Matix Daniel Merrell

  At 2:00 on Monday morning, I woke up to my water breaking. I instantly realize i had no control and i wasn't wetting the bed so I tapped on Chad and whispered, "sweetheart, i think my water just broke." He leaped out of bed, slammed his knee into the front of the bedpost and ran to the middle of the living room, stopped, then turned around and came back into the room and asked if he should get Liam up. I laughed and said, "sweetie, the baby isn't here yet, it's just a little water!". I wasn't feeling any contractions at all and compared to when the doctor broke my water with Liam, it was a very small amount of water so we weren't sure if it was really my water breaking or if it was just...I don't know, a leak, was that even possible?
    I called my mom and told her, "We "think" my water broke" so she could be ready to take Liam if that was the case. I started packing a bag, and a few things for Liam as well, I had made list of what the bags would need but I hadn't actually packed them since I was still 10 days from my due date. By the time I finished packing the bags, I was having moderate contractions about 5-6 minutes apart. I felt nervous, I went from 0 contractions to consistent strong contractions in 30 minutes, it took 20 minutes to get to the hospital and I still had to get penicillin treatments before the baby arrived! I've never naturally gone into labor so I wasn't sure how quickly things were supposed to move but this was much faster than last time for sure! I started to loose my head a little as we dropped Liam off at my parents. Chad and my dad gave me a much needed blessing and we hurried out the door. I squeezed Liam and tried to explain to him that when we got back, he'd be a big brother....he didn't care, he ran down the hall to find kitty.
  As we drove, i talked myself down and tried to stay calm the contractions got stronger and longer. We had never been to the hospital to it took us a while to figure out where to park and where to enter. We couldn't find anyone and i thought i might just have the baby in the lobby. Finally we found someone sitting quietly in an office who helped up find where we needed to go. They confirmed that my water broke, got me hooked up to an IV and by 3:30 I was in a delivery room contracting like crazy. it took about an hour to get everything set up by 4:30 they started the first dose of penicillin and it was much less painful than I had remembered with Liam. I was almost to a 6 so we called the anesthesiologist in and got my epidural. That will always be the scariest part of the experience for me. Chad held me tight and our nurse was even very helpful, holding down my shoulders ( since I was shaking with fear) and cheering me on, she was such a sweetheart. It was administered quickly and perfectly. Within 15 minutes I was feeling like $100. It was now 5:45 and we were just watching me have contractions on the monitor (probably the coolest thing ever to know how much pain you should be in with each interval and only feeling warm and a little sleepy) Babys heart rate was great and i was still progressing very quickly. Chad started texting everyone out of excitement and calling my family as a few of them would be able to come and watch Matix arrive. After the fastest 2 hours ever, I felt pressure and lots of it. Around 7:30, I was ready to have the baby. The epidural dosage is honestly perfect for me, with Liam it worked the same way. They give you a button to press if it starts to wear off so that you give yourself another dose and stay numb but I never press it because I want to be able to feel it just enough to know when to push and feel the pressure of the babys decent. I was at a 10 at 8:00 and I knew it. I called the nurse in and she confirmed it, however, it had only been 3 hours and 30 minutes since I started my penicillin treatment and it had to be at lease 4 hour of treatment or the baby would be at an extreme risk for pneumonia and lung infections so I had to try to make it to 8:30 so those risks would go down and we wouldn't need to have the baby tested and observed for 48 hours after birth.

   The nurse turned on the "relaxation channel" on the TV and told me to try to relax and keep the baby in! My mom, Danica and Shayna arrived around 8:20 and didn't make it easy to stay calm, they were all so excited! The nurse came in to get me started on pushing, as I got ready they had a nurse shift change and sent in someone else, I was sad, i love my nurse and the new one had a very strong personality that rubbed everyone wrong. My mom and sister made their way to the front of the bed per my request..they wanna see the baby, not everything else. The nurse came to check the babe just before we started pushing and was surprised to find my water bag. My water hadn't fully broken, it I was at a high leak and the bag itself was the only thing holding the baby in (thank heavens) the nurse was oddly excited about it and told everyone to come and look at it, she insisted. So I kindly and quickly insisted that no one needed to see anything down there except her and the doctor and Chad. She broke the water and had me start pushing, only to stop me again and have me wait a moment longer for the doctor to get there. Dr. Huish walked in moments later and asked me to push with the next contraction, I pushed with all my might and to my surprise he said, "alright, one more just like that and he'll be here!" I pushed and moments later, Matix was in my arms! I'll never be more amazed by anything more than the feeling of holding your baby to your chest right after they're born and watching your true loves face when he see's his newest child for the first time. It's unreal the way your baby knows you and you know them, its like a beautiful reunion! He had more hair then I thought possible and he was strong, resting his head on my chest but gripping me tightly. I loved every second of it.

My mom and sisters gathered around with cameras and iphones to capture whatever they could and get the "artsiest" shots for Breea to work with. I was so sad that a few people who wanted to be in the room were unable to but he was a surprise to us all...10 days?! Like I've mentioned in previous posts, I think the due date calculation was off by a week the whole time, which would put him 3 days early....a lot more likely, in my eyes but either way, it was surprising.

  Matix had lower level 3 jaundice so we ended up staying an extra day just to make sure it was on its way down. I'm glad we did because on the second day they told us that he had lost 10% of his body weight and that that was much more weight than whats normal so they wanted to to get with a lactation consultant to make sure baby was getting milk. I was way ahead of them, I had already seen the consultant twice and saw her an additional 2 more times before we left. I think that's just what my babys do. Liam lost a scary amount of weight right off the bat too but this time around Matix has much less against him. He isn't bad at latching and he doesn't have a horribly stuffed nose like Liam did, so regardless of his weight loss, he's doing quite well with the breastfeeding and as we practice, we'll both get better!
  

The delivery went perfectly, I couldn't have asked for anything more. Chad and I laugh at how different Liams and Matixs births were but how we felt so equally satisfied and happy with each experience. We could compare them all day long but what it comes down to is both were really wonderful experiences that we'll never forget.