He came into my life unexpectedly last Thursday, at 37 weeks and 3 weeks ahead of Schedule (still considered full-term, thankfully).
I didn’t see it coming at all. Went to bed Wednesday night after wrestling all afternoon with the kiddy seat (I’m STILL wrestling–it just won’t work the way it’s supposed to), and woke up at 3:10 with mild cramps and what I thought was a full bladder. Went to pee and my membranes ruptured. I wasn’t 100% sure it was amniotic fluid since there wasn’t much of it, so I went back to bed and observed the cramps, noting they were coming at regular 11-minute intervals, then 10, then 8… and were getting gradually stronger. At about 4 am I decided to call the midwife, and she told me to go to the Hospital right away. So I woke my folks and they drove me there. I leaked amniotic fluid all over the car (yuck).
By the time we got to the Hospital I was in considerable pain and the contractions were coming every 3-4 minutes. It was kind of cool how fast everything happened. By 5 am we were at the hospital, at 5:45 the on-call doctor said I was 7cm dilated (I was totally wowed, since I was expecting to be in labor for 12 hours like most first time moms) and asked if I wanted anesthesia. By then I figured I’d had enough pain (it wasn’t as bad as it looks in movies, IMO–but anyway I was ready for it to stop), so I said yes, and at about 6:15 they gave me a wonderful epidural to put me out of my misery.
My midwife and OBGYN walked in at about 7:30. By 8 I was fully dilated and started pushing (the hardest part IMO, since I really really didn’t know WHAT I was doing) and by 8:19 Daniel was out. It was the happiest, proudest most amazing moment of my life. He was beautiful and tiny but perfect. A mere 5 lb 9 oz, but perfect.
Afterwards we stayed at the hospital for 3 nights. It was nice being catered to all the time, and the breastfeeding coaching, but by the time the 4th morning came around, I was ready to go. It was all too medicalized, I needed life to go back to normal.
So now I’m at my parents’, settled into my old room that’s been turned into a nursery, with this Little angel that I love with all my heart, more than I ever thought I would. The first few days he was so tiny he wouldn’t even cry and barely feed, all he did was sleep all day, and his blood sugar would drop. So I had to keep waking him up every 3 hours to feed. Now he WON’T STOP. He’s a Little vampire! I’ve been feeding him since 10:30 tonight, and it’s 1:17 am and he’s STILL not satisfied. I take him off and he wants on again. I dunno what I’m gonna do… I don’t have any milk left. I’m on the verge of giving him formula. The only thing stopping me is that I haven’t sterilized the bottles.
All I know is, I love this little guy more than life itself, and I’m ready to stand by him every day of my life. I just hope I can do right by him.
CRAP!! I dunno how to insert pictures. I’m honestly not liking this website very much sometimes. The formatting and stuff is… ugh. But oh well.
Like any “objective” mom–he’s the cutest kid in the world.
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