Welcome Pierson!

Yesterday our little family welcomed Pierson Gerardo Harmon! This is going to a long post with my birth story,  mostly for journaling purposes.  It was seriously one of the most dramatic days of my life. We came to the hospital pretty early in the morning since I was having consistent contractions. They monitored me for a bit and realized my contractions were consistent but not quite strong, so with approval from my doctor I was given pitocin to help things along. I was planning on seeing if I could go natural since i got so close with Madsen. The first couple hours were fine, even with stronger and closer contractions. But once my doctor broke my water, the combination of that with pitocin, I got to the same point as last time - begging for an epidural at 7.5 cm. Once I was administered the epidural I felt much better, and was even able to take a little nap. It was not until I was about 9 cm dilated that all the drama started.

The baby's heartrate kept dropping during contractions, but would immediately pick up and be normal in between, they thought the baby had the chord wrapped around his neck. My nurse (who was amazing, and I am so grateful for) helped me move into every kind of possible position imaginable trying to get a steady heartbeat. It worked for a little bit, but they were still concerned. So they called my doctor and he said to please prepare me for a possible emergency c-section. When I heard those words, I was in utter shock. I immediately started praying begging my Heavenly Father to please let things work out the way they were supposed to and to give me the strength and faith to trust that everything was going to be okay. Then some nurse, decided to add to my scare by immediately administering the medicine to stop my contractions, even though my angel nurse asked her to wait for my doctor who would be there in a couple minutes. My doctor did arrive about 2 minutes later and as soon as he walked in the baby's heart rate stabilized.  He checked me and said I had just a small piece of cervix that was in the way but he thought I was ready to push, so I did.  In theory it would have worked except for my contractions were slowing down and were definitely not strong ones from the shot that nurse gave me.  We talked it over with my doctor and he knew that I really did not want a c-section so he said that they would start administering pitocin again, and he would wait until my contractions strengthened.  Once my contractions became consistent and strong, we would try to push again.  He also discussed with us the risks involved in using the vacuum and fors but this time use the vaccum to try and get the baby to come down the birth canal just a little more.  Josh and I finally got a little bit of time alone at this point and he was able to give me a priesthood blessing. Never have I been more grateful for the gospel in my life. I had all these horrible thoughts of what could go wrong and I was so worried about my baby and what was going to happen to us, but as soon as Josh started the blessing I felt this huge feeling of calmness and love and I knew that my Heavenly Father was there watching over me and that everything was going to be ok. I finally was able to cry at this point, but just from feeling so lucky to have an amazing husband who was worthy to help me in the best way he could.

So after 2 hours of waiting for the pitocin to do its job, we finally started pushing again. By this point the epidural had worn off and there was no point in the nurse administering more to me.  So I felt pretty much everything.  The baby's heartrate still kept going down so they had called NICU nurses to be in the room.  I was extremely tired at this point and just prayed to have the strength to push with all I had left in me.  Somehow after only about 25 minutes and minimal use of the vacuum and forceps Pierson was born.  I didn't get to see him right away since they wanted to check all his vitals, but after scoring an 8 and 9 APGAR they brought him to me pretty soon after.  I didn't tear at all amazingly enough, and it was such a relief to me and I know especially for Josh to see that we were both alright even though the last couple hours had been so scary and nerve wracking.  I am so grateful to have a doctor who had genuine concern for my health and my feelings.  After Pierson was born he asked if he could say a prayer with us.  I was so touched by this knowing that although he is not a member of the church I was sure that he also had been silently praying  to know what to do and for things to work out well.  Aside from being an amazing doctor it is obviously apparent that he is a good man with a true desire to help others in any way he can.  I am so glad he was the doctor to help me through my difficult labor.

Pierson weighed 7 lbs 5 oz and was 21 inches long.  We're all doing very well and are excited to start our life as a family of four.  :)

Finally getting to hold Pierson.

Dr. Barker holding Pierson.

A picture from today. He's definitely not as swollen as he was yesterday.

A picture is worth a thousand words

I've always felt this way about pictures. I always wish I had more pictures to remember all the happy moments in life. Of course professional pictures are always so beautiful to look at, but so expensive to take often. However, when an amazing opportunity comes up like this give away on Natalie's Sentiments I can't help but get excited. I'm trying to not get too excited since I've never won a giveaway that I've entered, but I blame the pre-delivery pregnancy hormones for the impatient and overly anxious feelings I have for practically anything and everything. :)

Tennessee River

Tennessee river with the walking bridge and the Hunter Museum in the background.

Chattanooga Walking Bridge

Last weekend we went to downtown Chattanooga to explore the North Shore of the Tennessee River. Here is a shot of the walking bridge with the city in the background.

Helping himself to the fruit

The other day we were at WalMart and Madsen decided to help himself to the pears. He grabbed one, took a big bite out of it and put it back into the pile of pears. Once we realized what he was doing we had to tell him, "no" (although we were laughing inside). Of course, then we had to buy the pear.

Grateful Mami

I decided that I needed to post what I'm grateful for today as a reminder that although I am huge, definitely uncomfortable, and still pregnant, there are many positive things in my life. Today I am most grateful for a my adorable Madsen. I seriously wonder sometimes what I've done in life to deserve such a patient and loving son. I've definitely been a victim of pregnancy insomnia lately. This morning I woke up a little after 5, stayed in bed for a little while then realized I wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon. So I got up and started making myself productive. I started laundry, put away the clean dishes and started going through a pile of stuff that has made itself welcome in my kitchen for too long. I stayed up until almost 7 when I finally started feeling sleepy again. I went and laid down and Madsen woke up at about 7:30. At this point I was feeling exhausted and stayed up a little while with him, but then explained to him that Mami was really tired and he could read books next to me in bed if he wanted to. Well, to make it short he came into bed with me, cuddled, and fell back asleep with me and we slept in until almost 10. What a blessing. This is not the first time he's done this either. I love this little boy who is so sensitive towards others, their feelings and their needs. The other day I walked out of my room after having changed my clothes and he looks at me and says, "Mami, you're so beautiful. You're wearing pink, you look like a princess." He has definitely picked up his daddy's good habit of always commenting on the way I look :) It made my day to have him tell me I looked beautiful when I honestly don't feel very beautiful lately. I'm so excited for Pierson to get here, because I know that Madsen is going to love having him here. He's always kissing my tummy and telling Pierson he loves him. Right now he's admiring Pierson's newborn diapers and telling me how cute they are. He is going to be such an attentive and loving big brother. I have so much to look forward to with my two boys.

Thomas the Train

This past Saturday we took Madsen to A day out with Thomas. He absolutely loved it. He woke up so excited to go see Thomas. We had the earliest train ride out, plus we got there early, so there weren't very many people when we got there. It was nice to be there before the crowds and enjoy all the extra activities they had. It looked like it was going to rain but it never did thankfully. It was a really fun morning and it was nice to have one more fun outing just the three of us.

He loved hanging out with the animals at the petting farm.

He was so excited to give the conductor his ticket all by himself :)

He was a little nervous at first with all the other kids bouncing around,
but it didn't take long for him to get the hang of it and bounce around
just like everybody else. I think we spent a good 30 minutes at the moonbounceHis souvenir balloon. He chased the lady selling them to ask her for one.