Click here to read part 1 of our baby story.
Today is my due date, but our gift arrived 9 days ago.
For those of you that didn’t know, we were “Team Green”. We didn’t find out the gender beforehand, so we needed to go into the last few weeks with at least one name per gender that we agreed on. If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw this photo I posted a few days before I went into labor:
We were pretty set on a girl name. We loved Mila Jade. We had consensus. Hallelujah. For a boy name, we were at a standstill. If we had a boy and he was born on October 12th, he would be named Anthony after my husband. The 12th happens to be Mr. FSL’s birthday. There was a decent chance that the baby would be born on this day, but we needed back up obviously. I love the name Luca. Mr. FSL loves the name Trey. Neither of us were entirely sold on the other’s favorite. When my midwife told us that the next push would be the last one, he and I decided to go with one of our original favorite boy names. Max.
I felt like time stood still for that last push. I don’t even think I heard anything for a few seconds. It was 12:40 AM on October 8th. They sat a chubby little baby boy on my belly. It was honestly surreal. I just stared at him and tried to take it all in. I was meeting my son for the first time. I wanted to inspect every millimeter of him. He had lots of dark hair, full cheeks, and big juicy pink lips. I laid his warm tiny body on my chest and felt my life change.
We laid like that for a while. The nurse cleaned Max off while my husband watched and filmed his first moments of life. After Mr. FSL held the baby, he helped me into some comfy pajamas and sat me into a wheelchair to head to our room. Max was placed in my arms wearing a little blue hat. On our way to the room, we were greeted by about 20 of our family members that patiently waited the arrival.
We arrived to our room around 3:00 AM. The nurse took Max for about a half hour to wash him and give him a few immunizations. When he returned, I asked the nurse to take our first family photo. My heart turns to mush when I see this picture.
I slept in my bed and Max slept in his bassinet.
Poor Mr. FSL slept on the couch. Every night.
I didn’t know there was a capacity to love so much. I can’t explain it. My heart just grew when I met my son. I am the most grateful I have ever been in my life for so many reasons. I have a new respect for my marriage, my body, and for my beliefs. Life is good.
It was beautiful to see this through your eyes. Thank you for sharing this. I love you …(and Max and Anthony)
Beautiful post. Congrats on that precious little baby boy 🙂
Girl your soon looks just like you! He has your lips! Congrats! You have a beautiful family!
You look beautiful, Mindy! You hardly look like you’ve had a baby. And the first family pic is so sweet.
May you all have much happiness, many blessings, and much love.
Congrats again to you and Anthony, Mindy! I left you voicemail, don’t know if you got it. I don’t know if you’re breastfeeding (I but if you are (and I hope you are) Katie says she’s happy to help out if you’ve got any questions.
What a beautiful family! Congrats! Crazy, my birthday is the 12th too. Your hubby must be pretty rad!!
Truly one of life’s epic moments. Congrats!
Aww, congratulations! He is absolutely precious! 🙂
Thank you Erin!
I had read this before, but today decided to read it again as we approach week 37. Trying to contain my waterworks! So sweet. I can’t wait until I have the same experience, it’s hard to imagine how much more love you feel!
I reread this post and the one before it just now and cried lol! My son has turned me into a complete softie! My water broke at 28 weeks! Get ready mama!! Babies are little game changers.
OMG I am bawling my eyes out….love this post. What a beautiful story about the beginning of my grandson’s life! I love all three of you more than you will ever know!!
Best day of my life.
XO
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing your birth story. I never get tired of reading these sweet stories.
How are you still so gorgeous after giving birth? I imagine I will be sweaty, makeup running, red-faced…..all of the unwanted looks after exertion. Lol. But seriously, how did you keep yourself from looking like a mess after birth? 😛
Hahah! That picture was taken the day after I gave birth. I put on my regular makeup that day because I just wanted to feel like myself again! Thank you so much 🙂
Mindy,
Just read this again and still cried my eyes out, and now we are ready for another one!!!!
So exciting can’t wait!!! Ella Blue here I come 🙂
Brittany Hepler Mindy always looks gorgeous, even after giving birth to the love of our life’s, our grandson Max!!!!
I love this. Sooo much
Omg … Just read both part 1 & 2 and my heart melted and i cried. Motherhood is AMAZING and reading this story made me remember my 3 births. Simply beautiful, thank you for sharing your amazing experience!
Thanks for stopping by my blog Melissa!!! Being a mom really is the best 🙂