He’s Here!

Blake Christopher Morton :)

I know this is a little late, but it's been a crazy 2 weeks!  Blake Christopher Morton was born on Wednesday, November 30^th at 10:07 in the morning, weighing a whopping 8 lbs 10 oz (with the epidural not working) and measuring at 22 inches in length!  We Mortons couldn’t be happier to have the 4^th member of our family finally here with us. 

We managed to get through Thanksgiving without having the baby like I hoped.  In fact, the day before we had both our families over here for Turkey Day, Brian and I went to my weekly OB appointment and scheduled with her my induction for the following Wednesday and going into the hospital the night before just like we had to do when we had Dominic.  This mostly made me relieved to know when I would be leaving Dominic and be able to finalize plans with my sister and mom for taking care of him since I actually knew when I would be leaving and the circumstances surrounding that.  Yes, I know I’m a control freak. However, it also stressed me out a bit because the pressure was on to get everything ready for Stephanie to stay here with Dominic while hosting Thanksgiving the following day, and getting the house ready for Christmas before we left.  I thankfully was able to get everything done that I needed to and the stress did not send me into labor. 

On Tuesday, Brian came home from work at lunch time since we were waiting to hear from Northside about what time to come in.  They called me around 1:00 and said to come in at 4:00.  My mom came over just after Dominic woke up from his nap to watch him until Stephanie could relieve her that evening after she was done at her volunteer job.  I was honestly expecting to have to go to the hospital a little later in the evening, so I felt a little rushed as we left.

When we got to the hospital, unlike last time, it was very empty at the check-in area.  They took us to our room where they had me fill out a bunch of paperwork, insert an IV line (which the nurse had a difficult time doing) and made me eat dinner early since I wouldn’t be able to eat, drink, or go to the bathroom for 2 hours right after they inserted the Cervidil.  The Cervidil is used to “ripen my cervix” so it would be thinned out before they gave me the Pitocin to induce me the following morning that would actually induce me.  However, with Dominic, the Cervidil sent me into labor in the middle of the night, so I had a feeling it might do the same thing this time.  Brian had to go back home briefly to put Dominic’s car seat in Stephanie’s car and take care of some things.  Of course, during that time, I started having bad contractions (or what I considered bad at the time).  It freaked me out that Brian wasn’t there and my contractions were only 1 to 2 minutes apart, but it turned out that I was still 14 hours away from having the baby. 

Not long after Brian returned, they pulled the Cervidil out to help slow down my labor and also went ahead and gave me the epidural in case I needed it soon.  My doctor was hoping that I wouldn’t have the baby until she arrived in the morning, and I preferred her to deliver the baby too.  I was feeling pretty good, alternating between sleeping and playing on my iPhone (i.e., checking my email and Facebook).  Then I started getting more and more feeling back into my legs.  The nurses told me that was actually good, but by the time my doctor got there in the morning and broke my water (to bring on the hard labor), I could feel everything.  They tried to give me more of the epidural as the contractions became increasingly excruciating, but it didn’t help at all, and I’ve honestly never been in such pain in my life.  It was absolutely horrible.  When it came to pushing, it was insanely difficult, and I didn’t know it at the time, but Brian told me later that the baby almost got stuck at the very end because his shoulders were too big to fit through.  

Yes, somehow I gave birth to an 8 lb 10 oz baby...with epidural not working

When they told me the baby’s weight, 8 lbs 10 oz, it made a lot of sense as to why I was in so much pain.  This kid was HUGE!  Dominic, on the other hand, had been only 7 lbs 1 oz with the epidural working properly, such a big difference.  At the ultrasound they predicted that Blake would be 7 to 7 ½ lbs at 40 weeks.  Obviously, they were way off!  Thank God we decided to induce as week early instead of waiting another week and having an even bigger baby. 

just after birth

Daddy, Mommy, and Baby - just after birth

The sad part was that I was in so much pain with Blake that I hardly was able to hold him afterward.  I was extremely weak and tired and felt like I may drop him as a result.  Then they took Blake to do tests, and I asked Brian to stay with him because I didn’t want them to take Blake away and not bring him back to us the way they did with Dominic when they took him to the NICU.  My parents and sister came to the hospital while I was in labor.  I had texted them before my water broke (pre-pain), but by the time they got there I was in so much pain I refused to let them in the room.  They were thrilled to come in and see the baby right after he was born though.  Stephanie had dropped Dominic off at school and came straight to the hospital.  Then by the time she had visited with Blake, Brian, and me, it was time to go pick up Dominic at school, so that worked out absolutely perfectly. 

Daddy and son 

Holding my precious, new son

view of the famous Northside Hospital Christmas tree from our hospital room

People keep asking where Blake's name came from.  Well, Brian and I had had Dominic's name picked out since before we were married but didn't have another boy's name chosen.  We debated for the first 15 weeks or so of my pregnancy over the name and was narrowed it down to Brian's pick and mine (Blake).  I've liked the name for a long time, and we wanted to something that was a bit uncommon but not weird.  We each liked the other's choice but preferred our own.  Brian and I were basically at an stalemate for several weeks until Brian finally (and thankfully) caved since he acknowledged that I was the one carrying the baby and giving birth (unbeknownst to us at the time how horrific the delivery would end up being). Before Blake's birth, I did ask Brian a few times if he wanted to change Blake's name to something else, but he said that he was actually really happy with the name.  

As far as the middle name, Christopher, goes, this name covered a lot of bases.  First of all, it's my brother's name and also encompasses Brian's sister Christina's name too.  Secondly, as a Catholic the tradition is to have a saint's name.  In my family that is our middle name (mine was Lindsay Ann after St. Ann/Anne).  Dominic skipped that tradition as his middle name is Conway like Brian's as well as his dad's middle names, which worked out since Dominic is a saint's name itself.  Brian was actually the one who pushed for Christopher because he's always liked that name.  He would have wanted it for a first name if it wasn't such a common name to begin with.  Since Blake is such a short name, we thought Christopher worked well with it too.  So much goes into the name! 

Anyway, the rest of the day of Blake's birth is a bit fuzzy as a lot happened.  Soon after the delivery, they moved us up to the recovery room where we would be for the remainder of the hospital stay.  The room was very tiny in comparison to the room we stayed in with Dominic, but it did have a great view of the Northside Hospital Christmas tree, which I loved.  It really reminded me what a perfect time of year it is.  Getting our family's latest addition at such a family-oriented time of the year is very fitting.    

When we finally got upstairs to my room, as we waited for Blake to get out of his tests in the nursery, we found out that someone had stolen my credit card number.  What a nice way to say “Happy Birthday” to Blake, right?  Brian was nice enough to handle that for me.  I was already exhausted and still in a lot of pain, so it made me feel a lot better once Blake came to our room and got to stay with us. 

introducing Dominic to his new, little brother

Loving his little brother already

"Show me more of the bay-bay!"

Best big brother ever!

Our happy family of four!!!! :)

Then that afternoon my parents and Stephanie brought Dominic to see us and meet his new, little brother!  When they walked in the door, Dominic looked at me with confusion and then came over and gave me a big hug.  It made me feel so much better.  I really missed him the last 24 hours, so his smiling face was extremely reassuring.  After that we showed him “Baby Blake” who Dominic affectionately keeps referring to as “Bay-Bay.”  The first thing Dominic did was kiss his little brother.  Yes, these two are going to be best friends for life! 

snuggling with Daddy

What's better than a sleeping baby on your chest?

The next morning we talked to the pediatrician who said it was fine for us to take Blake home a day early.  We really wanted to get back to Dominic, plus the hospital beds are not the most comfortable.  

Leaving the hospital with Blake!

all ready to get home...in his Santa hat!

When we got home, Dominic seemed very happy to see us and had even told Stephanie "Mama, Dada, Baby" so he knew we were with the baby.  As emotional as I was at the time, I was ecstatic to have our family of four back together under 1 roof.  There's no better feeling in the world!  It's truly "the most wonderful time of the year!"  I'm nervous about juggling everything and everyone, but now I feel like we're a true family!  

"Welcome home, Baby Blake!"