my birth story.
Saturday the 25th, dull contractions started up every 10 minutes or so. didn't think much of them. Sunday at 3pm painful but manageable contractions began waking me up every ten minutes or so. i called my mom and she came and sat with me all morning, feeding me watermelon and reading to me from her household medical books. tim was at work. around lunch or so she left and rach came and helped me count the length of the contractions and the time between them. when they got to be about a minute in length and five minutes apart i called tim. for whatever reason we were both hesitant to believe true labor had begun. tim decided to swing into the women's pavilion and explain my symptoms. they said i needed to come in and get checked. i figured they would send me home so i didn't even grab my partially packed hospital bag. i think i was in disbelief this was actually about to happen.
well, they hooked me up to some monitors, checked my dilation and i was at 3-4 cm. I WAS IN LABOR! and they wanted me to stay. i started to cry. tim started to laugh (male equivalent of crying). time flew by and around 6pm my water broke. immediately, the nurse checked my dilation followed by a nervous sounding call for her director. baby was breech! emergency c section was in order. i began to cry, this time unhappy tears. after receiving confirmation from my doctor, who arrived only minutes after the discovery was made, that a c section was our only option, i was rushed into a cold bright operating room and delivery began. i'll save you the details of the traumatic situation of super painful contractions combined with 5 or so people prepping you while sitting mostly uncovered, realizing your birthing experience was to be nothing like you had anticipated. once the spinal kicked in and my body was paralyzed from toe to upper chest, my eye lids got heavy and i laid (layed?) and waited to hear the sound of my baby crying. then...there it was, wyatt henry made his grand entrance. he was promptly wrapped up and delivered to my side of the sheet and our heads were side by side.
i now know the secret to childbirth. as traumatic, uncomfortable, painful, and intense the experience was, i look back on it all with only the happiest of memories.
nursing.
wyatt nursed the night he was born but the next day it didn't go so well. luckily, HCM has an amazing lactation consultant that could come when summoned to help Wyatt and i learn the art of breast feeding. the first couple of days at home, were extremely frustrating and we worried as the missed feedings began to stack up. on day three, my milk came in with a furry. i was extremely tight and uncomfortable and wyatt couldn't latch on anymore. i called vanya (lactation consultant) and she suggested we rent an electric double pump and pump five minutes before feedings. we wasted no time in following instructions only to find wyatt still couldn't latch on. that evening after i had gone off to rest and have a good pout tim showed his true colors as a smart capable daddy and husband. he read my mom's breastfeeding books and learned about engorgement. when i woke up he had a plan. we would sit me down, get me relaxed and then as he put it "pump the hell out of me." after that wyatt had no problem latching on. now, wyatt and mamma are a professional nursing duo.
life with wyatt.
since we brought wyatt home last tuesday evening, we've lived the life of luxury...well during the day at least. mimi (mom) has spent countless hours at our place rearranging flower arrangements, cleaning, doing laundry, making muffins, cutting up watermelon, and making us meals. nana (tim's mom) has done her share of meal making as well. i received orders from the doctor to spend the next two weeks resting, taking care of myself and baby; no cooking, driving, climbing stairs, cleaning etc. so i've spent my days watching old movies, chugging water, eating snacks, nursing, and doing endless loads of baby laundry. nights have been rough, but i'm slowly coming to except the fact that night's will be sleepless for awhile. fortunately tim is a hands on dad and has no doubt changed as many diapers and swaddled as many times as i have. he even participated in nursing at first, holding wyatt's little hand as he struggled to get latched on. i don't think i could have picked a better man to father my children. :)
lastly, wyatt has made me very emotional. i hold my dear little son, and realize that each stage of his life will go so fast, and he is only mine for a time. i find myself sobbing every time i think about this. the other day i heard about "lullaby for wyatt", a song sheryl crow wrote for her son wyatt. tim found it on youtube and played it for me. i fell apart. she put to words exactly what i had been feeling. listen to it here.
ps notice the mr. chair in my pumping station? that's a post all it's own...
