Big Weekend!

The last few days have been rather exciting at our house.

On Wednesday afternoon, Gregory went for his annual checkup at the doctor. He weighed 26.6 lbs and was 35 inches tall. He is about 5th percentile for his age! Hey, somebody has to be! He also had some blood drawn to check for lead levels, etc. He did not think that was very fun, and still won't let us take the bandage off... Oh well, it'll fall off eventually!

Gregory celebrated his third birthday on Thursday. He really enjoyed opening presents and playing with his new things: some books from Grandma Bonnie, mini Bilibos from Auntie Kayla, and a tutu (Vikings colors, of course) and a giant floor keyboard from Mommy and Daddy.


On Friday morning, a package from Grandma Mary and Grandpa Nick arrived. Gregory loved the ViewMaster, plastic bugs, Tu-tok-a-nula book, and CD. Then we got ready to head out for the day. Our Attachment Parenting group here in the Twin Cities is very active, and this weekend was their camping trip. Being close to the end of my pregnancy, we opted not to actually camp, but the site was only about 10 mins away, so it was easy to go hang out. We spent a lot of the day on Friday there, came home for nap and dinner, and went back to play a little more and have S'mores in the evening.



That morning, I had (TMI warning!) lost some of my mucous plug, but nothing else new was really going on and being two weeks before my due date, I really didn't think too much of it. Well when we got home from the camping site I really was getting a bit uncomfortable. I couldn't really sleep and by about 11:30 I was getting up to the bathroom quite a lot. Dan said twice that maybe we should call the midwife, but it wasn't until about 12:30 that I really started considering calling someone. By then I was really having contractions, feeling shaky and nauseous and making labor noises. I called my doula, Janine, at 1 and told her I wasn't sure if I was really going to have the baby tonight. She decided to come over. Shortly thereafter we also called the midwife, Clare. She headed over too. Interestingly, neither of them had gone to bed yet!

Labor progressed slowly, contractions seemed far apart, but strong, and I was feeling normal in between them. There would be a short one, a little harder one, and then a few big ones in a row that sent me retreating to the bathroom. Pretty soon our other midwife, Emme, arrived. I felt bad that I had all these people out of bed waiting for me and it didn't seem to be going anywhere. After all, there had been many lighthearted comments about a one-hour labor during our prenatal visits. Usually second babies come quicker than the first, and Gregory only took a little over 3 hours... So much for that theory! By 3:30, Dan and I were getting pretty darn tired. I was just so sleepy and things were going really slow. We just rested in between contractions and actually got some sleep. When the sun started coming up, seemed like things started to pick up again a little. Gregory woke up and started doing his thing, and he brought a lot of energy. I sat in the bath tub for a little while to try to relax, and while it was nice, it didn't really help move things along. We all had a chat and figured the baby must be in a strange position. Emme and Janine felt my tummy during a contraction and they thought they might be feeling a shoulder above my pubic bone. Clare and Emme thought an inversion (going upside down) would be good, followed by lunges. At that point, I was willing to try it, knowing it would make everything hurt worse, but also knowing that we had to go there to get the baby unstuck. Well it worked! By halfway through the lunges, there was definite progress. My body started pushing hard. Though I had been leaking fluid for a while, there was a big pop and gush. We were in the carpeted living room so thank goodness the midwives had laid down plenty of waterproof pads! I was kind of standing up, holding onto Dan for support, but as the baby's head came down, it felt like I didn't have enough room for him to get out. I asked them to help me down to a knee. With another contraction or two, the head was born. Another one, and he was here! It was 8:10 am. He cried a little right away and I sat down on the floor with him. Emme, then Janine sat behind me for support.

I really still could not believe he was born already! He was so cute, looked a bit like Gregory did, and was surprisingly chubby for being two weeks early. Dan didn't think he looked as big as Greg was. His hair looked dark, but seems like it always does until it gets washed, which we still haven't done! I think he has a dimple on the right too, but I've only seen it a couple times.

Aside from being significantly longer than my first labor, this time also seemed a lot harder. I think a lot of it was mental. I just didn't feel ready. We had planned on having a birth pool set up ahead of time, but we didn't even have it in the house yet. Our water was all rusty from some plumbing work we had done earlier in the week, so even if we had set up a pool, I am not sure we would have used it with the rusty water anyway! None of our support people (i.e., Grandmas!) for Gregory were in town yet. So I guess I was just not mentally ready to have the baby, but he had other ideas. Much of the beginning of labor felt like a tug of war between my head and my body. I wasn't really committed. Even when I cut off the yarn from my Blessingway and said I was committed, I didn't really feel like it in my heart. I think it wasn't until the morning, when I was so tired, I just couldn't really fight it anymore, I gave up, stopped thinking, and started just doing what I was told! I don't know that it could have been any other way. This baby had positioning issues throughout the whole pregnancy, which I had done a lot of bodywork to try to correct. He just had his own needs, his own way he needed to come out, which was not the easiest way. I hope that if that is a character trait, that he just does things his own unconventional, yet ultimately successful way, not necessarily the "hard way" in life! I am quite sure that if I would have been in the hospital with an epidural, I would have ended up with a c-section. But with the great support I had at home, we were able to get through it. I hope I can be that kind of support for Asher as he grows, to help him get through things and not end up scarred!

Well, its only been a day and a half, but we are all completely in love with our new little guy. He nurses like a champ already. We decided not to cut the umbilical cord, for no other reason than that I didn't feel like it. We're putting salt and lavender on the placenta and the cord is drying out and will probably fall off tomorrow or the next day. We are staying in bed, except for bathroom breaks, another difference from Gregory's birth, when we were up and going out right away. I tell ya, babymooning in bed is such the way to go! However, this might be the only time that I do regret not having a TV in the bedroom! Poor Dan has been trying to keep up with Gregory until Grandma Bonnie arrives tomorrow afternoon. Greg has been acting a little nutty, which I am sure is to be expected. He is just so loud and rowdy...but he really adores Asher, wants to be near him, give him hugs and kisses, and bring him clothes, toys and books. Here are some pictures for now, and we'll keep adding more as the days go on!