Meet the Mocks: Charles James Mock

Charlie arrived this past Monday, July 14th at 12:01 pm weighing in at 8lb 10 oz, 21.5 inches long, and 13.78 in. head circumference.

His labor, like Ryan's and Bradley's, was a planned inducement so we had time to get everything in place beforehand (which was a good thing considering we weren't really ready for him to come any sooner and logistics gets a bit tougher each time we add another kid to this clan!).

The 3 weeks leading up to his birth, I kind of kept having some false alarms, thinking maybe it was time. I was having a decent amount of back pain/labor, sometimes contractions that were 6-7 minutes apart, as well as the fact that physically I was pretty far along in terms of my body being ready (5cm, 100% effaced, head was at zero station). But luckily, it never turned into anything more than just that since when I was induced he was only 38 weeks 2 days. We have been known to have large kids, so my doctor never wants to go too far in fear of a c-section.

Sunday evening, we took the boys to GiGi's house since we had to be at the hospital at 6 am, and then went and had a yummy dinner with just the two of us at Houston's. I snapped a pic before heading off to bed, since I don't really have many pics of this pregnancy.

That night, I got decent sleep, but probably not enough, as I was just pretty tired all of the next day. 5 am came pretty quickly and then we were off to the hospital. We got checked in and then of course, waited. Not sure why you have to be there so early just so you can sit around and wait, but oh well. Finally, sometime around 7-7:30 they came in to administer my IV which is always a joy. As usual, they busted two veins (probably the most painful part of the entire process) and the third time was a charm. Then of course, there is more waiting. They started my pitocin drip around 8 am so things could get moving along. Wes went downstairs to get Starbucks when my doctor came in to break my water around 8:30 am. She was confused as to why I was all by myself! This is Wes' tradition. Every time we are at the hospital, he loves to blow up the gloves and hope a nurse or someone else will spot it!

At that time, I went ahead and ordered my epidural as I knew it may take a while. Good thing I did because contractions started getting to around 3-3.5 minutes apart and with that came the pain and pressure. The anesthesiologist came at 9 am to get it all started and unlike last time, it was a breeze. No pain or "missed" entries. Unfortunately, just like my previous two, they never give you enough medicine to start because they want to be conservative. It took two more bolus' and two pushes of the magic button to get it right. I had what he called a "hot spot" near my left hip that for some reason we could not get the medicine too. Either Charlies was on a nerve or something, but it never was quite fixed, so I felt most of the labor in a 3 inch diameter space the whole time. The doctor was dead set on getting it fixed, and I wasn't as concerned as I didn't want to be so numb I didn't know what was going on, but that was not the case. My legs went so numb, I got a little light headed and dizzy, and it was too late! Around 10:15 am I was all hopped up on meds, so the nurse checked me and I was just at 6 cm, so now we waited some more. My parents had arrived by this time, so we sat around and chatted until about 11:45 when I all of a sudden got very nauseous. I thought I was going to be sick right then and there. Wes either went to call or find a nurse, I really don't remember as I was just not feeling well. The nurse decided to check me again, and sure enough, we were ready to go at 10 cm. They called Dr. S real fast and things moved pretty quickly for the next ten minutes trying to set the room up, etc. Wes then called his mom to let her know (she was with the boys at our house) so she could head up there. My doc was there within 10 minutes and it was go time. It was the strangest labor I've ever had because he kind of was just coming out on his own. I pushed three times and by 12:01 pm, there was our {not so} little Charlie. We all made our guesses on weight, and he ended up being a little larger than we had thought.

I would say he looks closer to how Ryan did at birth with dark brown hair and his overall features, and like Bradley in the sense they look a little more dainty, but he still just looks like his own person, too! His eyes are dark blue right now, so we shall see what they do over the next few weeks. He also has a little dimple on his left cheek.

Every time we have another kid, I feel like the hospital policies change. Now, everything is moving toward as the hospital called it "rooming in" so that we can all bond 24/7. It was interesting. The only time he left our side was for his circumcision and to be weighed after his first day - basically two hours total in our 48 hours there. His temperature was about 1/2 degree lower than they wanted it to be, so they were super strict about keeping our room warm and put him under a heating lamp for the first day (which of course was brought into our room). They also wouldn't give him a bath until at least 6 hours after being born and since his temp was low, even longer. Finally, he got all clean and our nurse gave him a sweet part!

Charlie's first visitors

Uncle Scoot brought us Smashburger and it was delicious!

Once we were all settled in our post-partum room, GiGi went to pick up the boys to bring them to meet their new brother. Ryan was so excited to meet him and acted like such the grown-up. Saying "oh look at that tiny baby, he's so cute." He colored him a sign that he was so excited to give him and kept trying to get Charlie to look at it.

Ryan was just so excited to meet him and wanted to keep giving him kisses and patting his head.

Our first pic as a family of five!!!!

Bradley was less impressed with our new addition. He was very quiet the first few minutes and just wanted to stare at him.

Then, he decided he wanted to touch him, pat him on the head, and give him kisses. It lasted all of two minutes, then he was ready to run around like a wild man.

It's amazing how quickly he understood that it was baby Charlie and how he was no longer in my tummy.

Ryan, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of him. He was so excited to hold him - as you can tell below.

And then showed him the sweet sign he made Charlie.

B didn't want to sit still for long. There was a lot of running the halls that needed to be done.

B and his crazy hat. He wore it all week.

Aunt Christina and Charlie

We gave B the task of throwing away all the trash from gifts. It kept him occupied for a good 5 minutes.

Sorta smiling?!?!

That night we slept okay. Actually Charlie did great, only getting up once between 12-8:30, but I on the other hand, was up at least once an hour. Sleeping in hospital beds is no fun plus all the nurses that come in every 30 minutes makes it a bit hard to get much sleep. I even brought my ear plugs (which I am sure did not impress the staff very much because I am sure they were thinking I didn't want to hear my own baby crying which was not the case. It was to drown out snoring from a certain someone!) and of course I could still hear Charlie, so no worries.

We spent most of Tuesday actually bored! Funny how things change with each kid. Since all they do is sleep and eat, there wasn't a whole lot to do. We watched some daytime television, ate, took a nap and that was about it! That evening Uncle Jon and Aunt Megan came by to visit.

Our good friends Kristen and John also came by and had our traditional Cheddars dinner (3 kids running now!)

Sleepy boy, can't even wake up to be changed!

It was nice to have some visitors Tuesday evening as we were getting a little stir crazy and ready to go home. We all slept a bit better the next night. Charlie continued to sleep well and nurse like a champ. All we had to wait on Wednesday, was his circumcision. Unfortunately, there were so many babies born while we were there (in a two hour period Tuesday evening we heard the little nursery bell go off 8 times!), that our OB was tied up a lot. Finally, he was able to get it and we started our discharge process. It was about 12:30/1 before we got out of there, so while we waited we took a few pics since we were actually dressed!