Maddox's Birth Story

Maddox's birth story is a total 180 of Turner's birth story. If we have a 3rd child, I will take Maddox's birth story over Turner's any day!

Maddox's birth story starts around 4 pm on July 21st. I was 39 weeks pregnant and was hoping to have him that day. I had a scheduled doctor appt at 3:45. I prayed on the way to my appointment that I would have progressed from the week prior and that stripping my membranes would start labor. Tate and I love the number 21 so having him on the 21st would have just made it perfect we thought.

At my appointment, I hadn't progressed passed 3 cm which bummed me out. My doctor then stripped my membranes which was so uncomfortable. While stripping my membranes...she accidentally broke my water. All the sudden I felt a gush and my doctor looked at me and said 'Well, I just broke your water and I did not mean to do that'. She then left the room to call the hospital to let them know I would be on my way and to be ready for me. She then came back and told me to go home, grab my stuff and head to the hospital. She said with baby #2 they usually come faster.

She left the room to let me get dressed and put on a 'diaper' because I was still leaking. I didn't have service but was connected to wifi so I instantly texted Tate to leave work and go get Turner from daycare and texted my mom to leave to come to our house. Tate tried calling but with no service he couldn't hear anything I said so I was trying to hurry so I could leave the clinic and call him back.

I left the clinic at 4:15 and first called my mom as she hadn't checked her text messages and we needed her to get on the road. I then called Tate who had already left work to go get Turner. At this point, I was not having any contractions so I felt like we had some time. My doctor thought we should have had my mom pick up Turner from daycare and we should get to the hospital within an hour, but I wanted Tate to pick up Turner and see him before having the baby.

I went home and finished packing up the hospital bag with last minute items. I got everything else in order for my mom taking care of Turner. By the time Tate got home, around 4:50 pm, my contractions were about 7 minutes apart and not super strong. Tate made me just sit still so contractions wouldn't come too fast since we were waiting for my mom to get there to head to the hospital. I sat there, timed contractions, literally gave orders to Tate on what needs to go in the car and what needs to be done and played with Turner.

I soaked in every minute I had left with my baby. This picture was taken at 5:24 pm on 7/21. Contractions at this point were about 5 minutes apart and getting stronger.

I called my mom at 5:45 to see where she was at. I knew she needed to get there fast since my contractions were getting closer together and stronger. We went outside at 6 to wait for her. We tried to get a selfie family pic of 3 but Turner wasn't having it. My mom finally pulled up at 6:15. My contractions by this time were about 3-5 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute. I quickly went over everything with my mom for Turner in between my contractions...and then we kissed Turner goodbye and headed to the hospital. 

We got to the hospital, they were expecting us when we got to triage and they sent me straight to labor and delivery...after signing a few forms first of course. We were checked into our room at 6:40 pm. Nurses came in immediately as my contractions kept coming faster. By this point they were only 1 minute apart and I feel like I was not getting much of a break in between. 

One nurse was trying to get an IV in my arm and she was having trouble. I kept asking for the epidural and they kept telling me I had to wait until a whole bag of IV was in me....and considering the IV wasn't even hooked up yet, I was getting nervous that I wasn't going to get an epidural. After 2 failed attempts to get the IV in me, the nurse called in another nurse to get it in and they did in my hand vs my arm. During this process my delivery nurse Megan checked to see how far along I was and I was dilated 6 cm.

As each contraction kept coming, Megan got everything else set up for the baby. She also checked me again after this and I was dilated 8 cm and the IV was barely moving. As I kept asking for the epidural, the nurses kept giving Tate the look that 'it's too late, not going to happen'. Not much later I felt the need to push. I told Megan this and she immediately called in the doctor. 

I started pushing a little past 7 pm as I felt the need to. After much pushing, Maddox's heart rate was dropping so the doctor needed to use the vacuum to get him out. She only needed to use it once on him and out he came at 7:36 pm, less than 1 hour from being admitted. Tate immediately announced it was a BOY.

After Tate announced it was a boy, I just kept saying his name...Maddox James. I was so excited to have another boy and get to name him with a strong, cute name :) I was feeling so excited that Turner was going to have a best bud for life. 

After they cleaned him up, we immediately did skin to skin. I couldn't stop staring at him and thinking he looked nothing like Turner (not the case at all...but at that moment, I didn't think he looked like his brother at all). I kept looking over him to make sure he was OK. As I was checking out his toes, I thought I didn't see any toe nails and panicked thinking he had none. I checked out his fingers and noticed he did have finger nails. I kept telling Tate, 'he doesn't have any toe nails, he doesn't have any toe nails'. Tate kept reassuring me he did. I told the nurse I don't think he does and she looked and said he does. Sure enough, he does...they were just deep ;) haha.

Even though I didn't get my epidural...I would still take Maddox's birth over Turner's any day. I always said that the only way I wouldn't get an epidural was if it was too late...and sure enough, that is what happened. Pushing and delivering him...was not painful. The contractions is what was painful. It didn't even hurt to deliver the placenta after or being stitched up from my 2nd degree tear.

Maddox's birth was also different in that he didn't require a NICU stay like Turner did. Maddox got to stay in our room. We loved it. I felt like we asked many questions for being 2nd time parents but when we have never experienced this kind of hospital stay, it definitely was like being first time parents for the hospital part.  

After less than 48 hours of being born, we headed home to start the new chapter of our family of 4. Feeling very blessed and grateful for this new miracle that joined our family.