Welcome Baby Porter!

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Gordon and I are so thrilled to announce the healthy and safe arrival of our fourth baby, Porter James Brennan, on Monday, September 16th at 12:55pm. He was a hefty boy, weighing in at 8 lbs, 9 oz but has turned out to be so sweet and calm. He hardly cries and when he’s awake is content to sit still and just look around. All I prayed for during this pregnancy was a healthy baby who would sleep more than Eddie and be somewhat predictable and so far, that’s exactly what he’s turned out to be. My milk has come in quickly, thanks to Porter’s hearty appetite and he has been sleeping 2-3 hour stretches which is all I can ever ask of him at this stage.

Labor and delivery were all sorts of different…unlike any other baby I’ve had. My contractions started up after I walked home from church on Sunday afternoon. They were on and off all afternoon, evening and into the early morning hours of Monday. By then, I was so exhausted and in so much pain that I decided to go to the hospital. I got there around 5:30am and left Gordon home to get the kids ready for school. My doctor was on call which I was thankful for because she is completely competent and I had just seen her in the office a few days before. Anyways, for whatever reason, my body was stuck and not progressing quickly at all, even though the contractions were steady (and painful!). Around 7:30, they started a little Pitocin to see how my body would react. Again, very painful contractions that weren’t doing much of anything at all. Gordon showed up at 9 and by then I was about to get my epidural. Things got significantly better once I couldn’t feel anything. Ha!

Around 11, my water broke on its own and things really picked up. The stronger the contractions got, the more obvious it was that my epidural didn’t end up working on one little section of my right side. At 12:45, the anesthesiologist tried giving me an extra big dose to try to fill the epidural space in hopes it would numb that one section but it just made my left side more numb. That was pretty crummy.

The doctor came in to check me at 12:50 and I was only at an 8, but within 30 seconds of saying that and getting me to roll from my right side to my left I was ready to deliver a baby. I’m not sure what happened with my body or what she saw, but my doctor went from being really calm to kicking things into high gear and getting all her stuff on to deliver the baby. Both my husband and I are like “wait, what? Delivering now?” and four pushes later, he was out. He didn’t come out crying or screaming, just very awake. Gordon and I were so surprised by how much blonde hair he had (swoon!) and how much he looked like our previous first three.

Porter’s actual due date was September 17th, but I had him 11 hours early on the 16th. SO close! But, Gordon reminded me that the first due date we were given at the beginning of the pregnancy was September 16th and then were given an adjusted due date of the 17th a month later. I completely forgot about this so maybe that counts? Regardless, I’m glad to have him out and not be pregnant anymore.

Below are lots of photos from our hospital stay. I ended up staying an extra day in hospital to get a few more sessions in with the lactation consultant and SO glad I did that. Last night was our first night home all together as a family of 6 (!!!)  and it felt so good to be home 🙂

Anyways, thanks so much for sharing in our joy with us. It feels so good to have our family complete.