Well, I don't mind being the first to admit that I was wrong about having several more weeks to wait--for those of you who don't already know from facebook/e-mail/phone calls (it's amazing how many ways there are to spread news, isn't it?), our son, Clark James Busch, surprised us all (mainly me) by coming on his due date and being born on November 9th at 6:44 in the afternoon!! For those of you who don't mind these details, I'm going to share his birth story with all of you--for those of you who do mind these details, you can skip ahead to the pictures. :)
I was scheduled to go in on Tuesday morning and have Wendy, my midwife, strip my membranes. She was confident that this would start labor, but having had such a loooong experience with Jack's labor, I wasn't holding my breath, to be honest.
Of course, Monday night, Jack was up all night with some kind of stomach bug, throwing up, which meant that neither Steve nor I got any sleep--and as we were headed in to my appointment that morning, we joked about how ironic it would be if I ended up going into labor on 2 hours of sleep. (Little did we know...)
We went in at 8:30, Wendy checked me and I was at a 2, and she stripped my membranes and told me that since I had tested positive for Group B Strep, I needed to be in the hospital by the time I was at a 4 in order to get both doses of penicillin (which have to be administered 4 hours apart). I reassured her that I wasn't worried about the labor going too quickly--with Jack, I didn't get to the hospital till I was at a 7, and then the labor still lasted for 8 hours!! She predicted, however, that I would be heading in to the hospital around 1:00 that afternoon, and warned me that the second labor is usually much faster. I smiled, but inwardly, I was thinking, "Yeah, right. You don't know how MY labors go!"
We headed home, cleaned up all of the laundry that Jack had puked on in our absence (our neighbor, Heather, was an angel for watching him during the appointment, by the way), and I started bustling around, cleaning--I gave Steve a haircut, and did a few loads of laundry. Around 11:00 or so, I started feeling some contractions that were a little more intense than they had been before, so I had Steve time them for me as I ate something, took a shower, and laid down for a while (all things that will stop your contractions if it's false labor). They were pretty steady at 5 minutes apart, and getting more intense, so we called Wendy around 2:00 and asked if she would be willing to check me to see if we needed to head to the hospital or not--again, I had been burned before, so I didn't want to go to the hospital just to head home again. She was willing, of course, and when we went in, I was at a 4, so she told us to go to the hospital.
To tell the truth, I still thought I had hours of labor to go, so I stalled and stalled--we took Jack to my mom's, stayed and talked to her for a while--we wanted her there for the labor, but I reassured her that she could definitely do all of the piano lessons she had planned, and when my dad got home, he could watch Jack, after which she could come to the hospital. I knew I still had plenty of time, so we then went home and did the dishes, got our bags, and then finally left for the hospital.
It was about 3:15 when we got there, and at this point, the contractions were definitely painful, although still not insanely intense--the nurse got me checked in and started my IV (she was new, so it took nearly an hour just to get the IV started, which meant I didn't get my first dose of penicillin till 4:20). I was still at a 4, so we got up and walked around till 5:00, when she needed to check me again and have me do the fetal monitoring again for 20 minutes. By this point, I was at a 6 and still feeling pretty good, but I've realized that I really like having the option of being able to move around while I'm in labor--having to sit still in bed and just wait for the contraction come makes it much more difficult to bear. During those 20 minutes that I was in bed with the fetal monitor on, I started transition and the contractions got REALLY painful--so much so that I started panicking. I knew I had to get my next dose of penicillin at 8:00, but I also knew that I couldn't go through that much pain for that long.
As soon as I could get off the fetal monitor, I asked if I could sit on a birthing ball (that really helped ease the pain with my last labor), and the nurse (who had just gotten on shift) kept making other suggestions--finally, Steve got the birthing ball for me, and then the nurse realized that the other nurse hadn't had me sign all of the paperwork, so she started having me sign paperwork in between contractions! I realize now that she was just new to the situation, so she had no idea how fast I was progressing, and probably thought I was being dramatic, but at the time, I was definitely irritated with her interfering with my concentration.
At this point, I started feeling pushy, but because Wendy still hadn't come in, I thought it might be wishful thinking, so I held back for a few contractions--but finally I asked my mom to go get Wendy, because I was feeling like I needed to push.
Those were the magic words--they got me up on the bed, Wendy came in, and they started getting everything ready for me. My water still hadn't broken, but because I never made it to the second dose of penicillin, Wendy didn't want to break my water till the baby's head was down further. I heard her say this, and thought that maybe it meant that I still had time before the baby would be there, and that really made me panic--it was hurting so bad that I definitely couldn't do it for much longer. At this point, I asked for an epidural, and both Steve and Wendy laughed. Wendy answered, "The only way you're getting an epidural at this point is if the anisthesiologist is standing in the doorway!"
I didn't like that answer, but one push, and the baby was out!! I couldn't believe how fast it was--I grabbed him and just held him, bawling--and looked up at Steve. He was here!! And he was beautiful!! The nurses kept wanting to take him to the warmer, but I just didn't want to let him go. Steve cut the cord, I fed him just a little bit, and then I finally let them take him.
As they were bathing him, Steve asked me, "So--what do you think?"
"He's a Clark," I answered--and he is. Clark James Busch. They weighed and measured him--7 lbs, 13 oz, 20 inches long, 14 inch head circumference. No wonder he came out so much more quickly than his brother did!!
After they had bathed and swaddled him
Isn't he beautiful?
At first we didn't think he looked like Jack at all, but as the swelling has gone down, he's turned out to be almost an exact replica of his big brother--just smaller!
So tired--but so happy!
We had a baby this time!! Not a kindergartner!
Proud papa Steve
Jack came to visit us the next morning--and he was so good! He kept giving Clark kisses, and when we let him hold him, he just beamed.
Kisses for his baby brother
My three favorite people in the world
And this is him, this morning, sleeping--I'm in love.
I was scheduled to go in on Tuesday morning and have Wendy, my midwife, strip my membranes. She was confident that this would start labor, but having had such a loooong experience with Jack's labor, I wasn't holding my breath, to be honest.
Of course, Monday night, Jack was up all night with some kind of stomach bug, throwing up, which meant that neither Steve nor I got any sleep--and as we were headed in to my appointment that morning, we joked about how ironic it would be if I ended up going into labor on 2 hours of sleep. (Little did we know...)
We went in at 8:30, Wendy checked me and I was at a 2, and she stripped my membranes and told me that since I had tested positive for Group B Strep, I needed to be in the hospital by the time I was at a 4 in order to get both doses of penicillin (which have to be administered 4 hours apart). I reassured her that I wasn't worried about the labor going too quickly--with Jack, I didn't get to the hospital till I was at a 7, and then the labor still lasted for 8 hours!! She predicted, however, that I would be heading in to the hospital around 1:00 that afternoon, and warned me that the second labor is usually much faster. I smiled, but inwardly, I was thinking, "Yeah, right. You don't know how MY labors go!"
We headed home, cleaned up all of the laundry that Jack had puked on in our absence (our neighbor, Heather, was an angel for watching him during the appointment, by the way), and I started bustling around, cleaning--I gave Steve a haircut, and did a few loads of laundry. Around 11:00 or so, I started feeling some contractions that were a little more intense than they had been before, so I had Steve time them for me as I ate something, took a shower, and laid down for a while (all things that will stop your contractions if it's false labor). They were pretty steady at 5 minutes apart, and getting more intense, so we called Wendy around 2:00 and asked if she would be willing to check me to see if we needed to head to the hospital or not--again, I had been burned before, so I didn't want to go to the hospital just to head home again. She was willing, of course, and when we went in, I was at a 4, so she told us to go to the hospital.
To tell the truth, I still thought I had hours of labor to go, so I stalled and stalled--we took Jack to my mom's, stayed and talked to her for a while--we wanted her there for the labor, but I reassured her that she could definitely do all of the piano lessons she had planned, and when my dad got home, he could watch Jack, after which she could come to the hospital. I knew I still had plenty of time, so we then went home and did the dishes, got our bags, and then finally left for the hospital.
It was about 3:15 when we got there, and at this point, the contractions were definitely painful, although still not insanely intense--the nurse got me checked in and started my IV (she was new, so it took nearly an hour just to get the IV started, which meant I didn't get my first dose of penicillin till 4:20). I was still at a 4, so we got up and walked around till 5:00, when she needed to check me again and have me do the fetal monitoring again for 20 minutes. By this point, I was at a 6 and still feeling pretty good, but I've realized that I really like having the option of being able to move around while I'm in labor--having to sit still in bed and just wait for the contraction come makes it much more difficult to bear. During those 20 minutes that I was in bed with the fetal monitor on, I started transition and the contractions got REALLY painful--so much so that I started panicking. I knew I had to get my next dose of penicillin at 8:00, but I also knew that I couldn't go through that much pain for that long.
As soon as I could get off the fetal monitor, I asked if I could sit on a birthing ball (that really helped ease the pain with my last labor), and the nurse (who had just gotten on shift) kept making other suggestions--finally, Steve got the birthing ball for me, and then the nurse realized that the other nurse hadn't had me sign all of the paperwork, so she started having me sign paperwork in between contractions! I realize now that she was just new to the situation, so she had no idea how fast I was progressing, and probably thought I was being dramatic, but at the time, I was definitely irritated with her interfering with my concentration.
At this point, I started feeling pushy, but because Wendy still hadn't come in, I thought it might be wishful thinking, so I held back for a few contractions--but finally I asked my mom to go get Wendy, because I was feeling like I needed to push.
Those were the magic words--they got me up on the bed, Wendy came in, and they started getting everything ready for me. My water still hadn't broken, but because I never made it to the second dose of penicillin, Wendy didn't want to break my water till the baby's head was down further. I heard her say this, and thought that maybe it meant that I still had time before the baby would be there, and that really made me panic--it was hurting so bad that I definitely couldn't do it for much longer. At this point, I asked for an epidural, and both Steve and Wendy laughed. Wendy answered, "The only way you're getting an epidural at this point is if the anisthesiologist is standing in the doorway!"
I didn't like that answer, but one push, and the baby was out!! I couldn't believe how fast it was--I grabbed him and just held him, bawling--and looked up at Steve. He was here!! And he was beautiful!! The nurses kept wanting to take him to the warmer, but I just didn't want to let him go. Steve cut the cord, I fed him just a little bit, and then I finally let them take him.
As they were bathing him, Steve asked me, "So--what do you think?"
"He's a Clark," I answered--and he is. Clark James Busch. They weighed and measured him--7 lbs, 13 oz, 20 inches long, 14 inch head circumference. No wonder he came out so much more quickly than his brother did!!
After they had bathed and swaddled him
Isn't he beautiful?
At first we didn't think he looked like Jack at all, but as the swelling has gone down, he's turned out to be almost an exact replica of his big brother--just smaller!
So tired--but so happy!
We had a baby this time!! Not a kindergartner!
Proud papa Steve
Jack came to visit us the next morning--and he was so good! He kept giving Clark kisses, and when we let him hold him, he just beamed.
Kisses for his baby brother
My three favorite people in the world
And this is him, this morning, sleeping--I'm in love.So, that's our latest!! We're tired and a little shell-shocked, but happier than should be allowed.
Comments
Duuuuude! Josh and I are totally naming our first son Clark! We've been planning that since before we got married. So we will have name twinsies. (Clark was Josh's late father's name.)
The line about having a baby and not a kindergartner made me laugh out loud.
Aaaand, you are a superhero. I still can't believe you do all that without pain meds and talk about it pretty nonchalantly. Seriously. I am amazed.
LOVE Jack's cute little almost-bashful expression with his finger in his mouth.
Could you seriously look better after just birthing a baby?? What the heck, Jewel! Not fair.
It's too bad I couldn't be there for that picture of your "three favorite people in the world," because then it could have been your FOUR favorite people in the world! Eh, eh? (On a scale of 1 to 10, how annoying is it that I just made your birth story about me?)
(P.S. I know I'm not your fourth favorite person in the world. It's more like 6th, I'm sure.)