Baby Brother Has Arrived!!!

Friday, February 25, 2011

6:00 am  - wake up.  Everett’s whining.  I go in and replace blankets, hoping he’ll sleep in.  Back to bed for a few minutes but can’t sleep.

6:30 am – I decide to take a bath and have two decently strong contractions.  Different from the contractions I have been feeling for weeks.  I tell Brian that I think he should stay home from work today.  With how fast labor went with Everett, I’m sure this will be coming.

Alllll day long – contractions between 5-20 minutes apart, 40 seconds long.  I start getting annoyed that they are not getting progressively stronger/closer together.

11:30 am – some bloody show.  Now I know that today will be the day.  Just, when???

1:00 pm – My doula, Erica, comes over.  She brings me a delicious cookie, brews some comfort tea, makes me a foot soak, and we walk to black cat and back for some decaf.

4:00 pm – I’m back home and tell Brian I’d like to rest.  Contractions are still going and I have an English muffin with peanut butter before resting.

4:30 pm – The plan to rest doesn’t quite go right.  Contractions start coming every 4-6 minutes, increasing in intensity.

6:30 pm – The phone calls are made.  My mom is put on alert, Erica is called.  We tell everyone to go ahead and have their dinner, that we have time.

7:30ish – Brian and my mom work on getting Everett to bed while I work through contractions in front of our living room heating vent.  Back labor is horrid!  I most definitely did not have that with Everett, so it’s an unwelcome surprise.  Erica is awesome about applying counter pressure and rubbing.

I try lots of positions to deal with the increasingly intense contractions.  After one particularly long and hard contractions, I feel a little gush.  It was just blood – things are really picking up.  While sitting on my exercise ball, I realize that my legs are shaking.  I mention this to Erica and my mom and my mom’s eyes get big.  She says, “I got shakey during transition.”  I think I muttered something about this not being transition, but all of a sudden, the contractions were right on top of each other and I had to start moaning to make it through them.

Just before 9:00 pm – Erica tells Brian it is time to go to the hospital and I agree!

At the hospital, I had 4 or 5 contractions before they could even check me.  Forget checking in/getting admitted!  I mostly sat on the ball with Erica rubbing my back and Brian rubbing my thighs.  When they finally got to check me, I was 8-9 cm with bulging water.  Already in transition, just like my mom thought from the shaking I was experiencing at home.  By 9:30, I had been laboring at the end of the bed on my knees while Brian supported all my weight.  It was intensely painful but going so fast.  My water broke (all over me) and I was nearly crying, sometimes screaming from the pain, really feeling that “I need to push” feeling.  It was such a contrast to labor with Everett when the nurses were telling me what to do and this time, I was letting my body do what it wanted and following what Brian and Erica told me.  They were great at reminding me to relax my entire body and keep my eyes open during the contractions.  The nurses gave me oxygen to keep baby’s heartrate up because at this point I was not able to focus on breathing very well.  They tried to get me on my back to push, but there was no way that was happening.  So I was on my side, three pushes, and all 8 pounds, 3 ounces of

Callum George Hammond

came flying out.  He was 21" long and his head was 35cm.  He was crying before his feet were delivered and put immediately on my chest.  My doctor was so amazing about following my birth plan and the nurses never questioned anything.  We waited until Brian approved of the cord being done pulsing to cut it.  The nurses never even asked to take him away, just rubbed all the (huge amount) of vernix away while he lounged on me and started turning super pink.

10:30 pm - My mom and Brian’s mom and dad came over to meet the little guy.  I’m still not tired at all but Brian’s starting to look worn down.

I ended up with no pain meds, no iv, no blood draw, and no episiotomy.  It was the birth I’d wanted and more.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Callum has been an excellent latcher (sooo glad!) but breastfeeding has triggered some unbearable cramping.  I’m only on ibuprofen and regular strength Tylenol but so far, feeling really good!  I ended up with two stitches for a superficial tear and that stings but the doctor thought it would heal better with stitches than without.

I didn’t sleep much overnight because of cramping and suddenly having a functional bladder.  Brian left at 6:10 this morning to go ski his 5^th Birkebeiner race and I’m about to order some breakfast.  My doctor thinks that I’ll be ready for discharge by Sunday and I’m thinking he’s probably right.  We’ll play by ear for now though.  I hope to take a nice soak in the giant tub today, get myself looking presentable, and introduce my new darling boy to our friends and family