..My brand new Moby Wrap.
As displayed here in the “cradle hold” position
I love it so much (so far) that this kid’s feet might never hit the ground. (It is also SPF 50+. How cool is that?!)
And I think that this last picture would be a great finale for my pregnancy-sequence pictures, don’t you?
And yes, I AM holding a hunk of bread in my left hand. Apparently, I could not set it down, even for a picture. (I love me some CARBS!)
Let’s hope this wrap pulls through tomorrow for Round Two…
Monday, February 8th.
A (mischievous) two year old
A five day old
A tired Mama
and a second degree tear
all together (all alone) for five hours…
Yeehaw!
Isn’t it amazing how stinky little newborns can get? After two and a half weeks of sticking various parts of him under the bathroom faucet, Isaac’s umbilical stump (yuck) finally fell off (I closed my eyes, fished it out of his shirt with a tissue, and threw that sucker AWAY!). It was bathtime!
With my “wonderful helper” (and his wonderful cowlick! Almost haircut time…):
Isaac is such an easy going little guy (other than the evenings) that he didn’t even make a peep. Even with a freezing cold two-year-old’s hand splashing water all over his face.
Let’s compare that last picture to high-maintenance Joseph’s first bath time experience:
Yeah, I was due for an easy baby.
When we arrived home from the hospital, Joseph was napping, which was wonderful because it gave us a chance to unload and visit a bit with my mom and sister.
I heard Joseph on the monitor and went in to get him with just Brian (I couldn’t lift him by myself per doctor’s orders…) and left Isaac in the living room with my Mom.
Joseph was SO glad to see me (we have never been apart for so long) and right away asked me to “Pick you up!” and “Rocky!” (rock in the rocking chair). I rocked him and read him some books, while Brian positioned himself with Isaac on the couch.
Finally, I said, “Look what Daddy has! It’s baby Isaac!”
Joseph right away said “See? See?” and hopped down to get a better look.
(warning, some of the pictures will make you want to cry with their sweetness…)
(And yes, Joseph DOES still have a binky for nap/bedtime, and NO we are SO not going down that road of binky-removal yet…)
After a few minutes, we asked if he wanted to HOLD baby Isaac. He responded with a resounding “K!!” and hopped right up on the couch.
The whole time he was holding Isaac, he was talking to everyone to make sure that we could all “SEE?!” what he was doing.
(kisses for Isaac)
And that was about as much interest as he has shown Isaac to date. I will take his ambivalence over the active “Let’s get rid of this baby NOW!!” that I feared was waiting for us.
And so, our new family was born.
Sorry to leave you all hanging for so long.
We are all alive and well. Well and tired. Tired and happy.
Isaac has decided that he must be held/jostled/nursed from about 6-11pm; exactly during my free time when I might have blogged. Other than nap time, that is, when I will choose sleeping with a warm, soft baby over blogging any day (no offense).
But, thanks to my new Moby Wrap (more on that later) I am now, tonight, able to sit at the computer in the evening with Isaac strapped to my body. Whilst swaying rhythmically the whole time…but we’ll take what we can get.
I have some catching up (and lots of pictures) to do, and then we will be back on schedule. Hopefully. No promises. I may have to go back to jostling all evening; you can all blame Isaac.
And don’t feel like you have to comment on each post- it will probably be a bit overwhelming, and it is for my own memory-keeping more than anything. You can just enjoy the ride! (Or skim through!)
Here we go-
(Luckily, there are no pictures of me BEFORE the epidural…)
(My sister Christin, there for support and to take photos)
(Birth time)
I had an induction scheduled for 7 AM on Wednesday, February 3rd.
As Brian parked the car in the hospital garage, I walked in by myself, feeling a little bit as though I was walking to my doom. It is an odd thing to go into a hospital feeling fine and ask to be put in pain.
We were set up in a room with a wonderful nurse named Noreen (who would be with us for the duration). She commented on what beautiful Irish names we have… I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I am Scottish and Brian is German.
At 7:30, my doctor came in to check me. The idea was that, if my cervix was favorable (ie dilated and effaced…ie ready for action) they would start me directly on Pitocin, but if it was not, then I would be given a 4 hour cervix softener first. She said, with a sympathetic face, that I was only a little over 1 cm dilated, and MAYBE 25% effaced. In other words, cervix softener it is, and prepare yourself for a long day, little Caitlin. She administered the softener (don’t ask) and said that she would check me again at about noon.
And then I was hit with a freight train.
Right away, I started having contractions. And not just tightening or pressure, these suckers HURT! I also started feeling lots of cramping, like I had to go to the bathroom (Like I really, REALLY had to go to the bathroom,if you know what I mean.)
I turned to Brian with a little bit of a panicky feeling and said, “Um, these aren’t like last time. These are way stronger than last time. These hurt a lot more than last time.” (With Joseph, after they started the softener, I was still laughin’ it up with my sisters for a few hours. I was not laughing now.) I’m not sure how he responded, I’m sure it was something reassuring and comforting…or not. It is all a blur.
I asked him to start a movie to distract me. Our video of choice to have on during the sacred welcoming of our child into the world? Big Love. You know, the HBO series about a family involved in polygamy? Quality programming. In any case, it didn’t distract me at all, and we had to keep pausing so that I could go to the bathroom.
Dear Noreen was very flexible about everything, allowing me to go off of the heart rate/contraction monitors so that I could walk around, go to the bathroom, etc. After about an hour, she suggested that maybe I would want to try sitting in the tub for a while, and she began filling it with warm water. She checked my contractions with the monitor for a few minutes and they were coming every 2 minutes and lasting about a minute.
I hopped into the tub (no hopping was actually involved. Lumbering, yes. Moaning, yes.) and had Brian come in with his laptop so that we could continue with mindless television to ease the pain (House was the show of choice this time.) After not too long, I couldn’t even watch anymore. The contractions were coming almost one on top of the other, and were so painful that all I could do was close my eyes and grip the bar on the side of the tub.
Finally, I asked Brian what time it was. Remember that I had to go until noon before the cervix softener was supposed to do anything and the doctor would check me. While he went out of the bathroom to look, I closed my eyes and thought “Please Lord, let it be at least 11. I can make it if it is 11!” It was 9:50.
I told Brian to call in Noreen. I was throwing in the towel and begging for an epidural. He complied quickly, probably because that was around the time that I dropped an F Bomb during one of my contractions. Don’t mess with a woman who is in active labor and hissing expletives. She means business.
Noreen, bless her heart, right away agreed to call my doctor and ask her if it was okay if I received an epidural. With Brian’s help, I got out of the tub (back to back contractions, naked and shivery, climbing out of a Jacuzzi tub? No thanks) (If you are wondering why I am being so thorough in explaining this pain…birth control people. I need at least 2 years to recover.) and back into bed to await my fate.
My doctor immediately agreed to an epidural (she was my new best friend) and paged the anesthesiologist. By 10:25, the epidural had been administered, and I was starting to feel relief (forget the doctor, the anesthesiologist was my new best friend.)
My doctor came in at 10:50 to check me, and to see what all of my fuss was about, I imagine. I quietly prayed that I would be at LEAST a 2 or 3 so that I wouldn’t feel like a wimp for having her make a special call to approve the epidural.
I was at 5 cm and 95% effaced. Boojah! So THAT’S why they were hurting so bad! Isaac was busting through my cervix in a little over 3 hours!
I wanted to call my sister, Christin (she flew in from Oregon the night before and was at my house with her son, along with my mom and Joseph) so that she could be alerted that it was almost time to go to the hospital, but my nurse said that she was going to administer a catheter first. At this point, I was totally numb, so I told her to have at it!
While she was setting up, I started to feel some pressure. I told Noreen, and she said that she would hurry up and do the catheter and check me again.
She did, and at 11:03, 10 minutes after the doctor checked me and I was at 5 cm, I was now at 9 cm and completely effaced.
It was almost go time.
Brian ran down to the cafeteria to grab some food so that he wouldn’t pass out (he almost did during Joseph’s birth…) and I grabbed my phone and told my sister that she needed to get in the car NOW.
At 11:30, I was 9.5 and the baby was at zero station, meaning he was positioned at the top of the chute.
At 11:40 my sister came busting in the door- camera and video camera in hand.
At 11:45, I received, per my request, a booster to my epidural. I couldn’t really feel anything, but I thought- why not?!
At 11:50, I was complete (aka 10 cm) and the baby was at +1 or a +2, I don’t really remember.
At 12:00, Noreen told me to give a little practice push to see how things went. Then she said, “Okay, okay, stop. I have to get the doctor.”
I pushed for 3 contractions, and I kept turning to Brian and almost giggling, whispering, “I can’t feel ANYTHING!!”
After only 9 minutes of pushing…
at 12:09, Little Isaac was born!!
He cried right away, even before they put him on my chest.
I looked at him and, once again, saw a little face that was not what I had expected.
They cleaned him up, wrapped him up, and handed him to me.
The whole process was over by 1pm, and we were left, a little shell shocked, with a baby blinking up at us with big blue eyes.
I never needed that Pitocin. I only had about 2.5 hours of pain. I barely had to push. And I had the best epidural ever. Throw in a healthy baby boy, and it was the best birth experience I could have imagined.
Tomorrow: (Isaac willing) Some (non-graphic) pictures!
Here are a few more pictures of our sweet little Isaac Gregry (no “o”, after my Daddy), who was only 8 lbs. 6 oz, 20.5” long by the way. I obviously had a 10 lb. placenta and gallons of amniotic fluid!
So far he is a lovely, mellow baby. As long as he gets his milk every two hours (on the dot.)
More later, I am off to rest some more…
