I'd like to very proudly announce that on May 5, 2014 at 5:21 p.m., Patrick, Kaden, Conner, Brielle and I welcomed a beautifully perfect baby BOY to the world. Introducing Mr. Reilly Scott Martin.
For those of you interested in birth stories, here's Reilly's . . .
So one week before Reilly was born, I started itching really badly. Those of you who have been pregnant know that an itchy belly is a usual side effect of pregnancy, but this itchiness was extreme and all over my body. I went in to the doctor and they immediately ordered blood work as they suspected a rare pregnancy condition called Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy. Basically, this is a liver malfunction that you can get in the last couple of weeks of pregnancy. I plan on doing a Dear Frannie Friday post about this next week. Simply put though, it can be fatal to the baby if left untreated and the only treatment is giving birth.
It turns out that the doctor's suspicions were right--my liver enzymes were three times the normal limit, my buric acid was high and there was a rise in bile acid. The doctors wanted me to try to wait until I was 38 weeks, though. So in between going in for blood tests and regularly getting non-stress tests to make sure the baby was moving and had a good heart rate, we waited until Monday, May 5th to be induced at 38 weeks.
I don't know if any of you have ever been induced--I sure had not. It is a kind of crazy process. The night before, I had to go into the doctor to get a water balloon, um, inserted, to help ease into dilation. That was comfortable. After a long and sleepless night, Patrick and I got to the hospital at 7:30 a.m. for the induction, which started to take place at around 9:30 a.m. They gave me pitocin and we just waited out contractions. In all of the non-stress tests, it turns out I was having pretty decent contractions for a while--about one every 3-6 minutes--but I wasn't even feeling most of them. So they gave me the pitocin to help regulate them and strengthen them to get me dilated.
At around 2, they said that they wanted to break my water. I opted for an epidural first which went swimmingly. The epidural and water breaking were over about 3:30 and things really got moving after that. The nurse checked me at about 5 and told me that I was at a 7 and she suspected that it wouldn't be long. Boy was she right! At about 5:10 I started to feel a lot of pressure. I told Patrick to hurry up and get the nurse. He did and she came in to check me but found that the baby's head was already RIGHT THERE. So they quickly called for the doctor who barely got her scrubs on in time. They told me not to push and I didn't push at all, but Baby Reilly is just as ambitious as his Daddy and he was coming ready or not! 11 minutes after getting the nurse, he was born with no pushing whatsoever.
Even after what felt like the longest wait of my life to find out the gender of this kid, in all the excitement, I almost forgot to ask! When Patrick told me Reilly was a boy, I just knew it. And, just like all of my other kids, I loved him SO MUCH instantaneously.
Before we even got pregnant, Patrick and I knew that Reilly would be the name of the baby--boy or girl. Reilly is an old family name (actually O'Reilly) in Patrick's family and Patrick's middle name. Reilly's middle name comes from Patrick's uncle who cried when he called to tell him after Reilly was born (he didn't know we were going to do that beforehand and he has no children of his own).
As you can see (and imagine), Patrick is just loving being a dad and he is so good at it. Kaden has taken to calling Reilly "Little Man" and loves that he is so strong like he was (the kid can already hold his head up on his own!). Brielle wanted a sister the whole pregnancy. She kept saying how she just hoped Reilly would be a girl. But after she saw her new little brother, she was in love and proclaimed that she actually wanted a brother the whole time. ;-) Conner is by far THE most excited kid on the planet. He texted, called, sent video and picture messages to Reilly and I all while we were in the hospital. He told Patrick and my mom that the day Reilly was born was the best day of his entire life. He always wants to hold Reilly and kiss him.
He is the perfect little addition to our already perfect little family and we couldn't feel more blessed.
I've been taking some time off from blogging, obvi. It's felt good to just relax with my family. As I said in a recent post, I still have (somehow) a LOT of maternity OOTD photos to share and will be doing so for the next few weeks while I recoop and try to get my body back. I have been reading your blogs (when I am able), but I haven't taken the time to comment--I'm sorry! But I know you understand. Thanks for all of your encouragement through my pregnancy and my absence the last week. It's been an absolutely amazing time and I feel on top of the world.
That said, to mothers new and veteran mothers, to mothers of one and mothers of multiple, to single mothers and married mothers, to mothers of girls and mothers of boys--all mothers, grandmothers and future mothers, I sincerely wish to you
A VERY HAPPY AND BLESSED MOTHER'S DAY!!!
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