As for the "birth story," it's not too exciting. I was so happy to have the week before my due date off so I could finish up the nursery, clean the house more, make a few things for Finn... but he decided to come early only one day into my week off (I was 39 weeks, 4 days along... so he wasn't THAT early). Anyway, all day on Monday the 17th, I felt slightly crampy, but it wasn't anything timable and I didn't really notice it. It was just a constant dull pain that didn't bother me much. I didn't think anything of it! I guess I just wanted him to wait longer, haha. Anyway, we went to bed Monday night and I woke up at 1am Tuesday morning with cramps... aka early labor contractions. But I was convinced it wasn't the real thing. I got up and drank some water and walked around the house a bit, then went back to bed until 3. Then I realized there was just no sleeping through them. So I went into the living room, downloaded a handy contraction timer app on my iphone, and timed them all night long. They were consistent all night, lasting 45 seconds and 4 1/2 minutes apart. My doctor said not to go to the hospital until they were 3-5 minutes apart and lasting 60 seconds for at least 2 hours. So I just didn't think it was time yet. Chase woke up at 6 and we took showers and then kept timing them while watching The Office - yes, the episode where Pam has her baby. They were getting a little farther apart at that point, more like 5-6 minutes, so I was pretty skeptical thinking that is was false labor or something. I tried to go back to sleep while Chase timed them. They slowed down when I was laying down, but got closer together to more I moved or walked around. Finally we called the hospital nurse and she said we shouldn't come in until I couldn't talk through them or walk through them, and was basically doubled over in pain. Well, heck. They didn't even really hurt that much, they were just like period cramps, so I thought it was going to be quite a long day of waiting for things to get painful. Once it was 8 am, we called my OB's office and they said to come in once they were 3-5 minutes apart for an hour, and not to wait until I couldn't talk through them. So we finally decided to go in. As I did my hair and make-up (come on, I had to try as hard as I could to not look too disgusting in those post-delivery pictures everyone takes...) they were getting closer together, 2-3 minutes apart, but were lasting only about 30 seconds. Finally around 11:00, we left for the hospital and I was scared to death the whole way there that they would just send us home. They checked me and since I was dilated to a 4, they had me admitted. It was about 1:00 when I was in a delivery room and Dr. Beck came and broke my water... I was at a 5, and they said if I wanted an epidural, might as well get it then. I really wanted to try doing it without but I realized right away that if they had to strap the contraction monitor things to my stomach and I had to stay in that bed, there was no way I could do it. The contractions weren't bad as long as I could walk around, but being strapped down like that... um, no thanks. So I got the epidural - which was such a breeze, didn't even feel them do it, even though I had a contraction when the needle went in - and I'm sooo glad I did! The guy who did it did a wonderful job - I could feel everything. I could prop myself up and feel my legs move. I just didn't feel any pain during contractions. It was probably because of the epidural, but I took a while to dilate to a 10. In the mean time we watched How to Train Your Dragon and I tried to nap but I was just too excited to sleep. Finally when I was at a 10, they had me wait another hour until I pushed since he wasn't descended low enough. Finally I started pushing around 8:30. Pushing didn't hurt, but I was so positive I was pooping on the table the whole time (even though I wasn't) haha. I just kept saying "Sorry did I poop that time?!" in between pushes. Yeah, talk about all modesty going out the window! My hubby and my mom were there cheering me on, and the sweet nurse was so encouraging especially when she kept saying "Oh my gosh look at all the hair!" When he started to crown she went to have someone call the doctor, but he walked in like 30 seconds later. Apparently he just decided to come and get this thing over with because he wanted to "get to bed early" that night. Haha, Dr. Beck is awesome. He has just the perfect amount of dry humor and a straight face to calm me down. Once he was ready, I pushed once, then on the second push he yanked Finn's head out with his hands, and on the third push pulled out his arm along with the rest of him. Oh my goodness what an amazing moment! I was just laughing and crying and making all kinds of crazy sounds because I was so overwhelmed at my sweet blue little alien baby, haha. Anyway... we held our baby and everything was perfect. He scored a 9.9 on his apgar so he was healthy which is all I wanted. That whole day was so amazing and wonderful and I have no unpleasant memories from it at all. I had no pain after delivery, just slightly sore but nothing to complain about. It all went so well and Chase and I still just can't believe how we made such a beautiful little boy! All the nurses were crazy about his hair and said he looked like a little man, not a newborn. He's already got the ladies fawning over him. Especially his mama and grandmas. :)
These first weeks have been great - my parents came over often to let me take a nap or just hold their little grandson. It was so nice having them be there for me. Chase's parents came to stay for several days and I'm so glad they did! I know they loved spending time with Finn, and we loved spending time with them. Nursing has been a bit challenging. It was going pretty well the first week, and the lactation consultant in the hospital helped me a lot and said we were doing it right. But I think Finn's "tongue tie" problem was making it a lot harder for him to eat enough, so for now I've been pumping and bottle feeding him, and we have an appointment to try and get his tongue clipped so he can nurse/latch on better. Sorry if this is too much info, but it's stuff I want to remember!
So everyone keeps asking me if he's a good baby and I don't know how to answer that - I've never spent more than ten minutes with a newborn, so I don't really have any way to compare. But I think he's pretty awesome! He only cries when he needs to burp, needs a new diaper, is hungry, or when we change his clothes... haha, he HATES being cold. Other than that though he is a great baby (I think!) He eats about every 3 hours during the day, and after eating he's awake for anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, and then he naps. Then repeat. :) At night he is pretty good. Last night he slept 5 hours straight! When I get up at night to feed him he doesn't cry, just eats, and usually goes back to sleep. But sometimes he just wants to cuddle and stare at me for a little while, so I can be up with him for 30 minutes or an hour and a half. But I don't mind, he's so ridiculously sweet to watch that it's totally worth it. Everyday just gets better as we are figuring things out more and more.
Since he is still so little and sleepy, we pretty much just stare at him, play with his hair, and cover his poor face with a billion kisses. But some things that we've discovered already are:
- He LOVES baths. As soon as we put his head under the warm water he gets all quiet and still and just soaks it up.
- He loves being in the sun too! After baths I put him with just his diaper in his little rocker and set him in the sun and he stretches out his arms and legs and sleeps with a little half-grin on his face.
- He has the strongest neck! From the day he was born, burping him has been a little challenge because he won't let his head go limp - he just has to look around and turn in every direction! The rest of him is pretty strong too, I've had many a diaper kicked right out of my hands.
- This little boy likes to pee on himself almost every third diaper change. That's just how he rolls I guess. :)
- He is ticklish under his arms and on his feet. Definitely good to know if you can't get him to wake up to eat!
- He is tongue-tied! Meaning the frenulum, or the skin under the tongue, goes all the way to the tip of his tongue. I was tongue-tied too, but his is so bad that we are going to try and get it clipped (especially since it makes nursing him really hard... and painful!)
- He is sooo noisy in his sleep! He just squeaks and squeaks all night long. :)
- He makes awesome faces. Fishy faces, big pouty sad faces, adorable crooked smiley faces, wise scowling faces, and concentrating-on-pooping faces.
