Here is a set of pics from O's first day
No time for writing much today, but I do plan on catching up soon....
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Monday, January 23, 2006
Oh the roller coasters of life!
24 hours of sheer and utter perfection! Nothing can be 100% perfect you say? Well actually you are right, but some times you reach a perfect Zen balance of perfection when that which goes right could have gone no other way, and everything that goes wrong is either headed off at the pass, or withers away in the ironic bliss of its polar opposition to perfection.
10:10 pm Saturday January 21, 2006, my coat is on and I am just getting ready to head home from work, and the cell phone rings. Its Mrs. C (My Superwoman of a wife) frantically telling me her water broke. Frantic, but with enormous hints of joy! “That’s great” I said “How are the contractions going then?” She wasn’t having any, she was just sitting at the computer looking for a specific gift she wanted to give to our very close friend M, due to give birth on February 11th, when all of a sudden her water broke.
Now I should digress to a bit of background. O was due to be born on the 27th of January. Due to many factors, this was a date both Mrs. C and I were dubious of.
There were only two hitches in the master plan to have all four of our children in capable and loving hands the day of the birth. The most concerning of the two was that N, one of our closest friends, and the designated “wrangler” of Hershaw (our 9 year old son), Muse (our 6 year old daughter), and Dream (our almost 4 year old daughter) at the birth had to be on a plane by no later than 10 am on the 28th (the day after O’s ETA). N is also M’s younger sister, not really part of the hitch, but it needs mentioning.
Only minimally less concerning was that J, another very close friend of our family, and volunteer in charge of watching Bean (our almost 2 year old) was planning on celebrating on her birthday. Her birthday being the 21st of January…..you do the math!
This entire past week was day after day of the eminent possibility of labor; Mrs. C was certain labor was coming every single day. 7 days working steadily on the pre-labor to-do list, and steadily adding to it. Pick any natural way to get labor rolling in your 38th week of pregnancy and we did it last week! However, O was having nothing to do with it, she was calling the shots. Remember I said that, as you will see, she really was.
So I get home from work on the 21st by 10:30 and still no contractions, but, and here is were it starts to feel like its going downhill, once the water breaks if you aren’t actively in labor and pushing, most doctors will force induction. “Induction,” and “doctors” are two words neither Mrs. C nor I like to have associated with our births.
Now don’t misunderstand me here…we have respect for the medical community, but it has its place. Try to herbally heal a broken arm, I dare you. Or maybe try to stitch that gaping wound up with homeopathic remedies. The medical industry is necessary, but not in our birth processes, I mean come on, Mrs. C delivered Bean all by herself, our midwife literally sat across the room and rooted us on! Doctors, we don’t need no stinkin’ doctors. But this time may be different. We may actually have to put our birth in the hands of a medical doctor, and we were scared, damn scared.
We stayed up awhile after her water broke longing for the signs of labor, but at 3 am we decided it would be best to go to sleep and hope to wake up in labor. We didn’t. At 10:15am Mrs. C called the midwife, who informed us that since labor wasn’t materializing we had to be at the hospital by noon, so she and O could be monitored. Worse still that this monitoring was most likely to happen in labor and delivery, not in the family oriented birthing center we planned on! That means doctors, lots of doctors.
“Noon? But we haven’t even gotten ahold of J or N! What are we gonna do?” I don’t know if either of us actually said that, but I quote it because it was written all over our faces. We did get however ahold of N’s mother, who said she would do everything she could to find her.
January 22nd, 10:00am; J calls, and we decide, since we don’t know what was going to happen we should send all 4 kids with her, and she agrees. Mind you she has 3 kids of her own, and her birthday was the day before. J comes over, we ferry the minions to her house, and I am back home by 11:15am.
O’s middle name has been changed to J’s to reflect the beautiful deed this great friend performed for her today!
Still no contractions, and O didn’t seem as lively as usual. And on that note the decision is made to just go so we can get the heart rate checked. A smooth and short drive to the hospital later, we arrive at the birthing center, to find N’s mother. I’m thinking what a wonderful woman she is to come to help us since we can’t find N. Then I look around and I see M’s son and daughter, as well as their other sister J.
I’m thinking “Why would she have brought this many….” then it dawns on me…”Is M here?” Yes, M was at the birthing center getting ready to have her baby. Can you believe I am not making this up?
The nurses see we are there and bring the heart rate monitor over and its fine….sigh! After a couple more things are checked, and our midwife has talked to us she decides to try to ask the OB on duty if we could stay in the birthing center for the monitoring. 20 agonizingly long minutes later we are told we can stay! Redundant or not…..SIGH!
The short story of the next 9 hours involved Mrs. C having increasingly forward moving contractions, M giving birth to a beautiful baby boy, the 3 oldest of our children joining us at the hospital, various phone calls finding out that Bean was handling himself 18 times better than anyone expected, and lots of walking around, really, around a rotunda at the birthing center.
January 22, 9:15pm; after being checked Mrs. C was only 3-4 cm dilated. Our midwife planned to return at around 10pm and if we weren’t assessed to be actively ready to deliver it was off to labor and delivery to be induced! But you know what, we were humbled…as I said before, the medical industry is necessary, and sometimes, it may be necessary in the birth process, maybe even ours! About 30 minutes after that humbling realization the contractions came with a vengeance!
When our midwife showed up, observed the contractions and talked to us, she decided we were far along enough to deliver in the birthing center. Now, if only the OB on duty agrees with that assessment, everything will be fine! Our midwife goes to the OR to talk to the OB, and not 2 minutes after she leaves Mrs. C feels like she is crowning and tells me to go get the midwife.
I go into the waiting area and ask the nurse to make the page, the one not on the phone comes in to prep the room. 40 seconds after I return to the room Mrs. C feels the head starting to come out, she pushes a couple of times, and standing right there at the edge of the bed she self delivers a beautiful baby, for the second time of her life! (last too!)
10:27, 3 minutes short of forced induction….I told you O was in charge!
I’m tired, I have to sleep…I will elaborate more on this later, and tomorrow I will try and post some of the amazing pictures I got. One of the best parts of being superfluous to birth because you are married to Superwoman is that you get some great pictures!
10:10 pm Saturday January 21, 2006, my coat is on and I am just getting ready to head home from work, and the cell phone rings. Its Mrs. C (My Superwoman of a wife) frantically telling me her water broke. Frantic, but with enormous hints of joy! “That’s great” I said “How are the contractions going then?” She wasn’t having any, she was just sitting at the computer looking for a specific gift she wanted to give to our very close friend M, due to give birth on February 11th, when all of a sudden her water broke.
Now I should digress to a bit of background. O was due to be born on the 27th of January. Due to many factors, this was a date both Mrs. C and I were dubious of.
There were only two hitches in the master plan to have all four of our children in capable and loving hands the day of the birth. The most concerning of the two was that N, one of our closest friends, and the designated “wrangler” of Hershaw (our 9 year old son), Muse (our 6 year old daughter), and Dream (our almost 4 year old daughter) at the birth had to be on a plane by no later than 10 am on the 28th (the day after O’s ETA). N is also M’s younger sister, not really part of the hitch, but it needs mentioning.
Only minimally less concerning was that J, another very close friend of our family, and volunteer in charge of watching Bean (our almost 2 year old) was planning on celebrating on her birthday. Her birthday being the 21st of January…..you do the math!
This entire past week was day after day of the eminent possibility of labor; Mrs. C was certain labor was coming every single day. 7 days working steadily on the pre-labor to-do list, and steadily adding to it. Pick any natural way to get labor rolling in your 38th week of pregnancy and we did it last week! However, O was having nothing to do with it, she was calling the shots. Remember I said that, as you will see, she really was.
So I get home from work on the 21st by 10:30 and still no contractions, but, and here is were it starts to feel like its going downhill, once the water breaks if you aren’t actively in labor and pushing, most doctors will force induction. “Induction,” and “doctors” are two words neither Mrs. C nor I like to have associated with our births.
Now don’t misunderstand me here…we have respect for the medical community, but it has its place. Try to herbally heal a broken arm, I dare you. Or maybe try to stitch that gaping wound up with homeopathic remedies. The medical industry is necessary, but not in our birth processes, I mean come on, Mrs. C delivered Bean all by herself, our midwife literally sat across the room and rooted us on! Doctors, we don’t need no stinkin’ doctors. But this time may be different. We may actually have to put our birth in the hands of a medical doctor, and we were scared, damn scared.
We stayed up awhile after her water broke longing for the signs of labor, but at 3 am we decided it would be best to go to sleep and hope to wake up in labor. We didn’t. At 10:15am Mrs. C called the midwife, who informed us that since labor wasn’t materializing we had to be at the hospital by noon, so she and O could be monitored. Worse still that this monitoring was most likely to happen in labor and delivery, not in the family oriented birthing center we planned on! That means doctors, lots of doctors.
“Noon? But we haven’t even gotten ahold of J or N! What are we gonna do?” I don’t know if either of us actually said that, but I quote it because it was written all over our faces. We did get however ahold of N’s mother, who said she would do everything she could to find her.
January 22nd, 10:00am; J calls, and we decide, since we don’t know what was going to happen we should send all 4 kids with her, and she agrees. Mind you she has 3 kids of her own, and her birthday was the day before. J comes over, we ferry the minions to her house, and I am back home by 11:15am.
O’s middle name has been changed to J’s to reflect the beautiful deed this great friend performed for her today!
Still no contractions, and O didn’t seem as lively as usual. And on that note the decision is made to just go so we can get the heart rate checked. A smooth and short drive to the hospital later, we arrive at the birthing center, to find N’s mother. I’m thinking what a wonderful woman she is to come to help us since we can’t find N. Then I look around and I see M’s son and daughter, as well as their other sister J.
I’m thinking “Why would she have brought this many….” then it dawns on me…”Is M here?” Yes, M was at the birthing center getting ready to have her baby. Can you believe I am not making this up?
The nurses see we are there and bring the heart rate monitor over and its fine….sigh! After a couple more things are checked, and our midwife has talked to us she decides to try to ask the OB on duty if we could stay in the birthing center for the monitoring. 20 agonizingly long minutes later we are told we can stay! Redundant or not…..SIGH!
The short story of the next 9 hours involved Mrs. C having increasingly forward moving contractions, M giving birth to a beautiful baby boy, the 3 oldest of our children joining us at the hospital, various phone calls finding out that Bean was handling himself 18 times better than anyone expected, and lots of walking around, really, around a rotunda at the birthing center.
January 22, 9:15pm; after being checked Mrs. C was only 3-4 cm dilated. Our midwife planned to return at around 10pm and if we weren’t assessed to be actively ready to deliver it was off to labor and delivery to be induced! But you know what, we were humbled…as I said before, the medical industry is necessary, and sometimes, it may be necessary in the birth process, maybe even ours! About 30 minutes after that humbling realization the contractions came with a vengeance!
When our midwife showed up, observed the contractions and talked to us, she decided we were far along enough to deliver in the birthing center. Now, if only the OB on duty agrees with that assessment, everything will be fine! Our midwife goes to the OR to talk to the OB, and not 2 minutes after she leaves Mrs. C feels like she is crowning and tells me to go get the midwife.
I go into the waiting area and ask the nurse to make the page, the one not on the phone comes in to prep the room. 40 seconds after I return to the room Mrs. C feels the head starting to come out, she pushes a couple of times, and standing right there at the edge of the bed she self delivers a beautiful baby, for the second time of her life! (last too!)
10:27, 3 minutes short of forced induction….I told you O was in charge!
I’m tired, I have to sleep…I will elaborate more on this later, and tomorrow I will try and post some of the amazing pictures I got. One of the best parts of being superfluous to birth because you are married to Superwoman is that you get some great pictures!
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