I know, I know.... we have a name pretty well decided but since the midwife will be back in 24 hours to check on us we figured we'd give ourselves some time to try out his name!
His story... through the eyes of his mama:
Our little guy arrived just in time for dinner tonight after some steadily progressing contractions all day. Things picked up to what could be called "active labor" by around 2:20 PM and I got in the labor tub. Will and I had "contractions" on opposite sides of the tub together while Paul worked on water temperature and tub filling. Midwives (Heather, Tanya and Christine) arrived with all their gear around 3pm and the next couple hours felt like eons as this baby moved his head over that last lip of cervix. This was a hard birth... I'll be honest here. I felt like I was being ripped apart as that huge 14 inch head made its way down through and out. Sixteen minutes of pushing felt like sixteen hours to me and to top it off his chest was a wide 14 inches too so it was hard to get him out from tip to tail.
While I've been told I have a roomy pelvis and seem to grow big placentas with extra long cords, I remain thankful that the baby did the work that needed to happen for a straightforward birth. He got himself into a great position for birthing and this is probably what allowed all this to happen in only sixteen minutes. I also have thought back to myself how lucky women are to have the uterus to do the work of pushing that baby down and out. Once I felt the head coming through I realized what was ahead of me and if the uterus hadn't pushed me into it literally... that baby might still be in there!
After a pretty dramatic and loud pushing phase, Baby came out quietly underwater and was lifted serenely up to my chest where we admired the impressive rolls and dimples. This is a big boy! But so far he has been incredibly easy going as a big ten pounder should be: vigorously nursing right away and sleeping peacefully on his Topponcino (Montessori mattress) through his birthday celebration, meeting the cat, and having many kisses from his big brother.
Strangely I feel like I'm physically bouncing back much more quickly even with a difficult labor. I feel good enough already to walk around, sit up, use the toilet, etc. all the things that felt impossible to do for a couple days after Will was born. Not to say that I've done much though. I walked about five steps from the tub to the bed and a few more to the bathroom off and on but otherwise I plan to be in bed for awhile!
Will was present for the entire birth. He and I counted my early contractions in the morning together, he helped fill the tub and swam with me for awhile in the early part of things. He was pretty well occupied putting on CD's for me (Bob Marley, "Don't Worry Be Happy" was put on just as I started pushing!), spritzing the air with peppermint spray, bringing food or drinks and discovering all the little packages I left around for him to play with during the labor. He was very interested in the long curly slippery umbilical cord and helped us examine the placenta carefully. When it was all over I asked Will what he thought of the birth and he said, "It was very unusual."
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