I have been itching to share here on the blog that my husband and I welcomed our new baby boy, Colton James Rice, on March 6th at 3:14pm! Baby Colton was my largest baby, weighing in at 8 lbs. and 13 oz and 21″ long. On the larger side for a newborn, but still incredibly tiny to me considering my other babies currently weigh 53 lbs and 68 lbs respectively. This was definitely my easiest labor and delivery out of the three, so I’m excited to share The Birth Story of Colton James with you!
My doctor told me that women having their third child and over the age of 35 typically deliver their babies earlier than 40 weeks. In fact, she said she’d be happy if I made it to 37 weeks pregnant before delivering early. That kind of freaked me out because I’ve never experienced an early child birth.
Annabelle was born at 41 weeks via an induction-ish. Meaning I went in for an induction but went into labor at the hospital on my own, so I never received Pitocin. Read Annabelle’s birth story here. And I went into labor on my actual due date with Leo, which is funny because I was only 1 centimeter dilated at my check up that morning. Read Leo’s birth story here. This time around I didn’t really believe I would go into labor early, but I did live in anxious anticipation of labor striking early.
Made It To 40 Weeks – Induction Time!
I was scheduled for an induction at 6am on my due date of March 6th. As I got closer to the date I became at peace with being induced and knowing there was an end in sight and I wouldn’t go a day over my due date. I’d choose getting induced over going into labor any day. It’s a lot more peaceful to load up your car calmly, walk into the hospital on your own and settle into your room. Doing all of that while in the throes of labor sucks.
The night before my induction we went out for a big dinner to mark our last meal as a family of four. I had a really hard time falling asleep that night knowing what was to come. Plus my alarm was set painfully early so that was giving me anxiety as well!
The nurse that welcomed us was great and made us feel very comfortable right away. I got put on Pitocin after settling in and was told that I could get an epidural at any point that I began feeling pain. I was there for a 3-4 hours just getting the Pitocin levels increased every 30-45 minutes or so and nothing new was really happening. No real progression beyond 3-4 centimeters dilated and 70% effaced. I was at a Pitocin level of 14 and I wasn’t feeling pain, just tightening during contractions. My doctor decided it was time to break my water, which she said would speed up labor. I was warned that once my water broke the contractions would become a lot more uncomfortable and that would be a good time to get an epidural. Eeks! Sure enough, they came on strong and quickly got very painful.
Drugs, please!
Time to call the Anesthesiologist and give me the drugs! My nurse said this was her favorite Anesthesiologist in the hospital network. I immediately understood why she liked him, he had a fantastic bed side manor. He kept the conversation going with us the whole time, explaining what he was doing so I wasn’t surprised by any thing. It actually took longer than I thought it would to numb me enough to not feel the very strong contractions I was now having. It dulled the pain, but it was still very uncomfortable. So I gave myself a couple extra doses using the pain button so it would fully numb me. My nurse had me lie on each side with a “peanut ball” between my knees to help speed things up. It didn’t take long for me to reach 10 centimeters dilated after those side positions.
My doctor told the nurses to call as soon as I hit 10 because she knew I’d deliver quickly with my history of pushing babies out in 25 minutes or less. The nurse called my doctor and she literally ran to my room from her office across the hospital. She arrived huffing and puffing and said; “It’s time to have a baby!” and instructed me to hold the backs of my legs and get ready to push.
At this moment — literally moments from pushing a baby out, I remember saying “This is so surreal, I can’t believe I’m having a baby!”
You’d think after 9 long months of pregnancy and being in the hospital for hours that it would’ve sunk in that I was definitely having a baby at the end of this, lol! But it’s just the awareness of a life changing moment unfolding that was giving me all the anxious feels!
It’s nice to meet you, little man
Things haven’t changed since my last deliveries, I’m still a pretty darn good pusher, ha! The nurses and doctor were already saying he was crowning! They had me push through three contractions and he was out!!! It was literally 13 minutes from my nurse saying I was at a 10 to him being delivered!! Crazy fast!
When they pulled him out and he started crying right away I began to cry. I think all these months I was worried that I was focused too much on experiencing the pregnancy vicariously through my older children’s eyes, and not focusing enough on the actual baby. So when they handed him to me and my immediate reaction was wondrous, happy tears — I was overwhelmed with emotion. As I caressed his soft little cheek I remember saying how nice it was to finally meet him. The miracle of it all just gets me right here!
Colton was born at 3:14pm. My parents brought Annabelle and Leo as soon as I texted that he was born. They arrived about 5pm. It was SO cute seeing them meet their new brother for the first time. Their smiles gave me heart explosions! My mom ran out and picked up Portillo’s for dinner and brought it to us and I inhaled that hot dog, fries, and Diet Coke so fast!! The last thing I had eaten was a granola bar at 5:30am so I was starving!
A post-birth win!
Once the epidural began to wear off I decided to try and go pee. I remember with Annabelle this took a nurse holding me up and walking me to the bathroom. She stood there while I peed and helped me back up. A woman’s dignity takes a beating during child birth and the postpartum aftermath.
Thankfully I did not tear during birth so I didn’t need stitches. I got stitches with my first two births and that has a huge impact on a mama’s recovery. The fact that I was able to get up on my own accord and pee and take care of myself in these moments was an amazing feeling. I felt like I was already winning at this postpartum phase! I was mentally thanking myself for all those Orangetheory work outs that helped me maintain strength throughout pregnancy, labor, and now postpartum!
Family of five
We were released from the hospital 24 hours after birth. Thank goodness because I couldn’t take another night lying on that hard as a rock hospital bed! Before we left my friend and photographer Natalie McIntire Photography stopped by to take some “Fresh 48” photos of Colton. I loved the idea of having professional photos taken when the baby is brand new like this in the hospital. Capturing this moment in time when he’s so tiny is just precious! I also included a few of my own candid iPhone pictures in this blog that were taken within a few hours after birth with just my family.
Taking Colton home was so exciting. I couldn’t wait for the kids to see him and hold him. It’s been nearly two weeks since we welcomed baby Colton and although I’m sleep deprived and I have sore nips from breastfeeding, I couldn’t be more in love and happy with our new family of five!
I’m extremely grateful God listened to my questioning prayers about whether I was meant to have another child. He answered those prayers on July 1st when we discovered we were pregnant, much to our surprise. Read about that discovery here. I’m blown away that at 38 this was the most incredible pregnancy I’ve ever had. Sharing the experience with Annabelle and Leo has been so wonderful and bonded us even more, I hope they never forget this. And to top it off with a peaceful and easy labor and delivery, I simply couldn’t ask for anything more to close out my child bearing chapters!
Thank you for following along on this third pregnancy journey with me. I always cherish my pregnant blogs, they are fun to look back on over the years. I plan to share more about life with 3 kiddos, postpartum health and weight loss, best baby gear items by request, and lots more! Stay tuned, friends!
If you’re local to Indianapolis and are in need of a Fresh 48 photographer for hospital birth photos, or any other important moments you’d like to capture, check out Natalie’s website here, or her Facebook page, or follow on Instagram. She’s done blog outfit photos for me, our pregnancy announcement photos, and family Christmas pics. You’ll love her!
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Gosh reading this I felt like I was there with you Courtney!!! Thank you so much for posting this and the pictures. You have a Beautiful Family, and hopefully I can get to Indiana my Great Niece and 2 Great Nephews. Love you all!!
Aww thanks Tona, glad you liked the post! I worried that I was giving too many details, but I hated leaving things out that helped shape my experience!! Would love for you to meet the kiddos! Love you!