One week and two days ago we finally got to meet our newest tiny human! And after much name deliberation, I’m so happy to officially introduce Ares James Alexander Gaetz.
He was born on Friday, May 5 at 10:39 pm weighing 7lbs 14 oz (our biggest baby by one ounce!) and measuring 19.5 inches. With this being my third baby and having stayed in good shape this pregnancy, I was anticipating a pretty “easy” and straightforward delivery, especially since I opted for an elective induction a couple days before his due date. I had an elective induction with Rosie too and the whole process had gone very smoothly, so I had high hopes.
My mom was here to watch our girls and Joe and I arrived at the hospital bright and early at 7 am on Friday morning. I looked like I was going on vacation with my flip flops, skirt, and rolling suitcase. My doctor broke my water within an hour of arriving at the hospital and we sat tight and waited for some baby-having contractions. I chose to not have an epidural this time. I really wanted to try to eat, walk, change positions, etc. during labor. Which I did. We strolled outside, I had some snacks, bounced on the ball, read magazines, deliberated names with Joe, etc. After a few hours, I was having contractions but I was still way too cheerful to be having a baby anytime soon. So we started some Pitocin and then in a few short hours, the magical unicorns had left the building and it got REAL. My body caught on quick to what was going on and the Pitocin got turned off and I kept progressing well on my own. I ended up using the birthing ball and the tub as things started getting real painful.
By mid-afternoon, I was able to begin pushing during contractions (yeah, ouch!). After a decent amount of pushing and experiencing painful back labor I was absurdly exhausted (like, I couldn’t even lift my hand to brush the hair out of my face) and not getting much of a break between contractions. At this point I chose to get the epidural so I could pull my scream-y self back together and focus on pushing. Four hours of “perfect pushing ” later, this baby still wasn’t making it’s way out. Fortunately, he was still doing well according to all of the monitoring. But it turned out that he was in the occiput posterior position (aka, facing the wrong way and turning this delivery into a ruckus). Around 9 p.m. my OB (who was as cool as a cucumber during this whole ordeal as I cried and yelled like a toddler at times), told me that a C-section was the safest delivery option at this point. Using the vacuum or forceps was just going to be risky because of the way his head was stuck. This made me emotional as I had been working my tail off to have a regular delivery and the idea of recovering from a C-section with three kids to take care of overwhelmed me to tears. So, I focused on the idea of finally getting to meet our baby because that’s what we came to do and it was about to happen!
And here is that moment I had been dying for…our “It’s a boy” moment! (We would have been just as elated with another “It’s a girl!” too!) Even though this was by far the most painful and dramatic delivery, this is still going down as one of the best moments in my entire life.
A million thanks to Joe who helped me through this intense labor and delivery and then single-parented our girls until I was out of the hospital. I love that we are getting to do this new baby thing again, even though it gets crazier every time we do!
The girls have been definitely enjoying their new baby brother, especially Rosie. She loves holding him, hugging him, and kissing him.
We didn’t have any professional photos taken. But I had my camera along and was able to get a few milestone moments, such as bath, footprints, and meeting grandparents! (This was no small feat. I could barely stand, move and even reaching for my camera on my bedside table took more effort than I care to explain.)
Little man cried for about a good two hours after he was born and also didn’t want to nurse at first. (He also didn’t have an official name for about 10 hours!) But he eventually came around and turned into a big snuggler with me and the nurses during our stay in the hospital. While Joe took care of the girls at home, I enjoyed every second of that cozy new baby aftermath (and was immensely thankful for the incredible care from the nurses). I mean, I couldn’t really stand up on my own, so I didn’t have many other things to do besides cuddle, but there’s nothing else I’d rather do anyways. 
As of today, Ares is 9 days old and we’ve been home from the hospital for one week. As anticipated, life has been a blur of postpartum aches and pains, all the emotions, and little sleep. But also as anticipated, I feel like I’m also overflowing with love and adoration for our little dude man. I’m one of those people who really loves the infancy stage, as difficult as it can be. I’m so excited to watch him grow and see the kind of person he becomes.
Ares, I’m beyond thrilled that you’re here. (And so is Rosie. Pretty sure that she’s your biggest fan.) Prepare to be loved on and blogged about a whole lot ; )