Birth Story of Paul Michael 1-2-12
It's long but the immediate post partum period is a story in itself, so that's why it's there too.
Jason-DH
Madalane-MIL
Joan- Midwife
Greg- brother in law
Ryan- Jason's friend
I'd been off work 2 weeks already before even going into labor with this guy, it was nice to be off with the girls but I didn't want to be off anymore without having a baby to take care of! Sunday, New Years Day, I refused to go to church, I didn't want to be asked about the baby, I was annoyed I was still pregnant. Greg went home Sunday too, after coming home for the weekend hoping there would be a baby before he left.
Monday, Jason was off work, it was his holiday. We slept in a little, and when we finally got up and around, Allyson was BEGGING for Taco Bell. (That's my girl :P) So about noon, we went to Taco Bell and ate, I ate a ton. I had some contractions on the way to town and at Taco Bell, but nothing bad and nothing that I told Jason about. We then went to Walmart, we had got our humidifiers out and needed some filters for them, and then went and walked around Rural King. After farting around at Rural King for an hour or so, I was having good contractions walking around and was ready to go home. So, finally, we went home. I laid on the couch for a while and decided they were about 10min apart, but not painful or even distracting, so I was pacing around the house and cleaning and started leaking water. Just a little, leak, small enough that I wasn't sure that's what it was or not. So I told Jason and then we stepped up the cleaning a bit and got the house completely cleaned. I called Joan and let her know I was leaking water and would call her when I had a good labor pattern going. She lives an hour and 15min away and had her grandchildren with her at her house, so she packed up the kids and took them home then was to hang out at their place until I called, she was only about 40min away at their house. About 6:30 I had just laid down to watch a movie, Jason and I were going to hunker down and watch "The Book of Eli" and my water broke some more. So, I cleaned up from that and went back to the couch, I sat down and then my water REALLY BROKE, Madalane had just walked in the door and was going to eat some dinner and I was running from the couch to the kitchen and just stood there (had to get off the new carpet) she looks at me and says "It's clear!" I got cleaned up from that and decided that my contractions were distracting enough to call Joan and get her there and call my Dad and get him here to watch the kids. I snuggled in bed and started dealing with some pretty painful contractions but was still very much able to talk in between them. I don't know what time Joan got there or my Dad, but Joan came in and started doing her thing and checking me out. Madalane and Dad were in and out, as well as the kids. At one point she checked me and I was 7cm, another time at 8.5...I was so annoyed that I wasn't ready to push that I abandoned my left side lying position that I had used for my 2 previous labors, and sat up on the side of the bed and leaned on Jason's belly to put some pressure on my cervix, I was *so ready* to be done! Finally, I was thinking I was ready to push, so I went to the bathroom and when I got back started leaning on the birth ball and pushing. Initially I had a little lip of cervix left that Joan held back so I could push. I didn't have the same "pushing contractions" that I had with Katy and Ally, I just pushed because I wanted it OUT. His head came out and it was HUGE AND PAINFUL, then I pushed and pushed and pushed and felt his shoulders come out one by one and then the rest of him come out. Nobody said what he was, but I couldn't ask, I was trying to catch my breath! Finally Joan said that he was a boy!! I couldn't believe it, I really hoped that he was a boy, but had been mentally preparing for another girl. Joan also commented that he was so big. I got sat back in the bed and got him pulled up to me and they weren't kidding, this was no little guy. He nursed right away. Ally came in and met her new brother, but Katy had fallen asleep while I was laboring. At about 40min. after I had him the cord was still pulsing so we left it, finally at about 70min after I had him, we checked the cord and it was done pulsing, so we clamped and Jason cut it. I delivered the placenta on the toilet, it was so not messy this time. The placenta looked good, all there and I only had about 1/2 cup of blood loss. Only a tiny tear, and at first she wasn't even sure of that because it wasn't really bleeding. I got back into bed and Katy woke up, we took a family picture and snuggled and met our new family member. He weighed in at 10 lbs. 6 oz., 22in long, 15in head circ, and 17 in. shoulder circ. He has long dark hair and a hairy patch on his back/butt and hairy shoulders. Eventually, Madalane helped me to the shower, it was amazing. I got some jammies on and went back to bed. Eventually everyone left and Jason went and laid down with the girls. I was pretty awake from all the hormones so I didn't get to sleep until probably 4am. The next morning, early afternoon, I felt good. My pelvis was still sore, and having a hard time lifting my legs into bed and manuevering myself in bed. But today is 5 days postpartum and my legs and pelvis feel really good.
Thursday, Jason had his previously schedule vasectomy. Initially he wanted to keep it because he was afraid he would chicken out and I kinda wanted him to wait because I didn't want us to both be unable to do anything. THursday morning he took the girls over to his Dads for him to watch them, and Ryan came and picked him up for his appt. The procedure went well, and Jason was telling Ryan all about it on the way home. They were almost home when Jason tells Ryan "I'm going to pass out." Then as Ryan says "He did." Ryan said he was grabbing his chest and quit breathing. So Ryan called 9-1-1 and turned around, eventually stopping to pull over because he couldn't get around traffic. Jason came to after about 2 min (Ryan speculates) and started vomiting. Jason's Dad was driving the kids into town about this same time and Ryan told him where they were and he was there while Jason was puking. The squad reached them about the same time as Jason's Dad. The girls saw Jason being loaded into the ambulance, and I guess were pretty upset about that. Madalane called me and told me what was going on, I was still in bed with Paul. Ryan called me immediately after I hung up with her and said he was coming to pick me up, I had to acquire a car seat, because mine (I thought) were in the van with the kids in it. I got dressed and Ryan came and picked me up. I was miserable, my milk had come in overnight (ouch, circus boobs.) By the time I had got to Jason in the ER he was fine, getting some fluids, and the girls were also fine. I had to go to the hossy and log in to a computer anyways (new payroll system, or some such nonsense, they could've let me know earlier that I couldn't do it from home) so I ran downstairs and avoided a ton of people (sorry, people) and did the quick log in crap and ran back upstairs and Jason was ready to go home. Jason later told me that while it was scary to pass out, but made worse by the fact that when he came to he thought he was driving and that he had Ally and Katy with him. It wasn't until he heard Ryan talking to the 9-1-1 dispatchers that he realized he was still in the truck with Ryan driving. So, Jason's dad took the night off work and kept the kids for the rest of the day and Jason and I rested then rest of the day. Joan came in the afternoon and did Paul's PKU test and weighed him, he was 10 lbs 6oz with clothes on.
Friday, apparently, there was an emergency with our Pediatrician and he had to leave the office in the morning. So they made an appointment to see his partner, in freaking Powell. So, Jason, in all his sore glory, had to drive St Rt 257 (the curviest road, ever.) to Powell for this Drs. appt. All the while we are stressing about this Dr. since we've never met him and we're expecting him to be an ass about our homebirth and other stuff....So we get in there and the MA that checks us in asks who our Dr. was, and we did the homebirth speech and she says "Oh." Then proceeds to say, a girl that works in the office next door is interested in homebirth and lives in Marion, can she come talk to you before you leave? (WHAT?!?!) So, after an uneventful visit with the Dr., he was perfectly fine. We ended up giving Joan's information to an MA in the office next door. We stopped at Kroger's on the way home and an old lady in a sweet new Lincoln was so close to backing into us in the parking lot that I was waiting to hear screeching from metal against metal. She never did stop backing up, but we got out of her way so she didn't hit us. (Old bat.)
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