Welcome to the World Maxwell

On Friday I welcomed my third little M into the world. Maxwell (aka Max) made his debut at 37 weeks. I thought this might be a good time to post a quick update on how we’re doing so far and share his birth story. Although things didn’t go exactly as planned, I had a safe delivery and I’m so grateful he’s here and healthy.

I started having very mild contractions on Thursday afternoon. I thought they were Braxton Hicks contractions and that I needed to hydrate and take a walk as my doctor had previously advised. I took my boys for a walk and they went away, but my intuition told me to start prepping for the hospital just in case that evening. Around 1 or 2 am they came back and were strong enough to wake me up, and by 4am they were intense but irregular. I knew to call my doctor once the contractions were 3 minutes apart so I timed them on my phone and gave him (and my mom) a call around 5 am. He told me to head to the hospital.

By the time I got there my contractions were very intense but still a few minutes apart and I figured I was close but still had a little while to go. Apparently it was a very busy birthing weekend at the hospital so I sat in triage for a while. When the on-staff doctor finally came in to check me she was shocked, I was already fully dilated and ready to go. She told me to avoid pushing no matter what and they scrambled to get me into a delivery room in time and get ahold of my actual doctor. Thankfully he made it in time, but coming in fully dilated meant that I didn’t have time for an epidural. I was pretty scared beforehand, I’ve never had a natural birth and wasn’t prepared for one this time. Pushing without an epidural was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but thankfully it was all over in about 8 minutes!

Since it was my third delivery I was discharged from the hospital the next day. We’re settling in and doing great, although I have to admit the first couple of nights have been tough. My second child was a great sleeper from the start, but so far Max is more like his oldest brother. Hopefully we get through this stage and into a routine quickly. Thankfully I have a lot of help right now- my husband, Mom, and sister are keeping my head on straight this week and my mother in law will be here on Sunday.

Maxwell is so sweet and adorable, I’m soaking up all the cuddle time I can get. And his brothers are showing a lot of interest in him. They keep rubbing his head and Mason has even been giving him a few kisses. I can’t wait to see the three of them playing together eventually.

I’ll be posting more updates on my experience with three under three here. Thanks to everyone who sent us well wishes!

Xo,

Courtney