Introducing Baby Beau!!!

Baby Beau Charles was born 3/9/11 (just 1 day overdue) at 10:06pm at Banner Desert Hospital. He was 6 lbs 15 oz (soooo tiny!) and 20 inches long. We had another successful VBAC that went very smoothly with no complications with me or Beau! He is such a sweet and healthy little baby and so far looks like a mix of both of his brothers. 

The delivery was amazing! It was nothing like my last two because I actually went into labor on my own this time! At my OB appointment that morning (10:40am), I was at a discouraging 1 cm and 50% effaced so they stripped my membranes and scheduled me to be seen in two days. As you can imagine, I was bummed and was planning on having a repeat Dane delivery scenario (being 9 days overdue and having to be induced).

So, Ben and I went to lunch at Sweet Cakes (yum!) to try and lift my spirits. During lunch, my contractions kept coming and were continuing to get stronger and more consistent. They were clocking in at about 10 minutes apart, but since I had never really gone into labor before, I was very skeptical that they were real labor contractions so I just tried to ignore them as much as I could.

As the day progressed, so did the contractions and they were starting to get REALLY uncomfortable! I kept asking my sister Jen if I was just being a baby or if they really do hurt this bad because they felt exactly like the contractions I had when I was induced with Pitocin in the past. She said that they do hurt, but you get used to it and they may or may not be dilating you even if it feels like they should. That must have been what was happening to me because the night before I went to the gym and walked/ran on the treadmill (yes, I was getting all sorts of crazy looks at the gym!) for an hour and had what I thought was pretty painful and consistent contractions all night long so I thought for sure at my appt I would be more than a 1, but as you know, I wasn't. So, I just kept keeping track and tried to be strong.

My sister-in-laws, Katie and Tamsin came to stay with us so that they could watch our boys when it was time to go to the hospital. My dad was also in town to work and to hopefully be here for baby Beau's arrival. So with all of these visitors, I was feeling a little pressure to have this baby ASAP! So me, Katie, Tamsin, and the kids went on a walk to try and stimulate more contractions. The walk was miserable...it was hot and the contractions were getting worse and worse...I don't know how I made it back home! But, right when we got back it was time for our routine Ampa visit outing to Peter Piper Pizza with the Ropers. There I tried to put on a good face, but I was not doing well at all at this point. The contractions were consistently 5 minutes apart and after suffering through an hour or so there so the kids could play, I was at my breaking point and decided that it was time to go to the hospital because the pain was like torture!

So, we hurried home and packed our hospital bags and sped off! I was convinced that they were going to send us home even though my contractions were consistently 4 minutes apart and hurting like crazy! Fortunately, they didn't send us home...they did the exact opposite! I was at a 5 and 90% effaced and actively progressing! They rapidly admitted me and frantically paged the anesthesiologist to get me my epidural because they new I was going to have a baby soon! By the time I finally got my epidural I was a 7 and 100% effaced and about 45 minutes later it was time to push! After a few short pushes our sweet baby Beau was born! It was such an amazing experience and we are sooooo happy that our little angel is here!

Jen and my dad made it just in time for Beau's arrival!

The boys were SO excited to meet their new brother!

Aunt Katie, Aunt Tamsin, Emma, and Uncle Sam came to visit too!

I can't believe that I am now a mother of 3 healthy, adorable little boys! I couldn't be happier...even though I am out numbered:)

A short 24 hours later, we were on our way home!

Welcome home baby Beau!!! We love you!