the maglebys

Can't believe it's been almost a year since this sweet boy was born. Life with six kids has made his entire first year fly by freakishly fast despite all my efforts to slow down and soak in every second with what could well be our last baby. I figured with his first birthday approaching this weekend, I'd better sit down and document his big day. Looking through these pics again brings back all the incredible emotions surrounding his birth and those couple days at the hospital, making me wish I could relive it all over again.

This birth experience was uniquely special and something that I wanted to hold close to my heart for awhile before posting. On a last minute whim, I decided to do it naturally with the support of Steve and my sister Crystal (who has delivered naturally twice). As much as I love epidurals, I've always wanted to experience a completely unmedicated labor and delivery - simply out of a strong curiosity and desire to know what it's like in its entirety, and I knew with this most likely being our last baby, it was now or never. Granted, I've had epidurals not work properly or wear off, and so I've experienced the pain that can come with natural childbirth, but this time around, I just wanted to allow my body to give in to the whole experience from start to finish without any fear or intervention (call me crazy, I don't blame you). Albeit there were moments that were beyond challenging/borderline traumatic, but I wouldn't change a thing about it and am so grateful to have been able to experience it this way with Steve as we welcomed our little Mads' into the world. It was truly incredible!

(Disclaimer: I am a huge fan of epidurals. Each way has their own different pros and cons for me and I would recommend both experiences for very different reasons!)

Now onto the birth story....

My due date was Tuesday January 15th. My parents were planning on coming out Friday the 11th for a day (to be at a friend's 80th birthday party) before driving down to Vegas to visit my brother's family for a couple days, at which point my mom would fly back to Provo for the delivery and to help with the kids. We had talked a week or so before about how perfect it would be if baby decided to come on that Friday so my dad would get a chance to meet him (as he had to be back to work in DC after visiting Vegas). During our conversation, I patted my belly and told baby boy that if he loved his Papa then he would come that Friday when he would be in town with my mom :)

Flash forward to Thursday January 10th. It was a normal day with kids and school. I had plans to go serve in the temple that evening at 8pm with my friend Ashley Schmutz. I was in a good routine for the last few weeks with taking a long walk up a big hill in our neighborhood and then having a nice warm bath. I did the same routine that evening and then made my way to the temple. I felt great and there was nothing unusual. When I walked into the temple and saw my friend, she joked about how timely it would be if I happened to go into labor and deliver in the temple, haha. I said ideally I would go into labor that night but hopefully make it through the session without any surprises.

Ironically enough, midway through our session I started noticing contractions stronger than my typical braxton hicks. They grew more consistent and closer together and Ashley started noticing me looking at my watch and asked if I was in labor. I wasn't very certain, because the night before I had a similar experience while at a BYU dinner with Steve and they had eventually just stopped. So I told her I probably was just contracting from sitting down for so long, and not to worry.

After our session we went down to change and to my pleasant surprise I saw signs of labor (blood) in my underwear. For me and all my deliveries, this is the indicator that I'm having my baby within hours. I told Ashley I was in fact in labor (!!!) and hurried excitedly to our cars and hugged goodbye #blessingsfromthetemple ;) I hurried home and told Steve the news. At this point it was about 10:30pm and my contractions were growing more steady and consistent. We called my sister Elyse to have her come sleep at the house with the kids so we could leave for the hospital. Steve left to pick her up, and while he was gone the contractions were picking up in intensity but not too painful. I called my mom to let her know we were most likely having the baby soon!

We checked in the hospital at 11:15pm. They admitted us and I got dressed. At this point I called my sister Crystal and asked if she wanted to come. She got there a little before midnight and after some discussion with Steve, we made the game plan to go natural. I had the most incredible and supportive nurse who was so encouraging, telling me I could totally do it and that she would help me. She also happened to know Steve's family which felt extra comforting.

The next hour mostly involved chatting/relaxing and then stopping to breathe through contractions. They were picking up in intensity and were painful, but totally manageable. I used an oxygen mask nearly the entire time (which I have with all my deliveries) because I tend to get light headed and nauseous and it helps combat that for me. My water was leaking and gave a good gush at one point, so we threw on a diaper to catch the leaking so I could still move and walk around (oh the pleasantries of delivery ;)

My sister pointed out the "live, laugh, love" sign in the background which made us think of our sweet Jayne (who made the same sign for her bathroom).

1:15pm things shifted. Up until this point I was feeling pretty good. It wasn't bad just riding the waves of contractions, knowing each one was bringing me closer to baby. But I was starting to feel pretty exhausted and more than anything I just wanted to SLEEP! Unfortunately that wasn't an option in this scenario and that was really challenging. I also started finding it more difficult to breathe comfortably through the contractions and really needed Steve to counter pressure the pain and talk me through them. He was so good and helpful.

This is me at 1:30pm between contractions when things started really picking up and for the first time, I was second guessing my decision to go natural, lol. Too late now! Steve, Crystal and our nurse were the BEST team, helping me feel totally confident and relieving any fears I started to have.

My nurse brought in a big ball that I was able to sit on more comfortably while breathing through the contractions. Much of this became a huge blur for me as the contractions were really intense and overpowering but I just remember how comforting it was to have Steve to lean into and be there every step of the way.

He was incredible and would give me body tickles or stroke my hair in-between contractions.

My sister would give us such encouraging words and talked us through the whole thing. She was also our last minute photographer :) It was invaluable having her there with us. Even just her presence did wonders to ease my fears and help me feel more calm.

Our nurse was so good to us, helping us feel so comfortable by dimming the lights and bringing anything I needed. She told Steve to peek his head out the door and let her know if I felt any pressure to push so that they could alert the doctor to come in who was in a room nearby.

I don't know why this picture makes me laugh (I felt how I looked!lol) but I love that it shows Steve's involvement in this entire process. Around 1:45am the contractions became so overpowering I would literally just go limp and Steve would carry me from behind. It felt like the only way to bare the pain was to just let every muscle go and sink into his arms. I definitely felt out of body at this moment. It took a lot of mental energy to focus on breathing and not let fear overpower me. Steve was such a good sport and had his work cut out for him and was sweating by the end. I remember saying "I think I might die guys" and a part of me truly believing it. I couldn't believe my body could handle the intensity of pain/pressure/etc. It's kind of unreal. But hearing their comforting words of support definitely carried me through.

At 2:02am I could feel baby's entire body move down like one big rush and start coming out of me involuntarily! I couldn't believe it. Up until this point I hadn't screamed or made much noise, but now I was screaming at the top of my lungs.. "I'm pushing!!!" at which point the nurse came running in and she and Steve quickly moved me to the bed. After a couple very quick pushes, Mads was born at 2:04am. Our amazing nurse delivered him, and seconds later the doctor was running in to take over.

BEST MOMENT HEARING HIS SCREAMS AND SEEING HIS SWEET FACE FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!

We did it, buddy!

It was such a sweet relief to push him out and have him in my arms!!! It was the most incredible feeling to go from such intensity to such immense relief and JOY. Indescribable.

The rest of the evening involved nursing, staring at this little face, and talking about WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED. lol

We thought he had a lot of Richards characteristics but had the usual plump pink lips and big cheeks like all our babies have.

It did take her four tries to get my IV in (that eventually ripped out during pushing and had to be replaced a fifth time) but all was quickly forgiven ;) She was an angel nurse and I'll love her forever!