Relax I'm a NINJA...!

Well if thats not a great start to any birthing experience, I'm not sure what is. In a time of understandable uncertainty & heightened emotions, Nothing is more relaxing than a 'NINJA'

(explanation will come, I promise)

This is Colin by the way (to clear possible confusion)

Ok, so first I think its only fair that I apologize for not having any contribution this far on how things played out on the day Ashton arrived. I've been taking some heat for not making a post, however in my defence, deep down I knew it was important to me to land this post exactly on the 1 month milestone.

It has been 1 month today,

It all started with a bump in the night, or more of a rough-nudge-in-the-very-ridiculous-early-morning... "I think I'm in labour ?!".....

BOOM, I'm awake.

My alarm hasn't been that effective ever in my life. Lucky for me (with permission) I also have the ability to sleep nearly on command, as we're still currently nowhere near daylight, and things are just starting to progress.

I got up for work now as usual, to confirm that today probably wasn't a good day to go into the office.

Well if you know me at all... then yup, I dragged her 'labouring' to work so I could make sure things were all squared away before we spent an unknown period of time at the hospital. No urgency for these Mundy's, this is old-hat.

Arrive at the hospital, pouring crazy rain, we park as far from the door as possible (cause we had a free pass)... now 10 steps, 1 minute labour, 10 steps, 1 minute labour, 10 steps... did I mention pouring crazy rain? or the 'one-man' umbrella, not quite big enough for the 'three' of us. The rest is a damp trip upstairs for check-in/ triage.

Thank God, They kept us... nothing worse than being sent home at this point. It was a great relief to know that we'd be able to start settling into our (heck-yes) private room!

Now this is where 'my' NINJA arrives, I say 'my'... because, she made my day!

Sporting purple streaks & a graphic tee... "Relax I'm a Ninja"

The Midwife arrives.

In my head, "heck-yes, thats fricken awesome!", the un-professionalism was amazing in such a situation.

Having a baby is one of those times in your life, when you can't really be sure how things are going to happen. With so much confusion and uncertainty about everything. However at that moment I knew that no matter what was about to happen, it was going to be Awesome!

In all seriousness though, besides the purple streaks & graphic tee, I couldn't have asked for a better experience for Kandis. I'm not sure how much of that excellent care and attention was due to the difference in having a midwife, or how much was just because her 'particular' midwife was fantastic. Her midwife had the ability to really understand the things Kandis needed to hear & how to help make the experience the best possible for her. I know how much that understanding support had helped Kandis. It in turn also helped me knowing that Kandis really had the help she needed.

Labour & delivery is a helpless time for Dads, powerless to help, and unable to really truly even understand how this is a physically possible event. I can say the midwife also made the whole experience for me much more comfortable, by being able provide the support for Kandis that I am unsure how to provide, and have no control over. It truly did help relieve many of the worries that are so un-controllable and reduce the feeling of helplessness.

Not only did we have a great midwife who did a fantastic job, But we had a RAD midwife!

All you other midwives should be jealous, cause she was B.A.!

Our afternoon was filled with snacks & labouring... and the odd Starbucks run. Really once things came time to pushing, somehow it managed to be quick and... (nope not gonna say it, I know better than that). This time I agreed to cut the cord, which I hadn't done in the past. I know it was important to Kandis, so I managed to over come that feeling of taking scissors to my wife and now barely born Baby. I'm glad I did, as it's just one of those things you'll never know what it feels like until you've done it.

Welcome, Ashton William Mundy (and holy crap so much hair). Once again overwhelmed with more feelings than you've ever understood possible until you've had a baby. Surprisingly with the same intensity as each baby every time. For us this is 'Baby Makes Five'.

To complete the timeline would require an overview of the next 24 hrs, tried to sleep on and off, alternating with Kandis. It was a pretty typical first night.

Then somehow without warning....

Student Nurses everywhere, everywhere, everywhere..!

Not just new nurses, but actual 'stupid-people' student nurses. Seriously, frustratingly stupid people calling themselves nurses everywhere. I wouldn't have trusted 95% of them to babysit for me.

With that being the only negative, I'd have to say Welcoming Ashton was overall a great experience. If I could give any advice, Find yourself a RAD midwife.

Happy 1 Month Ashton!

Our 3rd and Final Addition Has Finally Arrived!

**WARNING**

Due to the current emotion state of the writer, the following blog post may be filled with mushy, cheese ball writing. So if you can't handle sickeningly sappy stuff, you may wanna skip this one.

So, as most of you already know, after 9 of the most exhausting and uncomfortable months of my life, our littlest Mundy has finally arrived! Ashton William Mundy made his grand appearance  on January 28th at 5:01 pm, weighing a very healthy 8lbs 1oz and 21 inches long. We are all sooo relieved that he is finally here! We couldn't be happier.


So many of you have been wondering how it all went, so I figured I would take this opportunity to tell you all at once rather then write it out over and over. (If you dont want to hear all the gory details, you might want to skip ahead to all the sappy stuff a little further down)


How did it go? Well, to be honest, it was great! (Well as great as a tiny human coming out of your lady bits can be!) My labour and delivery with the other two were really terrible and fairly traumatizing experiences for us. I had the long drawn out, 28 hour labour with Josiah (all with no drugs because I was trying to earn a friggin badge or something) That was followed by 4 1/2 hours of pushing, 3 failed attempts with the vacuum and then ended up with an emergency C-Section. Then there was Madisyn. That labour can only be described as fast and furious. I would actually take the long labour over that any day! We were only at the hospital for about 45 minutes before I started pushing. (Sounds dreamy hey?! Yeah not so much.) Add some fetal distress, and swelling of the baby's head and what appears to be another very stuck baby and you get a very panicked delivery room. (You know when the doctor and nurses are starting to panic, that things aren't going too well) Although the OB was on his way to perform another C-Section, 3 attempts with the vacuum, a whole lot of pushing and one massive 3rd degree tear later, our little Madisyn did enter the world naturally. (I then endured one and a half of the most painful hours of my life as he repaired the tear with no freezing because evidently I have a tolerance to what they use for freezing. It was a really fantastic way to end that whole experience) The doctor who delivered her (who was not my normal doctor) later advised me to not attempt another natural delivery. He said that my bone structure was just not made for pushing out babies.


So why do it again?! It was a question that I asked myself up until the day he was born. But, third times a charm right?! And it was!! 


I decided to go the midwife route this time and we are soooo happy with that decision! My midwife was pretty confident that if baby arrived before the due date, I would be able to successfully deliver naturally. He pushed it pretty close, but at 4:57 am on January 28th at 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant, I had my first contraction. At first they were about 6 or 7 minutes apart but then after about an hour or so got a bit more sporadic. Colin had something at work that needed to get done by that afternoon, so I went into work with him and laboured in his office for about an hour. Then we came home and tried to get a little bit of rest. The contractions were still fairly sporadic, but getting alot more intense, so we headed into the hospital around lunch time. At that point, although I wasn't in active labour, I was 5 cms so they admitted me. My mom, dropped the kids off at my friend Amy's and met us up at the hospital. We got settled in our room shortly after 1:00 and then sent Colin to get some Starbucks. You cant deliver a baby without getting a Starbucks fix;) AND there is one conveniently located in the lobby of the new hospital!!! (I know right?! Totally awesome. Someone was thinking when they designed that!!) We sipped our drinks and just sort of hung out until about 3:00, then things really started happening. Finally in active labour! And my goodness was it active. Contractions were about 3 minutes apart and lasted minimum a minute each one. Thank goodness for the gas! I seriously love that stuff. It doesn't take the pain away at all, but it makes the few short minutes between contraction a little more, interesting, you could say. Lol. (You will have to ask my mom and Colin about that if you get a chance) By 4:15 I was still only 5-6 cms and feeling a little frustrated that I wasn't progressing anymore. I was beginning to think it would be another repeat of Josiah(I was stuck at 5 cms for more then 12 hours) But at 4:40 they checked me again and I was up to 9! From there, things went really fast. My water was ruptured and I started pushing at the next contraction. I pushed for only 16 minutes and he was out! (I honestly didn't think that was even possible. I had heard other people say that they only pushed a couple times and then delivered a baby, but I honestly thought that was a myth. Apparently not!) And it was a BOY! Once again, Josiah called that! 


The whole thing was really quite amazing. As painful as it was, it was really a wonderful experience. I can hands down tell you that having a midwife changed everything. It was so much more relaxed and calm. I really felt like she was there to support me and help me get through it rather then just there to catch a baby. And the coaching that I received was completely different then before. There was no one standing there frantically yelling at me to "Push, Push!!" She just told me exactly what to do and how to push. And when she could see that I was tiring out, she told me just to breath through it. So even with taking a few 'breaks' I still managed to get him out in such a short time. I would absolutely recommend midwife care to anyone! 


**Sappy part coming up**


Also, getting to share the experience with my mom was incredible. It was really a full circle moment for us, her getting to witness her baby giving birth to her grandbaby. She was over the moon! I actually think she is probably still telling anyone who will listen all about it. Lol. I wouldn't have had it any other way. A big thank you to Amy for helping us out and allowing mom to be there!


And then there is my AMAZING husband Colin. *sigh* How do I even sum up all I have to say about him. Well, I couldn't have gotten through it without his calm support, and of course his sense of humour. (He is seriously one funny guy) I remember the day we got married, looking down the aisle at him and thinking that I couldn't possibly love him anymore. But each time I have a baby, I fall more deeply in love with him. It's like the bond between us grows that much stronger.  Seeing him for the first time with our tiny baby in his arms, completely melts my heart. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. I am truly so blessed to have him!


Then of course there is little Ashton. Once again, I am completely blown away by the hearts capacity to love. And how instantly it happens. I loved him before I knew him, but the moment they first put him up on my chest, like with Josiah and Madisyn, I loved him so much it almost hurt.


And we couldn't have asked for a better baby! (Knock on wood) So far, he is absolutely dreamy! He is so layed back and content. He eats great and is gaining weight really well. He is doing 6-7 hour stretches at night all ready. That freaked me out a little at first, but my midwife assured me that as long as he is getting 8 feedings in 24 hours to enjoy the sleep. So that is what I am doing. Although, sleeping when the baby sleeps really is alot easier said then done. There is always so much to do!


The kids LOVE him! They cannot get enough of them. The struggle right now is their constant need to be the one to 'help' with the baby. It gets a little ridiculous sometimes, and I am finding I have to almost make 'baby jobs' up for them. But you do what you gotta do.


Although they love him and are great with him, their behaviour towards us on the other hand, has been a little less then stellar. They have definitely figured out how to 'utilize' the half an hour or so that it takes me to nurse the baby. It blows my mind, the damage a 2 year old and a 4 year old can do to a room in such a short time. And they do weird things that they have never really done before, like empty an entire dresser onto the floor?! 


But we expected it. It doesn't make it easier to deal with, but I know that we are not the first family to have older kids act out a little once a new baby arrives, and we certainly wont be the last! But it really is wonderful to watch them with him. They have proudly taken on the roll of big brother(again) and big sister. (And they have the shirts to prove it. Lol)


We now feel like our little family is complete. We are, without a question, done. So for any of you rooting for the Mundys to continue on until we have a ball team, you will just have to settle with, ummm, not sure. I cant think of any team sports with only 3 players. Bowling maybe?? I dont know, but you get the idea. As cute as we make'm, Ashton will be the last:) And it feels great that we have ended on a good note!

Whew, so there you have it. First post since his arrival. Sorry for the delay! This post was actually started 2 weeks ago. I guess I have just been a little busy. Lol. Hopefully the next one wont take me quite as long!