hippohat's baby is here! Team Green, it's a...

hippohat · October 2014

Short version:

It's a BOY! Owen Anthony arrived on October 9th at 8:55pm. He was 9lbs 4.5oz, and 22.75" long! L&D went great and big sister is adjusting wonderfully so far.

Long version:

Last week I felt awful on Monday and Tuesday, but still hadn't lost my MP or had any other signs (I had lost it a few days before with DD). Wednesday I felt fantastic, had a great day with DD, even cooked a pie. Around 10pm I got really tired, but no other signs. Thursday morning some stronger contractions woke me around 6am, bloody show also started at the same time. I walked around the house all morning with irregular but painful contractions. By lunch they started getting much worse and more regular, we headed to the hospital an hour or two later.

We still don't know what was going on, but we waited around in triage for around 3 hours! I was already dilated to 3-4cm upon arrival with very regular contractions, and being GBS+ I knew I needed the antibiotics. DH was such a champ, the back labor was awful again this time but he helped me deal with the pain while we waited. Even after they decided they'd keep me (!!! I couldn't have made it back to the car!) it took a while to move back to the room. DH saved the day again, he asked the resident to have the epi ASAP. As soon as I was settled in bed the team was there and got started! It took 3 tries, apparently my scoliosis caused a lot of issues this time. But it was perfect, I could move everything but it zapped my back pain. I'm fairly proud that I survived to 6cm without meds, I don't know how anyone gets through it med-free! It was a perfect epi, I'm so thankful.

Things progressed quickly and uneventfully, baby's heart rate stayed steady (had issues with DD). There was a lip left on my cervix, but the OB was great, trying to help move it out of the way. Around 8:45 pm she calmly said it was time to have a baby - they prepped the room and bed, the OB sat down on the end of the bed to have me try pushing. I pushed once, she said uhhh, baby is halfway out! She ran to gown up while I waited to push. About 3 sets of pushes and he was out! They plopped him on my belly, he was huge! I had NO damage. None! Magic.

They announced that it was a boy and we were amazed, and also at his size. I'm only 5' 2" and they expected him to be biggish, but not 9+ lbs! The birth was so calm, quiet and joyful, I'm still amazed. DH giggled for about 30 minutes straight he was so happy. It was just my OB, our nurse and one other nurse, baby coped with labor very well, and it just went so smoothly compared to DD's very chaotic and somewhat traumatic birth.

Owen's shoulder got a bit stuck at birth but they didn't anticipate problems - ends up his clavicle is broken. He also had trouble keeping his sugar up after birth and has been fighting a little jaundice. We're also down in weight. BUT he's doing well, my milk is finally really in today, and he's BFing really well. I feel guilty in how well I feel, my recovery has been fantastic. My daughter wanted a sister, but absolutely adores to her baby brother. She's doing really well with the transition so far.

Overall I'm still a little shocked that I have a SON, he looks like my family (DD looks just like DH), L&D went so well, and it's OVER! So much pent up anxiety about everything… Back to snuggling!