Sunday, October 26, 2008

And his son...Judges 6:11

For those that didn't see The Man's comment on Friday's update...
It is a boy! We are all thrilled. Baby G was born on his due date, Saturday, October 25, at 9:57 a.m. (my apologies to those I have told the wrong time...blame sleep deprivation). He was 7 lbs., 9.8 ozs., and 19 1/2" long. We praise the Lord for this perfectly healthy baby and his safe arrival.

Some of you may wish to just skip ahead and look at the pictures. If you are the sort to want to know all the labor details, read on.

On Friday evening the contractions started back up much more seriously. By 10:00 p.m. The Man and I were loading up the rest of our stuff and were on the way to the hospital. By 11:00 I was hooked up to the monitors. The first contraction showed the baby's heart rate went way down following the contraction. It took a minute for it to come back up. I wasn't too concerned, but the nurse was. She made me lie down, put oxygen on me and called the doctor. The doctor came and observed a few contractions and said that everything looked just fine.

I was let off the monitor and given permission to move about as I pleased. The Man inflated and filled the pool that we brought. The hospital does have a physical therapy tub that the women can use during labor, but it is down the hall from the OB department. I received permission from my doctor and the nursing staff to bring my own pool to have in my room so I wouldn't have to be traipsing up and down the hallway while in labor. A few hours later I got in the pool and was able to doze for a while.

About 6:00 a.m. my doctor checked and said I was only 3.5-4 cm. The contractions had lessened considerably. She offered to let me go home or give me Cytotech to stimulate the labor. I wasn't excited about either of those options. Actually, since I hadn't had any real sleep since 2:30 Friday morning, I wasn't very excited about anything at that point.

After discussing it with The Man, I decided that I wanted to go the route that I did when A's labor stalled. I asked to have my water broken.

About 6:40, my doctor broke my water and put me back on the monitor. It didn't take long for the contractions to pick back up. I was 4.5 cm. when I was let off the monitor and I got back in the water.

After an hour they wanted to monitor me again. The contractions were very intense at that point. I asked The Man to get me a basin in case I needed to throw up. I did. I was somewhat surprised since I'd never gotten sick during my previous labors.

About 8:30 when they got me out of the water to monitor me again, I was about 6.5 cm. The doctor only monitored me through one contraction. I got sick again during that contraction so she let me get back in the pool right away, telling The Man to be sure and get her when I had the urge to push so she could get me out of the water and check me. She had already told me that we couldn't do a water birth!

The contractions got very intense even while I was the pool. I was beginning to wonder why I wasn't handling this labor as well as I had my previous labors. The contractions started coming fast and furious and I wasn't having very much fun!

Then I told The Man that I did need to push. He went out to the nurse's station to get the doctor. They came back in the room and she started to check my dilation, but noticed the baby was crowning. She told me to go ahead and push (which I was already doing), and during that one contraction, Baby G was born.

I held him for a minute while the nurse suctioned him and the cord was clamped and cut. It was then that we noticed the approximately 2 1/2 ft. cord had a true knot. That must have happened during his late night gymnastics last summer.

We got out of the pool, and the rest of the day was rather pleasant. He had a bit of bruising on his face due to his very rapid entrance, but there wasn't time for any head molding. He has dark hair, unlike his siblings who were all bald or blond.
First official bath at 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning...
At home Sunday night...
He reminds me the most of J. I need to pull out all the kids' baby pictures and compare.
We've had many "discussions" today about whose turn it is to hold him. I usually win. He likes to cuddle, eat, and sleep.
The Man is taking the week off from work. We're all going to try to get some rest now!

14 comments:

Cecelia said...

Oh, he is just adorable. I wish I could be there to hold him. Grandpa is quite interested in this blog. He's hovering over my shoulder to read and see the pictures. Thankful all went well.

Rachael said...

Congratulations! On his due date, how about that.

And, I can't believe you brought your own pool! You are too funny.

Dewey Hafta Academy said...

Congratulations on a beautiful, healthy little boy!

Lori said...

Congratulaions! Glad your labor was so easy, well the pushing part anyway, only one push? No fair. Minus the pool add an epidural and you had the ideal labor (in my opinion). My labor room had a jacuzzi tub and it didn't apeal to me in the least for some reason.

I was wondering if you were going to show us his face or not. What a lucky little baby to have all those big siblings to hold him and when he gets a little bigger to play with him. He will be the most entertained baby around.
Is A okay with being the only girl?

Tina in CT said...

What a litle cutie. Congrats on your baby boy.

Dawn E said...

He's just beautiful! Congratulations to you all! Have a wonderful time enjoying your new addition.

Unknown said...

Praise the Lord for a safe delivery and healthy baby! Congratulations to your entire family.

Francie said...

Congratulations! I have already told all the people I work with that I now have 18 nieces and nephews and one on the way... they say it's too many! Ha-ha!
Baby G. is adorable and I'm glad you have 5 now (cause you know I'm #5!). Now, all you have to do, is have one more and you'll tie with my mom! Ha-ha!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on my GREAT NEPHEW. He is beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! He looks a bit like Mr. Magoo in the first photo... ;-)

Lisa (in Jax)

Peggy said...

I love the first picture of him...what an expression. LOL He's beautiful! You did great, MOM!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on another handsome grandson for me to love. I'm looking forward to this weekend and hopefully getting a "turn" to hold G. The next to last photo looks lots like The Man did and the last one I see a little of J there also. He will just be "G", himself AND spoiled rotten!

ohm's parents said...

Congratulations! The pictures are great. Ohm keeps requesting to look at them. He keeps asking if that is the baby in mommy's tummy. He's looking forward to meeting his only younger cousin.

Natalie said...

so I am one of the readers who chose to skip the reading and head for the pictures, but after reading the comments, I might have to go back and check out this pool thing. Sounds a little strange and interesting?? Congratulations on your new son!