It has been 1 month since Madden was born and I've been trying to think of how I could ever write his story down and truly explain how beautiful it was. Maddens birth was perfect. Now I'm not trying to brag but it really was.
Sunday April 2nd, 3 days past my due date I woke up at 12:30 am with some uncomfortable pain different than anything I had ever felt. I honestly thought that I might be getting sick. I kept going back to sleep and waking up every few hours from this odd pain. Around 8 am it dawned on me that these were contractions! It was conference Sunday (for those non LDS readers conference is a big church-wide televised meeting that takes place the first Saturday and Sunday in April and October) so we had plans to have a big breakfast at my parents house and watch the first session then later that day go to Landon's parents house to celebrate his birthday with a family dinner. I decided I wasn't feeling well enough to do all of these things just in case I progressed fast and needed to get to the hospital. I kept it secret because I didn't want to make a big deal about it yet in case it took forever. Landon knew what was happening and of course I had to tell Brittany too(My twin sister). She was so excited she timed my contractions all day. I would text her "go" every time one started and "stop" when they had ended. They were 12 minutes apart at 8 am when I got up and throughout the day remained around the same so I got a little discouraged. We went to Landon's birthday dinner and I tried my best to hide my pain but it was pretty obvious. Brittany continued to time my contractions and by 10 pm they were about 8 minutes apart. I told her to get some rest and I was going to rest too because it had taken all day to get 4 minutes closer it could take another day to get down to 5 minutes. So she went to sleep but then things did go fast: contractions grew stronger and closer and right at midnight they were around 5 minutes so we went to the hospital! We got checked in on 4/3/17 at 12:07am and they started to monitor me. I was 2cm dilated and 90% effaced which was slightly disappointing to hear because that was how I had been for my last 2 weekly checkups. But they could see on the monitors my contractions were close and strong. They monitored me for an hour and if I didn't progress enough they were going to send me home. After 1 hour I had only progressed 1cm. They needed me to progress more before admitting me so Landon and I walked the hallways for an hour. The contractions got so horribly painful in my back I didn't want anyone to see me go through that pain so I tried to hurry and make it around the corner where no one was whenever I could feel one coming on. After an hour they checked me again and I hadn't progressed too much more but just enough for them to admit me! 3.5 cm dilated and 3 am they admitted me into labor and delivery! I remember feeling so anxious that I was shaking. There was only 1 other patient in the labor and delivery unit and when I heard her baby cry for the first time I burst into tears it's like I could feel the sacred energy coming from their room and I couldn't wait for it to enter mine. At this time I hadn't decided if I was going to have the epidural or not, I was in a large amount of pain but I felt like I could handle more, things happened so fast that within an hour of being admitted I decided that I did want the epidural and boy I am glad. It made everything so much more relaxed. At 4 am I got the epidural and I was 4 cm dilated. I kept asking when I was supposed to call my family and the nurses told me it would be hours before anything happened they estimated it would be 9am-12pm before I pushed because I am a first time mom. I tried to get some sleep but it was so hard when you are hooked up to so many beeping monitors. My water broke at 5am and when they checked me again at 6am I had progressed to 9cm! The nurses were all shocked and told me I'd be pushing within an hour! We were in panic because that didn't leave us a lot of time for family to get here! We called our parents and texted our siblings and they rushed there as fast as they could. I also notified the photographer (Madeline Beeton, who was so wonderful and got there so fast) and by 7am everyone was there, I was ready to push we just had to wait for the doctor to get out of a surgery. I started pushing at 7:20 and pushed 3 times with every contraction. 15 pushes and 21 minutes later the most perfect human I have ever met entered this world surrounded by so many people who love him. I initially only wanted Landon and the photographer in the delivery room but with how fast and easy things seemed to go I didn't really mind having all the extra people there. We had both grandmas and 2 of his aunts Brittany and Breanna to witness his miraculous entry. Madden Joel Hall weighed 7lbs 11oz and was 19.5in long, he was covered in the most adorable blonde hair and I fell instantly in love. Labor was much easier than I had expected and I am so glad I had such an amazing experience. I'll never forget seeing him for the first time and feeling that new instant love and thinking I had never felt something so beautiful and strong for anyone, but he was different I had begged for him and I spent 9 months waiting for him and caring for him the best that I could inside of me. I deserved a perfect birth and I deserved this little love in my life. We are so incredibly blessed and have loved having him in our family this last month. He is so incredibly strong and smart I can't wait to see him grow and learn. I am so incredibly lucky to be his mother.
Here are some photos from his birth. Madeline Beeton was the photographer and she did a beautiful job. She shared on her blog a little about her story of losing her precious boy 4 years ago and it drove her to go out of her comfort zone and photograph her first birth (Maddens) I am so thankful she shared her talents with me! With how fast things went I didn't get to soak in the emotions of all our loved ones in the room and now I can look at these and see how truly and unconditionally loved Madden, Landon, and I are. In Madelines blog she called me a badass for fighting through my infertility battle and Giving birth like a champ but she is the real badass for doing something that scared her and is now making her stronger! Thanks Madeline!
