Merritt's Birth Story

 Oh my goodness Merritt is here!!! He arrived Saturday, July 19th at 6:20pm weighing 6 lbs 14 oz and 19 inches long! We are completely in love with our new angel baby!!!

Wednesday, July 16th I had a doctor's appointment and was 4cm dilated. The doctor pretty much told us to pack our bags and to come into the hospital the second I started having any contractions! Needless to say we went home to pack our bags and finish any last minute errands we had! To our surprise it was 3 days later until I had consistent contractions. Saturday morning I woke up and was having contractions. I decided that it was time to go to the hospital! I was sick of sitting around and waiting! I knew this was it! I called Matt on the golf course and told him that it was time! Guess what he asked me? "Can I finish the front nine or do I need to leave now?!" (this is just a small glimpse into my marriage haha!!) I told him that he could finish golfing because I wanted to take a shower and get ready. About an hour later we dropped Ryan off at my parents and went to the hospital!

Of course I was taken to triage first. Once I got all hooked up on the monitors the nurse told me that she hadn't seen any contractions yet. Of course, I knew I was having contractions but I didn't want to be rude or embarrass myself for them only to tell me they were braxton hicks! The nurse told me, "I mean, if you're really in labor and having those strong contractions you wouldn't have had time to do your hair and makeup!" Once she left the room Matt said, "Well obviously she doesn't know you!" haha!

For some reason this nurse did not think that I was in labor! She started an IV... scratch that! She TRIED twice to start an IV and was unsuccessful! (I had two huge bruises for weeks to prove it!) She finally had a different nurse start my IV and get me on a saline drip. She said that I might be dehydrated... little did she know :)

After an hour of them watching my contractions and going through the whole bag of saline and still having contractions the nurse came in and said, "Well, you're having contractions 4-5 minutes apart!" I thought, yea no kidding that's what I've been trying to tell you for the past hour! At this point I was now dilated to 5cm so she called the on call doctor and said that I was staying!! We were finally getting to a room and at that point I was so excited because I knew we were going to meet Merritt very soon!

Once we got settled in our room I asked for the epidural! I had a long and painful experience with my first epidural when in labor with Ryan and was trying to avoid another one! The nurse (same triage nurse) seemed surprised that I wanted the epidural so soon. I told her that this was going to go VERY fast and I wasn't taking any chances! Literally just a few minutes later the nurse anesthetist was in the room prepping me for the epidural and praise the Lord that she did a flawless and fast epidural that worked beautifully!! Moments later I was completely numb (literally couldn't move or feel ANYTHING!) and was glad that the epidural was over because that's the only part I was worried about!
About an hour later the doctor on call came in and broke my water. Nothing special about that because once again... NO FEELING! Pretty much the best ever.

After that it was pretty much smooth sailing. Although, the nurse was flipping and flopping me all in the bed because Merritt was face up and they like the baby to be face down for delivery. That was really annoying! I just wanted to lay in that bed and be left alone and I swear she came in every 15 minutes and made me roll over to the other side!

A little bit later the nurse came in and told me that Merritt's heart rate had dropped so she put an oxygen mask on me. That worried me a little bit but it was only on for about 30 minutes because she came back in and said, "I think the fetal monitor slipped up and was reading your heart rate!" Oh geez!! Really?!! Of course we were glad that Merritt was ok but it was a little frustrating... and now funny!

The nurse then told me to tell her when I felt pressure because that meant that it was time to push. I assured her that I could feel NOTHING. She said "Oh, you'll definitely be able to feel it!" Well, the next time she came in to check me she said that I was having a baby!! And I still felt nothing! Fifteen minutes later the doctor on call (sadly our family friend Dr. Deed was out of town and missed Merritt's birth by an hour!) was rushing into the room and getting her scrubs on! One contraction and three pushes later Merritt Jones was born!! I'm not kidding...

first time holding Merritt

just seconds old!

Matt's first time holding Merritt

I was blessed with two very fast deliveries with hardly any pushing at all! Ryan was born 5 hours after my water broke and Merritt was born after 2 1/2 hours... third child might be delivered in the car on the way to the hospital!! 

We had Ryan come in the room first and meet Merritt! We wanted a few minutes just the four of us! Ryan was so sweet! He wanted to hold Merritt and give him kisses!

giving Merritt his gift

After that the rest of the family came in and it got pretty crazy in our room! We had 17 in my room at one point! Merritt was getting lots of love!!

VE fam

PawPaw and CoCo

Aidan and Aunt Aimee

Granna

JuJu and Padj

Mimi

Aunt CC

Haven

We spent two days in the hospital and on Monday we went home!

We were so happy to be home with our new family of four! It was (and still is) a huge adjustment but it feels very natural. Merritt is such a blessing and a wonderful addition to our little family!

We were home for one glorious day before Merritt was admitted back to the hospital...
to be continued...

with love,