Sam's Birth Story

When Sam was born, I wasn't yet blogging. Now that I have a new baby on the way, I know I will want to tell the story of his/her birth. I thought that first, I should tell the story of Sam's birth. The details are a bit fuzzy since it was a while ago and I was pretty drugged up for some of it but I will do the best I can :)

If I remember correctly, it all started Friday night, 8/3/07. I consider that the start since that's when the mucus plug thingy came out. I knew then that it wouldn't be long and I was super excited. I never thought I would be so happy to see something so icky come out! During the day on the 4th, I talked to my Doula a couple times and she gave me some tips to hurry things along - sex and showers. I did as I was told and by Saturday night, I started to feel what I thought were contractions. Sometime in the evening my Dad and Step-mom came over and brought donuts. I think I ate 5 of them. I don't know if that was smart or not but they were awfully good! As the evening went along, I realized that I was definitely in labor. I walked around a lot outside since I knew walking was supposed to be good. I kept track of my contractions like a good girl and called the midwife when they got to where they were supposed to. We headed to the hospital and our Doula met us there. I was only 3cm but they admitted me anyway because I was group b strep positive and needed an IV. My plan was to give birth in the ABC. I had to stay in triage for a while until they found an ABC nurse. I walked around as much as possible. Things were really starting to hurt. I was trying to do low moans like my doula said but it hurt a lot and I usually ended up screaming. I was wandering around in the waiting room but they had me go back to triage because I was too loud.

The ABC finally opened and I went there. I was looking forward to the water tub since I had heard that might help a lot with the pain. I got in but it didn't do anything for me. I didn't like being confined in the tub so I got right back out. I ended up finding a comfortable position on a peanut shaped exercise ball thing. For the first time in a while, I was able to be relatively comfortable during the contractions. The midwife needed to listen to Sam's heartbeat but couldn't get it while I was on the ball. I had to lie on the bed which made the contractions super painful again. While I was on the bed, they broke my water. There was some meconium in the water. The heartbeat was not quite strong enough for them to be comfortable keeping me in the ABC so they moved me up to the regular labor area. By then I was quite out of my mind in pain. I was banging my head on the wall and trying to chew on my fingers to try to put the pain somewhere else. For some reason, this disturbed everyone but I thought it was perfectly logical. Anyway, since I wasn't doing a very good job of managing the pain, the mw recommended that I consider an epidural. By then I was ready to murder someone for one so I readily agreed. When we got to the labor room, I overheard one nurse tell another that it would be a while before the epidural arrived. This really freaked me out and I started to scream and yell and threw up all over the place. They gave me this other drug to use in the meantime till the epidural could get there. It was very nice and allowed me to lie quietly and wait to be fully dilated. I could still feel the contractions as a lot of pressure - very uncomfortable bordering on painful but no where near as bad as before. I felt bad taking it since I new it would get to Sam but I didn't see how I could handle the pain any more. It was so bad. I'm not really sure about the timing on all this. I know we go to the hospital in the middle of the night between Saturday and Sunday but don't know how long everything else lasted. After vomiting, I ended up being at 9cm. Only one cm left to go - yay! I finally got the epidural and it really didn't do much more in addition to the other drug. During this time, they had been monitoring Sam's heartbeat and it wasn't exactly where they wanted. But it wasn't horrible either. They did feel a c-section might be necessary and got me prepped for that.

I finally ended up at 10cm. Must have been somewhere around 3pm. They got me ready to push. I was told I had to hold my legs to push. I had kind of hoped I could just prop them up on something 'cause I really didn't feel like I had the energy to hold them. So, with each contraction I started pushing. It was hard! The mw was impressed though with the progress I made with each push. Happily it didn't hurt. The heart beat was still worrisome so they were trying to get me to rush Sam out before a c-section was deemed necessary. It seemed like I only pushed for a few minutes but I guess it was more like an hour. I was till a bit out of it from the drugs.

So, final push and Sam was out. They had warned me they were going to need to pretty much whisk him away due to the meconium they would need to suction out. They did hold him up for me to see and he was so beautiful!! He looked like himself right from the start which surprised me. I expected a more generic baby without recognizable features. He didn't have much of a cone head which made me happy. The medical people did their stuff and then brought him back to me. I made sure Warren followed when they took Sam away so that no one would steal him. When they brought Sam back, I just held him and stared in awe at him. He was so perfect! Everyone started to leave the room so I decided to try to nurse Sam for the first time. He did so good! I was happy since the main reason I wanted a drug free birth was to make sure nursing started out okay but he did so great even though I had to use the drugs. I loved him right from the start and felt that Mommy bond right away which was amazing to me. I had been scared that wouldn't happen for me.

The End :)

Sam (duh), while we were still in the hospital

End of nursing

I think Sam is done nursing. It has now been over 24 hours since he has nursed. While I still remember the last time, I want to write down the memory before I forget.

The last day was a Friday. I was working during the day so my mother-in-law was here helping with Sam. Sam started to get tired so Grandma gave him a ride in his little car till he fell asleep. When I moved him from the car to his bed, he woke up a bit so I nursed him back to sleep. I watched his little head bop up and down until he was asleep again. I watched his eyes close and his little body relax. I watched his little hand lay on my boob while he drank. It was a wonderful moment of closeness. He fell asleep pretty quickly (for him) and I took my boob back and left the room so he could nap.

He did nurse for a very short moment at night but it was so short and he was so restless that I don't really count it :)

For the most part, nursing has turned into a frustrating event for Sam as there is no longer enough milk to keep him interested. He mostly self weaned himself and only asked to nurse one or two times during the day. He is easily distracted from it with something else. I am mostly happy that he is done as I could use the break before the next baby arrives. I am also happy to have these next few months to really get Sam used to falling asleep without nursing and with Daddy instead of Mommy. Recent nursing has not been pleasant as it has been like trying to nurse an angry kitten - sharp teeth and claws included. I will always have wonderful memories though of nursing him as a newborn and infant - after the latch issues were resolved. It was so nice and peaceful to just sit in my big overstuffed chair and nurse my new little baby. I could play with his little hands or feet. I could feel the softness of his head and what little hair he had. I could listen to him breathe. I could also just sit and watch TV or read - wonderful moments of relaxation that don't happen often when caring for a baby. It was also nice as he got older - to have him come and pick up my shirt to let me know he wanted to nurse. To lie on my back with him on my tummy in the early morning while I tried to spend more time lying down in bed after he woke up.

Sam nursed for almost 18 months. I am happy to have made it that far. I probably would have kept going if not for the supply issue due to the new pregancy. I feel bad that Sam kind of got kicked off the boob by his younger brother or sister. I think he will forgive me though :)

This picture was taken by Brown Eyed Photograpy - www.browneyedphotography.com

Too lazy to think of a title

Well, so much for my plan to list a cute thing that Sam did every day. He's still cute on a daily basis, I just forget to blog about it. So, here's a list of recent cuteness :)

He gives kisses - real pursed lip, lip smacking kisses. He gives them completely umprompted and just to be affectionit.

He knows the word Love - he says it and does the sign for it at the same time. This is usually accompanied by a hug and or a kiss.

This morning, we were playing with one of his dolls that has a tummy you can press on and it says a little prayer. The doll is one of those little soft Precious Moments characters in PJ's and he's kneeling with his hands folded, very cute. Anyway, Sam can't yet quite figure out exactly how to press the belly to get the doll to say the prayer - but he loves listening to it. This morning, he grabbed my hand and put it on the doll and said, "Do it!" How nice that is one of his first sentences ;-)

He played in the snow for the first time today. I know we've had a lot of snow but today was the first day when it seemed warm enough, the sun was out, I had enough energy and we didn't have someplace else to be. I got some great pics which I will post when I get around to taking them off of my camera. He pretty much just crawled around in the snow, would try to walk, fall down and would crawl around some more. He had a big smile on his face and seemed to be enjoying himself.



If he finds a piece of trash on the floor, he makes Mommy or Daddy open up the trash can so he can throw it away. I have no idea where he got that from.

He dripped some water in his little car today and made Daddy get him a paper towel so he could clean it up. But, he then threw the paper towel on the floor. So, I guess his definition of trash just needs a little work.

He can pick out pictures of Daddy, Grandpa and cousin Wyatt on our fridge. Grandma's and Mommy do not like having pictures taken so they are not on the fridge ;-)

He does not nurse to sleep anymore. Instead, either Mommy or Daddy needs to lie with Sam until he falls asleep. We lie with him in his crib (have a bed tied up next to it with the front removed) and he snuggles up as close as possible to us and then will fall asleep - eventually - after maybe rolling around first several times and then getting back into position. This is also usually interspersed with several hugs, kisses, and instances of trying to jump off of the bed.

Sam got his first hair cut. He didn't enjoy it at all. But, we have a nice certificate with a lock of his hair and he's not looking quite so shaggy. He was back to his happy self as soon as the hair dresser was done and sat with Daddy while Mommy had 10 inches of hair cut off!

My Mom came over to visit the other night and when Sam saw her coming up the stairs, he said, "Hi there!" First time he has said that particular phrase - it was quite cute!

Well, that's all I can think of for now. I know that I have got to come up with other things to post about and they are there rattling around in my head but I want to get these memories down while I can before I loose them.