Stockton LaVell Keele: A Birth Story

I thought it was about time I shared Stockton's birth story. It has been a crazy whirlwind of becoming a mom of three, the holidays and moving into tax seasons and I have honestly not had the energy/presence of mind/time/ sheer willingness (read: small bout of postpartum depression) to actually sit down and crank out this post; but the time has officially come.

First some background. I realize that I never actually did a pregnancy post but that is something that I am just going to have to accept and move on.

Pregnancy bullet points:

• I found out I was pregnant on February 7, 2019
• I actually stared throwing up on January 25th but the pregnancy test came back negative at time as it was too soon (that's right, I was already throwing up two weeks before I actually had a positive pregnancy test. A little foreshadowing on how this pregnancy was going to go)
• I decided to not find out the baby's gender this time around (I say "I decided" because no one was happy with that decision but it was the best and I would totally do it again)
• I threw up more than the other two pregnancies (didn't know that was possible)
• I was significantly more tired than the last two pregnancies
• I was significantly bigger than the last two pregnancies
• I went crazy health and environmentally conscious and although that has subsisted quite a bit since Stockton has been born, I have been forever changed by it
• This was my first time being really pregnant during the summer and it was the worst!

Back to the birth story

As I had never gone into labor by myself before, we were pretty sure this one was going to be an induction as well so I was all set to be induced at 39 weeks. Although I had so wished that the baby would come early (because I was so beyond DONE) being induced is so freaking convenient. Unlike my previous two inductions, however, they were too busy at the hospital so they didn't have me coming until about 1:30 PM. I dropped KK at preschool and then headed to my parent's house to drop off the car seats and the kids overnight bags. 

Here is the last picture before going to the hospital

 and here is a fun collage of the pictures before going to the hospital with all three kids for reference. I was freaking COW

Spencer had gone into work that day since we didn't know what time we would go in so we just met at the hospital. 

 another thing that was different from this pregnancy was that we decided that we just wanted it to be the two of us at the hospital this time. In the past we had my mom, Julie and Laura there but we felt we wanted that moment by ourselves this time around. We kept everyone updated through group texts and Facebook messenger and even that was perfect because now I can look at it and get the exact times for everything

Our room had the BEST view. Of course, you can't really see it in the background of this picture but it is another one of those things that it is what it is. 

 We had a couple of different nurses during the labor and delivery; this was our first (and my favorite) Lidia. She was the one that got me all set up and going

 2:30 PM all hooked up and ready. "That is literally the happiest I have seen Ana for 10 months!" direct quote from Julie when we sent her this picture

 My contractions were progressing too quickly but the baby wasn't getting in the right position (which made me super sick). The solution: they turned the pitocin WAY down and I had to put a giant peanut-looking exercise ball between my legs. It was super awkward but it worked like a charm.

 8:32 PM let's do the 'dang' thing

 Stockton LaVell Keele born  at 8:46 PM 7 lbs 19 in

 So happy to not be pregnant anymore (I had been pregnant almost the entire year at that point)

 Announcement picture for our families.

He had so much hair on his back and shoulders, he looked like a little monkey

Once he had been bathed the next morning, we were able to truly able to see just how impressive his full head of hair was

 Meeting his namesake, J LaVell Swenson. I will never forget the look on Grandpa's face when I told him the name

He was pretty tongue-tied when he was born so the doctor took the opportunity to clip his tongue while we were still at the hospital, and I took the opportunity to take a shower

 Another thing that was different is that Spencer got to cut the umbilical cord. He hadn't gotten to do that with the other two and it was such a unique thing this time around. A problem that we had at the hospital was that Stockton was a really tired boy so he just wanted to sleep instead of eating. We would have to get him naked so he would be cold to try to get him to wake up to eat. Look how cute he is though!

Since we hadn't been moved to the recovery room until after they were asleep, the kids didn't get to meet their new brother until after school the next day

 The Little Guy was so surprised, he thought it was a girl for sure (and to be honest wasn't quite prepared to have a little brother. He already was a pro at having a little sister after all)

 After everyone left, Spencer and I got to spend a peaceful afternoon with our new son before going home

 We didn't get discharged until about 11:30 (which made me seriously regret my decision of trying to go home early. Had I known, we would have just stayed until the next day) and because we had driven separate cars to the hospital, I found myself driving home by myself with a newborn baby in the back (whom I couldn't see in the pitch dark) 24 hours after giving birth. Yeah, I will NOT be doing that again and don't really recommend it. It was horrifying

But we made it home

The kids came home the following day and we got to start our lives as a family of five. Little did we know, we had just come home with a package of joy and sunshine (more on that later)