Little Buddy

Yay for our little new arrival!

Last night our little guy came into the world, he was 8 lbs 12 oz and 20 1/2 inches long at birth.









The Birth Story (possibly too detailed? oh well).
I had fairly strong contractions spaced anywhere from 3 minutes to 15 minutes apart starting 5am Saturday morning. By 9pm they were regularly 7 min apart and when he broke my water at 11 pm (which there was only the smallest sign of, since he had already dropped low weeks ago) they were suddenly much stronger and 3-5 minutes apart.

So, we changed the bedding, cleaned up the apartment and packed the car as we waited for an hour to see if they lasted in consistency (since I hadn't been completely sure if my water had really broken or not). We got to the hospital at 12:45am, found I was dilated to 2 cm only and stayed awake all night with the contractions which peaked in level by 1:30am Sunday morning and were often around 3 minutes apart and 60-90 seconds in length. All night I was in and out of the tub (I loved it!), on the birthing ball and all over the room. By 6am I had only dilated to a 4, at 9am I was at a 4 again and finally decided to get some pain meds to take the edge off. By 11am things were still the same; since my water had broken at 11pm the night before and the general idea is that it's best to have the baby within 24 hours of the water breaking because of infection risk (my doctor(s) really aren't so strict about it, but like to generally aim for the 24 hour period if the patient is compliant), and because there had been so little change in 12 hours of intense labor, plus 19 hours of milder labor, we decided on Pitocin. Since Pitocin would rocket up some already strong contractions, and because I was already so exhausted, an epidural was administered and instantly loved.

It Was Fantastic!
My darling and I were able to sleep on and off during the day, in between naptimes we invited our loving family in to visit and had a wonderful time joking and passing the time. Both mothers were so supportive of the epidural, even though they went through their labors only with the simpler meds, if any, thank you mommies!

Around 2pm our Little Buddy had a monitor on his head since his heart rate was dropping low during contractions (normal) and not picking up after (dropping even lower to 40-50 bpm). The consensus was that he seemed to be grabbing the chord (I wasn't surprised since he so frequently participated in the Fetal Belly Olympics throughout pregnancy) and pinching or twisting it. So they monitored him, put me on oxygen to help him get some, and had me turn from side to side to see if he would pick up.

Also, he was turned face up, which was why I had not been dilating, but experiencing such long contractions.

By 6pm there was major pressure (yes, the urge to push can be very strong with an epidural), by a little after 7pm there was full dilation and pushing and by 8:19pm our little guy was born. All in all it was very exciting; although I had wanted to go naturally I'm too grateful for the rest the epidural provided so that I was able to push him out into the world so quickly. He was 9 and 9 for both Apgar tests.

Him and Markers

Him doesn't like being called "My Darling," he apparently likes being "Him." Anyway, Him came home and was very excited about the window markers and decided to add to my art ^_^ (see previous post).

For Those Who Know the Lingo

He dropped five weeks ago. Engaged at zero two weeks ago, 60% effaced and one + cm dilated.

Last week I measured smaller than the previous weeks (37 cm since he had dropped so low), this week I was 40 centimeters since he had a HUGE growth spurt over the weekend. Any bets on size? I'm guessing just about 9 pounds give or take.

Any day now ^_^



In the meantime, I've been enjoying my, so far, week and a half off by lounging at our little apartment pool, reading, and playing a bit of the video game My Darling bought for me. There's also been a fair amount of nesting in the form of cutting the matting for our gorgeous prints (a total of ten hours of work before they were all semi-decently cut and framed), cleaning, organizing, grocery shopping to a ridiculous level, and cooking WAY too much (Last week I made so much spaghetti and hand-made meatballs that My Darling and I both had enough for dinner Sunday evening as well as for lunch for the next five days).

Today at the store I found these great window markers (yup, grocery shopping again), so down time was spent drawing on our windows, mirrors and...well, mostly on windows and mirrors.

Friday the 13th!

Him really wanted the baby to be born today ("Wouldn't Friday the 13th be cool?"), but I'm still sticking with my original date (for those who know it ^_~) as my prediction. Either way, he's on his way. He dropped (My rib cage has shrunk back down about three-four inches and holding.) nearly four weeks ago! The past two check-ups have shown that things are changing at a nice pace--and are all prepared to go anytime. It could be tomorrow or another two weeks.

I've already packed my clothes...and Him's since he'll be staying with us at the hospital <3 Slowly, I'm shopping and picking up stuff around the house, waiting for that famous energy burst which might never come.

In other news, this little guy belonging to my cousin was born recently at 10lbs and 10oz. After 24 hours of pitocin-induced labor and 3 1/2 hours of pushing they finally realized he wasn't coming out. So, c-section it was. Mother and baby are fine and very very cute (both of them ^_^).






"Little buddy" as Him so fondly calls him is pretty strong already: At two days old he was laying on his tummy next to his mom with his head to the side facing me and, suddenly, I watched in surprise as he used his little arms and lifted both head and shoulders off of the bed to look around for a moment before flopping down again.

You don't have to believe me, I don't know if I would believe it if I hadn't been there. ^_^

The Last Weeks

For Memorial day one set of grandparents came for a fantastic visit full of brats, ice cream and even an afternoon nap in the living room ^_^

There was also some very happy belly-patting fun to be had.




The next weekend another grandma and a little auntie (sorry sissa, you're always my little sis!) came to visit, we had some exciting chocolate while at a pub/restaurant...



and really really loved this lilac bush that was grafted onto a tree while we toured a nearby hobby town. Him said "Oh, your Mom is so tiny!" in response to this picture. I have to agree with him, can you see why the nickname "elf mommy" stuck so well for so long to her?



Then Him and I celebrated the fun weekend with a cool down at our apartment pool. After our fun swim Him had me brave the camera to prove how big my belly is...although it still doesn't look quite huge, it's a bit more rounded out since he dropped and is no longer hiding underneath my rib cage so much.



It's quite a relief to not feel as though my rib cage is being wedged open anymore. Also, my belly button finally popped--fulfilling all my dreams for a full pregnant experience, heh. I was able to tell my sister from personal experience that, "No, contrary to what I thought, it really doesn't hurt when you're belly button is inside out."