Welcome Marshall James

Welcome

MARSHALL JAMES STUBE

 Monday, April 8th at 11:32 am

9 lbs 9 oz 21 inches

I am incredibly blessed to announce the birth or our son, Marshall James. He's such a blessing to us and we're overwhelmed with love for this little (big) guy! 

Monday morning, Jon and I set our alarm for 4:00 am. I quickly (well, quick for a pregnant woman) jumped out of bed and headed to the bathroom to start getting ready. I was feeling really well and just eager to get to the hospital and start the inducement. Jon's mom met us at the house at 4:30 and we went over last minute details before leaving for the hospital. I was starting to feel the anxiousness on the way to the hospital- wondering what Dr. Cherry was going to do, wondering if we were going to meet a son or a daughter, if we were having a vbac or a c-section... everything was so unknown and so exciting. 

We got to the hospital at 5 am and went up to Labor and Delivery. We were greeted by a great group of nurses who started prepping me for a c-section as we waited for Dr. Cherry to arrive and see if she was able to break my water. As they hooked me up to all the monitors, we noticed I was still having contraction about every 7 minutes but not strong enough for me to take notice until I was laying in a bed without anything else to thing about.  Around 7 am Dr. Cherry arrived and she checked to see if I had made any more progress and to try and break my water. Very quickly she decided to felt it was best to do the c-section and with that- our direction changed to okay, well, we're going to be parents very soon then. We had quite a few hold ups as we had to wait for a medication to help me clot in case I had an issues with my blood disease and then the person who was scheduled after us was ready so they took her and well... it seemed like forever as we waited.  As we waited, I also started having stronger contractions every 3 minutes. All I knew was I didn't want my water to break on my way into the c-section. I was at peace and I just wanted to meet my son or daughter! Somewhere around 10/10:30 the nurse came in to tell me it was time and from there I walked to the surgical room.  

 (my best friend and the love of my life)

(he's my biggest fan)

I became a ball of nerves as I waited as they prepped for my c-section. I wanted Jon to be there holding my hand. I was thankful for my amazing nurse who held me tight. She was a blessing and I don't even remember her name. The spinal went in with a few pinches and ouchies, but very quickly I felt my body go numb and I was down on my back and the curtain was going up. They started scrubbing my stomach which I could feel so I was nervous when they said they were starting to cut-- but after I tried to hold them up and say, "I can still feel you" Dr. Cherry put me at ease when she stated "I've already started cutting" and well, I didn't feel a thing! Dr. Cherry and Dr. Hardyk (my favorite doctors) performed the c-section (God knew what he was doing).  Jon met me shortly after and then began what seemed like the longest minutes of my life. I have no idea if the c-section was 5 minutes or 1 hour long but the only thing I was aware of is my oxygen kept falling out of my nose and they were doing a lot of tugging. :)

When the doctors cued the were starting to pull the baby out, Jon stood up and started videoing the most incredible video of my child's birth. They had a very difficult time getting him out and all I could hear the doctors saying was "oh he's big" and "we made the right decision Erin!" at that moment, I was thankful. A few moments later, I heard the most beautiful cry and Jon announced we had a son. Marshall James was here!! And... he was big!  Jon brought Marshall over to me as soon as they cleaned him up and I got to look at him and kiss him before Jon took him off to the nursery. Before everything had began I was told I'd get to hold my child in the surgical room but as they started taking him away, I didn't know how it was possible to even begin to hold him until I was in a more secure bed so I was okay and ready to be sewn up and taken to the recovery room. 

When I was finished, they took me back to my room to recover and wait on Jon and Marshall. They kept his weight quiet so Jon could tell me and said that because he was so big, his blood sugar was lower then they'd like and told me they'd be supplementing him with sugar water and possible formula before I'd get a chance to nurse him. I was a little upset about this, but as always, my man came through for me and told them that he wanted me to nurse before we talked about any supplementing. 

A few minutes later and I was holding my beautiful baby boy. And he was beautiful!! Marshall James was here! He immediately dived over and started nursing on his own. That took care of that! He was a pro from the very beginning. After sometime, we called our parents and told them to come up and meet our baby.

It was so much fun introducing our son Marshall to his big brother and big sister. And-- we were also blessed to have all four grandparents there for the reveal. Ruthie and Brayden just love Marshall and our happy to welcome into our family.