Yesterday, Max was one week old. I took a picture. Well, lots of pictures, actually because he was awake and really cute.

We slept decent. He woke up right as I was trying to go to bed, and was very awake (which is when I got the pictures), so I didn’t get to sleep ’til about midnight. Then, he woke up at 12:30 and I wanted to die. However I got back to sleep a bit after 1 am, and we got 3 hours, 45 minutes of feeding, then another 3 hours.

Not too bad.

Abby is home sick today. I have to take Clark to preschool this morning and Max to the pediatrician. Our carpool is busy this afternoon, so I also get to pick up the girls from school. And there’s a school meeting tonight that either Nate or I have to be at. I’m going to do my absolute best to rest in between.

I have one sock done to the heel turn, and the other 1/3 of the way there. I’m referring to these as the “arctic wolf” socks. I know they don’t need a name, but the stitch pattern ended up looking like wolf heads to me, and the color could be glacial runoff. I think. Anyway, it sounds better than Caribbean Wolf socks. Or Bahama Wolf socks. But I’m open.

Max was due yesterday. I took a picture.

And started a sock.

I also forgot to send Nate to the store for diapers this morning. Clark is blissfully unaware that he’s wearing THE LAST ONE!!!

I do not feel equal to loading up the boys and heading to the store today, if for no other reason than the mere thought of stuffing my newly lactating self into a bra is more than I can bear.

And I have a headache, am really tired, and am still not coping well with noise and crowds.

Which brings me to something kind of funny.

I had the most surreal experience at the dinner table last night. I felt like I was in a movie. I was really tired, and every single noise seemed magnified to the extreme. I was distinctly cognizant of every. single. sound. Each time Nate’s spoon hit the bottom of his bowl. The little wooden chair Clark was casually kicking under the table as it scraped slowly across the wood floor. Every single mouth as it chewed sounded like there was a microphone in front of it. The slurping. The breathing. The bread crumbs as they hit the table around the bowls.

It drove me insane.

I hope my energy comes back soon.

Hi all.

I don’t know if it’s hormones, beautiful October sunshine, the miracle of life or what… but I’m euphorically happy. And it’s not just being “not pregnant anymore” because my body/joints/nausea/etc are still loose, achy, and not back to themselves yet. However, I’m feeling pretty good. Very tired. I’d say it’s more an extreme lack of endurance or stamina than sleepy tired.

But aside from physical complaints, I’m so incredibly happy and in love with this little baby. He’s perfect and beautiful and I’m thrilled to death to have him.

My mother-in-law stayed for five days this week, and it was wonderful. We’re all a bit sad to see her go home (20 whole minutes away). This morning, Clark declared it was “unfair.”

Max keeps barely failing his jaundice tests, so we have to keep getting blood draws. I’m really tired of that. However now that there is more than enough milk and he’s eating so much he’s soaking his sleepers with regularity… I expect we’ll get those bilirubins under control real quick.

It’s 2pm, Saturday afternoon. Nate took the kids out to see a movie and romp around town. Max is sleeping.

I’m about to refill my water jug and try to nap. I should take a shower, but unfortunately, shower induced nausea hasn’t passed yet, and I’m not really up to it.

No one’s complaining yet, and I have showered. 🙂

Here are some pictures from yesterday-

Op! I hear him. Guess I’m a little ways out from that attempted nap.

I’m probably not going to post much the rest of the week. Max has that magic gift to suddenly wake up at the exact moment I’m about to collapse for the night. I’ve hardly slept since 5 am, Monday morning.

I tried to nap at around 11 this morning and couldn’t get to sleep, but I’m resting.

I think nights will get better when my milk comes in. He seems to want more than what I’ve got at the moment.

Me beforehand

Then, the family arrived

Clark didn’t want to share the baby. He was very sweet and very soft with him.

He did, however, want to “share” my breakfast.

Welcome, Maxwell Gideon!

We’ve got some great ones, but I wanted to talk a little bit before taking the time to do the photo thing.

Firstly, thanks for all the well wishes. It’s so nice to have the best of both worlds, a nice, quiet and calm hospital room, and lots and lots of friends to share the birth with!

I need to go back and read emails. I’ve been pretty much off the computer this whole time, Nate has read emails and comments aloud to me while I’ve been encumbered by medical equipment, staff, baby, and fatigue.

I don’t think Nate mentioned this, but baby came out face up. That’s probably why it was so hard getting him out. Apparently, it wasn’t hard getting him out. The nurse and doctor told me I only pushed for 16 minutes, but it felt hard to ME!!! And certainly harder than my other babies. I don’t know how women that push for hours hold up. It’s exhausting. And painful. And what’s up with the new epidural medicine that doesn’t make all the pain go away??? I still had some pain with Clark’s delivery, and this epidural (it was horrible. I swear it was the worst one), took over 30 minutes to get as good as it got. And the point of exit was never pain free.

I will not deny that it was way better than feeling all of labor though, but I’m glad I waited as long as I did because I really have to be in serious pain to make that whole process worth it.

So, anyway, he came out face up. That’s probably why it took so long for labor to progress. He wasn’t positioned well. Also, the cord was wrapped around his neck in such a way that it really looked like it was holding him back. The doctor exclaimed, “cord!!!” and unhooked it from his neck as soon as he came out. His heart rate was dropping quite a bit during the contractions once he was low in my pelvis. They had me shifting from side to side to see if we could help him out.

I’m SO happy I didn’t have any back labor or tearing. I have a sister-in-law whose babies all come out face up, and her back labor is excruciating.

Baby looked JUST like Clark when he came out, which wasn’t going to help with the naming problem at all, however this morning, he’s changed. We are pretty sure we’ve got a first name picked out. Really struggling with the middle name.

Something interesting… there was a male nursing student, about my age that spent the day with us, observing and assisting. He came in a few hours into things, and once he did, Nate’s sense of displacement/discomfort totally evaporated and he was able to relax and be himself. It was really nice. I don’t exactly understand why, but having another guy in there Nate could joke around with and talk to made the day much more pleasant for him, and having him more at ease helped me to relax also.

We didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. Well, I didn’t anyway. He was super hungry and if he wasn’t eating, he had to be laying on me to sleep. The hospital bassinet was a no-go.

I am very excited to go home.

That’s all I can think of right now. I’ll post this then get to the pictures. Check back soon.

After 13.5 hours of labor, Laura delivered a healthy baby boy at 7:36 pm. The baby weighed in at 9 lbs, 1 oz and measured 22 inches long. We don’t have a name yet, or pictures, but Mom and baby are doing great (no tearing!), the kiddo scored well on his APGARs, and things are going well.

Now, I believe I am going to be sent off for some real food, as Mom really wants something to eat 🙂

Good night, everyone! We’ll post more in the morning!

We’re at 9.5 cm dilated, there’s “a rim” we’re still working with, but Laura will start the pushing soon. We’re expecting baby within 15-20 minutes now. Soon!

Baby is lower, and Laura is dilated to an 8, but I’m guessing that it’ll be after 7 before the baby arrives. We are, however, prepping the room for delivery, so it shouldn’t be too much after 7:00 before the baby comes. Maybe 7:15 – 7:30? (13+ hours after arrival).

Longest. Labor. Ever. (at least for us)