McKay Matthew Moss

We were so thrilled to welcome McKay Matthew Moss into our family on August 15, 2016 at 2:16 am.  He weighed in at 6 lbs 15 oz and measured 19.5 inches.  So to start from the beginning We initially went into the hospital on Monday the 8th thinking I was in labor.  I had been in back labor the entire previous night and it felt exactly like when I went into labor with Brooklyn so we headed in and I was dilated to a 3 and about 70% effaced.  I was supposed to have a doctors appointment the next day but I called the office and asked if I could come in that morning instead.  After they monitored me for a while the doctor decided to send us on to the hospital.  Once we got there they monitored me for a while and had us walk around for a while, but I didn't progress anymore and so they sent us home.  To say i was a little disappointed is an understatement, but since I was only 37 weeks they weren't going to do anything to help me progress.  They told me not to come back until the contractions were too painful to walk or talk through. The rest of the week I was just waiting to go into labor again.  I just felt like crap and was really ready for this little man to come out.

On Saturday August 13th my family had their annual Move Over MSA fun run, which went really well and we we able to raise over $12,000 for research of MSA.  Brooklyn was so excited to participate in the kids run this year.  She ran a 400M without stopping, she was so proud of herself.  My sister Sunni ran with her since I wasn't able to run.

By the end of the day I was feeling pretty crappy and by that night I was in back labor again and wasn't able to sleep at all.  The next morning I skipped church and tried to nap, but was unsuccessful.  By the time Craig and Brooklyn got home from church I was having regular contractions along with the back labor.  At that point they were about 10 minutes apart. By 3:00 pm they were about 4 minutes apart, so we grabbed the hospital bag, said goodbye to Brooklyn and had Craig and Stan give me a blessing.  We got to the hospital and checked in and the nurse told me I was still only dilated to a 3.5 and about 80% effaced. This time though my contractions were super painful and there was no way I was going to let them send me home.  We walked the halls for a few hours, but still wasn't progressing.  We talked to the doctor that was on call and since I was 38 weeks he agreed to strip my membranes.  He stripped them at 6:30 pm and then they gave me a shot of morphine so that I could get some sleep.  When they came in to check me a few hours later I was dilated to a 5 and fully effaced. The doctor broke my water at 9:40 pm and gave me the epidural at 10:10 pm. By 1:30 am I was dilated to a 10 and started pushing at 1:35 am.  The delivery part of McKay's birth was completely different for me then Brooklyn's.  The on-call doctor, Dr. Pittard, was awesome.  He talked me through everything, also the epidural worked great but this time I was actually able to feel the pressure of everything.  It wasn't painful at all but I felt like I was part of the delivery more this time.  At 2:16 am our little man joined the world and our family.  I only had a 2nd degree tear this time instead of 3rd and he didn't have to use forceps like they did for Brooklyn.  As McKay was coming out, the doctor couldn't believe how much hair he had.  He let me help pull him up onto my chest and they let him just hangout there until I was ready to let them take him to measure and weigh him.  He was all ready to nurse right away and did great.

A few hours later they moved us into the recovery room. Craig and I were both completely exhausted and were falling asleep as the nurse was talking to us.  They gave me two bags of pitocin while in recovery to help my uterus keep contracting, this was way more painful this time then with Brooklyn. He nursed really well again at about 6:30 am.  My parents and brother came later that morning  to visit.  I tried to feed him again around 9:30 but he didn't want to wake up long enough to eat.  Shortly after that the pediatrician came in to check on him and then they came in to do his hearing test and then they came in to give him a bath.  After that I tried to  feed him again, but still he didn't want to wake up long enough to eat. By this point it had been over 5 hours since he had last eaten and the nurse was getting nervous, which was making me anxious.  So we started to do everything we could think of to get him to wake up and eat and he just wasn't having it.  Craig went home and got Brooklyn to bring her to the hospital and then Craig's parents and Brian and Brooke showed up a little later with some lunch.  I felt bad because the whole time they were there we were just trying to get McKay to eat, so we weren't able to have that first family moment like I had envisioned.  Brooklyn was then pretty sad that she had to go back home with Nana and Pops and that Mom and Dad had to stay at the hospital.  By this point they had started to test his blood sugar levels to make sure they hadn't dropped to low because he wasn't eating.  He stayed barely on the normal level.  They had us try feeding him some formula, but the tiny bit he would eat he would just throw back up and then they had my pump and feed him with a syringe what I had pumped and again he just would throw everything up.  By this point I am pretty much in tears because I am so frustrated. They kept telling me that if his blood sugar levels dropped any lower and if he didn't eat soon they would have to take him to the NICU and we would have to stay at the hospital longer. Craig went home to put Brooklyn down for bed and while he was gone I called my sister and was just sobbing because I was so frustrated and nervous that they were going to have to take him to the NICU, I just didn't understand why he ate so well at first but then all of the sudden didn't want to eat anymore. By this time it had been almost 15 hours since he had really eaten. Craig then came back with his dad and brother to give McKay a blessing.  Right after they finished the blessing the night shift nurse came in a check his blood sugar levels again and they had risen drastically even though he still hadn't eaten anything and right after the nurse left I tried to nurse him again and he latched right on and ate like a champ.  It was truly a miracle and I know it was because of the power of the priesthood that he finally began to eat and that his levels came back up.  I was in tears again, but this time because I was so happy that he had finally eaten again. They pricked his heal a few more times (for a total of 8 times, his poor heels) to make sure that his levels stayed up, but we were good to go from that point on.  That night we sent him off to the nursery because we were all so tired, but every time they brought him in he ate really well.  Craig had to go to work the next morning, so he got up early and headed home to get ready and help get Brooklyn ready for the day.  Craig's parents then brought Brooklyn back to the hospital and this time went a lot better.  She held him and was so excited that we got to come home with her this time.  I was discharged at about noon and we headed home.

first family photo

Hearing test

such a sweet big sister

headed home

Besides the scare of him not wanting to eat and puking up everything he did eat, the labor and delivery went really well.  We were very pleased with our experience.  We are so glad that he is a part of our family and we feel so blessed that our Heavenly Father has trusted us with him.  He is such a sweet boy and we can't imagine our family without him.  Brooklyn is already an amazing big sister and she is loving her new role.  She is such a big helper and loves to give her brother kisses.