In just one week, we went from starting school...
to a difficult adjustment to longer school days, new school, new friends. I cried all the way home for a few days. On Tuesday (the 5th day of school), he made a break through, though. He came home talking about his friends and something funny they did that day. What an answer to my prayers! My happy, silly Camden came back!
That night, or I guess very early the next morning, Baby Ben was born!
Here's the short story (well...it really is a short story!)
I woke up at 1 am with a sustained contraction. I haven't had an inkling of contractions with Nate or Mckay before my water broke, so I thought it was weird, but tried to go back to sleep. At 1:30, Mr. Magoo (Mckay) woke up. I helped him back to bed, and felt several more light contractions. I went back to bed and prayed that they would relax until we got Camden to school. But, within the next half hour, the contractions kept coming, sporadically and with varying intensity. Some very light, some fairly strong. Some 3 minutes apart, some 15 ish. I wondered what to do. Was this really happening? What would I do with my boys? I kept praying for everything to slow down until Camden got to school.
At 2:30, I texted my brother to see if he could come stay with the boys. No response. So I waited to see what would happen. I still didn't know if I was really in labor or not. At 2:45, I called him. I think he got to our house a little after 3. We drove to the hospital, and I only had one contraction. I felt stupid, and hoped they wouldn't send me home. We got to the hospital about 3:30, and I was dilated to a 5. That made me feel good because I knew they wouldn't send me home. :)
The nurse put in a capped IV line. She placed it in my left arm first, but it didn't take. (Now I have an ugly bruise there!) Thankfully, the right arm did much better.
The contractions were stronger, but still far apart and relatively short. I felt pretty darn good, except for during each contraction. I waited for the midwife to get there. The nurse started filling the pool for me. Brian thinks the midwife broke my water around 4:20-something. I felt excited. Now, the baby was really coming, and they really wouldn't send me back home. I remember laying down sideways, just feeling very very tired. We had gotten to bed later than normal, and I probably had only slept for about 2 hours. It felt so good to close my eyes. After a bit, the midwife said,
"If you want to do a water birth, you need to get in now." So I did. Oh, it felt so good! But, I was worried because the contractions didn't feel strong enough or close enough together. I was worried that I would be too relaxed and that the warm water would slow the whole process down.
Then, I started to push before my body really felt ready. I just wanted to be done. Each time I tried to push, it would trigger a hard contraction. Ugh. Can't the baby just come?
It turns out, that a part of my cervix had stretched over the baby's head. It blocked the baby a bit, and made the pushing part longer for me (than with Mckay). In addition, baby's hand was right up by his head, so it also made the pushing part harder. The midwife made me change positions in hopes that it would help straighten everything out. Eventually it worked, I guess, because he came! They said I was pushing for about half an hour, but I think that included the beginning one, where I wasn't totally ready. He was born at 5:38 am.
After that came the terrible awful delivering of the placenta, etc. I hate that part! Just give me my baby and leave me alone! I know it's for my own good, but it hurts so much! I am grateful, though, for good medicine. With each of my boys, I have had fairly heavy bleeding afterward, and there is some magic medicine that slows it down within a few minutes. This time was no different.
And there were a few strange things...I had a softball sized cyst/hematoma in my placenta. When they did my 20 week ultrasound, they said it was 2-3 cm. They checked again a month later, and it hadn't grown and didn't have a blood supply. The midwife was not pleased to see how big it had gotten, because she really didn't know why. It will be sent to the pathology lab to see what's going on. There was a second small unusual growth, as well as something strange with the umbilical cord. Truthfully, I can't remember the details about those, but they were sent to pathology as well. Anyway, I'll worry about that if it becomes something to worry about.
Why, you ask, would you try to go unmedicated for a delivery? Well, in many ways, the recovery has been much much easier than when I had epidurals. The thought of easier recovery is a big bonus, and by the time I change my mind (to thinking an epidural sounds nice), it's too late! The baby comes soon afterward, and I get to enjoy the less damage/easier recovery. Also, I've learned things I couldn't have learned in other ways. I suppose that will have to be saved for later, if I post it.
Here he is today, a whole week old! He's fitting into the smallest newborn outfits just right. Oh, we love to snuggle him! He sleeps a lot still, but is very calm so far. (Except for diaper changes and clothes changes and when he's hungry). His hair is very dark, even though it doesn't really show in the pictures. His eyes are also very dark, and it's been hard to figure out what color they really are.
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