At approximately 11:22pm on Sunday night, March 24, just as we were turning out the lights to go to bed, I started to feel my first contractions. Not exactly sure if this was it or not, I grabbed my iPhone to start to time the contractions using the app I had downloaded days earlier. Sure enough, they had a definite start and end time and were actually coming 3 minutes apart. We learned in our birth class that when the contractions were three minutes apart, lasting a minute for a full hour, then it was time to go to the hospital. Well-they were three minutes apart and lasting a minute each. We had yet to give it an hour.
I texted my doula and after talking with her on the phone, and assessing the snowy weather outside, we determined we better head downtown. This was it! I was ridiculously excited, scurrying around the house to pack the last of our stuff, pausing for each contraction, posing for one last photo with Ginger, etc.
I will write my birth story but not sure I will share it on this blog. What I will tell you is that 26 hours later, Tuesday morning to be exact, I delivered McColl Stewart Fleming, weighing in at a whopping 8lbs, 3oz. Everyone was shocked at how big he was, especially me. I believed whole heartedly that I would be able to have a natural birth without intervention right up until I was in the thick of it. Then I had to be convinced over and over and over again literally until he came out.
Jeff has been the most amazing support throughout this pregnancy but I cannot describe how unbelievably amazing he was during the labor and delivery. For 26 hours, he hardly left my side and for 26 hours, he continuously told me I could do it, held my hands, stroked my head, saw things a spouse should never have to see, and more. I get weepy just thinking about what we went through together and have a hard time talking about it out loud. I am truly the luckiest girl in the world.
Since Tuesday, we have been parents. We are doing the best we can to figure this little man out. Feeding him, changing him, cheering when he poops, cheering when his poop changes, cheering when I finally am comfortable wiping his little package, shaking our heads in frustration when he won't stop crying after we try the only tricks we know to work, and smiling so big when we look down at this little being we created just the two of us. He is the cutest thing of course and we look forward to experiencing every part of what it means to be parents as Mac grows and grows.
Thanks to everyone for all the support you have shown us over these first days of his life. We truly have the best friends and family in the world. We cannot wait for all of you to meet and get to know this little guy.
I cannot end this post without mentioning our own parents. Kathy was here at our house while we were still in the hospital preparing our first delicious meals for us when we returned from the hospital. She brought us cupcakes in the hospital to celebrate Jeff's 31st birthday and Mac's birth. They returned several days later to bring us Easter dinner in the hospital. Another story for another day. They brought us so much cheer on a day when we needed it most. When we got home, Mac's first Easter gifts were awaiting him on our kitchen table. My parents came down on Sunday and helped us return home from our second stay in the hospital. My mom stayed on and has been cooking, cleaning, offering moral support and words of wisdom and guidance. I will throw something in my dirty clothes hamper only to find it has disappeared seconds later and is back in my closet and clean within the next couple of hours. She has helped me get out of the house daily on little errands to remind me that life is still going on around me even though my own life has changed so dramatically. Thank you, thank you, thank you to each of you for all that you have done for us and will continue to do. We love you.
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