Some of you may not have heard this just yet, but as of last Wednesday, we are a family of six!! (SIX--that is such a big number in my head...).
Calvin Bruce made his appearance after quite a few fake-outs, on 1/6/16 at 9:09 PM....and here is his birth story (for those of you who like to hear all the details, that is--for those of you who get grossed out by that kind of thing, you can feel free to just skip to the pictures).
His birth story actually starts the day before, at my doctor's appointment--since 35 weeks, when I'd started going into labor and they'd stopped it, I'd been at a 2 and having semi-regular contractions. After several nights in a row of staying up, timing them, I decided to just let it happen when it would happen and try to get some rest. So when Dr. Richardson checked me and I was at a four, we were all pretty shocked.
Because my last two labors went so quickly, my doctor wanted to be sure that I'd get in to the hospital in time to get in both of my doses of antibiotics, so he suggested I come in to the hospital the next morning and get induced, just so we could be sure to get the antibiotics. I was pretty nervous about getting induced, but decided to use the rest of that day to scrub down our house one last time before baby came and see if doing a ton of housework would get things going on their own a little bit. It did--I had contractions at four minutes apart until about 3:30 that next morning, when (as had happened for weeks now) they went away.
So, a little bit tired and a lot bit excited, we asked my good friend to watch Clark and Maggie for the day, dropped Jack off at school, and headed up to the hospital. I asked Steve to snap one last pregnant picture for me:
After which I changed into my oh-so-glamorous hospital gown and Steve proceeded to fill out my white board....I'd be lying if I said we didn't get a lot of chuckles when people actually looked at it and read what it said.
After my crazy panic attack when I'd gone into labor last time, I had been seriously considering doing this labor quite differently than I'd done before, including getting an epidural. When we came in, I decided that if the labor was progressing as quickly as my last two went, I would be okay going natural, but if it went slowly, I knew I'd need the epidural to get through. I was tired after being in pre-labor for weeks, and I didn't want to feel it any more.
When I'd been there for over eight hours and had gotten through both my doses of antibiotics and quite a lot of Pitocin, the contractions were getting more painful and closer together, and I was having to focus quite a lot to get through them. I'd already decided if, by this point, I hadn't progressed a lot, I'd ask for the epidural, and when the nurse checked me and I was still at a four, I knew my decision was made, and asked for the epidural.
It took them a while to get the CRNA there, and meanwhile, Steve snapped a picture of me:
Labor is hard.
Epidurals are hard, too, for the record--from everything I'd heard, I was nervous about the whole needle-in-my-spine thing, but what I didn't know was that it's actually a pretty time-consuming and invasive process. After being flushed with four IV bags full of fluids, I was shaking uncontrollably and feeling a little bit panicky--but once the medicine went through and the nurses (including Steve--having a husband who works at the hospital you deliver a baby is a HUGE perk) got me a warm blanket, I realized just why more people get epidurals than go natural:
Let's just say I was feeling MUCH better at this point than I had been an hour earlier. And, since I have a panicky experience in labor whether I have a natural experience or an epidural, I realized that it's kind of nice to get the panicky experience over with before I'm ready to push the baby out.
Two hours later, I felt the pressure on my tailbone they'd described to me (along with starting to feel the contractions as they were getting much more intense), and I asked the nurse to check me. She checked, grinned, and excitedly said, "You're at a ten! It's baby time!"
Excited, I looked up at Steve, who looked exactly as if he'd just arrived at Disneyland. It was a completely different sensation to be in a place where I could actually pay attention to what was going on around me as I was preparing to push--although I had to breathe through the contractions a bit, they weren't feeling any more intense than they'd felt all during the day before I'd gotten the epidural, and so between the contractions, I was able to talk to Steve and my mom (who'd been there with us all day long) and actually see what was going on.
Dr. Richardson set up the table, and when Steve asked if he could help deliver the baby, he grinned and said, "Of course!" Once everyone was ready, they gave me permission to push.
Pushing took a little longer this time, just because this baby was bigger than Clark and Maggie had been, but it was (once again) SO exciting for me to watch Steve's face as our baby made it into the world, without being totally rendered insane by the panic and pain I usually felt at this point.
It was so fun to watch Steve deliver our baby, and as soon as the baby was born, they laid him on my chest, where he proceeded to pee all over me (twice!), squawk a little--just enough for us to know his lungs were in great shape. They let me have him skin-to-skin for the first most glorious hour of our baby's life--a different experience than I'd ever had before (with Jack, I'd torn so much that I couldn't really concentrate on holding him, and with Clark and Maggie, the nurses had come to take the babies away and clean them off before I was ready).
At that point, we decided on his name--we'd known before he came that we wanted to name him after Steve's two grandpas, Calvin and Bruce, but we didn't know if when he came out, he'd be more of a Bruce or a Calvin. We looked at him, and decided then and there--Calvin Bruce, it is. It was so special to watch Steve call his parents, and then his grandparents, and tell them of our child's name. Such a powerful experience!
I finally decided to share the baby, and Steve just beamed:
After which he brought him back to me for a couple of photo ops:
It shocks me every time how I'm able to love someone so instantly, completely, and perfectly.
But once they were done poking and prodding, he calmed down pretty instantly. One thing I've noticed about this little guy is that he is a very peaceful baby.
They then weighed and measured him--8 lbs, 1 oz, 21 inches long, and a 14 1/2 inch head--no wonder I tore a little bit! He has loooong fingers and feet, and I have a feeling this little guy is going to be tall. So unusual for our family....
We finally let my mom (who had patiently been there to help and keep us company since 8:00 that morning) take her turn with Calvin, and it was fun to watch her instantly fall in love.
After he was born, we called my dad and invited him to come meet his newest grandson--number eleven!
Because he was born at night, we knew we wouldn't get discharged until Saturday morning, so we spent all of Friday napping, looking out the window at the amazingly peaceful snowstorm blanketing the entire town, and just gazing at our newest little miracle in complete awe. Because Steve has worked the labor and delivery floor, I felt as though I got incredibly spoiled with the attention and care I got from the amazing staff there--they even put a sign on the door asking visitors to check in with the nurses' station before coming in, which meant that Steve and I got to catch up on our sleep in between taking care of Calvin. It was a beautiful day.
Knowing that Molly was wanting pictures sent, I snapped a selfie at one point with Calvin to send her:
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