Coming Home

Quiet Time...

It is a miracle to have a baby, a pure miracle. I sat for hours in the quiet of the hospital room admiring this miracle that had been given to me. I don't know why anyone needs entertainment in the hospital...my new boy was good enough for me.

Meeting Cameron Argyle Christiansen

What a moment in our family! All the anticipation of waiting for this little person and to finally see if we had a boy or girl! We were all a little concerned about Taylor's response if we did have a boy, and she didn't let us down. As soon as the gender was discovered Taylor burst into tears with despair at another boy. She was pretty quick to console, a picture in this long list of pictures captured her special hug and cuddle from daddy. She was a little sad, but then quickly figured that a baby was a baby and she was so happy to cuddle and love him! So we were grateful that her reaction was short lived. Our decision to wait until the kids were at the hospital was definitely the best we had made. Mason is hovering in the back ground there, assuming he already knew what we were having and therefore didn't bother jumping in with the rest. :) He is a little nervous of his own excitement with babies, and so he was giddy and smiling from a distance. When Mike tried to sit down with Cameron and have Mason hold him, Mason just held out his hand and pointed to the baby and then came and hugged mommy. It was a sweet moment and one that I was very touched by. It was neat to see him so excited and so thrilled about the baby. Grandma and Aunt Kellie are here helping out and so it was fun to have so many visitors in the hospital and sharing in our joy. The pictures are a little out of order, but at this point I can't be bothered to switch them around--so enjoy them however they ended up on the page!

Labor&Delivery

After one last pregnancy picture--which ended up being about 10 days before actually giving birth! :)
It was super frustrating for the whole family to be past a due date, the kids were so anxious and getting so discouraged that baby was not coming out--EVER!! After scheduling an induction date of 12 March--and my desire to never ever be induced, all the tricks to jump start labor were in full force in our home. Monday the 5th of March I ran a bit on the treadmill and walked on incline, as fast as my chubby pregnant legs could carry me. I started having pretty regular and strong contractions throughout the day, but this had happened before and I didn't want to get my hopes up again. At dinner time I really wanted the chile verde I had made, and was in pain the whole dinner trying to finish my food. Then the contractions started to slow down and I got depressed, then they picked up again...it was so overwhelming! I headed to bed and thought to myself, "just go to sleep and like always you will wake up still pregnant with no contractions!" However, about 2 am I started to have contractions that I couldn't sleep through and would doze off in between each one. At 3:45 am I was awake, contracting, and just feeling, "blah." Mike's alarm started going off for him to go to work, and I was planning on telling him that I wasn't allowing him to go to work whether I was going to hospital or not. I decided about 20 minutes later--after going to the toilet--and for reasons I won't mention that we were in fact going to have a baby that day!! Pressure and contractions made me finally say the magic words, "Mike we are going in!" He made the phone call to work and we got all sorted to head in.
After Brennan came so fast--and the others were in no way slow births--we wanted to make it there with plenty of time to spare. Mike tried to drive as carefully and quickly to the hospital as he could. We got there, got set up in a room and Mike was able to take a pre-baby picture!! I was actually only a 7 and about 80% effaced, with no water breakage yet...so things were good. They got me all hooked up and we decided to go ahead and have them break the water to get the rest of the show going. I was a quick 10 cms and fully effaced, ready to push. That is when things got interesting and a little scary. Baby had heart rate drop and would not recover for longer than the doctor liked, I was suddenly headed out of the laboring room and headed to the OR for an emergency C-section. At this point Mike was left behind, I didn't know why they weren't letting him come, I know that the look of terror in my eyes made him frantic beyond belief. We got into the OR, and they hooked me up to the monitors to check on baby again. We were so relieved and grateful to see that the heart rate had increased, and the emergency part of things wasn't as frantic. Because I don't do an epidural they would have had to just knock me out and the thought was terrifying that I would miss our last little person being born into this world. Just way to may emotions and thoughts to deal with at one time!
They went ahead and monitored me and baby in the OR for about 10 minutes and since the heart rate was back to 120-140 and staying there we would be able to go back to the laboring room and start pushing again. When I got back Mike was adorable in his little scrubs all ready to go--they had him ready to come in, but he had to wait for a certain time. I know Mike and I know that he was so worried about me--cause I think he loves me tons. ;)





We did some more contracting while the doctor got set up again for pushing, and starting pushing again. About 20 minutes later the doctor informs me that my cervix is back--not effaced fully--and that pushing is not an option because of risks and dangers. WHAT?! I didn't even know this was possible! So I had to labor for awhile, the nurse I had was a godsend and got me into positions to help things move along. I have to say this was the most mentally challenging labor I have had, just because I felt like I had done something wrong or wasn't handling the pain as well as I would have liked. Even though those around you tell you that you are doing a wonderful job it is hard to believe them at the moment. Then the time came when I knew that I definitely needed to push. After just another short stint of time baby came and I heard Mike say with such a proud voice, "It's a BOY!"
What a joy and relief to be done! Mike is such an amazing partner to have right there with me and giving me the confidence and love I need. He is truly my best friend and I don't think there is a time in my life that I feel that more than when we are right there laboring and anticipating a new baby. I also thought it was fantastic that Mike was dressed the part for the occasion after the C-section scare, I personally think that he would be one sexy doctor, but I will take my man in uniform as well!


















Our 7lb 7 oz, 20.5 inch lovely boy arrived at 7:37 a.m. and looked immediately like his older brothers Brennan and Carter, which is fine by us because they are quite a handsome bunch! We had a lovely cuddle with our new son while the doctors finished all their needed 'mending' with mommy. Mike got to do all his daddy duties with cutting the cord and monitoring all the nurses to make sure their work was being done properly. It is actually amazing how great you feel after the baby is born. Mike thought my little picture with my thumbs up was before giving birth--and I quickly reminded him a thumbs up only means we have had another successful delivery and mom is happy again!