8.27.2015

Porter James Donner

I need to document Porter's birth story before I forget! With the craziness of moving to Lubbock, setting up my new classroom, and taking care of the most perfect baby, I haven't had time to write the birth story! Now that he is FINALLY (thanks to my brother Steven and Baby Wise) on a schedule, I can sit down and record the best day of my life - the day I became a mother!

From the time Porter was about 4 months along, he was measuring in the 97th percentile in every category. My doctor had me see a specialist, because she figured that Porter was going to be a gigantic baby and we had to decide the best way to deliver him. Either I was going to deliver him or I was going to need a c-section. We decided to induce at 39 weeks to give me the best chance of delivering him myself.

On Monday, July 27th, Parker and I checked into the hospital at 10:00 pm. I was nervous the whole night before and couldn't sleep. I tried to nap on Monday in preparation for Tuesday, but that was not even close to happening! I kept folding and refolding his clothes, checking the hospital bags, and trying to maneuver my gigantic self around. When we checked into the hospital, we were brought right to the room I'd deliver him in and they gave me a sleeping pill to help me relax. Parker and I watched our current (recently finished) show on Netflix - Friday Night Lights. Parker was super excited about the snack room and felt like he was on vacation.

The nurse hooked me up to an IV and gave me something to help me dilate. I was pretty comfortable, and once the sleeping pill kicked in... I was out!



In the morning they started me on Petocin and I told myself and everyone else that I wasn't going to worry about the epidural until my doctor came to break my water. That lasted like 30 minutes. Once my contractions started, I turned into a monster and needed that relief that only a sweet sweet epidural can bring. 



My doctor came around 8 am to break my water and things started progressing from there. I didn't feel any of the contractions from there on out, which was awesome. I know some women go through this process without medication, but I am not that kind of woman. Around 12:30 the nurse said that we were ready to start pushing. That's when things got interesting...

Parker, my sweet husband whom I love dearly, almost passed out and had to lay down and sip on juice for the first portion of the pushing episode. My mom ended up holding my other leg and Parker stayed up top as to avoid anything that would make him light headed. His job was to push that magical button that recharged my epidural every 10 minutes. 

My wonderful doctor (that I have a girl crush on) came back around 1:00 geared up to deliver the baby. At 1:22, my sweet Porter was born.


When the doctor placed him on my chest, I sobbed and sobbed. I have never felt that kind of happiness before in my entire life. I kept repeating, "I'm a mother. He's mine. I'm a mother." They took him away to clean him, measure him, and weigh him. Everyone was holding his/her breath to hear how much he weighed. The doctor had predicted he would be a 10 pound baby. When the nurse announced 9 lbs 0 oz, my doctor was totally bummed! She thought for sure she had just delivered a 10 pound baby! She was really funny and had made bets with the nurses before the delivery. I love her!


When they brought him back to me, I cried and cried and kept telling Parker, "I'm so happy! I'm so happy!" I'm tearing up as I write this! It felt so good to feel his sweet little body close to mine. He is perfect!


Parker and I are so grateful that his delivery went well and that he is a strong, healthy boy! I am grateful for the wonderful nurses that were so kind to us as first time parents. We still don't really know what we are doing!


We wanted to make sure that we weren't totally overwhelmed by visitors in the hospital, so we asked for only family to visit while we were there. I am really grateful we did that, because we were totally exhausted and I was in a lot of pain. HELLO! I just delivered a 9 pound human out of my body. I never understood having everybody come to the hospital to hold and touch your brand new baby when you and your husband are operating on very little sleep and mom's body is a total wreck.


My perfect sister-in-law, Aly, came to take some pictures for us. I am so grateful she did! She is so talented and captured our perfect boy's sweetness so well.


I love this picture of his first bath! He looks so hilarious and squishy. He still loves his baths. They really calm him down and help him settle before bedtime.


Porter had low blood sugar, so he had to be bottle fed once in the hospital. It was sweet to see Parker so eager to feed him and take care of him.


Here is our sweet boy ready to go home!

Now he is a big 4 week old boy that is the biggest blessing to our family! 






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