Well, we’ve been on quite the ride the last few weeks. If you have more than two children, you may understand. It all started on Monday, December 17th….
I went into the hospital that morning thinking they could give me something to let me sleep. I’d been having contractions all weekend…and they weren’t just those practice ones either. I’ve had two kids…you’d think I’d know the difference. (We’d already been in the week before, but as it always is, everything stopped once we arrived)
Turns out, because baby was sunny side up (Our doctor figured that out the week before), things weren’t progressing as they were supposed to. I was having the “right” contractions, but labor would stall during the late mornings and afternoons (when I was the most busy) because bab
y was playing jokes on us…as would be the norm with this lil’ one.
The doctor on call decided I needed an ultrasound….until she found out I’d be sitting there for 4 hours to wait for it. Thankfully she had mercy on me and decided to give me an Oxytocin Challenge Test. This test is where they check to see if your body is actually in labor by giving you the oxytocin drip. Really it means they are inducing you, but doctors here use this term “test” to trick us moms…yeah. No tricking me. Secretly, this was what I wanted. However, I didn’t know things would happen so fast.
So, low and behold, I passed the test (3 contractions every 10 minutes for 1 hour) within the first hour. They give you 4 hours. That was 1pm, 2pm by the time she declared I’d “passed”. Who knew having a baby had so many checks and balances, eh?
I was only 3-4 cm dilated, and usually it takes me quite a while to go from that to fully dilated. And usually I’ve been at home for most of it. Not this time. At 3:45pm the doctor broke my water to “get things going”. I was in a little of panic because once they do that, I usually have a baby within an hour or two. And the contractions come hard and fast.
So this time, I decided that I’d done it natural (minus the laughing gas at the end) twice. There was no medal. And my girls were sleepy babies for about 15 hours afterward, so I just thought this lil’ one would be the same…and that if I got the Epidural, it would just make that happen all the more. Not a bad thing since it was 4pm and I knew I’d be tired afterward so a sleepy baby didn’t concern me. (Don’t get too upset about the whole nursing thing…this is just my opinion:)
Well….so I bit the bullet and just got it. After going through contractions for about 45 minutes it was the right move for me. I just didn’t watch anything. And told the Mister to not tell me anything. After about 30 minutes everything started to feel so much better. I could rest a bit. And contrary to what people say, I could still feel the contraction, there was just no pain. Well, I had a bit in the right side, which by the time I was almost ready to push (which I also felt), the Doctor gave me more of his special cocktail and the right side pain was gone. Maybe I’m being a little ignorant, but I trust the doctor. I have no idea what was in that cocktail of drugs, but wow….
So I went from 4cm to 7cm in an hour. That’s fast for me. Then I went from 7-9 3/4 shortly after that. Now that I am looking at the time’s I remember they are a bit off I think…but you get the picture. It was fast. Those of you who’ve had babies know that at a certain point things just all meld together and it seems as if it all happened right after eachother. Even after the epidural. However, I was able to hold conversations that I remember.
So right before I got to 10cm, baby’s heartbeat went down a bit and my Doctor wanted to get things going. At 6:18pm I started to push and by 6:37pm I had the surprise on my life.
Baby M came out sideways…because our doctor was trying to turn baby, but baby just wanted to be different I guess:) And I saw baby’s face first. That was no girlie face. That was an all boyish face. Yup, we are proud parents and big sisters to a little Baby Boy! He’s adorable and has surprised us in so many ways. I had an inkling baby wasn’t a girl….I didn’t paint the letters for the room (which some had to be taken back to make the name we picked for our little boy), I brought boy clothes to the hospital too. The room is pink….I suggested a pale, pale blue, but no. Somebody, who shall remain nameless, insisted on pink (and no it wasn’t lil’A.) I did however make some really pretty bedding…it cost be about 20 hours and 100.00…but that’s ok. I get to redecorate!
Baby M was 7 lbs. 2 oz & 19.8″ long. And in month he has gained a pound and a half….which also means I am nursing around the clock. Unlike the girls, he nursed within two hours of birth and every 2-4 hours after that until this present moment. Actually he is laying the stroller beside me ready to eat…again:)
So my blogging might be a bit sporadic over the next few months, but my goal is to get back at it by March on a twice-three times per week basis. However just sitting here typing has been really relaxing and therapeutic for me. Hopefully I get an iPad mini for my birthday and then I can blog from my iPad.
I’m off to snuggle with my adorable Baby M. People ask me if having a boy is different. Not really (although I know many people who swear it is, but we are only a month in!)….I mentally made a point to plan to just spend time bonding and really soak all that snuggle time in the first few weeks. And I think that made the difference. With the girls I was just ready to be done and get on with all the frill-ness of girls. When I saw his little face, I just knew that God had dropped it in my heart to be more determined than ever to bond with this new little baby-regardless boy or girl.
Much love to my adorable Baby M.
*Our wonderful photographer and now friend, Jenny took these photos. I haven’t gotten the cd yet, but just had to share these ones. She does an amazing job. If you need a family photographer the Edmonton region, she’s fabulous. You can check her out on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/PhotographyWatermark