The Grants: August 2013

Our sweet baby boy finally made his debut last week! He was actually right on time, he was born on his due date of August 19, 2013. My Dad jokes that he is just like me in that when I was in high school I was never a minute early or a minute late for curfew, I was always in right on time. So Kason takes after me in that he wasn't a day early or a day late, just right on time. We had a little family pool going as to when he would be born and how much he would weigh. It was fun to see which family members were the closest or right on the dot, and guess who won when he would be born? Yep, my Dad, he guessed the due date using the curfew logic. I thought I would take a minute and write down Kason's birth story, I want to record it while it is still fresh in mind.

On Sunday, August 18 I began having contractions around 3:00 pm. I knew I was already dilated to a 3 and 60% effaced, so I knew that I could go into labor at anytime. We went to Jake's parent's house for dinner around 4:00 and the contractions continued. They were not painful contractions, they just felt like Braxton Hicks to me so I didn't think much of them. After dinner Jake and I decided to time the contractions to just see how regular they were. After an hour of timing, they were coming every 4-5 minutes. Jake's parents convinced us we needed to go to the hospital because I was in labor. ( I didn't think I was because the contractions didn't hurt at all!) Around 8:00 we went to the hospital. I was dilated to a 4 and still 60% effaced. They hooked me to the monitors to monitor the contractions. After an hour of monitoring I was still at a 4. The nurse said she would need to call my doctor to see if I should be admitted or not because my cervix hadn't changed. She said she would be very surprised if he sent me home because I was at a 4 and having very regular contractions. After ten minutes or so she came back and said I was being sent home because my cervix hadn't changed and I wasn't in any pain. Jake and I were very discouraged, we were hoping to be having the baby that night. The nurse told us as we left that she was surprised I was being sent home and that her and the other nurses were taking bets as to when I would be back.

At home I took shower and went to bed around 11:00. My contractions were still coming and they were becoming more painful. I was unable to sleep because every time I was about to relax, another contraction would hit. It wasn't too terribly painful, but just painful enough to keep me from sleeping. Around 1:30 I woke Jake up and told him I hadn't been to sleep because of the contractions. We called his Mom who used to be a maternal newborn nurse to see what she thought we should do. She said that my labor was progressing and that we should go back to the hospital. We headed back around 2:00 am. The nurses said they knew I would be back. They checked me again and this time I was dilated to a 5. I thought for sure I would be staying at the hospital this time. After an hour of monitoring I was still at a 5, but my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and they lasted a minute. As a side note: I think baby K knew what was coming because he was moving like crazy the entire night. The nurse laughed and told us she hoped he wasn't this hyper outside of the womb. Anyways around 3:30 she called my doctor and this time the doctor told us to stay! He said if I didn't dilate anymore by 5:00 to start me on Pitocin. Around 5:00 I had only dilated to a 5 1/2 so they started me on Pitocin. At that point the nurse told me I could get my epidural since I was at a 5. I told her I was doing okay and didn't need it yet. Well as soon as the Pitocin started going, the contractions got more painful. I thought I will tell her when she comes back. She didn't end up coming back until 6:00 with my doctor who wasn't supposed to show up until 7:00 to break my water. I told her I wanted the epidural and she said it would take the anesthesiologist a half an hour to get there. I told her that would be fine. The doctor broke my water and left the room. Well after that the contractions started coming hard and fast. I dilated from a 5 1/2 to a 9+ in half an hour. I was slightly freaking out that I wouldn't have enough time to get the epidural. The anesthesiologist showed up at 6:40 for the epidural, while he was giving it to me, I could tell the baby was coming. I told the nurse that and she hurried and got my doctor. After the epidural was in place, and the doctor rushed back to the room, I began pushing. I could still feel the contractions and the pushing because the epidural had not taken full effect yet. I pushed for half an hour and little Kason was born at 7:16 am on August 19, 2013. He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20 1/2 in. long. I was so glad that he only weighed about 8 lbs. I thought for sure he was going to be in the 9s. The women in Jake's family tend to have big babies, even the ones who marry into the family, so we thought for sure our baby would be big. The doctor even thought he would be in the 9s, but I had so much water, we were all wrong.

Baby Kason is now a little over a week and a half old. He is growing so much, and already looks so different from when he was born! He is such a sweet baby who has such a mild mannered personality. We love him so much!