After a very quick homebirth (well, I guess actually an unexpected UC) baby Alexander Joseph made his arrival! He looks like his daddy and has a cute little dimple on one cheek 
He was 8lbs 3oz, 19.5 inches long and was accidently caught by my friend & doula Lisa (MDC mod LisaMarie- I just have to keep bragging because I'm so proud of her! 
) about 30 min before the midwife even got to our house. It was only about 2.5 hrs of labor total, but only about 1.5 hrs that I realized that it was really happening. I kept joking to everyone that because of all the false labor I had been having I wouldn't know it was really labor until I was very far along, and thats exactly what happened. I truly thought I was in early labor and that I was just a huge wuss, until I realized his head was coming out and that I was pushing involuntarily. In fact I just about had him on the toilet! 
I was pretty much stuck in the bathroom the entire time, pacing back & forth from leaning over the counter and sitting on the toilet. Lisa was only there for about an hour before he was born which is when it all really kicked into high gear, and she was the reason why I didn't completely freak out when it all happened so fast. My first labor was 27 hours so I was not expecting a labor this time that felt like the fast forward button got stuck. My DH was running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to set up the bed & birth pool, and I don't think he realized what was happening until Lisa told him to grab some towels & gloves because the baby was coming NOW. He got as far as grabbing some towels from the closet because Alex came out so fast. I remember Lisa asking me if I was okay with her catching the baby (trying to see if I wanted her to call 911 or something which I did not of course) since she had never caught a baby before. I did get a pretty good sized tear because I gave birth upright and he pretty much just flew right out at Lisa in one big motion. He came out crying and pink, so we knew he was okay. Lisa, my DH and I sat there pretty much looking at each other and baby Alex in complete shock as to what had happened! The MW was absolutely astonished when she got there that I was laying on the bed nursing the baby and that the placenta was nicely in a bowl next to him. She said that she's never been that late to a birth before! He's been nursing like a pro since right after he was born which is such a gift to me after the nursing problems my dd had. He sleeps really well so far too, so I feel remarkably well rested for just having had a baby on Saturday! Our dd made good use of the birth pool (which I remember staring longingly at wishing I could use while in labor!) by swimming around in it while our family members came in to see Alex after we had a bit of time to clean up. Anna cared more about going swimming than her new brother, but she's a bit more interested in him now. She apparently did get a bit worried at one point and come running to our bedroom door and started knocking and saying 'Mama? Mama?' because I was rather loud 
. My mom took wonderful care of her though, so Anna didn't seem to notice that anything much was going on during the birth.
I really didn't mean for this to turn into my birth story, but I'm still completely amazed that this kind of experience happened to ME. I'd always joked about how I was so jealous of women with fast labors, but now I see how incredibly hard that kind of experience can be also. There's just no time to even process whats happening, its incredibly hard to cope with during it, and leaves you feeling rather overwhelmed and in disbelief. I am still feeling incredibly empowered though and keep having to talk about it to try an process it all. Thats probably why this post that was supposed to be like 3 lines long is now turning into a novel
I'm still pretty sore so I don't expect to be on here very much until DH goes back to work in a couple weeks, but I will try to upload pics and the whole birth story when I get a chance. We are just completely in love with our new little baby and want to spend every moment we can enjoying this special time.
Btw, it wasn't the full moon or accupuncture that put me into labor...it was castor oil! It was extremely icky, but hey, it WORKED!
He was 8lbs 3oz, 19.5 inches long and was accidently caught by my friend & doula Lisa (MDC mod LisaMarie- I just have to keep bragging because I'm so proud of her! ) about 30 min before the midwife even got to our house. It was only about 2.5 hrs of labor total, but only about 1.5 hrs that I realized that it was really happening. I kept joking to everyone that because of all the false labor I had been having I wouldn't know it was really labor until I was very far along, and thats exactly what happened. I truly thought I was in early labor and that I was just a huge wuss, until I realized his head was coming out and that I was pushing involuntarily. In fact I just about had him on the toilet! I was pretty much stuck in the bathroom the entire time, pacing back & forth from leaning over the counter and sitting on the toilet. Lisa was only there for about an hour before he was born which is when it all really kicked into high gear, and she was the reason why I didn't completely freak out when it all happened so fast. My first labor was 27 hours so I was not expecting a labor this time that felt like the fast forward button got stuck. My DH was running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to set up the bed & birth pool, and I don't think he realized what was happening until Lisa told him to grab some towels & gloves because the baby was coming NOW. He got as far as grabbing some towels from the closet because Alex came out so fast. I remember Lisa asking me if I was okay with her catching the baby (trying to see if I wanted her to call 911 or something which I did not of course) since she had never caught a baby before. I did get a pretty good sized tear because I gave birth upright and he pretty much just flew right out at Lisa in one big motion. He came out crying and pink, so we knew he was okay. Lisa, my DH and I sat there pretty much looking at each other and baby Alex in complete shock as to what had happened! The MW was absolutely astonished when she got there that I was laying on the bed nursing the baby and that the placenta was nicely in a bowl next to him. She said that she's never been that late to a birth before! He's been nursing like a pro since right after he was born which is such a gift to me after the nursing problems my dd had. He sleeps really well so far too, so I feel remarkably well rested for just having had a baby on Saturday! Our dd made good use of the birth pool (which I remember staring longingly at wishing I could use while in labor!) by swimming around in it while our family members came in to see Alex after we had a bit of time to clean up. Anna cared more about going swimming than her new brother, but she's a bit more interested in him now. She apparently did get a bit worried at one point and come running to our bedroom door and started knocking and saying 'Mama? Mama?' because I was rather loud . My mom took wonderful care of her though, so Anna didn't seem to notice that anything much was going on during the birth.I really didn't mean for this to turn into my birth story, but I'm still completely amazed that this kind of experience happened to ME. I'd always joked about how I was so jealous of women with fast labors, but now I see how incredibly hard that kind of experience can be also. There's just no time to even process whats happening, its incredibly hard to cope with during it, and leaves you feeling rather overwhelmed and in disbelief. I am still feeling incredibly empowered though and keep having to talk about it to try an process it all. Thats probably why this post that was supposed to be like 3 lines long is now turning into a novel
I'm still pretty sore so I don't expect to be on here very much until DH goes back to work in a couple weeks, but I will try to upload pics and the whole birth story when I get a chance. We are just completely in love with our new little baby and want to spend every moment we can enjoying this special time.Btw, it wasn't the full moon or accupuncture that put me into labor...it was castor oil!
It was extremely icky, but hey, it WORKED!
:
I am so in awe of you and Baby Alex
You are an incredible Mama!
How exciting!
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