There really isn't anything too terribly exciting or weird or crazy about A's entrance into the world but here goes for the stack of posterity and all the birth story junkies out there.
In hindsight it is worth mentioning that I assumed this baby would be a girl. It really didn't start setting into my mind that the baby could possibly be a boy until I was driving to the doctor the week before he was born that, hey this baby could be a boy.
I was making the weekly treks to Wilson for my appointments and I was pretty much done with being pregnant. I mean the physical side of it - who can really coach a soccer team at 39.75 weeks pregnant. I had been late to the tune of 5 days, 2 days, and 7 days with the first three so I expected to be late this time around. I was induced with #3 and there is something to be said about the calmness surrounding an induction. There is no race to the hospital, no 2 am phone calls to the neighbors, no water breaking in public - all those things that make a birth story interesting.
Actually going into labor with #4 was a legit concern for me because I didn't know how fast it would go or anything because I had not been in labor naturally since baby #2. Well I was approaching my due date and the not-so-dreaded induction discussion came about. It was either Monday (4 days past my due date) or Friday (8 days past my due date). Monday seemed like a good day to have a baby plus I was tired of being pregnant plus Nani and I could walk on Sunday plus Chik-Fil-A is open on Mondays.
So Monday it was.
Nani and I walked another 6 miles the day before the induction - just like last time, because she's an awesome friend like that. I didn't drink a can full of pineapple juice (because I was actually afraid I might go into labor but also it didn't work last time). I tried some Clary Sage EO but nothing. I was afraid to go into labor before Monday since Monday seemed so planned - and I happen to be a planner.
We got to the hospital after leaving the girls in the capable hands of Jibbe and Aunt Mary and we waited - I didn't get the pitocin until about 8 am and we arrived at 6. At that point I was pretty ready to just get the whole L&D thing over with so I was kind of annoyed I had to wait.
Anyway, once they got me hooked up, they moved me to a bigger room which gave me a fantastic excuse to beg the nurse to let me take a few laps around the L&D floor. That's the biggest problem I have with getting induced is that I have to be hooked up to the monitor and I cannot walk around. Aside from the obvious gravitational benefits, I think it would help take my mind off the pain but those few laps were all I was allowed.
Around 9:15 my doctor comes in again to check me and break my water which I was definitely not ready for - because thats's when stuff gets real. I was only 2 cm so I was pretty surprised. The first three were born within an hour or two of my water being broken.
I remember looked over at the isolet and telling Lee - there will be another person in this room when we leave here. Which still is just crazy to me. ANOTHER PERSON! Anyhow, I asked him if he was still okay with the boy names we had picked (not that we'd actually change them because we had picked them out 9 months before) but because they weren't our first or second choice names.
The contractions started to get a bit more lively and I started praying Hail Marys to get through them as something to focus on during the contractions. It worked fine but I still ended up with the Stayidol and that's where things got interesting. I remember trying to open my eyes during the contractions and saying the Hail Mary but as soon as it was over I closed my eyes. When I closed my eyes I was thinking/dreaming/whatever-ing about 5 rectangles and different objects you can make with them. So weird I know. Lee probably know way more about what happened during that time but I suppose it wasn't terribly interesting.
I finally got to the near pushing point and my nurse definitely listened to me when I told her I did not want to have to wait to push (and that I wanted something to drink as soon as humanly possible). She helped get me to the 10 cm point just in time because there was another woman on the floor who was laboring about the same rate I was and I delivered first - and Lee credits the nurse.
I pushed for a few times and then the baby was born... 12:43 in the afternoon if my memory serves me right. I can remember the doctor saying it was a boy and honestly not caring one bit because of the pain I was in. I heard him cry and then I just wanted to get the rest of the birthing process over with.
I have said it before and I'll say it again. I know there are many women who have this instantaneous connection and happiness with their brand new babies but I need about 5 minutes to clear the adrenaline from my system, get a little less in pain and have my feet back on the bed before I can really begin to connect with the baby. It's almost like my body needs time to process all the physical sides of birth before mentally processing what just happened.
Anyhow, a boy? A boy! Can you believe it? I don't think I could have, had I not put some serious thought into on that last drive to Wilson. A weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz - same as M. He screamed for the first two hours of his life. He didn't care much about nursing. He was pretty darn bruised up - the pictures of him being dark blue in the face don't lie. Apparently he 'barrel-rolled' down the birth canal which means he descended super fast?
The pic probably does bruising the most justice
I had a while to check out his bruised up face and listen to his healthy lungs while Lee ran to Chik-Fil-A for celebratory sandwiches and CookOut for the coveted Mint Oreo shake - which I did NOT have at all during the pregnancy. It was a very quiet time - not in the literal sense - because I had a bunch of texts to respond to but I didn't answer them.
I was super adamant about keeping every person's mouth sealed about baby details until the girls met baby - this was even before he was born. I seriously advocated for not telling anyone until the girls had met their new sibling; that didn't win out probably because my sister-in-law might have held a grudge for years and we would have ended up telling Jibbe and Aunt Mary something on the phone because they were bringing big sisters to the hospital which then wouldn't have been fair to my parents SOOOO... we told 3.5 people before the the girls met him.
My vision for them walking in the room was they'd know boy or girl by looking at his blue hand knitted hat that ladies knit and give to the hospital but much to my horror the hand knitted hats have been deemed unsanitary so no blue knit hat?!?!?!? Darn you corporate hospital takeover! So we had to tell them them baby was a boy because there was nothing glaringly obvious about him swaddled up tight with the blue and pink striped hat.
The girls were generally uninterested. E was very concerned about my IV. R wanted one of my Dum-Dums I got from L&D. M was only interested in A when Jibbe held him (because she and Jibbe are attached at the hip).
Papa headed to the hacienda when the girls left - which was only a small issue because the fish they brought for dinner was not terribly appetizing that coupled with the fact I got a second wave of visitors so I didn't attempt eating dinner until about 8:30. Needless to say I had a good dinner of graham crackers and Sprite because the nurses actually do have food to give out.
The next day, Grammy and Grandpa Joe came bearing flowers and cake - that cake was so good I kept eating it even though it gave me terrible headaches because of the chocolate. The pediatrician wanted us to stay there FOREVER. I was discharged 24 hours after he was born but we were supposed to stay until 6 per the pediatrician - we snuck out about 5:40 because the nurses took pity on me. If the bed were slightly more comfortable I think I could be convinced to stay another day but there is absolutely NOTHING do to in the hospital (which kills me)
That's really all there is to say.. see totally uninteresting.
Post Script - In the days following we were showered with lots of blue clothes, lots of tasty meal, lots of great help (including Aunt Mary stayed for about a week after he was born and that was such a treat). - THANK YOU!
Life continued on just where it left off before A came along. School was hustled to. Soccer was coached. Work was returned to. Order was restored.
3 months out, it is hard to imagine life without A around : )
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