Rhys is 3 days old today, though it is technically our 4th "day" with him, since he was born first thing in the morning.
Short story of his birth...we had just finished our candy making marathon for the night and were watching The Biggest Loser finale. The baby had been moving around like a crazy person, very odd movements. The shape of my belly had changed and everything. I had told the baby that if it wanted out so bad to just go ahead and poke a hole. The last person gets on the scale and I am suddenly questioning how I didn't notice peeing on myself, and quickly realize what had happened and took off running for the bathroom. Turns out in addition to my water breaking, it was a whole lot of blood. Mostly all I could see was blood and clots. (I failed to mention that it had snowed and most people had been calling to say it had taken them 3 hours to get home from work.) I called my doctor and was put through to the nurses at Edward's. They said with the weather that I really should just call an ambulance and go wherever they take me. They didn't want to risk me being stuck in the snow somewhere. The blood/water had stopped pouring out and I could still feel the baby moving all over the place, so I was only a little worried. I made sure I was all excited about getting to go out on the gurney and waved bye bye to Ava (who was still up for some unknown reason) and I was gone. The hospital was somewhat confused why I had come in the ambulance, since the paramedics just told them "40 weeks and water broke" but I told them what really happened and the doctor came right in to do an ultrasound. I still had a little water around the baby, but not even close to the normal amount and I had an "old placenta" and she could see where some of it had separated. I really lucked out and had an excellent doctor who was super nice. She said that as long as there wasn't anymore gushes of blood I could continue on like normal, since contractions had pretty much started immediately. As the doctor said, the body's way of taking care of a problem.
Contractions picked up and went fine. I was progressing normally, so no pitocin was needed. I got my epidural around 2am (my water broke around 10:40pm). I still had that one spot like I had with Ava that wouldn't go completely numb, but it still was much duller, so I was fine with it. We both tried to sleep at that point. I would say we dozed, but no sleeping really took place. The doctor came into check and I was at 5cm and 60%. An hour or so later, I was at 7 cm, and 90%. The doctor kept saying once I completely efface it would go much faster. Pretty much the contraction after that last check, I felt the baby push down. I kept that to myself and just rearranged myself to be more helpful to the whole process. I kept hearing the nurse I had with Ava say to just wait to push until you need to especially with an epidural because your body will do a lot of the work for you. The contractions were a little less than 2 minutes apart at this point, and with each contraction I could feel a little more pressure. The nurse asked me when she came back in if I was feeling anything, so I told her. She checked and I was ready to go. This was 45 minutes after being at 7. She called the doctor and the other nurses and after 10 minutes of pushing, Rhys was out. It was so different from with Ava. I felt the head come out and I actually looked down and said hi. I knew he was a boy before anybody said anything because I was able to watch him come out. He was 8 pounds 5 ounces and 20.5 inches long. He came out crying and mad.
Our time in the hospital was short. I specifically asked to be able to go home the next day. Rhys wasn't that interested in eating in the hospital. He showed me that he could do it right away but then didn't concern himself with anything other than sleeping and pooping. We were home by 1 on Thursday. Ava was very excited for us to be home. Rhys didn't feel the pressure of the hospital apparently, and decided he was all about eating as soon as we got home. (I will have to remember to post about Ava's reaction to Rhys in the hospital later.) We all got naps Thursday afternoon and slept probably at least 7 hours Thursday night. Yesterday was just a relaxed day and we did Christmas at my dad's house. Rhys is way more vocal than Ava ever was and is very particular about being held a certain way and by certain people. Sometimes he doesn't want me, sometimes he doesn't want Justin. Sometimes he feels like screaming just to scream apparently. This time around, we seem to not be passing him around to avoid waking the dragon, so to speak. If he is content, just leave him, even if that means sitting in the car seat, regardless of who wants him, Ava included. Last night he decided he really likes to eat and wanted to eat every hour to hour and a half. If not screaming would ensue. He wasn't up just to be up, he just wanted to eat. He tends to have awake times during the day which is good.
Ava is sleeping so I am thinking it is nap time for me too.
