Wow. The last 36 hours have been a bit crazy.
I woke up at 0300 on Wednesday morning with 10-12 minute apart contractions. I laid it bed timing them until about 0400 when they were getting hard enough that it was uncomfortable to be laying still during them. By then they were 6-7 minutes apart. I wrote myself an e-mail with addresses for our e-announcements (which I never got sent b/c we couldn't figure out how to download our camera onto the laptop) and posted a status update on Facebook at 0427. I was going to wait until 0500 to wake Ryan, but by then the contractions were hard enough that I wanted his support (should that have been a clue?) We called Ryan's mom at about 0450 so she could come stay with Benjamin. I'm not sure what time we actually made it out the door, but I only had 4-5 contractions on the 20 minute ride to the hospital. We parked in the garage instead of at valet parking (after all, we had 6+ hours more of labor, right?) and walked (across the hospital and up an elevator) to labor and delivery. We got to the check-in desk are answering admission question and Ryan says "Wow, it's been a while since your last contraction." In my mind I'm thinking "the contractions have stopped again like last Weds and Saturday and they're going to send us home." Right at that moment another contraction started and I had to push. I said so and gave a big push. Everyone yelled, "No" and pandemonium ensued. Ryan reached down to see if he could feel the baby's head crown and instead he felt a "pop" as my water broke on his hand... and then he felt the baby's head. The nursing staff pushed me into one of their rolling office chairs (which I assumed was a wheel chair at the time) and wheeled me into the nearest birthing room (Room 3 not 2 like they had planned). I pushed once in the chair as they're telling me to breathe and not push -- Like you can just not push when your body is pushing. They pulled my pants off as they maneuvered me onto the table. I asked for my mid-wife and was told "she's not coming". Now here's what I think is the really funny part: There were 4-5 nurses buzzing around like bees at the foot of the table yelling "push" like on the side lines of a tug-o-war competition. I rather forcefully said, "Why are you yelling at me? Relax. I'll push when I'm ready." There was an audible silence after that. So much for the gentle birth.
Alexander Ezekiel Lewis was born Wednesday 4 February at 0555.
He weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long.
In his exuberance to come out, Alexander swallowed a bunch of mucous and had to get oxygen in the NICU. He would have only been there a couple hours, but since we delivered at a teaching hospital, the students were slow to make their rounds, there were lots of babies, Alexander's temperature was .2 degrees too low, and then it was the nurse's lunch break. So he was there until around 1400. I am so grateful we have a healthy baby and were not in the NICU for sad reasons. It was nice being in there because it was quiet and softly lit. They also had a shelf of books which was great for when Benjamin visited.
It was crazy because I didn't feel like I'd even delivered a baby. I wasn't swollen at all. The after birth contractions and stitches for the small tear caused by Alexander's arm being up by his face when he delivered were almost worse than anything.
We spent 24 hours in the hospital so they could do all the screening tests on Alexander. I was glad to go because we hardly got any sleep last night (I look worse in the pictures today than yesterday). There was someone in our room every 2 hours or so all night long. I don't remember it being that bad with Benjamin. We came home this afternoon to a 40 degree house. (Our furnace has been having some issues, but we are so blessed b/c the heat exchanger is under warranty). Luckily the furnace man on Tuesday taught Ryan how to relight the furnace with a lighter so the house is already back in the 60s. They've ordered the part and it should be installed by early next week. I need to go find Ryan because Benjamin just woke up from his nap and needs to be picked up from Gram and Gramp's.
Alexander's first not so fun moments of life.
Does this look like a woman who just gave birth? I could be a movie star :) When did they take my jacket off or did I do that?
Hanging out with Daddy in the NICU.
A proud big brother.
Basking in the warmer after his first bath.
Benjamin started the hat thing. (See previous post.)
I'm glad Benjamin only aims at his level and that you can't actually tell I'm on the toilet.
I love our new bar stools!
Baby Alexander.
