Four's Company

We are officially a family of four now. Finally! Last Sunday, the 23rd of August, we welcomed Baby R into the world. I cannot believe he is already a week old. I waited so long for him to get here and now time is just flying by. Makes me weepy. Although that could just be the hormones still a-ragin'.


His birth story, more for my own memory, than for entertainment:

Got to the hospital at 7am as instructed. Checked in, walked (or rather rode the elevator) up to L&D, and got all settled in. The nurse jabbed the hell outta me to get an IV in - still have a bruise from where my vein rolled and she kept moving the needle around trying to locate it - but finally after ten minutes or so, got it in my hand and started me on a bag of fluids. I laid in the bed watching that drip, drip, drip and waiting for the go-ahead from Dr. K to start the pitocen. Apparently it was everybody-have-your-baby day there because they were insanely busy. The pitocen was finally started a little before 9:30 and I was pretty encouraged by the fact that I immediately started having strong contractions that were 3 minutes apart. Silly me thought that that meant I'd have a speedy delivery. Yeah, not quite. When they started the pit, the resident who checked me told me I was dilated to a 1 and 70% effaced. Dr. K had told me 5 days prior I was at a 1.5 so how I could dilate backwards is beyond me. Different finger sizes I suppose. Anyhoo, they didn't check me again for over 4 hours and at that point, I was only at a 3. WTF? The contractions were hurtin' like a mofo and I'd only dilated 2 cm in that time frame? I figured eff it and got my epidural around 1:15. I was a happy camper after that of course. Watched TV, read, took a nap, and spent too much time on Facebook. Gotta love WiFi. The nurses kept telling me that the doctor would be in to break my water soon and that I was next on the list, but I kept getting bumped down on the so-called list every time somebody else decided to push. They didn't want to break it and have my labor progress so quickly that there was no doctor to deliver the baby. FINALLY around 5:30 the resident came in and ruptured my membranes. I was at a 6 and 90% effaced at that point and that is where I stayed for what felt like frickin' forever. At one point, the nurses and Dr. K came running in and made me flip to my left side. I was in a weird continous contraction pattern and Baby R didn't like it. His heart rate dropped and of course, completely scared the crap outta me. R did the same thing during her birth and I was so hoping I wouldn't have to go through it again. Anyways, they turned the pit off, gave me a shot to stop the contractions, and had me wear an oxygen mask for about 20 minutes. Thankfully Baby R recovered quickly and when they came to check me again a bit later, I had progressed to an 8 without the meds. They went ahead and slowly restarted the pitocen and again we played the waiting game. Finally a little after 9:00, I started feeling some pressure. I called the nurse in, she checked me - complete, yay!! - and called for the doctor. Things went really fast then. The little bit of pressure went to holy-crap-hold-out-your-hands-I-can't-not-push and after 5 pushes and 5 minutes, Baby R was here!


Official stats:

Born at 9:20 pm
Weight 6 lbs, 10 oz
Length 19.5 inches



He looks a lot like his daddy, namely with the dark hair. No redhead this time. He is absolutely gorgeous and we love our little man. R is starting to warm up to him too and likes to give him kisses and help me with him. More on that later though, DH offered to take a feeding shift so I'm off to soak in the tub. Gotta seize and savor those rare moments of me time.