon after midnight they decided it was time and I pushed twice through the contractions with the labor and delivery nurse. On the third push, she quickly told me to stop and called for the doctor to get in there. The team of people started arriving and quickly realized the baby was coming soon. The doctor walked in, looked at me and was like "woah!" and started getting suited up quickly. She barely got her face mask tied on when I said something like "I think he's slipping out" and she caught him. SO different from my delivery of pushing for 3 hours with Grayson.

Bowen John Ferrell
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
12:40am
7 pounds, 15 ounces
22 inches long

We were able to see and snuggle Bowen right away (again different from Grayson). Bowen was very unsettled, so they took him to look at him and realized he had lots of fluid in his belly (they said from coming out so fast). They did this crazy suction thing down his throat and pulled out a bunch of fluid and gave him about twenty minutes of breathing treatments and said he was good to go.

We stayed 2 nights after that in the hospital recovering and getting to know Bowen. It was really a sweet time. It still blows my mind how different my deliveries were with both of my boys. So, so thankful for two healthy boys.

Bowen has been nursing great from the start (again, so different from Grayson). He is the most efficient eater and only nurses 5-8 minutes every couple of hours. I was concerned about this, but we have been to the doctor twice already and he has far surpassed weight goals. Bowen left the hospital weighing 7 pounds 9 ounces. and at his first check up (3 days later) he weighed 8.3. He's been sleeping great at night as well and hasn't kept us up at all. We've been home for one week now and he wakes up twice, eats for a few minutes and goes right back to sleep. He has been a very easy, chill baby so far and we can't wait to watch him grow and learn.

And now, a bunch of pictures from our time in the hospital... 

 Just born!

Krystal took Grayson to Starbucks for cake pops and "coffee" to celebrate :)

It was so special and sweet that all of our parents made the 4 hr drive (both ways) to Greenville to meet him on his birthday. 

 January 15

Cindy came to stay with Grayson while we were in the hospital and she brought him up there to meet him on Thursday. 

Grayson paid a little attention to "baby brother" and then moved on to more exciting things... like all of the buttons on Mommy's cool bed. 

 Then Grayson took a ride with Bowen on the "school bus"

Hospital dinner date :)

Friday, January 16