wehadababyitsaboy

LOOK AT THIS BABY!

How is it possible that a baby this cute has never even been mentioned on this blog?! I think it's about time for another birth story, y'all. 

What can I say about my pregnancy with Felix? It was a roller coaster ride. My belly got so big, so fast and just felt heavy. I've never been pregnant (I mean, really pregnant) in the summer and our Raleigh summer lasted well into October so I was pretty uncomfortable. I was constantly paranoid about my PUPPPS coming back, which it didn't, thankfully, but I got poison ivy instead. Not just any poison ivy, though. "The worst poison ivy I've ever seen" according to several doctors! Never say I didn't win any superlatives. The itching flared up more in the heat which made our Indian Summer that much more unbearable. 

Just looking at this picture hurts me

Needless to say, I was very much looking forward to mid-November. My due date was the 18th (happy birthday Adam!) and as much as I would have loved to have him a couple of weeks early I knew that A) it wasn't likely given my history and B) everything would go much more smoothly if the baby would stay put at least until Adam's mom arrived on the 16th. But as soon as she got here, it was game on. Of course the 18th came and went without much fanfare. Sorry, Adam. Kinda hoped I'd have a tiny excuse to shirk birthday celebrations this year. On Monday the 19th I went in for an appointment and to schedule my induction. I wanted this baby out but my doctor had already told me I couldn't be induced before 41 weeks. I had the nurse practitioner strip my membranes, though, which I hoped would move labor along. 

Adam's niece Mackenzie came into town from DC on Monday night and on Tuesday morning I went out to run some last minute errands. I was feeling some intense contractions which I hoped meant that labor was starting, but they were only coming every 20-30 minutes so I knew we had a while. After lunch we all decided to go to Pullen Park. We were planning to let the kids do a few rides but my contractions were getting a lot closer together and much more intense so we took a (very painful) train ride and then left after about 20 minutes. Thankfully the children were very understanding and sympathetic and my safety and comfort was their utmost concern. Ha!

We got back home and I started preparing to head to the hospital while Adam pulled out his circular saw to finish modifying the bottom drawer of the bathroom vanity to fit around the plumbing, as one does. I can't make these things up, folks. I called the on-call nurse and described what was going on. She told me to stay put until my contractions were 4 minutes apart for an hour. I thanked her, hung up, and headed straight out the door. I'm no fool. 

Snapping one last belly shot on the way out the door. Oh boy. That belly. 

We arrived at the hospital around 4:45. Having only ever had babies at our beloved Swedish hospital in Seattle, I was expecting to be pain free in 15 minutes and man, was I looking forward to that epidural. I was having to really focus to make it through my contractions and answer all the intake questions at the hospital. We got settled in the room around 5 and heard the woman next door SCREAMING in pain. We looked at each other with wide eyes and Adam said, "aren't you glad you get epidurals?" My nurse drew my blood to get my platelet count and make sure I could get an epidural, something I had never had done in Seattle. She told me we had to wait for the results to come back before we could call the anesthesiologist and it usually took about an hour. An hour?! I don't know if this is a normal thing at other hospitals but it totally caught me by surprise. I couldn't even wrap my mind around making it through one more contraction and the thought of having another hour or more of this kind of pain was so discouraging. 

True to her word, it took about an hour to get an epidural. I'm not proud of the woman I became during that hour but in my defense, I never expected to experience transition without an epidural and I was totally unprepared for it. And folks, it wasn't pretty. I entered into an informal screaming competition with the woman next door and yelled every cliche in the book but fixated mostly on, "I can't do another one! I'll die if I have to do that again!" In addition to the pain of the contractions there was so. much. pressure. I kept feeling like the baby was about to fall out even though my water hadn't broken yet. My nurse checked me a couple of times and told me the baby was not, in fact, coming out but that if I had to have the baby before I got an epidural it would be great and quick and I could do it. I informed her that I had no plans to have a baby without an epidural, thank you very much. 

Finally, around 6 PM, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me an epidural. Another fun thing is it didn't start working right away, something else I had remembered from my previous two birth experiences. Maybe because I was further along when I got it? I don't know but I was so discouraged thinking I wasn't going to get any relief. Finally, around 6:30, I was pretty much pain free and the doctor came in to check my progress. She told me I was fully dilated and also "Oh, I just broke your water! The baby's coming!" 

I had been so focused on making it through my contractions that I wasn't really mentally prepared to meet this baby yet. I had a momentary freak out but there wasn't much time to dwell on it because the baby was on it's way. After just a couple of pushes our perfect little boy burst onto the scene at 6:41 PM. We had both suspected it was a boy based on maternal intuition (combined with me peeking at the ultrasound screen at the wrong time during my anatomy scan) but it was so exciting to finally have it confirmed. Both Anders and Rosie had had to be checked out by the peds teams when they were born so I was thrilled to finally be able to be the first person to hold my baby. 

I did end up having another hemorrhage this time but not nearly as bad as I did with Rosie. It made that first hour much more enjoyable. We quickly FaceTimed with Charlene who caught the kids before they feel asleep so they could get a quick peek at their new brother. We also video called my Dad who was in Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving so my sister and grandparents got to see him too. 

The following day Anders and Rosie came to meet Felix. Anders was beyond thrilled and wanted to hold/kiss/cuddle his brother the whole time. Nothing has changed there in the past six months. Rosie was not having it and was pretty apathetic or contentious the whole time. We thought this was a bad sign but it turns out it was a fluke. She was great with him as soon as we came home from the hospital and has loved him ever since. 

Accurate

We had hoped to leave on Wednesday but the pediatric nurse practitioner heard a heart murmur so we had to stay and get an echo on Thursday. My postpartum nurse and two other doctors (not Adam!) never heard it but we thought we should do our due diligence and get it checked out. Of course everything looked fine on the echo and we went home on Thanksgiving morning which was pretty special. 

It's been a great six months with our new buddy. He's a good eater and has the thighs to prove it. He's our best sleeper and had a fussy month or so early on but otherwise has been a happy boy. He got his first two teeth around 4.5 months and looks like he'll start crawling any day now. He's already had two haircuts, one to fix the mullet in the back and another to fix the combover up top. He's got a good head of fuzzy blond hair now and that, combined with his physique (short and stout) proves he's our child. Everyone, and I mean, e-ver-y-one, comments on his eyes, but to me they look the same as Anders' and Rosie's and they never got those kind of comments so maybe they're different? He loooooooves his siblings and smiles for everyone as long as I'm holding him. That stranger danger is starting to set in. And now, pictures!

The boys on Christmas Eve

My world in a chair

We spend a lot of time like this

Not swimming is exhausting

Tummy time CHAMP! This kid refuses to lay on his back anymore.

Hanging out with his friend Damon who is only a few weeks older than him. 

Besties in the making!

And that's a wrap. On this blog post and also probably on this blog. I wish I could say I'd be back here but my track record these past couple of years hasn't been great. I did want to get this birth story down so Felix won't someday have a complex about the fact that he's the only child not mentioned on here. Thanks for tagging along these past 10 years. Check out our mediocre presence on whatever social media platform is currently the rage! 

Blessings.