Happy Birthday Baby Gray!

I am FINALLY going to do Gray's birth post!

Last Wednesday started out just like a normal day in our house. The kiddos were going crazy, I was HORRIBLY huge and pregnant, and the house was a mess! Go figure.. b/c I had literally cleaned it spotless everyday for a week leading up to that day! I just really didn't feel good that day and honestly only got out of bed to feed the kids and bathe myself (that should have been my first clue!).

When I went to the OB the Wednesday before (37 week apt), she was able to strip my membranes so I had been feeling a lot of contractions since then. Unfortunately nothing was happening though. I had finally come to the conclusion that Gray was just never going to come out! We literally tried EVERYTHING to make me go into labor and nothing worked.. he stayed put! I was feeling contractions that day but really didn't pay that much attention to them.

When I got to the doctor for my 38 week appointment she could tell that I didn't feel good and knew I was feeling a tiny bit of discomfort, so she hooked me up to a monitor just to see if anything was going on. My appointment was at 1 o'clock that afternoon. About 45 min later she told me that I was in fact having contractions and they were about 4 min apart!! (still 3cm dialated and 80% effaced) She decided to send me over to the hospital to get monitored there (she was on call that night and really wanted to deliver me) and hopefully I would progress. The kiddos were with my mom, so I called her and told her that I wasn't coming home.. she had actually joked with me before I went to the apt that I probably wouldn't be coming home. So, she took the kiddos home with her and they were ecstatic!! Chris was still at work, so my MIL came up to the hospital. We had asked her months ago if she would like to be in the room with us this time so she had been on standby for days. Luckily, Chris was there soon after. While I was in the triage area I could feel the contractions getting stronger and stronger. They finally decided to keep me and just as soon as I got into my labor room, my water broke. What a strange feeling too.. my water never gushed with LK - it just leaked, and they broke it at the hospital with Ethan. It was about 5pm at this point.

I stayed at 3cm for several hours and was able to get my epidural. Finally around 9:30, I had progressed to about 7 cm. Then I started feeling ALOT of pain. I'm pretty sure that my epidural was either wearing off or just wasn't working anymore. At 10:30, the pain was so terrible that I had Chris call the nurse to come check me. Thankfully I was at 9, moving quickly to 10. They let me start pushing at around 11pm. I can't even describe to you how much pain I was in. Considering that I literally felt NO pain with LK and E, I was not prepared for that. It was terrible. I had been in labor for over 9 hours at the point, I was exhausted, and I was in more pain that I had ever felt in my entire life. Yes... I got to experience REAL childbirth!! (I was only in labor for 4 hours each time with LK and E! 10 hours was ridiculous!!)

I started pushing and it was going absolutely no where at first. Come to find out, Gray was a little stuck for a few minutes. He decided to come out with his arm over his head!!! So, imagine THAT along with basically no epidural at this point!! YIKES! When Dr. Williams realized that his arm was up and he was stuck she started pulling him and a nurse jumped on top of me to push on my stomach. It was a little tense for a few minutes. After 30 minutes ( LK and E came out with only about 4-5 pushes!!), he finally decided to come out.

At 11:31 pm, he made he debut. He was immediately screaming and was HUGE!!!

I really didn't think he was going to be a big as Ethan (E was 8lbs 13oz) and he surprised us by being bigger!! Gray weighed in at 8lbs 15oz! What a little chunk! He also came out looking identical to his big brother.

Before all the action started!

Daddy cutting the cord. Noni took some GREAT pictures!!!

Meeting my sweet boy

He was NOT happy!!

Another GINORMOUS Stickles boy!

Isn't it amazing how you can go through all that pain and immediately forget about it as soon as you hold that sweet baby??! It's the best pain you'll ever endure!

Noni was so excited and we were so glad that she was able to be there with us.

As soon as we were cleaned up a little, Chris went out and got his Dad. Everyone else was at home waiting for us to call. Thankfully, Ann called my mom as soon as he came out.. my mom was on pins and needles!!

Our incredible doctor, Dr. Judith Williams! She is heaven sent, I promise you!

We got to our regular room about 2am. Gray immediately nursed, I ate a ham sandwhich (thank you nurse!!), and we all crashed!

I'll continue in another post about our first visitors and the sibling introduction!