Introducing Nicholas Walter Mason

We are all very excited to announce the birth of our son, Nicholas Walter Mason! He was born on March 4th, 2008 at 8:40am via cesarean section at the Brockville General Hospital. He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs 7 oz and 21-1/4" long.

Trevor and I were completely certain we were having another girl, so you can imagine the shock when they pulled him out and Trev said it was a boy - we were both so shocked and excited! As everyone has been saying: we now have the million dollar family! Maybe it's more along the lines of our family will cost us millions of dollars as none of Christine's clothes will work for Nicholas and I have some shopping to do!! :) Perhaps I'll see if Dana will want to join me?!

The other big surprise of the day (which was so exciting!) was when Trevor called our friends the Herages to give them the great news and found out that they had just had a baby girl, Avery, a little less than 2 hrs earlier! I had been feeling bad that our baby may be born before theirs, and I know how much it sucks to go past your due date... We were just so thrilled!!

As for the actual birth, well, it was pretty "eventless". We were at the hospital for 6am, as we had been instructed. When we got to our room, we were able to unpack a little and get settled in. By 6:30, the nurses were in starting to get the prep done for the surgery (IV, catheter, etc.) and then we waited until just before 8am to get rolled into the OR. Once there, the anesthesiologist did his thing and once I couldn't feel from chest down, Trev was allowed to come in. He and the anesthesiologist were standing just next to my head while I lay there with a green curtain in from of my head. They talked about what was going on, so I knew what was happening. As the anesthesiologist said though - they couldn't see much as it was on the other side of the mound... But they were the first to see Nicholas' head come out (along with the other 7 people in the room: baby Dr, baby nurse, 2 OB's / surgeons, 1 or 2 OR nurses and 1 student nurse). That's when Trev told me it was a boy, and he was SCREAMING! I guess that's good though as he didn't shoved down a hole too small to help get all the mucus out, so this was going to have to do.

From there, Trevor, Nicholas, the baby Dr and nurse all left and I was sewn back up. Once that was done, I was brought into the recovery room until I could move my toes again. Then I was back in my room with Trevor and Nicholas, finally, around 11am.

I can't believe that's just over a week ago already! Nicholas is a fantastic baby so far - already somewhat predictable and is feeding extremely well. On Monday, when the Health Unit nurse came by, he was already back up to 8 lbs 4 oz, so not quite birthweight, but not far. He's doing great. As for me, I'm recovering much more quickly and easily this time than last - perhaps because I wasn't as sleep deprived and my body hadn't been through the marathon of labour for almost 26 hrs prior to the section. All in all though, we're doing pretty good.

And on that note, I think I will attempt my first slow and short walk outside. I need some fresh air!

Til next time...