Introducing Reed Henry Ross

Will and I were blessed with the birth of our second son, Reed Henry, on Saturday, May 5th. He is a pretty special little boy. He refused to be upstaged by Cinco de Mayo, The Kentucky Derby, or The Super Moon, and made his grand entrance almost three weeks early (we were due on the 22nd). He weighed in at 9 pounds even and was 19.75 inches long. He is a perfect angel thus far, and I am sure that won't change any time soon in his mommy's eyes. Liam is a very good big brother. He loves to hold his brother and gives him very sweet kisses. Lucy and Rocco just want to know just how many more of these things we plan on bringing home.

 

Reed's Birth Story

 

           Reed's due date was May 22nd, but I had a feeling the entire pregnancy that he would come early.  I really did not want to make another hour drive in labor like we did with Liam, so when I started having what I felt like were real contractions we headed over to stay at Bill and Michele's in Mission Viejo where the hospital that we deliver at is.  We stayed there for two nights.  Will must have made me take 15 walks to try to speed up the process, but eventually my contractions became weak and irregular.  Will was following me around with the IPAD, ready to start a contraction on the app we had downloaded to track our progress before heading to the hospital.  Will is not a person who can sit around and burn vacation time idly, so after visiting the doctor who told us we were only 75% effaced and 2cm dilated, 37 weeks pregnant with a very big baby, we decided to head home on Friday with a promise from the doctor that he would induce me on Monday morning if I hadn't gone into labor over the weekend.  I left feeling dejected, I wanted the doctor to say the baby was coming that day.  I was so anxious to get Reed here and in my arms!

           On Saturday morning my contractions started up again, and they seemed to be a lot stronger and more regular than before, but since I had already cried wolf one time I decided I would not insist on heading for Mission Viejo just yet.  Will decided that cutting down our iron fence and welding new sections in would be a good use of his time. A pretty big task for someone whose wife is in labor, but remember Will cannot sit still with things to be done.  Lucky for me Ruth had accompanied us back to Elsinore to help with Liam and be there if we needed to leave in the night for the hospital.  She and I eyed each other nervously as my contractions got stronger and closer together while Will continued to cut down sections of the fence.  This was only really a problem because we needed to leave the dogs at home when we left, and they needed to be able to go outside and have a fenced yard.  Back to the lucky for me part, eventually Ruth, told Will, "It's time to go!" and Will, like a good son listened to his mother and quickly finished the piece of fence he was working on... and then took a shower... and then we were off.  Ruth was so nervous that we were going to break our water, or worse have a baby on the way that she grabbed a bunch of towels and threw them in our car before we took off. 

         When we left the house my contractions were 8 minutes apart and very painful, and by the time we made it to the hospital they were 6 minutes apart and excruciating.  We decided to forgo the extremely curvy Ortega Pass after my experience in labor with Liam, and opted for the also nerve wracking 15-91-241 combo that could very well be a parking lot on a Saturday morning given a single fender bender.  I chose this only because if my labor were to progress too rapidly we could call an ambulance, whereas there are parts of the mountain pass that do not get cell service. Thankfully, the drive went smoothly and we arrived to the hospital in just under an hour.  I felt like we were going to make in time for the baby to come, but I was afraid that I wouldn't make it in time to get an epidural.  I told Will that he better hope that we did, (or else)! 

       Upon arriving at the hospital we found that my doctor was unavailable that day (Cinco de Mayo and all).  He claims he was at a wedding... I really didn't care, I loved my doctor, but after having Liam I knew it was a good nurse that really mattered.  After about 30 minutes I had my epidural, but I had stopped dilating at 4cm and my water had not broken.  So, we relaxed and watched the Kentucky Derby.  After a bit they decided to break my water and once they did I went from 4cm to 8cm very quickly.  So quickly in fact that the doctor almost didn't make it back, or so we thought. He had asked me what my first labor was like, and I had told him that it relatively easy and quick because I really only pushed a few times with Liam, forgetting to add that the doctor had performed an episiotomy knowing we had a big baby on the way.  I pushed until I thought I could push no more, and Will says that Reed must have been a little shoulder breach because his head was out, but nothing else and the doctor and the nurses became frantic, pressing on my stomach to move him.  Will told me this months later.  I thought everything was going fine. 

      When they did get him out the doctor said, "Whoa, that is a big baby, with a huge head!".  Needless to say this did not come as a surprise to me!  But, all was well when they placed my perfect Baby Reed upon my chest.  I sobbed tears of joy to finally meet him, and be able to say, "Hi there, I'm your mommy." And the rest is history.