Edwin James...a birth story

Around 2:30 pm on February 4th we were told that there was room for us in the hospital to go get our induction started. We ate lunch, put our bag in the car and went on our way. We were in a triage room getting the baby monitored by 4pm. I ended up being in that room for quite awhile since they were still waiting on a delivery room to be cleaned for me. They had a lot of births that day and they were short on cleaning staff so I ended up waiting for awhile. The doctors came in and out checking how dilated I was (I had been at 5 cm for almost a week) and talking about different pain medications. I had decided that I didn't want an epidural since the epidural had stopped working with Miles and I felt the contractions when it was time to push which I feel helped him come out faster (2 pushes, as opposed to 3 hours of pushing with Charlie) They informed me that another form of pain control was laughing gas I could breathe while I was going through contractions. I decided that that would be a good idea. It was about 7pm when we moved into the delivery room. I had also asked if they would just break my water to see if that would get labor started instead of doing the pitocin. After the doctors had checked on the baby, they felt that he wasn't low enough to safely break the water and have that start labor. We started the pitocin in small doses around 7:30pm. I didn't really feel anything for a long time so Max and I walked the halls, and paced the room, then watched a movie. They would increase the pitocin dose in increments until I started feeling light cramping. Max and I rested and tried to get a little nap in around midnight. Close to 2:30am they checked me again, and I was still at a 5cm but the baby's head was lower so they decided that they could break my water. Within a minute the contractions came on hard and strong. They brought in my gas mask and after about 10 minutes in, I was dying and the laughing gas didn't seem to make a difference. I kind of just wanted to throw the mask across the room. I forgot how bad contractions hurt and I swear these were way worse than with Miles! I told the nurse I was interested in the epidural, and she said it could be a little wait before I would get one because many people on the floor were getting epidurals. I just said, put me on the list right now. She checked my cervix and I was at a six. Shortly after that (but what seemed like a long time) I told Max that I HAD to start pushing. He ran into the hall to tell the nurse and a flood of people came running in. I hadn't had the urge to push with either Charlie or Miles but this was a weird sensation where the baby just felt like he was going to explode out of me with every contraction. The Doctor said to hold off for one more contraction then I could start pushing. It seemed impossible to hold off but after that one contraction, I pushed through the next 2 contractions and watched Max's face to know that the baby was close! And after the 2nd push he came out and was thrown onto my chest. It was only 56 minutes after my water was broken and contractions started. It was a very traumatizing and painful 56 minutes but I'm glad that it was only 56 minutes. Our baby boy was born at 3:20am.

 

 

All the sweet little features.

The hard part about this time was I could feel the placenta being delivered and the doctors stitching me up. In some ways I felt like that, combined with the rapid delivery made my bonding experience with the baby a little different. Max was instantly overwhelmed with love for me and the baby. I could tell he was so proud and was emotional in a way I've only seen when we've delivered each of our sons. We cuddled as a family for a little while before he was weighed and measured. He was 8lbs and 3oz and 20 inches long. He scored 9 on the APGAR and everything looked great and healthy. We named him Edwin James. We held him some more and Max got to hold him which is always nice to be able to pass off the baby and let Max have the turn of carrying him. We stayed in the delivery room for a little while before being transferred to the recovery room. We tried to get some sleep for the rest of the night. In the morning we got to just relax and cuddle with the baby while having food delivered to us. It was actually quite relaxing, especially knowing that our big boys were being well taken care of with Grandma.  Max and I could just focus on recovering and snuggling. We spent all day in our room. I was feeling the best I had ever felt post delivery. And of course, here are a lot of photos, some from phones and others from my camera, many are blurry or pixely but whatever.

Max and baby Edwin had a lot of skin to skin time. I don't think we even put clothes on Edwin for a day or two. 

It's so funny to see these now, nearly 3 weeks later, and see how swollen his little face was. I feel like he already looks so much different.

In the afternoon my mom came down with the big boys so they could meet their baby brother. I had been looking forward to this moment for a long time. Both Charlie and Miles were excited about the baby and Miles even seemed super interested all throughout the pregnancy. When they entered our hospital room the first thing Miles said was "He came out!" and Charlie looked at my belly and said "why do you still have that?" (Something both boys have still been asking me to this day) Charlie was so excited to hold his baby brother and didn't want to give him up. He talked with him, sang with him and held his little hands and toes. He didn't want to share with Miles or my mom. Miles was more hesitant to touch or hold the baby. His turn holding the baby was brief and he kept asking us to set Edwin down in the bassinet. The boys visited and played in the hospital for quite awhile before heading back home with grandma.

Charlie was so giddy and excited. One of my favorite parts was when we was singing his lyrics, "Edwin, Edwin, I love ya, Edwin" to the tune of Tomorrow from Annie.

Miles was a little more hesitant to touch Edwin.

But he did hold him for a good 30 seconds before wanting to pass him off.

Charlie tried to claim another turn holding his brother but we soon let Grandma hold him. Charlie still stayed close.

My big boys

Our family of 5!

More good chats with Edwin.

Since baby Edwin wasn't born until Sunday, we got to stay in the hospital until Tuesday. We spent the time resting, cuddling, trying to breastfeed, pumping, and enjoying our time with our new baby. We were tired most of the time but happy for that time we had to bond with this new member of our family!

We had a slow morning on Tuesday then packed up and made our way home. I dressed up Edwin in the same outfit that Charlie and Miles wore home from the hospital...

...so naturally, there is a comparison photo. (Each photo was taken with a different camera, and with different lighting)

We got home, and minutes later, Max had to go to a business appointment and my mom got home with the big boys. Miles decided to spend another 30 seconds holding his little brother.

 

And that is all for now.

While we wait...

This post is more of a photo dump than anything from when we were waiting for our little Edwin to join our family. It was hard to make plans when we had no idea when he would come. Charlie was 9 days late and induced and Miles was 5 days late and not induced so I was really thinking (hoping?) that Edwin would come sooner. Maybe only 2-3 days past-due...that would be a dream. I felt incredibly lucky this pregnancy, besides being pretty exhausted at the end of the day, I didn't have much pain and I slept great throughout the whole 9 (10) months. I would have on and off again pelvic pain but I didn't even experience much of that in the last month. I think I owe this to a whole lot of walking and maybe some of the weekly swimming dates Max and I did. Anyway, it ended up being a huge blessing because the week between my due date and when Edwin actually arrived was incredibly busy and stressful with our business and the property we manage. Max was able to organize and prepare a lot more before the baby came which made the transition a little easier. But this post is to show some of the things we did in the meantime...

Max spent time pampering me with foot soaks and rubs, massages, tweezing my eyebrows, etc. getting ready for the big day. It was our way of having in home dates before our time was all dominated by a newborn. It's the best way to spend your time when you are patiently waiting for baby. 

We decided that the boys would love a foot soak as well, so we did a movie night with foot soaks. We watched the newer Annie, which the boys enjoyed but a few days later we made them watch the original movie because it is so much better. They loved that one too and have been singing the songs ever since.

We replaced our Kitchen light with track lighting. Max had to be creative with re-texturing and painting the area of the ceiling that the new light didn't cover so he made this contraption and convinced Charlie that it was our new light. Incidentally, I didn't take an after picture but we have a cool new light in there.

And speaking of dirty kitchens...We did our fair share of cleaning and organizing. And I found another chore that Charlie gets excited about. Hooray!
Lots of snuggles and book time.

We went to a glass art place so Max could try some glass fusing, which was part of a Christmas present. I ended up not getting a babysitter because we had used a lot of babysitters recently and I thought it could be a fun family event. We weren't able to be very close to see what Max was doing but we got to watch glass-blowing and play glass checkers, chess, and tic-tac-toe.

Charlie really loved chess and learned most of the names of the pieces and how to accurately set it up. Also, he learned how some of the pieces moved. Since this, he has played a full game with Max who coached him through it and he stayed focused through the whole game. Super shocking for both of us.

I had to do 3-4 non-stress tests (fetal monitoring). They oringianlly had me come in because I had the flu, then, during the first appointment. The baby's heart rate dropped for about 40 seconds so they wanted me to keep coming back. It was kind of annoying but better safe than sorry.

Some days the boys wake up earlier than us and they get to quietly read books. I liked waking up to this little guy reading in my room.


We went on lots of walks on nature trails or at the mall when the weather was bad. We did this when Charlie was in preschool so Miles got some good playtime in at the mall.

and playtime at the park.

We also have exciting projects going on at our house. Our goal was to have our upstairs bathroom done with a functioning tub by the time baby was born. It still isn't quite complete since the tile guy has been working on some of our other projects. But it was super exciting to see a new tub come in and the gross old tub go away. So the boys had to play in it.

Some day our little house will all be completed. And then it will be time for us to move.
And there were more mall walks and playtime...trying to get baby to come out. On my actual due date, Miles and I made it special by going to Dairy Queen. We've had a gift card we won for a Halloween costume contest. Max used one for a date with Charlie and I was going to use the other for a date with Miles. We were excited to see there was a Dairy Queen/Orange Julius store in the mall so I didn't have to get ice cream at 10am. haha! I know probably no one cares about these details but I like them so I'm including them.



Miles was a happy boy!

The day after my due date was somewhat sunny without rain and Charlie had been asking to practice his bike without training wheels with Daddy. So we decided to all go ride bikes and walk (in hopes to get the baby out)
Charlie did okay and figured out how to put his feet down when he felt off balance but gave up quickly to run.

Miles decided to run too and Max was abandoned with the bikes.

 

And some good bleacher jumping!


And yes, my kids probably watched too much TV when my body was too exhausted to do anything else.
But we also did a whole lot of fun indoor games...like I found these math puzzles I forgot I had.
And more puzzles.

And after being in the house so much we went out to feed the squirrels for a brief moment. Miles without pants and Charlie is wearing Max's shoes but we got about 45 seconds of fresh air.

And more indoor activities.

And then at 41 weeks we made sure to get some awkward photos in the cold rain.  I'm feeling pretty glad that the baby is outside of my belly now!

AWKWARD!!

 And then Miles wanted to try a couple pictures.

And then came the day before my induction. Baby still hadn't come and my induction was scheduled for Saturday February 4th. On Friday evening, My mom came to pick up the boys and take them to her house. They were so excited to have a weekend with Grandma and they were going to go up to Gwenevere's baptism on Saturday. Max and I decided we needed to leave the house since we were childless. We decided to go get hot chocolate then head to council crest park. It is the highest point in Portland with great views of the city. I was a little wary since it had been a little icy but we decided to try it anyway. We got there just fine but the gates were closed so we couldn't even go in so we started our way back down and accidentally ended up going a different way that was much icier and we slipped down a good portion of two hills. It was so scary and luckily Max knew just what to do so when we eventually came to a safe stop, we (Max) put our chains on even though we knew we wouldn't need them for very long.

On Saturday, we didn't have to rush to the hospital in the morning so we woke up slowly then went out to a breakfast diner that we've been wanting to try for awhile. I was honestly worried that my belly wouldn't fit into the booth but it fit just fine! haha!


The food was good!

When we got home we showered, finished packing my hospital bag and called to see if the hospital was ready for me to come in. They said they were still pretty busy and they would let me know when it was a good time to come in. So then Max did a traditional "child birth braid". I just gave it that name right now, but he's always done my hair for when I am going to have a baby! We also cleaned the house like crazy so we could come home to a clean house.





After my braids were done we still had time so Max took the opportunity to get more work done before we had to head to the hospital and I rested some more. About 2:30 Labor and Delivery called and said they were ready for me...so we made our way to the hospital and the rest of the story will be in the next blog post.