Malcom Aaron Montenegro’s Birth Story

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Baby Malcom took his sweet, sweet time getting here! But even though we had to evict him, I’m grateful he came safely and without complications. He was due on March 20th (Charlotte’s birthday!) but since my other girls had all come a week before their due date, I was fully expecting he wouldn’t reach his. While I’m glad he and Charlotte didn’t end up sharing a birthday, I was a little put out that he ended up going over his due date by 6 days and had no intentions of coming out.

I finally had to coax him out with an induction, which I was trying to avoid since I planned to deliver him naturally without an epidural. But when induction was looking more likely, I decided not to forego the epidural since forced contractions tend to be quite a bit more painful and can slow down the delivery.

We scheduled the induction for Sunday morning, and Stuart and I arrived at the hospital around 7 am. Grandpa Montenegro was in town and was able to take care of the girls at home while we were gone, and we are so grateful for him! At 8 am, they started the Pitocin and by around 10:30 am I was starting to feel the contractions strong enough to get the epidural.

From there the progression seemed to be slow (at least in comparison to Charlotte who was born within 90 minutes of arriving at the hospital) and it wasn’t until about 1:00 pm that I was dilated to 7cm. From there, everything seemed to halt, so around 3:30 pm Stuart decided he better run down and get some lunch. At 3:45 pm the Doctor came to check on me and said “Whoa you better get Stuart back up here if you want him to catch this baby because he’s coming NOW!”

I called Stuart, who had been enjoying a sandwich and watching a white-knuckled Creighton University v. San Diego State March Madness game tied with 2 seconds left to see who would be going to the Final Four. I told him “Stuart, this baby is coming NOW. You need to get up here!” So, he hustled up, not finishing the game. And it was a good thing too because he made it just in time!

I started pushing and 4 minutes later baby boy made his debut. It turns out the epidural was a good move because he was a whopping 9 lbs 1 oz, almost 2 lbs bigger than any of my other babies. He had a full thick head of hair just like all my other girls and was none too happy about leaving his comfortable womb.

We stayed in the hospital for the next 24 hours. Malcom had to learn to nurse, and I re-learned just how painful nursing is in the beginning. He’s got a strong suck, and even with a minor tongue-tie revision and a good latch, 3 weeks later we are still feeling it. But it is much less painful than it was in the beginning. Because I know I’ll get questions about it, here’s the link to my maternity nightgown.

Grandpa brought Evelyn, Eleanor and Charlotte to the hospital that evening where they were able to meet him for the first time.

He’s a hungry boy and seems to be much hungrier than my other girls were; I can barely keep up! He is growing like a weed and already needs to size up out of his newborn diapers and clothing.

All his sisters are absolutely smitten with him and are constantly asking to hold him.

My recovery has been going very smoothly. I experienced minor back aches from the effects of the epidural for a few days but have otherwise bounced back nicely. Nicely enough that I have been able to help with some outdoor work since Stuart had two weeks off after baby was born.

We could not be happier to finally have him here!

XOXO,

Crystel