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)

Okay, we have just checked the cervix, and Laura is at 5 cm dilated, 100% effaced, baby is at zero (for those who know what that means), and we’re progressing along. Next step: catheter! (Ooooh, that’s TMI!)

The nurse baton has just officially been passed, and as a parting shot, nurse one (Jen) gave her opinion that the baby should be here within the next 35-60 minutes. Of course, she’s been wrong twice before (first guess: 12:45; 2nd guess: 4:58), so it may not mean anything. But then again, it might. If I were reading along at home, I would start checking every 20 minutes or so. Just sayin’.