We welcomed our son, Bowen Timothy, on November 5, 2015. He weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces, measured 21 inches long, and made his debut at 7:44pm. We are so in love with our newest addition!

Big brother, Max, and big sister, Gwenyth, have been so good with him! They like to poke him, and to be honest, Bo doesn’t mind. 😉

More Pictures of life with Bo:

Bo’s Arrival Story (Skip if you don’t want the details… 😉 )-

On Wednesday the 4th, at about 3 in the morning, I woke up feeling regular contractions. I was excited at this point, knowing that my little guy was on his way! Bo’s birth was to be different from my prior birth experiences because I was hoping and praying for a successful VBA2C (Vaginal Birth after two Cesareans). As soon as I felt it was a reasonable time to contact people, around 7am, I let my mom know that she may need to come get Max and Gwenyth because it could be go time. She arrived and Jason and I headed to the hospital around 11am. My contractions were only about 10 minutes apart, but with this being my first attempt at a VBAC, they wanted me to go ahead and get to the hospital.

Upon arrival, I was barely dilated. The nurse had us walk around for two hours. Contractions continued to be about 10 minutes apart but became more intense. To much (Much, much, much) dismay, the walk did not improve anything. We were sent home and told to come back when the contractions were closer together.

The contractions never got closer together. They stayed 10 minutes apart but did become more intense than I had ever considered. I did not sleep at all that night and in the morning was desperate for some relief. We called in and they told us that we could come back in if we wanted to be checked again. We went in and my thoughts were that I just had to get this pain managed somehow. Well, to my surprise and delight (ha) I was dilated to a 4 and the nurse said they would admit me and break my water! I cried happy tears because I was just sure I was going to get sent home again.

I received my epidural, they broke my water, and I actually was able to take a nap. We had great nurses and after a nurse checked me (at a 5) she hung around and chatted with Jason and I for about 20 minutes. Right after she left the room, I felt intense pressure and told Jason he needed to go grab her, something was happening! Since my last check (about 30 minutes prior) I had gone from a 5 to a 9. It was go time!

There was a lady in the room next door who was also ready to push, so they told me it was a race. Long story short, we lost the race, but it didn’t matter. 😉 With the help of Jason, the nurses, a very sympathetic med student (who didn’t always know quite what to say), and the doctor, Bowen Timothy Rude arrived at 7:44pm and he immediately peed all over those who helped to welcome him into the world. Also, my uterus did not rupture, so yay! 😉

All three of my birth experiences have been incredibly different. (A planned C-section that came a week early, a C-section where I had to be put under, and a VBA2C.) All three have had their good points and bad. But each one has resulted in a healthy, beautiful baby and I am ever so thankful!