Duke Forrest's Birth Story

I wrote this post 3+ months ago and finally just added pictures. Little Duke is 7 months now! It's so funny to look at these pictures and see how much he has changed in 7 months. Absolutely crazy! pics are listed mostly chronologically :)

On Thursday, October 18 we welcomed little Duke Forrest into our family. His first name is after his daddy's nickname and his middle name is after my grandfather Forrest Bland. He's four months now which is just crazy and shows how behind I am in blogging these days! I wanted to share his birth story here so that I can always have it to look back on.

Pregnancy is really rough for me. Morning sickness till at least 14 weeks. Then the ok second trimester followed by a very painful third trimester-sciatica, back pain, extreme tiredness. I honestly couldn't wait for it to be over with! For some reason on Wednesday (the day before he was born) I instinctually knew he was coming the next day. I don't know how, it was strange. I was also determined. I spent the whole day cleaning- rearranging under the stairs, vacuuming, moving things around. After dinner, I told Duke I wanted to go get a pedicure (thought maybe the foot massage would help get the baby out?) And he said, "can't you do that tomorrow?" and in my head I just thought, tomorrow will be too late.

Anyways,  at 2:30 am I woke up to what felt like a really hard kick from baby. I woke up and was like whoa. And got up to go to the bathroom, went to bathroom and as soon as I stood up water started GUSHING out. It was like the faucet was turned on high blast. It was kind of crazy. I did not have my water break with Lucy until i was pretty far into labor, so that was a new experience. I sat back down and it stopped. Then I yelled for Duke. And he's so funny, he started acting like it was an emergency. I was like, "it's ok, theres no rush!" I wasn't having active contractions (although I'd had small contractions on and off for weeks) But at the same time lets get things ready.

Also as a side note, Duke was having a grueling week of flying and getting certain qualifications passed off and everyday was wishing I'd go into labor so he could catch a break and finally I was like, look! I did it! hahaha. Anyways I laid back on the bed while he got everything ready and we got to the hospital at 4. Lucy was happy to be up and tagging along. Duke's older brother Roy drove an hour down from Corona to pick Lucy up which was SO NICE! As cute/fun as it would have been for her to be there, it was nice to have some peaceful moments and just bond with baby when he got there one-on-one. So anyways, get up to Labor and Delivery and they're like, are you sure your water broke? And i'm like...umm yeah pretty sure I've lost about a gallon or 5 of water if I was guessing. Went back to triage and now I cannot remember what I was measuring when they checked me. I know I was at least a 3 maybe a 4. That's why I shouldn't wait so long to write this stuff down! I was a little disappointed bc I had made it to a 5 with Lucy before being in active labor.

first meal post birth^^

They brought us back to the delivery room and it was fun to tell Lucy that the baby was finally coming! She was content to watch shows on her ipad and my contractions were pretty mild and I was excited I still pretty comfortable. This whole birth experience was SO SO SO different from Lucy's. In a good way haha. Although I am happy I did Lucy's birth all natural, I am equally happy how I did Duke's birth. I opted for the epidural and I remember the guy came in around 6:15am (the weird things I remember?) by that point I was just starting to get uncomfortable with the contractions and so the epidural was very welcome. For the next 3 hours I honestly felt like I was on a vacation. ZERO pain, I facetimed with my good friend Taylor, put on my makeup, I was having the time of my life! The baby heart rate was starting to drop so I had to lie with a pillow under one side, basically there was only one position that baby's heart rate was happy and the epidural works by gravity, so I started becoming more uncomfortable on the higher side. I complained about it to the nurses and they were like, you might be ready to push. I'm like ummm NO WAY! It's been like 5 minutes and I haven't had time to watch any shows or anything! PS Lucy's labor was 19 hours...basically a whole day.

They checked me and were like, yep, you're ready! And I was like, dang it, I was just enjoying myself! This is the only part things weren't as peachy as predicted. Most people barely have to push to get their second baby out. My DR predicted I'd have him out in 5 minutes. Well... it took 40. And got a little scary for me. I was pushing as hard as I FREAKING could and I'm like HOW is he not here. I even felt his head and it was like RIGHT THERE!! They had several doctors in there and were even starting talking about getting the vacuum and forceps ready. I was like NOOOOO (in my head). Baby's heart rate was dropping and he was getting really stressed so they gave me medicine to stop the contractions and let him chill out for about 10 mins to get his heart rate back to normal. I was praying so hard he'd come out on his own.

Well long story short, he came out on his own! Yay. But they gave me an episiotomy. Boo. Before that the midwife who did it said she's given an episiotomy once in 10 years. Glad I could be her number 2 (not!).

He was having a hard time breathing so they placed him on me and I cut the cord! (Duke is very not into that). Then they immediately whisked him away. So I just sat there in my hospital bed getting stitched up. But about an hour later they brought him back to me and man, he was just perfect. I was shocked at all his hair and how dark it was!

lucy meeting duke for the first time

There is something so incredibly special about a baby fresh from heaven. He weighed in at 6 lbs 15 oz and 19 inches.

Duke Forrest McCrory was finally here! Although looking back now it seems like we just found out we were pregnant with him. And now he is here! And 4 months old! TIME STOP!!!

It's so fun being a family of 4 and I feel just a little more complete in life.