Going home

Look at how tiny Zachary is in his carseat!

How tiny in Makayla's arms.

Joseph is "holding" (you can see the adult hand in there) Zachary, while Matthew gives him his binkie.

Sweet Joseph face holding a sweet Zachary.  Funny how big their binkies look compared to their head!

So many little hands wanting to touch the baby.

haha, funny face on Zachary.

Sweet baby with his daddy.

cute Matthew and Zachary.

The many faces of Zachary.

Didn't like the swing the first try.

Sweet little head.

Bilirubin lights are no fun.

She can't keep her eyes off him.

What?  you want me to smile?

how about this?

There we go.

and my nose wrinkle.

Sweet sleeping face.

Bilibed....so glad to be done with it.  He didn't need it as long as joseph, but it wasn't fun...They even threatened him needing to go back to the hospital if his levels went up again (they went up the first night on the bed.)  So we pumped him full of formula & kept him on that bed the whole day.

Close up!

Enjoying daddy being home, building blocks.

The twins were hopping around like frogs.  I got a cute video.

Of course they only look one at a time.

Cheese!  They are wearing the shirts Grandma & Grandpa Stephenson brought home from Rome.

Fun to watch siblings play.

Mad face for making him turn his head. LOL.  Seriously I am still laughing about it.

Tummy time!

more fun with sister.  she's telling him stories.

We took down the cribs.  Now we have a race car bed & a "train" bed (thomas sheets)

Tummy time! and getting some natural sun.

Matthew watching Zachary so patiently.

Other hospital pictures

Sweet little burrito.

Those cheeks!

First time with a smart phone in the hospital...I enjoyed taking selfies with Zachary.

I can still hear Matthew's little voice saying "cuuute.  Zach cuuute."  (Joseph in Orange, Matthew in Blue)

Two very excited brothers!

Very content sister.

feeling how soft he is.

Biggest brother.

Very excited Michael.

Hangin' out in my room.

The boys found a fun hiding spot!

Introducing Zachary John Stephenson, his birth story

First of all, my doctor was out of town from week 38 until the day after my due date.  So I wouldn’t have minded being late.  But, of course, the end of pregnancy is such a mind game, that really, I was tired of being pregnant (and being in pain), so it didn’t matter who delivered.  The Thursday before my due date I was awake from 2:45-5:45am having painful contractions every 15 minutes.  It was an intense pain on my left side.  But, when my contraction was done, I was fine.  I needed Rob to push on my back during them.  When I started listening to my birthing music (same music as with the twins), I fell asleep & my contractions stopped.  I told Rob I wasn’t sure if he was going to work that day, but I felt fine once they stopped, so he went in late.  I went to the park with my friend Catherine Fisher (and sat in a camp chair the whole time) and had a few contractions there, but not painful.  That afternoon my visiting teacher (whose husband is in the bishopric with Rob) called and said she’d been thinking about me all day and wondering how I was doing, and asked if she could bring dinner.  I told her that would be wonderful and that I thought I was going to the hospital that morning, but ended up being a false alarm. (I had a plan for dinner, but not a lot of motivation to get off the couch.)  She brought taco fixings and all the kids loved it!  I had contractions through dinner where I was making faces, but weren’t as painful as that early morning.  I wondered why I was having so many contractions during dinner.  Why was I taking so long to eat?  I told Rob I wasn’t sure if he was going to bishopric meeting that night, but when it was time to leave, things hadn’t progressed, so I told him to go (common theme).  I texted my neighbor, Pam Harris to let her know it might be that night, but nothing was happening right now, so if she could keep her phone by her so she could come watch the kids while we went to the hospital, that would be great. 

Around midnight (I’m just guessing on the time), I started having intense contractions 10-12 minutes apart.  Same place- left side.  I didn’t feel like they were close enough together, but by 1am I was tired of the pain and occasionally they got as close as 7 mins apart.  I told Rob I didn’t want to be at home anymore.  I wanted to be at the hospital.  Funny side note: Rob had been saying since that morning he didn’t want me to have the baby at home, so make sure we went to the hospital in time.  But, once I said I wanted to be at the hospital, Rob said, we don’t want to get there too early. 

 I called our neighbor & Rob made a bed for her on the couch.  I told her that I hoped it wasn’t a false alarm, I didn’t want to be sent home.  When I walked out to the car, I got hit with another contraction and was glad we were leaving. The drive to the hospital wasn’t bad, since it was the middle of the night.  The hospital was under construction, so parking was limited.  There was still a labor and delivery spot left at the front of the hospital.  I think I had another contraction in the middle of the road, but managed to make it across.  Rob suggested I ride in the wheelchair every time we passed an open one, but I wanted to walk so that I was doing everything to keep things moving along.  When the elevator doors opened and we stepped on the labor & delivery floor, I started crying.  All the pictures of the newborns and hormones I guess.  When we got to the check in desk, she took one look at me and ask if I wanted to check-in in my room. I said yes and was so grateful!  By the time we made it to my room, I wished I had the wheelchair.  I got hit with another contraction right when we stepped in the room.  I leaned into Rob in a hug with my head resting on his chest, wishing I had a more comfortable position to be in.  The nurse asked if I felt like pushing.  I said no & was happy to get in bed once it passed.

She checked me to see how dilated I was.  I was at a 6 with bulging waters.  “yay!” I said, “I get to stay!”  She went to the hallway and called out “She’s at a 6 with her sixth baby!”  Suddenly 4 nurses were in my room rushing around getting things ready.  Crazy because I needed 4 hours to get the antibiotics for the strep b.  They called the anesthesiologist and asked me a million questions while I was having contractions.  The anesthesiologist was one I had before, I think with Makayla.  He started my epidural before I even signed the consent form.  I was very glad of this because I was in so much pain.  (I have no idea how far apart the contractions were at this point…once I got to the hospital, I stopped timing them & didn’t look at the monitor.)  He said the epidural should take effect in 2-3 contractions.  Well, after 3 contractions, it still wasn’t kicking in, so he gave me another shot of the stuff through the tubing (no more pokes).  That kicked it in almost instantly.  Ahhh, a big sigh of relief and relief from the pain.  Then I felt pressure & wasn’t sure if that meant it was time to push or not, so I told the nurse.  She checked me and said I was at a 10.  So she left to call the doctor (luckily he lived 2 minutes away).  I was glad that I didn’t have to push& wasn’t in pain anymore.  He arrived & looked very tired. (It was the middle of the night, but the nurses said he had delivered a ton of babies in the last 24 hours.)  He wasn’t in the room that long & was nice enough, so it was ok that my dr wasn’t there.  I pushed a few times & his shoulders got stuck, like with Michael.  I wasn’t surprised, but they were, despite me warning them. 

 Zachary John Stephenson was born around 3:15am, an hour after I got to the hospital.  They were surprised he was “so big” at 8 lbs 4 oz & 18 & ½” long.  “where were you hiding him in there?”  Because of the mild shoulder dystocia, I had 2^nd degree tearing.  It was a painful recovery, but nothing like how bad the twins recovery was.  I enjoyed the hospital stay & the food was amazing (an omlette with mushrooms, sausage, and feta cheese!!) and the kids enjoyed visiting.  Rob brought them by several times.  Matthew kept saying “cuute.  Baby zach cuute.”  The hospital provided one guest meal & since Rob wasn’t ever there at a meal time, he suggested I invite a friend.  So I invited my friend Catherine (who I went to the park with).  We had a nice lunch, though the doctors & nurses kept interrupting ;) Zachary even had his circumcision during that time. 

The last thing to note is that with the other kids the hospital sent me home with a diaper bag & formula.  This time, nothing.  I wonder if its cuz he nursed all.the.time in the hospital.  With the twins I felt like I had to set them down when I wasn’t feeding or burping them because there were 2 of them.  This time around, I cuddled him a ton in the hospital bed.  And now I’m at the frazzled mom of 6 stage.  (Actually, now that he’s 2 months and can settle himself down for a nap, its not as bad, but this is definitely the busiest time of my life. And yes, having one newborn is way easier than two.  But now I have 2 toddlers and 3 other siblings to give my time to.)