Hey all! I wanted to let you all know right away, but that so did not happen! 
Here's my birth story; hoping to post pictures soon. My milk is in, and he's only down 7 oz from his birth weight, so all is well on that front. This is my easiest recovery thus far, with no soreness and the least lochia out of 4 births. We're definitely enjoying our baby moon!
Quinn's Birth (the short version, heehee):
Quinn was born at 5:50 pm on May 1st (8 days before his EDD). He was 7lbs, 10oz, and 21 inches long, so exactly 2 lbs less than ds#3, and about a lb less than ds#1 or ds#2. After I posted here Thursday morning, my labor stopped for about an hour and a half, and then slowly started gearing up again. When I went to my appt (which was moved to 11am), I was having contractions about 6-10 minutes apart, and was 3.5 cm, and 80-90% effaced. The midwife told me to call her when the contractions were 5 minutes apart, or at 5pm, whichever came first -- she said that she'd be very surprised if I didn't have a baby in 48 hours. So, we stopped at the grocery store on the way home, and by the time we got to the house, the contractions were about 5 minutes apart. I was singing through them at this point, and didn't feel ready to go in just yet, so we waited it out, calling my friend in CH and getting the boys' things together. I called the birth center a bit later, around 2:30, and they thought maybe I should wait to come in until ctxs were closer to 3.5 minutes, but left the decision up to me. By the time Courtney got to the house, it was after 3, and I knew we needed to go. We got to the bc at around 3:30, and because they were so busy (three other laboring mamas, and lots of appts), it was half an hour before they could check me and get me a room -- in the meantime, I honestly thought that I might have him in the hall or the bathroom. When the midwife checked me (the same one i'd had at 11), I was fully effaced and 8-9 cm. They ran my tub quickly, and got me downstairs. The waterbirth was awesome!!! Though i did pull something in my shoulder from pulling on the towel rod so hard, and almost bit Dh . ;-) I was having INTENSE back labor (yep another posterior babe), but between the water, Dh's continuous pressure on my back and legs, and some heavenly homeopathic stuff that the midwife put under my tongue, it became much more bearable. I laid on my side until my water broke, at which point I mostly squatted until my body pushed him out. I had one brief moment of fear when his head came out because I worried about his shoulders, but he shot out like a rocket -- total pushing time was about 9 minutes. I watched his head emerge and the next thing I knew he was on my chest. I had one extremely tiny tear that I think is already healed, but did bleed a bit for awhile -- eventually we decided to do a shot to help with that, as I was dizzy and light headed and passing lots of clots (sorry if tmi!). So, I'd say that I only had about 3 hours of intense labor, and managed to surprise the midwives with how quickly everything progressed. I'm so excited to have been able to waterbirth my last little man -- and since i requested to be left alone, and they respected that, Dh and I were really the only ones there until the end (they checked in on us, but I wasn't aware of them). Oh, since I asked Dh to put on some Pearl Jam while I was laboring, at one point, one of the lyrics was about some guy experiencing the greatest pain ever, and I turned to Dh, and said "Fat chance!" -- so I did manage to keep some semblance of a sense of humor. ;-)
He nurses like his brothers -- constantly, and voraciously. I feel like I ran a marathon, but otherwise, we're doing very well. Since he arrived before my mom could get here, ds#1 didn't get to attend the birth, but I think that he's okay with that. The boys (and dh and I) are totally in love with him!!
Here's my birth story; hoping to post pictures soon. My milk is in, and he's only down 7 oz from his birth weight, so all is well on that front. This is my easiest recovery thus far, with no soreness and the least lochia out of 4 births. We're definitely enjoying our baby moon!
Quinn's Birth (the short version, heehee):
Quinn was born at 5:50 pm on May 1st (8 days before his EDD). He was 7lbs, 10oz, and 21 inches long, so exactly 2 lbs less than ds#3, and about a lb less than ds#1 or ds#2. After I posted here Thursday morning, my labor stopped for about an hour and a half, and then slowly started gearing up again. When I went to my appt (which was moved to 11am), I was having contractions about 6-10 minutes apart, and was 3.5 cm, and 80-90% effaced. The midwife told me to call her when the contractions were 5 minutes apart, or at 5pm, whichever came first -- she said that she'd be very surprised if I didn't have a baby in 48 hours. So, we stopped at the grocery store on the way home, and by the time we got to the house, the contractions were about 5 minutes apart. I was singing through them at this point, and didn't feel ready to go in just yet, so we waited it out, calling my friend in CH and getting the boys' things together. I called the birth center a bit later, around 2:30, and they thought maybe I should wait to come in until ctxs were closer to 3.5 minutes, but left the decision up to me. By the time Courtney got to the house, it was after 3, and I knew we needed to go. We got to the bc at around 3:30, and because they were so busy (three other laboring mamas, and lots of appts), it was half an hour before they could check me and get me a room -- in the meantime, I honestly thought that I might have him in the hall or the bathroom. When the midwife checked me (the same one i'd had at 11), I was fully effaced and 8-9 cm. They ran my tub quickly, and got me downstairs. The waterbirth was awesome!!! Though i did pull something in my shoulder from pulling on the towel rod so hard, and almost bit Dh . ;-) I was having INTENSE back labor (yep another posterior babe), but between the water, Dh's continuous pressure on my back and legs, and some heavenly homeopathic stuff that the midwife put under my tongue, it became much more bearable. I laid on my side until my water broke, at which point I mostly squatted until my body pushed him out. I had one brief moment of fear when his head came out because I worried about his shoulders, but he shot out like a rocket -- total pushing time was about 9 minutes. I watched his head emerge and the next thing I knew he was on my chest. I had one extremely tiny tear that I think is already healed, but did bleed a bit for awhile -- eventually we decided to do a shot to help with that, as I was dizzy and light headed and passing lots of clots (sorry if tmi!). So, I'd say that I only had about 3 hours of intense labor, and managed to surprise the midwives with how quickly everything progressed. I'm so excited to have been able to waterbirth my last little man -- and since i requested to be left alone, and they respected that, Dh and I were really the only ones there until the end (they checked in on us, but I wasn't aware of them). Oh, since I asked Dh to put on some Pearl Jam while I was laboring, at one point, one of the lyrics was about some guy experiencing the greatest pain ever, and I turned to Dh, and said "Fat chance!" -- so I did manage to keep some semblance of a sense of humor. ;-)
He nurses like his brothers -- constantly, and voraciously. I feel like I ran a marathon, but otherwise, we're doing very well. Since he arrived before my mom could get here, ds#1 didn't get to attend the birth, but I think that he's okay with that. The boys (and dh and I) are totally in love with him!!
Welcome baby Quinn!!
