The Birth Story of Leo Alexander Stevens {04.14.15}

Our little prince has arrived! It's been almost 2 weeks now with him in our lives and we are so blessed to not have to spend another day of our lives without him in our family and to be sealed together for time and all eternity. Now that we have started to settle into our new life with Leo, I wanted to take the time to revisit his birthday and all of the special details, feelings and blessings that that day entailed.

The night before our induction date, Alex helped me clean things around the house that my pregnant self couldn't get around to and then we went to bed early. Alex fell asleep immediately.."yay" for Alex. haha. No but really, I'm glad he got rest cause' I couldn't sleep. It took hours before my eyes finally gave out and I fell asleep. I probably only got 3 hours of sleep (which is 3 more than the night before Jade was born). We woke Jade up at 6:30 am and fed her a quick breakfast, got our things and headed out of the house that we would only return to with another precious baby. 

The night before we practiced being a big sister. She passed the test with flying colors :)

 We dropped Jade off at our good friends the Mor's house and headed to St Joseph Mercy Hospital. We tried to keep reminding Jade of the present we were going to bring home soon! You can tell from this video that she was not done sleeping for the night and she was tired!! Poor babysitters...yikes!

We got to the hospital at 7 am and were taken to our room by 7:30. We started the long questionnaire that every hospital requires. "Do you have heart disease?", "Is this your first pregnancy?", "When was the last time you ate?". All the way down to, "Do you have a pet llama?". No but really the questions start to get ridiculous. After we survived the hardest part of the labour experience, the question marathon, they checked my cervix. I was 5 cm dilated. They started the IV fluid at 8:40 am. They then added a low dose of pitocin at 9:00 am. This low dose gave me no contractions, just accumulating nerves and anxiety for when they would actually start. 

Waiting for contractions.

Alex's job is so easy :)..just kidding this was totally staged. haha

The doctor broke my water at 10:45 am. Contractions started getting stronger and stronger. We asked for the epidural and got it at 1:45 pm and 6 1/2 cm dilated. I immediately noticed that the epidural was only working on my left side. I told the anesthesiologist and she reassured me that if I would just lay on my right side, gravity would help move the medicine to my right side. I waited for this to happen but the pain just kept getting worse. I told the nurse that instead of getting better, the pain was increasing, especially on my right side. The nurse seemed excited. I was thinking, uh this is actually tragic, get this fixed NOW!!! She told me that the pain was probably getting worse because I was probably fully dilated and ready to push. Again, I was thinking, uh no, I can't push until this epidural is working like it did with Jade's birth. The nurse rushed the doctor in, the doctor checked my cervix and confirmed that I was dilated to 10 cm. It had only been a half hour since I got my epidural. I thought I had more time to get this epidural working properly. The nurses and doctors ignored my requests to fix the epidural and reassured me that the only way to get the pain to stop was to push the baby out! I obviously started crying because that's what a pregnant and hormonal girl does right? My nerves and adrenalin were going crazy. It was push time.

 I started pushing just a couple minutes past 2 pm. I pushed and pushed for 45 minutes, which was 15 minutes longer than with Jade. I assume it took longer because I could actually feel the pain this time and it was real, very real. Alex was a flawless cheerleader and truly helped me survive the day. He has a way of just knowing what I need. The doctor warned me that because this was a high risk pregnancy, if he didn't come out crying they would have to take him away for further assessment, but if he came out crying, he was mine to hold. After 45 minutes of pushing, at 2:51 pm, we were welcoming our prince, Leo Alexander Stevens to the world. 

The joy was incomprehensible. The experience was unforgettable. The spirit in the room was so strong. He let out a soft cry that for a moment was the only sound I could hear. He took my breath away and stole my heart instantly. My son. MY son. OUR son. Straight from heaven. Entrusted to us as parents from our Heavenly Father who has been waiting to bless us with our Leo and finally today was that day. Alex cut the cord and finally I felt free from pregnancy and ready to embrace my role as a mother to my son. Leo's presence was serene and peaceful. He immediately stopped crying and just blinked up at Alex and I. These are the moments I will cherish forever. Love filled the room and tears flooded our eyes. What a gift. A healthy baby boy! They left us alone for some time to get to have special family bonding time, which we appreciated. 

 After several hours, they stole him to weigh, measure and assess him. He came in weighing a whopping 6 lbs, 2 oz. I say whopping because they told me my whole pregnancy that he was going to weigh hardly 5 lbs. I felt proud that maybe this pregnancy I did a little better at keeping my food down and nourishing my baby. He measured 17.5 inches which was eventually changed to 20 inches at his week old doctors appointment. Poor little guy was still working on stretching his legs out from being cramped up in the womb. We spent the next couple hours cuddling him and considering possible name choices. We struggled because he truly fit several of our names we had narrowed it down to. We just could not decide. We decided to sleep on it and felt confident that in the morning we would pick the right name and feel good about it. Leo failed his hearing test but we were told that 25% of babies fail the test because they still have fluid in their ears from the womb. We are confident Leo can hear because he jolts every time his loud sister is in the room :) We go back in 3 weeks to take the hearing test again.

We were then transferred to post natal care, my least favourite place in the world. The nurses take their jobs seriously. Their job being, to bug you every chance they get. The hospital nurses came in and gave both Leo and I a wrist band that transmitted back and forth to each other. If we were ever "too far" from each other it would let the nurses know and they would usher us back together. It was supposed to ensure mother/baby bonding. I started to question whether or not the hospital had a night nursery where they would take our baby for a couple hours of the night to allow us parents to recover. I asked the nurse and she confirmed my suspicions. NO NURSERY. Gosh, I was exhausted and not looking forward to the headache that would surely come tomorrow from lack of sleep and aftermath of labour. To our surprise, Leo slept through the night and only the nurses were disrupting our sleep. I am mostly joking about hating post natal and truly do appreciate the care and quality of our health care system. But let's just say, we were in a rush to GET OUT!! We told the nurses that we wanted to start working on leaving first thing in the morning because we knew how long it can take to get discharged. Our doctor was unable to circumcise Leo until 5pm the next day. So we spent the whole day waiting on that procedure in order to leave. Our friends who had Jade for the day of Leo's birth, dropped Jade off at our house just before her bedtime the night Leo was born, where her Grandma Stevens awaited. Alex's Mom arrived from Oregon the night Leo was born and watched Jade for our night's stay at the hospital. It was so nice knowing we had such good babysitters for Jade. We never spent a minute worrying about her, it was fantastic!  

We got this picture text from the Mors and laughed at how Jade kept their hands full :)

We got this picture text from Grandma Stevens. It looked like Jade enjoyed breakfast with Grandma.

 The next day, we spent some time establishing the name of our son. We couldn't fight the love we both shared for the name Leo. Leo has special meaning to both Alex and I. Leo is the name of my Grandpa Hill. My Grandpa Hill has always been a great example to me. He is incredibly hard working, spiritual, family oriented and charitable. All qualities Alex and I desperately want for our son. Alex also loved the TMNT tie and his favourite soccer player happens to be named, Lionel Messi (pronounced lee-oh-nell). His name was finally established and we were excited to announce his arrival to all our friends and loved ones! This video is nothing special but I just love newborn movements and wanted to capture a minute of Leo's newborn-ness.

 Alex went and picked up Jade along with his Mom who was now watching Jade at our house to come visit Leo. Jade came into the hospital room and was acting fairly odd. She ignored me and Leo for a good half hour. It broke this momma's heart. She eventually warmed up to me and even Leo. At first we would ask if she wanted to see the baby and she would whine, "Nooooooo". Finally nearing the end of her visit, she was kissing and hugging her baby brother. It was too cute for words.

 

A photographer came to take pictures of Leo for the hospital because the nurses told her, he would be a "photogenic baby".

That night, Alex and I were able to watch Leo's circumcision be done. Which sounds awful but we wanted to make sure the doctors felt the pressure and treated our son with extra care. Leo only cried because of the belts that held down his limbs. He finally relaxed and didn't cry for majority of the procedure. We waited a mandatory hour after the circumcision and were finally discharged. We laughed at the difference between bringing home our second child compared to our first. With Jade, we were so cautious and drove as slow as possible. With Leo, we were completely relaxed and care free the whole way home.  We came home and went straight to bed. Leo again, slept marvelously. This kid is a champ. He was still really drowsy from delivery and could not be woken up for anything. We took it as a blessing and slept the night away, trying to regain our energy back from our hospital experience. 

Alex's mom was able to spend 10 days with us and we were so glad she did! She helped out with Jade during the day, so I could nap and just spend time with Leo. She took Jade on several walks a day and spoiled her with all of her attention. She babysat and paid for us to go on a dinner date one night. She made dinner for us, ordered in pizza and even took Leo some nights. We played games at night, chatted, caught up, snuggled Leo and lived up every minute she was here. Poor Alex was in the middle of his finals for his first year of Law School. He was busy all during the day and could only enjoy his mom at night, after he had put in a full day of studying. 

 Leo had his 1 week appointment with his pediatrician and maintained his birth weight! Go Leo!

My parents were able to stop by for an hour on their way to my sister Natalie's house. They flew into Detroit, rented a car and were heading to my sister's house to watch her 3 kids, while she was in labour with her 4th child. They stopped by for some cuddles with Leo and were on their way. 

Natalie welcomed her bundle of boy joy on April 22, 2015 (my original matching due date). They welcomed the cutest little bundle and named him, Paxton Bruce McGarry. He was the 3rd of 4 boy cousins to be born this spring! 

First was Heather and Jordan's, Hudson Timothy Hill {03.13.15}.

 Next was Leo Alexander Stevens {04.14.15}..

 Then Paxton Bruce McGarry {04.22.15}..

 And just yesterday, my sister Brittany and brother-in-law Jason welcomed their boy into the world, Oliver Bruce King {04.26.15}

 All 4 boy cousins are finally ready to party! We envision them rooming together at BYU and serving missions at the same time, creating many memories together! Alex's mom left a few days ago and we are all feeling withdrawals. We miss her here! My parents have been having fun at my sister's house and after a week there, they will come back to Detroit to spend a week with us! It's a sensitive subject, as it is the last time we will see my parents before they leave on their 3 year mission in Brazil. Life is treating us well and we are thrilled to be a family of 4! Thank you to everyone who prayed for us during this pregnancy, we felt watched over and blessed the entire time. And now for some picture and video overload...

We love our almost always sleeping lion, Leo!!