Presenting Traegan James Christensen

I DID IT! I am not pregnant anymore, survived another labor and delivery, and we have our little Traegan outside here with us. He was born Wednesday January 18, 2012 at 6:30pm, weighing 7lb 14oz, 19in long. He is so perfect. Honestly. I have only heard him cry when 1) he was getting his pictures taken and he just wanted to be cozy and sleeping and 2) when he gets his diaper change and he isnt cozy anymore. He loves to be all wrapped up and cozy. We are so in love with our little angel boy and we feel so incredibly blessed. (labor story to follow, skip ahead to pics if you so choose)

On Monday morning, I went into the OB nice and early to find out that I was dilated to a 4 and had my membranes stripped. I was hoping that it would kick start my labor as it had with Braden, but after several hours of mild contractions, I decided that the baby probably wasnt going to arrive and prayed hard that I would be able to get a good nights rest, which I did.
I went back into the office on Wednesday morning hoping the Dr would say "I'll see you soon at the hospital. Lets have this baby today!" He did. Yes!! I called Devin and told him that his work day was over and called my Mom to have her go and get Braden from playgroup and headed to the hospital. I got checked in and then all hooked up in my delivery room and the waiting game began around 11:40am.
We were waiting for my Dr to come and break my water in the hopes that only that would be needed to get my contractions started. Around 1:30 my Dr came and thought he broke my water, but wasn't quite sure since my body did not have the usual reaction. I was a little bugged, but he said he would be back in an hour to see if my contractions had gotten harder. An hour later, things had progressed a little, but contractions still were not yet painful, and I was dilated to a 6. He "broke my water" again and that is when things started to happen for me.
My contractions got stronger and I couldn't talk through them anymore and really had to breathe through each one. As I was walking around the labor and delivery floor they started to become more and more painful and difficult to breathe through not to mention they were around 2 minutes apart. My labor with Braden was very slow and I didnt want to get an epidural before I was dilated to a 7 this time, so I waited as long as I could stand it and asked for the epidural when I was almost a 7.
I'm so glad I asked when I did because the anesthesiologist got tied up in the ICU for about a half hour and my contractions continued to get stronger and closer and I was more and more ready for that pain relief. It was quite the struggle to remain still during the three hard contractions that I had while the anesthesiologist was administering the epidural, but once it started to kick in, I was grateful for it.
I can't decide which is worse, enduring contractions or the annoyance of epidural side effects. For me, I get very nauseated, groggy, and I get the shakes really badly. I also really dislike the tingly feeling in my legs. However, I also really dislike having strong contractions 2 minutes apart so which is the lesser of two evils? I don't think I would try to labor and deliver naturally, but I sure do dislike the side effects that come along with that relief.
Anyway, after my epidural I very quickly went from a 7 to a 10 within 40 minutes and could tell that it was time to push and was in a lot of discomfort. With Braden I feel like my epidural had been too strong and I could not feel anything, but with Traegan, I was grateful to have that "need to push" feeling because it was quite motivating being able to kind of feel what was going on. So I had Devin call the nurse in to come and check where I was at and she came in and had me do a practice push, and then left to call the Dr.
He had come over around 6 and was just waiting for me to be ready and had to pick his daughter up at 7 and sounded confident that he would make it. As soon as the nurse came back in they started prepping the room for the delivery. With Braden it was hours before they brought the necessary tools in and got things ready for the baby, so that was another thing that was very encouraging because I could tell that the staff knew things would go fast.
So after just 2 and a half contractions and a few pushes Traegan came into the world. It was the most relieving feeling just realizing that he had come so quickly! Devin had called my mom when I realized I needed to start pushing, and by the time she got to the hospital, Traegan was already getting cleaned up. She couldn't believe it since my parents live only 10 minutes from the hospital! I was thrilled when she walked in to tell her that she had missed it!!
Another part of the delivery that was different, was that the Dr stuck Traegan on my chest right when they cut the cord. That was a very special moment that I really enjoyed, just seeing that little angel fresh from heaven.
It was such an amazing process and I feel so blessed and grateful for the huge answer to prayers this delivery was. I had been praying that things would go quickly so that I could recover quickly and take care of my little guys. With Braden and I had been so exhausted for days afterward, but this time, I am feeling so good other than being sore. I had also been praying that this boy would arrive before my siblings were coming for the weekend so they could meet him when he was new! And as it turned out, I was home from the hospital before either of them got here. What a tremendous blessing this delivery was and we feel truly blessed.



Braden is so in love with his little brother and is even a little possesive. I have a feeling we are going to be reminding him often that Mommy and Daddy are in charge. However, Braden loves giving Traegan kisses and holding his hand. Today while they were laying down Braden said to him "Come here buddy!" It was so cute. We are so excited to have given Braden a little buddy to have by his side forever!

Traegan loved his time under the heat lamp after his bath and stretched out his arms and legs nice and long. He has the same round belly that Braden had, same big hands, same long toes. I think their bodies are going to be very similar.

Yesterday morning some ladies came in to take insanely overpriced photos of Traegan. They turned out really cute, except for the ones she insisted on taking with me, having not showered or even brushed my hair yet that day.