Our little man's birth story!

Samson D Leatham

What a sweet little guy we have here! It is still a little surreal that we are now parents to TWO kids and that they are both so perfect!
This blog post is more of a journal for me so it is a little lengthy so I won't be offended if you only skim through the story :)

This time around labor was a roller coaster.. I had days where I thought for sure the time was near and that started weeks before he was actually here and days where I felt like he was never going to come out. I didn't have contractions with Maylee until the week of her delivery that was not the case this time around. My body started practicing around Halloween for the big arrival of Samson. Two weeks before he came I started having nightly contractions that seemed to be pretty regular but just didn't ever get more intense and the contractions always stayed at about 7 to 10 minutes apart.

On December 27th we dropped Maylee off at my cousins house while we went out to dinner to celebrate our 5 year anniversary a day early and while at dinner my "nightly" contractions came back but this time they were a little more on the painful side but still just 7 minutes apart. SO we ended our date night a little early and headed back to pick up Maylee where my cousin Strawberri tried some oils to help speed up the contractions and we did a few squats but that just was too much work and they didn't seem to be getting any closer together so we headed home. And I called my mom and told her to not come quite yet but to pack her bag just in case... well me telling her to pack her bag in her mind meant grab your stuff and get in the car so she left St. George to drive up to SLC. Which I was quite glad she did because I woke up at 1:45 and was definitely feeling strong contractions that were coming around every 4 to 5 minutes apart, My mom and sister in law Ashley arrived at our house at 2:30 am and when they walked through the door I asked Ash to stay with Maylee and Me, Sam, and My mom all jumped in the car to head in to the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital the nurses put us in a room to check my dilation and to see if I was progressing. Well I was at a 3+ when we got there but only got to a 4 by the time they checked me again. So the dreaded news came that they didn't think this was going to happen tonight and may take another day or so. NOT AT ALL what I wanted to hear! They then gave me a shot of Morphine and told me to go home and rest and if the pain of the contractions become so intense that the pain medication was not working then I would know that I am in "true" labor (I was pretty sure at this point with contractions every 3 minutes that I was in "true" labor!) This was all at about 5:30 am when I was sent home. I got home and maybe fell back asleep for an hour or so before I woke up to VERY intense contractions. I thought I was in pain before... I was wrong! These contractions were coming every 3 minutes at the most some were even closer together and I was in tears and thinking OH NO THIS BABY IS COMING IN THE CAR! So the three of us jumped back in the car and headed into the hospital one more time. and this time I don't know if it was the look on my face but they admitted me right then and took me into my delivery room. where I was then checked again to see how far along I was and I was now dilated to 8 cm.

The nurse was amazing and had 5 other nurses rushing around getting everything set up for me! She was thinking this baby was coming and coming soon! But I wasn't ready to deliver this baby without an epidural so she had the anesthesiologist in our room within 20 minutes of arriving at the hospital giving me my epidural! And let me tell you I was in heaven after that kicked in! After that this delivery was a breeze and smooth sailing! The midwife that delivered him was Mellissa Boll which I was so excited when I saw her walk in the room. She was my favorite of the midwives I saw but we didn't get to choose who delivered it would be whoever was on call during the time I was in labor so it was a nice little surprise to see her face! Getting the epidural did slow down everything a little bit and we didn't start pushing until a little before 1 and this little man was born at 1:05 pm. I didn't feel a thing during the delivery and only had to push for about 10 minutes before a very handsome little boy was laid in my arms! I could tell he was different from little miss Maylee from the start, She came out all wide eyed and for a newborn pretty quiet and he came out just a screaming and that's what he did for the first little while of life! Even through all the screaming I was instantly in love! He was so perfect and it was amazing to hold him for the very first time! They then weighed him and he was a whooping 8 lbs 15 oz and 21.5 inches long! We were thrilled to have such a healthy big boy on our hands.

We were then moved to a new room where we stayed until about 3 pm the next day. We were in a hurry to get out of there because Maylee was not allowed at the hospital (because of the flu season anyone under 14 was not allowed) so as soon as they let us leave we were out of there! Now came one of my top 5 favorite moments ever. Maylee meeting her little brother for the first time! She came with my mom to the waiting room of the hospital and I walked out first with the video camera so I could video tape their first meeting and when I walked through those doors without a baby in my arms her face dropped and she ran up to me lifted up my shirt and said "he is still in there!" Poor girl was devastated but only for a minute before dad and her brand new baby brother came walking through the doors. That moment was so special and she was one happy big sister! And since that day she has been all about baby brother! 

The story behind Samson's name:

Samson is obviously after the most amazing man/ daddy, Samuel :) and the letter D for his middle name is because his Grandpa Delmar only has the letter W for his middle name after his dad Warren. So the D is after grandpa Delmar or you could say after his Uncle D too :)

Since we have been home:

Little man initially lost 11 ounces but  is well on his way to gaining it back. We will see just how much he weighs next week at his 2 week check up! He has been a pretty good little baby he was a little confused on night and day at first but is starting to get a hang of it and we get to see his eyes open a little more during the day. He was at risk for Jaundice so we had to go back twice to get his little foot pricked but that seems to be taking care of itself without us doing anything special for it. His sister is obsessed with him and sometimes may show her love a little too much for his liking. We had my mom, Ashley, and Zoey here helping us for the first week and then some weekend visitors (Grandpa Paul and Leatham, Dylan, Kaitlin and Dallon) and then Sam's mom was able to stay this past week with us to help out. We loved having all of the help and today was our first day just our little family. I have to say I am a little intimidated for the first time Sam will have to work without any of my help being here! Hopefully all goes well for this momma of two! We were able to go this past week and get newborn pictures taken and they turned out super cute. I love seeing the love between him and Maylee already! It has been tiring since being home but also really great! We love having this sweet baby in our home and can't wait for all of the adventures to come!