The Mattsons

On Sunday, April 16th at 11:35 AM, Paul and I welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world, who we later named Anna Rae Mattson. She was born at 35 weeks and 6 days, and weighed in at 6 pounds and 2 ounces.

Saturday April 15th, I woke up from a nap and discovered what I thought was my water

breaking. I called the hospital and they told me to wait and see what happened in the next couple minutes. Within 5 minutes, I was back on the phone with them and they said I should be on my way. With only my purse (and chapstick) in hand, Paul and I went to the hospital since I had not packed my bag (ironically, it was on my to do list for that week, but I never thought it would be necessary that early) When we arrived, we found out that the hospital indeed wanted to keep me there. We called our families as we were all supposed to get together for Paul's birthday that night with them. My contractions didn't really begin until after I arrived, around 7 PM. They slowly progressed and became a lot more painful. Around 11 PM, I was only a centimeter dialted and everyone except Paul went home as we got settled into a delivery room. They tried to get me to rest, but the contractions weren't really allowing for me (or Paul) to get much rest. Around 3 AM and 3 centimeters dialated, I decided the contractions and I weren't going to get along for much longer and opted for an epidural. Thankfully, that allowed Paul and I to get a little rest, if not sleep. By 5 AM, I was almost fully dilated and we called our families back to the hospital. The last centimeter took until close to 7 AM, and with the staff shift change, I didn't start pushing until after 8:30 or so. Because of the epidural and the fact that Anna got stuck for a while, the pushing stage took over 3 hours. At 11:35, we were greeted by a beautiful baby girl. My mom, sister, Paul and I were there to greet her.

Since Anna was pre-term, there were a lot of nurses in the room ready to take her to the level 2 nursery to ensure she was fully developed enough. I was able to hold her for a couple minutes, but didn't see her again until later in the afternoon. Our families were able to be with her as she went to the nursery. The doctors determined her lungs were fully matured, which was good news considering she was delivered before 37 weeks. We learned she would have to stay there for close to a week to help make sure she could eat on her own. Initially, she was hooked up to an IV to help her sustain her birthweight.

I was discharged Tuesday, and had to leave our little girl to the excellent care of the nurses in

the level 2 nursery. Shortly before I was discharged, Anna was put under the bilirubin lights because she was jaundiced. That's pretty typical of babies that are born pre-term, and we were grateful she was able to get the help she needed at the nursery, rather than after we toke her home. Paul and I spent as much time with Anna at the hospital as we could, but also used the time to get prepared for her at home, as we needed to buy a few things before her arrival. The nurses at the hospital really helped Paul and I get acclimated to being new parents and we are so thankful for all they did.

By Thursday, Anna was off her IV and we were told she could come home Friday. Because her bilirubin levels were slightly higher on Friday and her weight had decreased, they decided to keep her there until Saturday.