worth the wait

 introducing...

 

maddox john

november 8th, 2010

3:53pm

8 lbs 2 oz

20.5 inches long

 ***

the birth story

i woke up on monday, november 8th about 4am. i was really uncomfortable, and thought it might be because of all that extra weight on my extra full bladder. when i got back in bed, i started to faintly remember having painful contractions in the night. as i laid there, more started to come. the only time i really had contractions with this pregnancy was when i was laying down, and if there was any consistency at all, they always fizzled out after about an hour. i knew they felt different, but i still waited for them to stop. they didn't, but they weren't at all regular, either.
i was never able to fall back asleep, and got up with the kids around 7. by then they had stopped, and after jason woke up, i told him what was going on. we debated calling kathy (the midwife), since my labor had stalled similarly with jaxon. we were nervous about waiting around all day, only to have things really pick back up when it was too late for jason to call in to work.
around 9:30 (and after talking to valerie) i decided to go ahead and call kathy. she told me to come over around 10:30 and she would check me and we could try to get things going. i jumped in the shower while jason got the kids around, and we took them to his parents' house. i was feeling really nervous. i didn't want to be disappointed. i was 8 days over, and anxious to meet my little man. i hadn't been checked at all yet, so i told jason i was guessing i was at a 2 at best.
as kathy was checking me, she kept apologizing for the pain all while assuring me that it would get things going...and then she said she was "just feeling the soft spot." wait. "on the baby?", i asked. yep. so i asked her what i was dilated to, and i was at a 5-6. i was going to have a baby that day. wow. she gave me 1/2 a prostaglandin pill to get the contractions to pick up again (i still wasn't contracting anymore at that point) and told me to call when they started getting stronger.
jason and i called our parents and stopped by the store for a few necessities before heading home to set everything up. after about an hour and a half i was contracting, but again, not consistently. i let kathy and valerie know what was going on and soon decided to lay down again to see if that would help. sure enough, we timed them from 1-1:30 and they were consistently 5 minutes apart.
valerie got to our house about 1:40, with kathy arriving soon after. i kept laying on the couch while they got everything ready. after set up was finished, kathy checked me again. i was at an 8, so we decided to go ahead and break my water to speed things up. she told me i could get into the pool once my contractions picked up more, so once they were about 2ish minutes apart and i was getting uncomfortable, i got in.
they stayed about 2 minutes apart, but were starting to get harder to deal with. i sat on my knees and leaned forward while swaying my hips back and forth to work through them. all of a sudden i knew he was coming and couldn't say much. i think i kind of pointed down and that was about it. i was still on my knees leaning forward when my body started to take over and push. i remember kathy asking if i could turn over, but all i did was get my legs out from under me (so that i was on all fours). the next thing i knew, he was out. in my head i was yelling, "get him out, get him out", but jason says i barely made much sound at all. valerie says she thinks things are a lot louder in your head when you're at that point, and i agree. the water in the pool was pretty chilly for a tiny baby, so they took him from me pretty quickly and gave him to daddy to warm up. after some snuggle time, he was weighed, measured, bathed, and given back to mama...i love that part.
it was such a nice labor. from the time things got uncomfortable to the time he was born was 20 minutes. i'm so glad we called early and i'm so thankful that kathy had no problem with us coming out there on a day that she doesn't normally see patients.

 ***

pictures from after the birth:

getting weighed

and measured

checking his dates

first bath

(she really was excited--she just doesn't like to smile for the camera!)

the one i was worried about is the most excited, i think!

everyone is adjusting better than i had hoped for, which is a huge relief.

i have 3 wonderful (sometimes over eager) helpers...

we are so blessed!