We arrived at the hospital around 6 am, got my antibiotics in and all the prep work done and I had my water broke around 7:40. I had been praying for the past month that we could avoid being induced, (meaning with pitocin) but I was okay with breaking the water, so long as we waited until July. But I really wanted to go into labor naturally, so while we agreed to come in July first, my real hope was that I would be showing signs of being in labor by the time we arrived at the hospital. And I was. I had seven good hard contractions within an hour on the way to the hospital, and by the time we arrived, I was bleeding lightly. When they hooked me to the monitor, they discovered that I was contracting much more frequently than I realized - about 4 minutes apart. So I'm confident today would have been the birth day regardless of whether we broke the water or not.
By 1:10 pm, we had our sweet baby boy. See that enormous number on the scale? This "little guy" was a whopping 9 pounds, 11 ounces. He was 20 inches long, and his head circumference was 14.5 inches! Ouch!. He's my biggest now (taking the honors from my only daughter, who I'm sure is relieved to no longer hold that title. She was 9 pounds 7 ounces).
I had wanted to deliver naturally, and gave it a valiant effort, but by 10, I knew I was in trouble. Call it mother's intuition, or chickening out, or whatever you prefer - ha, but I knew as much as I was struggling with only being at 8 cm, and the baby not engaged in the birth canal, that the hardest part was yet to come, and I was going to have trouble. I was really worried that being in as much pain as I was I would not be able/willing to push like I would need to. So I caved. I had the epidural. My only regret is that I didn't get it sooner :) It was so much better! This natural child birth stuff is for the birds. HA.
And, after seeing how big he is I'm sure I made the right decision. His face is literally wider than it is tall. On a positive note though, I only pushed for 9 minutes! It felt longer than that, but all the doctors and nurses were impressed.
We're thrilled, regardless! He's such a sweet, quiet baby. When he was born, he hardly cried - just looked around and did a tiny bit of grunting. He really doesn't say much :)
The hospital treated us to a wonderful steak dinner - rolled in on a round table, with candles and all. I was too sore to get out of bed though. I lost quite a bit of blood after the fact, and hadn't been doing all that well over the afternoon, so I ate in bed. I don't know how we managed to forget to take a picture of the table, but here's the cheesecake we had for dessert. Can you see the sprinkles? They are rattles, teddy bears and rubber ducks :) Too cute! It was one of the best dinners we've ever had - tender steak, perfect steamed veggies, a huge baked potato, and this delicious cheesecake.
The baby didn't want to wait in the bassinet while I ate, so he stayed on a pillow right next to me the whole time. He didn't cry until Dad started taking pictures. He's likes to snuggle.
How sweet is this? All FIVE of our children together. The 20 year old made it back to our house in the afternoon, after visiting relatives in Nebraska this week. We weren't sure when he'd be back up to see us, but hoped it would be near the time of the delivery. My daughter took charge of the daycare for me while I was on bed rest, and will continue to care for it until I'm fully recovered. So after the daycare kids left they all headed up to meet their new brother.
We had prayed for a good transition for the 2 year old. All through the pregnancy he has been hugging my belly, and we've talked about his new brother. He came in and loved him at first sight - hugged and kissed him, and never had any problem.
He even said, "Be quiet baby" and shushed everyone else so as not to disturb him.
The poor seven year old wasn't feeling so well. He really struggles with car sickness - as do they all, but he seems to have it the worst right now. So he was still not feeling the greatest when they got here. He perked up though, and was ready for dinner by the time they left to eat. He loves his new brother too.
But he and the two year old were a bit distracted playing with the rolling stool. The two year old would push him around the room on it.
He pushed the 20 year old too.
I had a feeling he would be a docile baby because he was so still in the womb all the time I carried him. Even when our other kids came up to visit, my daughter wanted to see his eyes, and did all she could to wake him up, but he wouldn't wake up. He slept a good 3 hours then. I was sure we'd be in for a long night.
Much to my surprise, he did really well overnight. We were able to bathe him around 10 pm (I wanted to do that myself, and due to all the excess bleeding I hadn't felt up to standing for that long.) And once we got him cleaned up I was able to nurse him, then tried to get some sleep.
Our other kids had gone to dinner, and then stopped back by to see if he would be awake. But since I had nursed him, he was sound asleep again. I actually was really concerned for the kids going home. They didn't get on the road home until almost 11 pm. I offered to get them a hotel but the 20 year old assured me he was fine. I was never more relieved than when I got the text that they had made it safely home at 12:15! That mountain canyon is full of curves and elk, deer and antelope. We did a lot of praying for their safety. Praise God for answered prayer!)
Anyway, after all that sleeping, he was awake a bit from midnight or so until around 1:30, nursing off and on, then sleeping - just enough being awake for me to not be able to sleep much. I got a good half hour in, then the nurse came and took him for screening - a hearing test, pku, jaundice, and glucose test. He passed everything with flying colors. His blood sugar was too low right after birth and we had to give him a bottle, but every time they tested after that, his numbers were good. The bottle didn't seem to mess up his nursing either, so that was good.
Anyway, the nurse brought him back sound asleep at 3:30, and he stayed that way until we woke him up at 7:30! Wow, 4 whole hours of solid sleep on night one!! He wins the prize for the best newborn for that one :) And now, I'm going to feed him again - now that he's finally awake. We're looking forward to a grandparents visit today (my in-laws) and then just hanging out. The latest word from my doctor is that they're keeping me here until Sunday due to the bleeding. Then we'll be headed home.
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