PIERCE JENSON BARLOW

He FINALLY arrived and I'm FINALLY posting about it!!!

PIERCE JENSON BARLOW made his debut on Wednesday, APRIL 6th, at 5:25 AM. 6 lbs 8 oz; 20 inches long. I have much to say about his birth: it was my BEST DELIVERY and ABSOLUTE WORST LABOR and RECOVERY!!! I can now confirm that I did have a flu-bug and how frustrating it makes me that I got it the day I went into labor (might be the worst odds ever). And it wasn't just a 24 hr bug, we're talking about a 3-day awful bug. Yep, pretty much awesome. But as far as baby Pierce, it couldn't have been better.

After suffering all day (Tuesday, April 5th) with wanting to puke and feeling miserable, I headed up to bed around 11 PM, which is when I started to notice my contractions were quite close. I took a piece of paper, pen, and my cell phone to bed with me so I could write down the times (for sure thinking this was another false call) of each contraction. The first one, 8 minutes, then 6, then 5 minutes apart for the next half hour. We both decide this might be go-time so I keep timing them for the next half hour. After an hour with contractions at 5 minutes apart, I called our friends and Will so kindly came over at midnight to sleep on our bed. Here I am at the hospital (arriving shortly before 1:00 AM) waiting for the nurse to come hook me up)...

The nurse monitored me for the next hour and a half (1 AM - 2:30 AM) making sure I was in labor before they admitted me in. After an hour of contractions (about 3-4 minutes apart and now dilated to a 5) they admitted me in. They wheeled me into my delivery room and I got the epidural at 3:00 AM. I asked the nurse about paging my doctor and how soon she thought this would all progress. She said that he'd probably come in around 7, break my water, so go ahead and sleep now cause it could be a few hours. Well five minutes later my doctor walked in. I was so impressed. My doctor gets 10 stars in my book. He could easily have gotten a few more hours of sleep and put off my delivery but instead he came in at 3 in the morning to get me going. Sweet. He broke my water at 3:30 AM. They gave me some pitocin to speed up my contractions and two hours later I was ready to push. I pushed about four times and out came little Pierce! I had zero tearing (another reason I loved my doc) but he did put one stitch in to help me heal quicker. I tore with my previous two and had stitches put in so I was shocked to hear that I didn't tear. Night and day difference with recovery! Here's little man shortly after 5:25 AM...


Adam ran home shortly before 7 AM to be there when the kids woke up. He brought them over that morning to meet their new little brother (Lincoln was a little crusty as you can tell)...

Kenedee LOVED holding her new brother. She did not want to put him down.

After being 'Mr Mom' for the day, Adam brought the kids back over to the hospital that evening. Lincoln was a much happier boy and wanted to hold his new brother.

Adam totally called the date. About a week before Pierce was born Adam said 'wouldn't it be sweet if he was born on April 6th' (it's a big day in the LDS Church) and it happened! Pierce must be a special little guy :)

As for my recovery, it was AWESOME and AWFUL all at the same time. Since I didn't tear, I felt amazing. I was off my IB profen 24 hours after I delivered, feeling great and able to move around way quicker than my other two. But as far as the flu-bug, it kept on going. I never threw up but it went to my digestive system the night I went into labor (yes, meaning out the other end. I know. Not fun.) I felt instant relief with puking once I had Pierce, but the other relief never came. For the next two days after I delivered, I couldn't keep anything in me. Instead of taking stool softeners, I was popping Immodium and it didn't phase it at all. I had a banana and toast for every meal over the next two days and nothing helped. It was awful. I felt horrible, let's just say not my best two days. I started to get nervous when I couldn't keep anything in my system and I was supposed to be feeding my child. That's a sure way to lose weight, have your baby and not keep anything in your system for two days after. I gained 22 lbs with this baby. I weighed myself when I got home from the hospital and had lost 15 lbs. The flu bug is a BEAST!

Pierce is one sweet baby boy. He's a champ nurser, great sleeper, super content, pretty much the sweetest little thing. I think he looks a lot like Lincoln, but with light hair...he might be my first blond child. He has the dimple in his chin (like the other two) and the classic Barlow cowlick (also like the other two). He is our first child with my blood-type. This might not be a big deal to anyone else but this meant that I didn't have to get a rhogam shot in the bottom hours after delivery, thank you! Pierce, we're soooo happy you're here!!!!!!