I am not into baby bellies in the least bit... I think it looks like a beer belly on me, but I figured we needed a photo of it anyway before things kicked off.
I checked my e-mail while we were waiting for the midwife and nurse to come back.Sarah, the midwife started the pitocin at around noon at a two. Four is standard (and women sometime get cranked all the way up to 20), but she figured once my body got a "whiff" of the pitocin, it would just do it's thing. The first hour seemed to go pretty slow. I ate some chocolate pudding, because although instructed not too, this place is way more "medical" than my previous delivery experiences... And pudding is a liquid!?
Allie, the assisting nurse increased the pitocin to 4 and then around 1330, Sarah broke my water and I think I was still dilated at a 4. Sarah said to call her when I needed labor support because that's what midwives are for. She was over at the clinic across the street, but had a light patient load this afternoon, so she wasn't too concerned about getting back over here.
The contractions were getting stronger and then almost unbearable. I asked Ryan to call Sarah. Ryan really was a great coach, so I'm not sure that Sarah could have done much that Ryan wasn't already doing.
Allie came and measured me again and I was dilated to a 7 around 1430. I was not looking forward to the next 3 cm AT ALL. I was having a hard time relaxing and again unsure if I could do it without drugs. That should have been a sign of transition (as with Benjamin), but it seemed too soon. Allie said, "I think you've got less than an hour"... and within 10 minutes it was another "I have to push" from me and Allie said "Don't push"... and I pushed. And once again (as with Alexander) the baby crowned while I was standing up. I only made it onto the bed on all fours (not intending to give birth that way, but it was a fairly comfortable position). By then I had pushed out the baby's head and then I didn't have another contraction for about 2 minutes and it was making Ryan and Allie nervous just seeing the baby's head hanging out, but then the contraction came and I pushed him out. By then other nurses had arrived and Sarah showed up in time to deliver the placenta. She felt really bad to have missed the baby's birth.
Baby Lewis #3 was born at 1451 MST weighing 8 pounds and 20 inches long. We were pretty sure we would name the baby James, but he didn't look like a James, so we're not sure if we need to pick a different name or if he will grow into it. We're waiting until at least tomorrow to decide.
Ryan said he doesn't look like a father of 3, but then he keeps commenting on how old he looks and all of his gray hair, so I'm not sure what a father of 3 is supposed to look like. I am glad he's finally realized how thin he looks after losing almost 30 pounds in the last ~4 months.
Gudrun our next nurse thought I was being really antsy about getting my IV out, but why keep it in longer than necessary? I also wanted a shower right away. I don't see a need to stay in a hospital gown if I'm not sick!
Grandma brought the boys over after dinner to meet their new brother and to have Family Home Evening. They were pretty excited about the baby.
This is the first time my mom has been here on the day one of our babies has been born. She looks like a proud grandma of 5. This baby also happens to share a birthday with his cousin Maxwell who turned 9 today! It will make Baby Lewis' birthday easy to remember.
No comments:
Post a Comment