Welcome to the World, Titus Hartley Lasseter

**WARNING** This is our birth story, don't read if you are not comfortable with this subject! 

We welcomed our sweet little man into the world on July 10th at 10:28pm weighing 7 pounds 12 ounces and 20 inches long with a head full of light brown hair!

So alert in his first little hour of life

My water broke around 6:45 Tuesday morning as I was coming back from the bathroom and Phillip was putting on his boots for work. I felt a gush of fluid that stopped me in my tracks and I said "either I just peed my pants or my water broke" and as I waddled to the bathroom I felt more gushes and knew what our day had in store. We were having a baby today, within 24 hours!!! So we grabbed our bags and packed a few more last minute things, showered and got dressed, stopped by the bank and Chic-fil-a and headed to L&D. It was a clouded over, stormy day that would have only been better if it was about 30 degrees cooler; but since we spent the day inside with the thermosthat set to 60, it was a perfect day to birth our baby! Phillip called our parents and we had grandparents waiting on us in our huge delivery room. Good thing we got the biggest room because we had so many visitors!

leaving for the hospital

Things were progressing pretty slowly at first so after about 3pm I was given pitocin to speed up the process (since you need to birth a baby within 24 hours of your water breaking) and an epidural because I couldn't handle the contractions anymore. I planned a natural birth, but because we had to speed things up the contractions were much stronger and I couldn't do it. However, looking back, I'm not totally convinced I could have done it without and epidural anyway but I'm glad I stuck it out for as long as I could (I'll still go as long as I can without one next time, that labor might be different). I felt like I was stuck at 8cm for nearly 2 hours and then all of a sudden nurses rushed in and said it was time to push! So everyone left the room except Phillip and my mom and I pushed for an hour and forty-five minutes. It was the most exhausting thing ever! My right side already had the feeling back so I felt just about everything on that side. I knew when to push with every contraction and my pelvis felt like it was about to shatter. 

getting ready to push!

At 10:28pm, my world changed forever! I heard the most beautiful cry as Dr. Cannizaro unwound the cord twice from my little boy's neck and placed him on my chest. They took a few minutes to clean him up while we were waiting for his cord to stop pulsating. Phillip cut the cord, they took Titus for just a few minutes to get weighed and checked (in our room, of course) while I was delivering the placenta (yuck!) and getting sewn up (ouch!!), and then they gave him right back to me for some skin-on-skin/nursing time. It was about midnight before he got blessed and introduced to the family. After everyone left, my sister went on a food run because I was starvingggg! I hadn't eaten since about 8am. Burger King never tasted so good. 

Introducing him to family (that waited about 16 hours for his arrival)

Titus was sent to transistion for about 3 hours and I was up walking and using the bathroom. We called the nursery and asked for him as soon as we got into our postpartum room and they brought him in. That was the longest 3 hours ever! All-in-all, I would say I had a great experience at River Oaks.  For a hospital setting, they did a great job at making me feel comfortable. Even though my doctor wasn't able to deliver, she was there through most of the labor and made sure I had everything as I wanted it (even though I changed my mind last minute). 

Titus had some bruising and swelling on his head from the delivery and being in the birth canal a long time. He was also a little cone headed baby. He still has a hematoma on the right side of his head, but the swelling and bruising is looking much better. The hematoma will heal on its own. He was high risk for jaundice, but thankfully his levels were low and he was never considered jaundice. Nursing is going pretty smoothly too, he latched great from the beginning. The only problem we've had really is keeping him awake during feedings and waking him up for feedings (he slept nearly 5 hours straight by accident one night). What can I say? The boy takes after his mama in the sleep department. He's such an easy baby and usually only fussy when hungry or during a diaper change. He couldn't be more perfect in my eyes! :) 

Being a mommy and holding him for the first time is a feeling I'll never be able to explain or never forget. We are so blessed :) 

With love, 

-Nikki