Winston the Impatient

Week 39

 

I worked almost a full week.  On Thursday, I worked until 3:00 and then left for my appt with my OB.  I had been having contractions all day but nothing consistent or serious.  My doc said maybe I was in labor, maybe not.  She was on call that day and said maybe she'd see me later.  I went home and took a nap.

 

At 7, John and I tried timing contractions but still nothing consistent.  I called my doula just to give her a heads up and a little before 8 I decided to take a shower and then go to bed since I thought it might be a long night.

 

Once I got in the shower, WHAM!  It was like a switch flipped.  I was most certainly in labor.  I called Catherine at 8:08 and told her I was definitely in labor and we were ready for her to come down.  She lives north of KC, so it would take her at least 30 min to get to the house. 

 

In all the classes, books, online, etc, they tell you not to go to the hospital until you've had contractions that are 1 min long, 5 min apart, for at least an hour.  My contractions were 2 min apart, but only 30-45 seconds and that didn't start until 8, so we weren't close to the 1 hour mark.

 

Catherine got to the house about 8:45, heard me caterwauling on the floor and decide we needed to leave for the hospital, NOW.  John and I were relieved to have someone else to direct us.  John called the after-hours number for my OB, loaded up the car and we left about 8:50pm.

 

At 9pm, my OB called back and we were still in the car.  She heard me in the background and said she was getting her clothes on and would meet us there.

 

At 9:10pm, we arrived at the hospital with Catherine.  They brought out a wheelchair and took me straight back to a delivery room.  It was chaos - clearly things were moving much faster than what they're used to.  My OB wasn't there yet, so the hospital OB was paged and he was standing in the hall outside of my room just waiting.

 

At 9:20pm, my OB showed up.  I was pretty oblivious the whole time.  I had my eyes glued shut and was just surviving each contraction.  No pain meds.  Just ice chips.

 

At 9:45pm, Winston was born.  35 min at the hospital.  After he was born, I signed the "Consent to Treat" form.  There was no time at our arrival.  Thankfully, everything worked out.  I had a torn blood vessel, which would have been scary if we hadn't made it to the hospital in time.  Thank god for Catherine.  I can't tell you how much John and I both appreciated her there.  I would recommend to all expecting parents to hire a doula they like.

 





Baby Boy Kevern's first sponge bath.  We didn't have a name picked out yet.

Remember that I had been measuring small for several months?  Well, that was all baloney.  He was 7lb, 15.4 ounces at birth.  I prefer to round up and call him an even 8lb.  I think that's the least I deserve.

Getting weighed.

After all that, it was nothing but magic mommy sparkles.

About 10 hours old

So stinking cute

Heading home from the hospital

We're back at home and getting used to life.  He's going 3-4 hours between feedings, which is pretty good.  I am adjusting to my post-baby body.  I feel good, all things considered, but I think I have highly underestimated how long the recovery time will be.  But that's OK.  I'm enjoying all of the mommy-Winston cuddle time on the couch.