More of Mason

We are at home, actually got back here yesterday. The first night home did not allow for much sleep unfortunately, but we are hoping for a little more rest tonight. Because we are a little tired, no narration tonight, just a handful of pictures of our little man and big sis.

Mason Giving Thanks

God is great. God is good.
Let us thank him for Mommy's boobs.
Amen!

He is especially thankful this evening because they calmed him down after his little man "procedure."

Mason's Birthday

This is Ike doing a post while Caroline rests. Yesterday was quite a day for Mason's arrival. He was delivered via c-section on August 23rd at 10:46pm EST at Beaches Baptist in Jacksonville, FL. He tipped the scale at a surpising 7lbs 15ozs and measured 20 3/4 inches (remember this is 2 weeks before his due date).

Now for a little background, Caroline was having regular contractions for a while, but never changing anything or progressing to labor. Thursday night, August 20th she did not sleep at all because of contractions and went in for a previously scheduled checkup on Friday morning. At the appointment she was dilated 1cm and was put on the monitor with good steady contractions. She progressed to 2cms and was admitted; the rationale being that having had a previous c-section with Julianna, sending her home did not make sense. Her body was going into labor.

Julianna went to stay with our good friends, the Appleget's, and she hasn't stopped talking about all the fun she had with them. Caroline progressed slowly and sleep was not happening. On Saturday morning she was 3cm and the option of breaking her water was discussed but we decided to wait one more day if her body would do it to allow Caroline's mother to arrive from Maryland. She arrived Saturday night at 9:30pm and she took care of Julianna. If Caroline's water didn't break before Sunday then the doctor would re-evaluate and the option of breaking her water was still out there if her body stayed in this slow labor.

Sunday morning she was 4cm and so at 11:40am they broke her water. She progressed steadily and relatively comfortably after her epidural, until 7 cm. From there she started to get pretty uncomfortable and things seemed to slow down. After reaching 9cm at 9pm, she had developed a fever. A little after 10pm we started getting set up for the c-section.

I don't know why I wrote all that stuff down. There were lots of folks sending her good thoughts for a successful VBAC and curious about its outcome. So I suppose it answers any questions of "how did it go?" I guess I really put it down so that down the road Julianna and Mason realize the extent to which their Mommy would go to have a quicker recovery so that she could do all the things Julianna loves to do and she could readily do everything that Mason needed right away. She's definitely my hero.

Just as special as yesterday and something we were certainly looking forward to was Julianna meeting Mason. She did that this morning and she was so excited. First words out of her mouth, (unsolicited and unprompted) were, "He's so handsome." Mason had some surprises for his big sister too, a new book and a silver necklace with a tiny heart-shaped locket. Is it too much to hope that they always look at each other like they looked at each other this morning?

He's Here!

Mason Reed Stutts was born at 10:46pm on August 23rd. He's a big boy - 7lbs 15ozs, 20 3/4 inches.



Mom and baby are doing great and Julianna gets to meet her little brother tomorrow morning. We'll have more tomorrow after we have caught our breath and spent some time with the little man.

Hey, look what I'm doing!

After a long night of contractions (not painful but keeping me awake) I headed to my regular doctors appointment Friday morning. I didn't expect much because I have contractions frequently, but I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised and be a little dilated. I was 1cm but still contracting so the doc sent me to L & D to be monitored and see how the baby was tolerating the contractions. Baby looked great and I was contracting every 2-4 minutes (even though I only felt half of them) so the doctor wanted to monitor me a little longer to see if anything was going on. Again, I was pretty pessimistic that anything was happening but it was exciting to think maybe it was. I was checked again about 2 hrs later and was 2 cms but the contractions had spaced out. They decided to observe me over night (because I had a c-section with Julianna) just to be safe and really see what was going on. The contractions didn't do much over night, I took an Ambien and got 6 straight hours of sleep and this morning the doctor checked me again. 3 cms! I'm not even feeling these contractions anymore. Anyway, she decided that I am in early labor and that she wants me to stay until we have a baby....
My mom is flying in this evening so we decided that today I could eat, shower, and keep this slow process going and the doc is going to break my water in the morning!!!! We're having a baby! :)
Please pray for a successful delivery, I am really hoping to do this without a repeat c-section. However, as long as the baby is healthy I will be just as happy either way. I can't wait to see his little face and for Julianna to be a BIG SISTER!!!!!!!!

Today's Random Pics

Take it back!!!

We went to the mall the other day to waste some time. Our activities pretty much have to be in the air conditioning now. Disney World put me over the edge. Anyway, there was a fountain and Ike gave Julianna a penny to throw in and make a wish. He said, "Wish for a healthy little brother that loves you SO much." Julianna takes the penny, throws it in and says.... "I wish for a sister!" Stinker.

Full Term!

WARNING: If looking at a huge, bare, pregnant belly grosses you out please proceed with caution!!!!

I am 37 weeks and officially full term today. That means this baby is more than welcome to arrive at any time from here on out, but I doubt he will decide to show up before our scheduled c-section 2 weeks from now. Although sometimes I wish he would get the show on the road, I know it's a lot easier to take care of him in the belly than out. The thought of 2 car seats in the back seat still overwhelms me... I better hurry up and get over that.

I am getting really excited about his arrival. However, I am taking every opportunity that I can to relax. Since we have been down here in Jacksonville Ike's work schedule is a little more flexible. He goes in at random hours on random days and has been able to be home with us quite a bit. It has been great. This morning we went to the pool. It was WONDERFUL!



This is about as close to pure relaxation a pregnant woman can get. The funniest part is how HEAVY I feel when I get out of the pool. Everything is completely weightless in the water but when I get out gravity sneaks up on me.



Julianna decided to pose with me for my belly shots this week. I know that some people cannot believe that I would post these for everyone to see. I debated about it, but this is what I look like right now and I wanted to include it. I took very few pictures while I was pregnant with Julianna and I wanted to have more with Mason. Julianna thought it was so fun to pose too and wanted to get her hands exactly like mine. She wanted to be naked, luckily we convinced her to keep her shorts on! ha



She LOVES to kiss her brother and tickles him and tells him how much she loves him. She says that when he's born he's gonna say "Hey, Big Sister!" haha



I love how much she loves him. It really makes me smile. I hope she still loves him after he has been home for a few days!



And this one I had to include because it just makes me laugh. You can tell how hard she straining to try to stick her belly out as far as mine. This girl cracks me up! She is so funny. She keeps talking about things she will be able to do when she gets big. She really wants to be able to chew gum, and open the refrigerator by herself, and walk in the street without holding hands. She says "And when I get big, when I get really, REALLY big, like you and Daddy, then I can walk by myself and not hold hands anymore." I tell her yes but secretly I know I will still want to be holding her hand.

Disney World - Day 3

The big day of Princesses had finally arrived. Daddy treated this little princess like royalty by ordering room service for breakfast.

She and Minnie Mouse enjoyed a lovely pancake breakfast in bed. We got ready and headed to Epcot for a little fun before the Princess lunch.



It was another hot day but we were super excited to meet everyone. Here we are in front of "the big ball."



Our lunch was in the Norway area at Epcot.



We walked right in an got to have a picture made with Belle. They took professional ones too and we got to take that home with us. It turned out really cute. This is the one from our camera.



4 other princesses came around to each of the tables to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) was the first to visit.



Next was a big hug from Cinderella. She told Julianna that she reminded her of her friend Tinkerbelle.



Then Ariel came around. She and Julianna discussed the proper use of a dinglehopper (fork) and they decided you should never use the same one to brush your hair AND eat. Ariel was in human form, not mermaid.... obviously.


The last one we saw was Snow White. Julianna really liked seeing her since she has the same dress. Snow White gave her a big kiss on her forehead and left a nice set of red lips. It stayed on for most of the day.



After lunch we went on a few rides. We did the Figment of Imagination ride and the Finding Nemo ride. This was the shark from Nemo.



Then we took the monorail back over to Magic Kingdom to get a closer look at the castle. Here are Daddy's 2 princesses.



And the prettiest princess of all. She really loved seeing the castle. I asked her if she was going to live in that castle when she grew up. She said... "No, that's Cinderella's castle!" Duh, Mom.



She and Daddy rode the carousel. We also met our friends Katie and Carson there. They rode the carousel too.



Dumbo had a pretty long line but she liked riding it. She was getting pretty tired and grumpy by this point, we thought this might be our last event of the day. She did perk up a little bit after a popsicle and we made it through the "It's a Small World" ride.



It was a beautiful, hot & sunny day... but we had had enough. We headed back to our hotel for a normal bedtime.



We all showered and changed into our matching Mickey Mouse shirts. Check out the little blue one for brother.



We posed for Daddy in our matching outfits and mouse ears.



She thought I looked funny in her pink hat. Hers have her name on them! Fancy!



After this busy weekend Julianna was tuckered out. Look how sweet she is snuggled up with her Minnie Mouse. She has slept with Minnie every night since we have been back in Jacksonville. In case you can't tell from this picture. It was a great trip... and worth every bead of sweat! :)