Introducing Holden Matthew Frazier!!!!!!

No words can truly express the joy that has been brought into our lives.  On Friday, April 16th Matt and I went for a 2 mile hilly trail walk at the local Ma & Pa trail while his father ran 4 miles.  Matt was trying to decide whether or not he would run with his father or walk with me and the dogs.  This time he chose the stroll with me and the dogs.  During this walk, I had more “discomfort” than usual.  I had to stop twice because if this discomfort.  I just chalked it up to me being just about 40 weeks pregnant.  Matt thought that possibly this could be the beginning of labor.  I denied it because I didn’t want to get my hopes up.  So we went home and the discomfort continued while I was sitting and while I was standing.  I was beginning to be convinced that this may be labor.  We started writing the timing of the “discomfort” down and very quickly there was a pattern.  The “discomfort” was happening every 11 minutes and as I paid more attention to what was happening, I noticed that the “discomfort” would peak after 20 seconds and then ease off.  Hmmmm I think I was finally ready to admit that these were contractions.  So the tracking began and plans were set in motion.  Matt tied up loose ends at the house and my father-in-law got the motor home ready to drive to the hospital.  We left for the hospital at about 6:15 once the contractions were 5 minutes apart for about an hour.  As we left the dogs howled louder than I thought possible, making me cry.  They must have known something was happening.  And so the caravan began.  Pop, Gigi, Matt, and I rode in the motor home and Grandmom Vickie followed close behind in her car.  My sister Colleen was meeting us at the hospital.  We were officially going to have our baby!!!!

When we arrived at the hospital, Matt and I checked in at the desk.  He handled the particulars while another woman who had previously given birth to 2 boys and was 36 weeks pregnant with her 3rd boy stood there rubbing my back and giving us advice on how to make labor easier.  Somehow her hand was so incredibly soothing on my back and I really appreciated her help.  We were brought back into the triage area where I was assessed by a nurse and a PA.  At that point they told me that I had done a good job laboring at home and was already 7 cm dilated!  I was excited but they quickly reminded me that it could still take some time because this was my first delivery.  As an aside, I had planned on trying to have a natural labor up until this point.  My contractions had become so intense, breathing techniques were not working well, rubbing and hand holding/squeezing weren’t working well, I couldn’t establish a focal point to help me relax and I just plain wanted to crawl out of my skin.  Needless to say I got an epidural once they cleared me of the presumed pre-eclampsia that they thought I had.  I debated with the anesthesiologist  who recommended a full dose of the epidural.  I only wanted half if possible and in the end, half a dose was what I got, much to his dismay.  The epidural took the edge off but seemed to work much better on my left side than my right.  Thankfully I had a lot of hand holding and support from Matt, my sister, Pop, Gigi, and Grandmom Vickie throughout the tough contractions.  Later on they gave me a small bolus of epidural again and had me lay on my right side to see if it would give me the pain coverage where I needed it.  Nothing worked and in fact I had to transition back to my left side anyway because Baby Fraz’s heart rate was “flattening” meaning that he was not responding to the contractions with a variable heart rate like he should.  Plus his movement had decreased.  There was talk of Pitocin as well during this time as well to even out my contractions.  I had been having 4 back to back contractions followed by a 2 minute rest.  It was considered to be “clustering” which apparently was not favorable.  So as the hours passed and the debate about what to do continued, I slowly progressed to 8 and then 9 cm.  Once I was at 9cm the pain increased and luckily the PA who checked me had the brilliant idea to let me try pushing to see if when I pushed I could dilate to 10 cm.  And dilate I did!  They gave me the go ahead at this time to start pushing.  I was excited.  Everyone cleared the room and waited patiently in the waiting area.  The doctor was paged and the pushing began.  It took me a few tries to get the pushing right but as I pushed I could see the head progressing out which was motivating.  I told the nurse at this point that I was going to “get it right” and push Baby Fraz out.  The moment we had all been waiting for was quickly approaching!  I pushed as best as I could and even had to take a break to ensure that the doctor would be in the room when Baby Fraz popped out.  Once he came in it was a matter of 2 pushes and Baby Fraz came out.  After a total of 22 minutes of pushing they announced, “It’s a boy” and before you knew it I was looking a a big beautiful baby boy on my chest.  What an amazing moment.  I cried out of joy and relief that everything was ok.  The worst was over and very soon I would be holding our baby in my arms.  We hadn’t fully decided on names at this point but had some options.  Matt and I quickly considered our choices and decided to name the well known Baby Fraz, Holden Matthew Frazier.  So here are the stats: Holden Matthew Frazier was born on 4/17/10 at 2:44 am weighing in at 8 pounds 6.8 ounces, 20 1/2 inches long.  Matt ran out as soon as he knew Holden and I were both ok and announced to Aunt Colleen, Aunt Christine, Gigi, Pop, and Grandmom Vickie that Holden was born.  Then the phone chain began and the wonderful news was spread.

We stayed in the hospital until about 1pm on Monday the 19th.  When we came home, the house was decorated with flowers and balloons for us by Grandmom Vickie which was really nice.  We had a lot of great support from the hospital staff.  Holden wasn’t the best eater initially but with the help of the lactation consultants we were able to turn it around for him.  He lost a decent amount of weight in the hospital and was discharged at 7 pounds 11 ounces.  The following day was went to the pediatrician and he had gained 1 ounce!  Yay his first weight gain. 

Since we have been home time has flown by.  Holden has had a lot of visitors between friends and family.  He was able to meet Nannie who flew down from NY and stayed with us from Thursday thru Sunday.  He has been loved and cuddled a ton and seems to be adjusting to life in Bel Air pretty well.  We took him on two short trips to Target and the Farmer’s Market this week in his sling and other than that just spent time getting to know him and establishing a routine for home. 

Matt and I are truly blessed to have Holden in our lives.  He amazes us every day and we love him more than words can say.  We look forward to introducing him to family and friends.  We also look forward to watching him grow and change over the next few upcoming weeks.  We will do our best to keep you updated on the blog as well.  We already see changes in him daily! 

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes and support.  We are so lucky to have you all in our lives!

Until next time…

Erin, Matt, and Holden 🙂