Jackson Daniel Mathieson

I love reading birth stories, so be forewarned this contains some birth details that might not be interesting to some people ;)

I found out I was pregnant with our third child in early December 2011. I was definitely quite shocked that I was pregnant a mere 9 months after Noah was born. But the tell tale signs were there for me and I started experiencing symptoms that I had only ever felt two other times. My first pregnancy test gave me the slightest of pink lines, you could barely see it. I missed it myself. I took another test and lo and behold it turned up double pink lines. I immediately called Joel (I was in Pennsylvania visiting family) and informed Joel that he would be a father once again. He was beaming over the phone and was excited at the prospect of a new child.

I got the pregnancy confirmed and had my first appointment. My doctor did an ultrasound and could not find any gestational sac or signs of a pregnancy. She was alarmed since my blood work clearly showed that I was pregnant. I got ordered another test immediately and a high level ultrasound at the hospital. It was confirmed that I was in the very early stages of my pregnancy and things were ok. I went in two weeks later to see a heartbeat and a little baby.

My pregnancy consisted of the normal 14-16 weeks of nausea and tiredness. Followed by a few good weeks and then some major heartburn and body aches. My body handled this pregnancy the best. I was extremely healthy and had no issues whatsoever.

By 37 weeks I was ready to be done. I was experiencing a lot of pain in my pelvis and legs. I had to wear compression stockings in the middle of 100 degree heat because I had terrible debilitating charlie horses all through the night. I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced at my 37 week appointment. Jackson was still quite high up and not looking to move anytime soon. I was the same at my 38 week appointment. My doctor tried to strip my membranes (word to the wise...extremely painful and not successful at all). After the membrane sweep I had terrible cramping and a lot of spotting and losing of the mucus plug.

I thought I would be pregnant forever. However, my biggest fear was not having child care for the kids when I went into labor. So, we had family here starting in the very beginning of August. It was a huge blessing to have the help and added assurance that we would have the boys in great hands when the time came. Amy's time came and went and Kim was scheduled next to come. While she was here she found out that her brother was hospitalized across town. On Saturday morning we were taking her to the hospital for the last time before she returned home. My mom was scheduled to fly into Sacramento that evening and take over baby watch 2012. I was feeling wonderful that day. For the first time in weeks I had energy and had plans to clean and relax with the boys and prepare for Jackson's arrival.

Upon arriving at the hospital to drop Kim off, I decided to use the restroom because being 39 weeks pregnant I knew I would need to go before returning home. I walked out and felt something warn between my legs. I joked that my water broke must have broken. Kim urged me to go to the bathroom to confirm. Well, lo and behold it actually did. I had a huge gush of water break in the lobby of the hospital after I returned from the bathroom. Unfortunately it was not my delivering hospital and we would need to drive back across town, so I called Joel and informed him it was time. (side note: I wanted an exciting story and was excited my water broke in a semi exciting fashion and I got to page Joel that I was ready!!) Kim drove us across town. The nurses were quite skeptical that I actually broke my water, but upon seeing me waddle down the hall with a huge blanket between my legs, they had no doubt.

After successfully leaking huge puddles across the bathroom and my hospital room I was hooked up and ready to go. But I wasnt contracting regularly at all. I got excited that I would not need to be induced and I thought for sure I'd go into labor. Alas, the doctor gave me 6 hours to go into labor, then she would start pitocin. Six hours later I still was not contracting so it was onto induction. Luckily I had understanding nurses and they let me get my epidural before they started the pitocin. I learned that my body doesn't handle the numbing agent used in the placing of the epidural, so they needed to use a different stronger agent to get me numb. The epidural was successful, so successful that my right leg was totally gone! I then got to lay back, relax, and let nature and medicine take its course. Luckily for me, I know my body and know how I handle labor and was able to avoid extra cervical checks and intervention. So, I waited for the next 5 hours napping and checking the internet. Around 10 pm, well let me back up a moment. Around 10pm my mom called and asked how things were since she finally landed in Sacramento. I was feeling great and worried I would be in labor all night long. But not a few minutes after she got off the phone, I felt my body change. The nurse checked me and Jackson was still hight, but I was 8cm dilated.

The next few moments went by too quickly. My body started pushing Jackson down and I knew it was time. As I was breathing through the contractions, the anesthesiologist gave me a booster of meds. In those few moments I went from 8cm to complete and with a "test push" Jackson moved right into position. Our room went busy, the big light came down, the doc came in and three contractions later I had a brand new baby boy. It was actually that simple. The epidural worked great, I could feel the need to push and got him out quickly. Jackson Daniel was born at 10:59 pm on August 11th 2012. He weighed in at 8lbs 4oz. Unfortunately Jackson had some issues breathing. The respiratory nurse was called in to check on him. He was breathing really fast and had a lot of fluid in his mouth. They were able to stabilize him and I got my first moments with my new son. He immediately latched onto my breast and stayed there for the next two hours. He was a pro and knew what he wanted. Unfortunately at that time they determined his breathing was too heavy and he needed to head to the NICU. I was terrified, but also exhausted.

Jackson spent the next few days in the NICU being monitored. I had to leave the hospital on Monday, but I stayed until they kicked me out because I did not want to leave my son. Leaving your baby in the NICU is terrible. I cannot imagine the mommies that have to leave their babies in for extended periods of time and for serious conditions. I knew Jackson was healthy, we were just waiting for him to be let out. He came home on Tuesday morning!

I have been blessed with very easy deliveries and recoveries and for that I am thankful. We are beyond blessed to have our newest son in our home and growing with our family :)

Ten Thousand Reasons...

It has been quite a while since I last published my blog. It certainly has not been for lack of interesting life events, but rather my life has been too crazy for me to sit down and decompress my thoughts on paper (or rather the internet).

My original goal of my blog was to document the life of my family because as I have noticed, it goes far too quickly and memories are sometimes lost in the recesses of my mind. I want to look back and remember the moments of laughter, love, and chaos that surrounds our life on a daily basis. I have baby books that are sitting half filled with memories and I want to make sure that I can keep them filled up!

A lot has happened since January of this year! Our biggest and most recent change has been the birth of our third son. Jackson Daniel made his grand entrance into our family on August 11th 2012. If you didnt quite catch that, we have our third son. My life is filled with boys. For some reason, God has seen fit to allow me to be the mother of boys. I always pictured my life surrounded by daughters and having maybe one son. I wanted to play American Girl dolls, dress up barbies, go shopping, and have nights of girl chatter. But as I am learning, God has created my children especially for me and Joel. We are the perfect parents of these precious little boys. And in the next few years when we decide to expand our family again (what, you shouldn't be surprised! We love chaos and have always wanted a family of at least 4 children!), maybe God will bless us with a precious daughter or even another amazing son.

Nathaniel is my first child and holds a special place in my heart. He allowed me to become a mommy. I had to stumble through each new milestone and we were growing up together. He is now a very precocious and smart toddler. Nathaniel was a little late on the speech and didn't start really talking until January/February of this year. Once, he started, however he hasn't stopped. He is learning new phrases and words on a daily basis and somedays we just laugh at the words he picks up and uses in context properly. He is very coordinated and jumps and runs all around. He recently had a growth spurt and lost pretty much all his baby chub. Seemingly overnight, my little bear has turned into a little boy. From birth, Nathaniel has been very independent. He was never a cuddler or emotional and that has translated into his toddlerhood. He certainly has his moments of love and affection, but they are reserved, much like his daddy. He could play for hours on his train table with cars and trains. He is just now really getting into pretend play and it is adorable. I cannot wait to see how he transforms into a little boy!

Noah has always been a very easy child. He started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old. He smiled and laughed early. He is a lover and wears his emotions on his sleeve. He is now entering the terrible twos and boy are they terrible! Every moment is filled with screams and chaos if the word "no" is unleashed. Still, Noah is such a sweet boy. His laughter fills the room. He loves to mimic his whole family. Noah can frequently be seen jumping, climbing, and getting into danger situations on a regular basis. He absolutely adores his younger brother and gives enough kisses and hugs throughout the day to satisfy the neediest of children. He has about ten solid words he uses. His receptive speech is very good and he is growing on track. In fact, he is the least picky of eaters and will try anything. He went from the 3rd percentile in weight at his 15 month check up to the 87th percentile at his 18 month visit!

We are loving life in Elk Grove. We have been in our house for over a year and have done some improvements like installing lights and ceiling fans, adding a gas line for our dryer, improving our back yard, etc. We are planning on redecorating the boys room and possibly doing other minor projects around the house. Joel is loving his position as store manager and while it has been challenging he is doing a great job and finding contentment and pleasure in working for the store. Joel and I celebrated 4 years of marriage this past March and couldn't believe how much our lives have changed and how richly we have been blessed. It certainly has been a crazy road. I would never have predicted have three boys in three years, moving across country, etc. But the Lord works in mysterious ways and we are reaping his rich blessings. On that note we finally found a church and are confident this is where God wants us to serve and grow as a family, a couple, and a community.

For now that is one crazy long update, but here are two slideshows to show the difference mere months can have on my children ;)