The Birth of Maverick Wesley

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting I finally seemed to be in real labor. Around noon On Wednesday October 26th after meeting with our midwife Becky and having my membranes swept, taking 1/4 cup of castor oil, and then rotating between black and blue cohosh tincture I was having pretty strong contractions. They weren't really painful but they were crampy... I knew that I was 7cm dilated but that my cervix was still a little thick so with each contraction I told myself to open up and thin out and tried to visualize it.

Once the contractions started getting a little more painful (around 2:30 p.m.) I asked my mom to sit in bed with me and play with my hair while I did deep breathing. I called Rick and he came home just in case this was the real thing. At 3:00 I called Becky and told her they were pretty consistent but not too painful and she said to call her back by 4:00 or sooner if I wanted her to come over. Right around 4:00 they started getting more intense and so I called Becky and we decided she should come over. After I hung up they quickly became even stronger and close together. Becky arrived around 4:20 and she could tell that I was having serious contractions so she worked fast to get everything set up. Another midwife named Dina came over as well. It wasn't long after she got there that I had the sudden urge to push. I pushed about five pushes total while my mom and Jessica massaged my shoulders and gave me support. At 4:51 our baby was born right into Rick's arms: 9lbs 9oz, 22 inches long and a boy! We named him Maverick Wesley Rampton and we are totally in love.

The birth itself seemed like it was never going to happen, but once labor finally hit everything happened really fast. With Adelaide we took lots of pictures and even videotaped the birth; with Maverick we didn't have time for any of that, we didn't even have time to drop off Adelaide at a friend's house (don't worry she didn't watch it or anything, she miraculously slept through it all). I am so grateful that everything went so smoothly and for all the love and support... I am so excited to have this sweet, healthy, strong, perfect baby boy as a part of our family :)

Our first moments with Maverick.

So in love.

Maverick always has his little hands by his face. So cute.

Mimi getting Maverick dressed for the first time.

Proud Daddy.

Adelaide awoke from her nap to a new addition to the family.

Our family of four.

Me and my two babies.

Our midwife Becky with Maverick.

So happy to have this little man in my arms :)

P.S. We had Maverick's check up today with our midwife and after one week he now weighs 10 lbs 3oz... Becky said my milk must be pure cream. We have one big boy on our hands :)

Longest Month Ever

I finally had my baby! I say finally because honestly since October 1st I have felt that every day was the day that I would go into labor. I started having false labor at an Oktoberfest party on the 1st of the month and it got me all excited that I would be having the baby soon. With Adelaide I never really had any false labor; my water broke when I was four days passed my due date and I had her 17 hours later. So this time whenever I had any contractions I really got my hopes up.

I had been given three different due dates throughout my pregnancy, Oct. 5th, October 9th, and October 13th. As each passed I got really discouraged and just wanted to meet this baby! Around the time of my last due date I was 4cm dialated so I thought that was promising ( my mom thought so too and flew out to Flagstaff to be with me for the birth). A week later I was 6cm dilated and finally 13 days after my due date I was 7cm dilated. I was so close to going into labor but for some reason it just wasn't happening. I have seriously never been so discouraged in my life and felt like the baby was never going to come out; it seems silly now but each night I would pray that I would go into labor and each night it failed to happen I would wake up and sob. During all this time I was doing everything I possibly could to go into labor including but not limited to walking a lot, taking castor oil (SO gross), driving to a lower elevation and back, eating spicy foods, taking black and blue cohosh, and I had my midwife sweep my membranes four separate times. Because I was getting so close to 42 weeks we went to the hospital to have a Bio Physical Profile done. Everything looked great (and they actually gave me a new, fourth due date- October 21st) but the doctors still wanted us to be induced and gave us until Thursday the 27th. So Wednesday the 26th we really gave it our all to have the baby and did all the natural induction techniques in a row and prayed a lot and I was so lucky because it actually worked... Next post I will write about the actual birth :)

At the Bio Physical Profile Appointment.

It was so embarrassing having to sit in a wheelchair while being transferred to radiology... Plus I was trying to get this baby out and needed to be walking as much as possible! :)

Sickest. Stuff. Ever.

OVERDUE.

At least my huge belly served me well as a table.

Tick Tock

Well, I'm officially past all three of my due dates and I am ready and excited for this baby to come out! Adelaide is in Phoenix with her grandparents, the house is clean, the baby clothes and blankets are washed, and now I'm just playing the waiting game. I started knitting a baby blanket last night to help pass the time and I'm already almost half way done which shows just how much time I have on my hands without miss Adelaide around. I have also been walking a lot and have spent way too much time on pinterest and the internet in general. My midwife came by today and everything is looking good... I am four centimeters dilated and she thinks I will go into labor soon. I hope she's right. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers and hopefully I'll be posting some baby pictures soon! :)

Full Term

I haven't really been keeping track this pregnancy of what week I'm at, but today I actually checked and I am 37 weeks... technically considered full term:) I'm not feeling like I will have the baby anytime soon but it is nice to know that if I do go into labor the baby is big and strong enough (already estimated at 6.5-7 lbs) to come into the world and I could go forward with my plans to have the baby at home with my midwife. This pregnancy has been pretty amazing so far and I can't wait to meet this little baby. I'm also really excited to find out if I am having a boy or a girl. I just made a poll on our sidebar for you to guess the gender, so please do; I'm anxious to know what the consensus is because I seriously have no strong feeling either way. Also, we still like the names Maverick or Cash for a boy, and Clementine or Caroline for a girl but we are having a hard time coming up with middle names so any suggestions would be appreciated!

Week 37 Belly Pictures:

East Coast Labor Day

Rick and I decided it would be a good idea to take a little trip before baby #2 arrives next month so over Labor Day weekend we headed out to the east coast to visit Rick's sister Meg and her husband Benj. They picked us up in Newark, we spent a couple days in New York, drove to Boston and spent a couple days there and then flew home. It was a whirlwind of a trip but we had so much fun. Since Meg and I are pregnant Benj bought an app that maps out clean and public bathrooms in NY which we appreciated :)

I am so used to travelling with Adelaide that this trip seemed so easy and relaxing!

I love Central Park.

More Central Park.

I have been bad about taking belly shots. But here I am at 35 weeks.

NY Temple.

Walking the Freedom Trail in Boston. Really dorky, I know.

Mike's Pastry!

Yummy Cannoli.

We randomly were there during a Stanley Cup Parade in downtown Boston... if you look closely you can see it in the background.

More Boston.

Thanks Meg and Benj for such a fun trip! They are seriously the cutest and the best hosts/tour guides/drivers ever:)

Car Show

Over the weekend we headed downtown to check out the Route 66 car show. It was pretty awesome. Here are some pics with our favorite cars:

Rick with a corvette.

Old person bus.

Original Farmers Market truck.

Adelaide loved this Chevrolet.

Germaphobes

Today we had a tour of the local hospital and filled out some paperwork in case we have to be transferred during the birth. We don't go to hospitals too often but Rick and Adelaide loved the complimentary face masks and I think we practically cleaned them out of their antibacterial hand sanitizer.

These two make me laugh.