Alexander Mark was born at 4:27pm GMT January 5th (11:27am eastern, 10:27am central, 9:27am mountain, 8:27am pacific) 9 pounds 10 ounces, 21 1/2 inches long. He was born into his Daddy's loving arms. He had a true knot in his umbilical cord. He has long thick brown hair and blue eyes that we think might turn green later. He looks just like Daddy with some of new Grandma H's features mixed in. He is breastfeeding like a champ, and surprisingly enough after how active he was in utero, he is so calm and quiet.
Daddy is so proud and (I think, more than I) in love with his new son. Alex is cute and squishy and adorable. He even has the dimple in his chin that I find so adorable in his Daddy.
Unfortunately, due to pre-eclamptic symptoms that we tried for over a week to get rid of were still present when I was in labor and we ended up transferring to the hospital instead of having Alex at home like I had wanted. HOWEVER, Jan, our midwife, made special concessions for us and stayed with us for the entire labor and birth rather than the usual hand-off to hospital personel. She made sure that all interventions that we didn't want were not done to me or Alex. With my superhero Husband's help and support, I did it pain-med free, standing up, and after 3 pushes, Alexander slid into his Daddy's waiting and loving arms at 4:27pm into a low lit, quiet room. Daddy and Jan handed Alex to me through my legs, and I held him skin to skin right away and wrapped him in a soft receiving blanket that we brought from home. Alex barely even wimpered after he was born. He pinked up right away as we cuddled on the bed and waited for me to birth the placenta. It took about 30 minutes before the contractions got to the point where I couldn't handle holding Alex anymore so we got ready to cut and clamp the cord and we found that Alex's cord had a true knot in it. We took a picture of the cord, and then I stood up to birth the placenta. Jan examined it right there in the room and it was big, thick, and not showing any sign of age. She let me keep it. She took a quick look at my perineum and it was intact!
All in all, minus being at home, we had exactly the birth that we wanted, and were back home by the time Alex was 7 hours old, and we all cuddled up safe and snug in our own bed for a good night's sleep.
I feel really good for being 24+ post-partum, as I am feeling like I am soon ending my membership to the broken crotch club, and all of my lower girlie bits don't hurt. My nipples are a bit tender, but I expected a bit of tenderness to begin with from breastfeeding. Alex let us sleep in 3 hour increments, and after days of contrax that were every 10 minutes, 3 hour stretches of good quality sleep were heavenly. But now it is nearly 8 pm here, and Daddy and I are sleepy so we are all going to crawl into bed and snuggle up!
Ahhh. Bliss!
Daddy is so proud and (I think, more than I) in love with his new son. Alex is cute and squishy and adorable. He even has the dimple in his chin that I find so adorable in his Daddy.
Unfortunately, due to pre-eclamptic symptoms that we tried for over a week to get rid of were still present when I was in labor and we ended up transferring to the hospital instead of having Alex at home like I had wanted. HOWEVER, Jan, our midwife, made special concessions for us and stayed with us for the entire labor and birth rather than the usual hand-off to hospital personel. She made sure that all interventions that we didn't want were not done to me or Alex. With my superhero Husband's help and support, I did it pain-med free, standing up, and after 3 pushes, Alexander slid into his Daddy's waiting and loving arms at 4:27pm into a low lit, quiet room. Daddy and Jan handed Alex to me through my legs, and I held him skin to skin right away and wrapped him in a soft receiving blanket that we brought from home. Alex barely even wimpered after he was born. He pinked up right away as we cuddled on the bed and waited for me to birth the placenta. It took about 30 minutes before the contractions got to the point where I couldn't handle holding Alex anymore so we got ready to cut and clamp the cord and we found that Alex's cord had a true knot in it. We took a picture of the cord, and then I stood up to birth the placenta. Jan examined it right there in the room and it was big, thick, and not showing any sign of age. She let me keep it. She took a quick look at my perineum and it was intact!
All in all, minus being at home, we had exactly the birth that we wanted, and were back home by the time Alex was 7 hours old, and we all cuddled up safe and snug in our own bed for a good night's sleep.
I feel really good for being 24+ post-partum, as I am feeling like I am soon ending my membership to the broken crotch club, and all of my lower girlie bits don't hurt. My nipples are a bit tender, but I expected a bit of tenderness to begin with from breastfeeding. Alex let us sleep in 3 hour increments, and after days of contrax that were every 10 minutes, 3 hour stretches of good quality sleep were heavenly. But now it is nearly 8 pm here, and Daddy and I are sleepy so we are all going to crawl into bed and snuggle up!
Ahhh. Bliss!
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