He's Here!

The day we had been greatly anticipating for the past nine months finally arrived... and it was two weeks sooner than we had expected!  Two weeks exactly before his due date, Mason Menken Berry entered the world.  He was born August 25, 2010 at 6:41pm weighing 7lb, 5oz and was 21 inches long!

Sharing our wonderful news!

The story of his birth is one I'm sure we will never forget.  I had been experiencing contractions off and on for several days... I knew D-Day wasn't far off but Brent, on the other hand, didn't think he would come early.  I went to work on Tuesday, August 24 and my contractions started getting stronger and closer together and I started experiencing what I later found out was back labor.  I managed to make it through most of the day at work... although probably not my most productive day!  Finally, I had enough around 4:30 and had Brent come pick me up from work.  I called my dear friend Jennifer, who is also a triage nurse at Winnie Palmer. She talked to me and asked me some questions, suggested that I do some walking before going to the hospital. So I did. It was raining and I was doing laps up and down our street while Brent frantically installed the car seat (so much for planning ahead!).  My mom came with Brent and I that night to the hospital.  Thankfully Jen met us at the hospital and took care of me in triage - which was so sweet because she has a baby at home too! Having her there made the whole experience less scary! They admitted me, I labored through the night.  The next morning the doctor came in to check on me, and actually suggested that I go labor at home since I hadn't progressed as much as they would have liked.   Mason must have known how much I hated that idea, because the next time they came to check on me I had dilated 2 more cm and they allowed me to stay!

My OBGYN was actually a group of 4 doctors and 2 midwives who share a labor rotation.  Throughout my pregnancy, I saw Dr. Fu and was initially so disappointed that he wasn't on call when I went into labor.  The midwife, Mary Kay Miller, who I wasn't very familiar with was the one on call that day.  God certainly has a funny way of working things out because she was amazing. 

Around 4cm, they broke my water and gave me a little pitocin to speed up the process.  I got my epidural the second they would let me :0).  Brent and my mom were with me throughout the whole labor and the birth.  Poor Brent, he did not like seeing me in pain and held my hand sweetly throughout the worst parts.  My mom was amazing and we certainly could not have done it without her.  Brent joked that she was going to go deliver a couple more babies before going home.   Finally, nearly 24 hours after checking into the hospital and two hours (!) of pushing, our sweet baby boy was born.  Holding him for the first time was a feeling I had never experienced - such an instant love.  By far, the most incredible day of our lives.