Paxton Shawn Horrocks

Our sweet little baby boy is finally here! Paxton Shawn Horrocks was born August 2nd, 2012 at 10:06am! 

After consulting with our doctor, we decided that it would be better to induce me and get Paxton here a little early to start chunking him up! The induction was tentatively scheduled for Thursday. That Wednesday, August 1st, we were all nervous knowing that we might be going in that night! My mom and sisters flew out to help us through the process. 

That night I called the hospital around 10:00pm to see when I would be coming in. The nurse told me that there had been a lot of women going into labor on their own that day, and that we might not be able to get induced Thursday as planned. She told us to just go to bed, and they would call us if a bed opened up. We were all kind of bummed. Around 2:30am I got a phone call, and come to find they had a bed ready for us! We had an hour to get ready and come in. I tried to go back to sleep, but with no success I decided to get up and just get all ready. With an hour to kill that included doing my hair and make up. When Austin found out that was the reason I was in the bathroom so long, he gave me a hard time.. haha but when you are waiting around to have a baby, you have to find something to distract your mind! By the time we got to the hospital and got all checked in it was 4:00am. 

By 5:00am we were all settled in, and they had started me on the Pitocin. I had been dilated 4cm for a couple of weeks now, and was still sitting at 4cm when I started. The nurse said I could have my epidural whenever I wanted, but I figured I should probably experience a little bit of pain before getting one. Austin and I hung out, and tried to relax while things progressed. The contractions slowly started coming, but I was never in a ton of pain. It felt like I was having some cramps in my back, but nothing I couldn't handle. Every 30 min the nurse would come in to check on me, and ask if I wanted an epidural yet. I kept putting it off because in my mind labor was suppose to be this horrible, painful process and it wasn't yet. By 7:30 the nurse told me the doctor would be coming in anytime between 8:00 and 9:00 to break my water. I really wanted to have the epidural before that because I heard that once your water breaks, then the pain really comes. I told her to go ahead and call in the anesthesiologist. He showed up around 8:15 and was done just as my doctor was walking in to break my water. The timing couldn't have been better. My doctor checked me and come to find I was already 8cm dilated! He couldn't believe how fast things were going, and told me I should be ready to have this baby within the hour. He also said it was a good thing I got my epidural when I did, or else I probably wouldn't have been able to get one! Austin called my mom and told her to hurry and get here because this baby was coming! It was a weird sensation watching the contractions come on the monitor so fast, and not being able to feel anything. My mom and sisters showed up just in time. They snapped a picture real quick before I had to start pushing. My sisters laughed that someone in labor shouldn't look so happy... haha 

My labor nurse was so great at getting me all ready, and helping me push through some contractions. It didn't take much to get him here. Once the doctor got there, things went so fast and it was all kind of a blur from there. I just remember looking at Austin's face since he got to see Paxton before I did, and seeing the love and joy in his eyes as he saw his little boy for the first time. It was so surreal when he came. He was perfect!  They were able to lay him on my stomach for a few seconds before taking him over to get all cleaned up. I couldn't stop crying. The nine months of waiting was so worth it. We all took our guesses as how much he would weigh. Austin said 6lbs 2oz and I said 6lbs 1oz. As soon as the nurse grabbed him, she said there was no way he was over 6lbs. She was right! Our little guy was only 5lbs 15oz and 18in long. 

Paxton and dad - love at first sight :) 

 Paxton and Grandma Victoria! Thanks for staying in the room and being the photographer :D

Settling in with dad while mom napped

Dad experiencing his first diaper change haha 

Once the epidural started wearing off, things started getting a little more challenging. I guess being blessed with a relatively easy pregnancy and labor meant a hard recovery. I slowly started getting a headache, and by that night things kept getting worse. None of the medication they gave me seemed to work. It wasn't until 5:00am Friday that they called back the anesthesiologist to tell me I was probably going to need a blood patch. I had never heard of this before. Apparently one possible side effect from having an epidural is that you don't heal as fast, and you start getting really bad spinal headaches. You can either wait it out which could take weeks to heal, or they can inject your own blood into the epidural space. The pain was so bad and I wasn't able to enjoy time with my little boy anymore, so I decided to go for the blood patch. I was nervous enough having an epidural the first time, that the thought of doing it again didn't excite me. Luckily as soon as the doctor finished my headache was already going away. I had planned on leaving the hospital that Friday, but decided to stay one extra day just to make sure things didn't get bad again.

Getting ready to go home! The going home outfit I bought him was a newborn size and it was still too big on him! 

 He was hungry and not very thrilled to be put in his car seat.. 

Paxton has already brought so much joy and happiness into our lives. We can't imagine life without him!