Today began earlier than usual after an already short night. Solly has developed the fabulous new skill of being awake for long periods of time, and he’s testing it out in the night, so Brady and I are feeling pretty zombie-esque today. But such is life with a new little one, and we are certainly grateful for him, so no one is complaining too much 😉 So Solomon and I took it slow leaving our room this morning. For a few minutes, I had him propped up against my legs, and the moment he “found” me, he broke out into big happy smiles!! I worked tirelessly to get a few more smiles out of him so I could get pictures, but no dice. In that moment, he just wanted them to be between he and I, which I can appreciate.

The kids woke up in shifts, so I spent most of the morning feeding someone. At first, this system drove me crazy, but its a nice slow pace which I’ve come to appreciate the few times its come around. With that, the boisterous playing starts gradually as well, and I can get into the swing of the day slowly.

In the afternoon, the kids ate and Rowan went down for a nap. Solly dozed a bit and I did dishes. As soon as I was done dishes, Solly wanted snuggles, so I spent a full hour with my feet up while he slept on my chest. Good for the soul, the strained muscle, and the baby. My brother dropped by to pick something up at one point. Its nice having him living locally, all of a sudden! We haven’t shared a town for probably almost ten years. Big event of the day! I washed my hair!!!!! Hahaha!! Guys, I’m convinced that, if I was open about how little I actually wash my hair, I’d have no friends left. No lie. (Consider that I have a soak just about every night! I’m not super filthy or anything. Just my hair is…) But I wash my hair rarely enough that its significant enough to put in the blog, haha! Aaaaanyway, that felt good. I even blow dried it, but being that I can’t do too many things for myself in a day, straightening it was out of the question. So its just huge. But I’m ok with that 🙂 Biggest event of the day was getting a picture of one of Sollys smiles!!

Now that Brady is home, my spontaneous afternoon plan is being put into action, and Kim and I are ducking into the city for a couple of hours to shop for a small list of things. Why would we both go in separately in the next few days if we could go in together, kid free?? So I’ll be heading off soon, but its been a nice, relaxed, hygienic, snuggly day. I really have loved every minute 🙂

I love our big front window. It provides beautiful light, and the kids and I take way more pictures together when we’re near it, haha! This morning, as Solly slept in his bouncy chair and Rowan played toys, Dekker and Laela both asked to come sit on my lap, and the selfies began.

 

After about twenty or so pictures, Dekker opted to go hang with Ro for a bit, and Laela lay across me like a baby. I snuggled her all up and we had some nice face time. She asked me if Bobby Baby was still in my tummy. If you missed it, we always have a nickname for our babies while they’re in utero, so our kids can call them something, and also partially to avoid calling the baby “it” more than we need to. And because we think its cute 🙂 When we were pregnant with Solomon, we named him Bobby Baby, because it was something that Laela could say (she wasn’t quite two when we found out we were pregnant, so her language was somewhat limited.) While none of the kids had questioned what happened to Bobby Baby when we brought Solly home, it was clear that was still a bit up in the air for Laela.

I explained to her that when Bobby Baby was born, he was actually baby Solly. She accepted that without argument, and then inquired about “another Bobby Baby.” That was how the conversation started.

I asked if she wanted another baby, and her and Dekker both answered “Ya!” right away. I asked them each what they wanted, and these are the answers I got. 

H: How many more babies do you think we should have?
D: I think maybe like four. Four boys only. Just boys.
H: Well, I don’t get to decide if the babies are boys or girls. Jesus decides, because He knows exactly what our family should look like.
D: Ok. But just boys. Remember what I said, mommy? *holds up four fingers* Four boys.

H: How many more babies would you like?
L: Two babies!
H: Boy babies or girl babies?
L: Boy babies and girl babies.
H: One boy and one girl baby?
L: One two three babies!
H: Oh, three? How many boys and how many girls?
L: One two three babies!
H: Ok wait, six babies? I don’t understand…
L: One two girl babies, and boy baby and girl baby!

Sooooo what I gathered from this is that both kids are open to more siblings, haha! Some of the rest of the info is still a little unclear, though. I’m thinking that Laela is voting for twins, but I can’t read that complex little mind, so who really knows. I know they’re little and their understanding isn’t the same as an adults understanding of the subject, but I am thrilled that they both jumped in joyfully to the conversation about more siblings, rather than getting upset at the mere possibility.

Open doors of communication rock my socks. So do my kids.

Our little Solomon is growing. We are quite confident he is right smack dab in the middle of a power growth spurt, though I’m not sure he’s stopped growing yet. This kid is seriously bulking up quick! But recently, his feedings are amping up like crazy! With that, however, he is VERY sleepy, and can’t seem to stay awake for his feedings. Therefore, he is up more in the nights, drinking less in each feeding. He’s getting more milk, but its all broken up because he is just SO pooped. This is a common thread with our kids. Especially Dekker, who he definitely takes after in bulk 😉 Our kids sleep through everything, including growth spurts, sickness, bad moods, etc. Its really nice for us, as their parents.

With Solly waking up a bit more often, Brady and I both feel a bit more tired than we did a week ago, but we’re more than fine. However, babiest boy (just specifying, since Ro is still a baby, lol) is a bit more tired than before as well. So today, all he wanted was to be snuggled.

Its really one of the best problems to have. At first, I kind of cringed, because I had actually woken up with a bit of motivation to do things around the house. I figured I’d let the kids play around my room for a bit so I could get some organizing done. Ok, let’s be honest. I figured I’d start the process of organizing our room. But with this kid not settling unless he was on me, there was no hope. BUT!, then I turned my cringe off and decided to snuggle that little Solly boy until his head was sweaty and my shirt was wrinkled because of it. To snuggle him and be able to hear him snore, as he sleeps deepest when he’s on me. To snuggle him and smell his head the whole entire time. My motivation to clean my room was nothing compared to fulfill my childrens desires to be close to me.

People like to tell me to enjoy snuggling my kids while they want to snuggle me, because they won’t want that forever. And I suppose thats a possibility. I still love to snuggle with my mom, as an almost 28 year old woman. Maybe thats just my personality, or maybe its the relationship that we have. I really can’t be sure, but I don’t see it stopping anytime soon. I know my kids may change their tune on the subject in the upcoming years, but I’m not going to count on it. I hope they always love to cuddle.

But they will not always sleep on me. I will not always be able to listen to them breathe so closely. I likely will not always be their literal soft place to fall. So while I can, I will put off cleaning for another day and hold my kids for hours.

Brady is officially a daddy to four kids this time around! Sadly, I don’t have any creative crafts to share with you, or even any cute pictures of Brady and all four kids. Its been a full day, though, and I feel like I can confidently say that the father of my children feels celebrated and loved. Brady has a special relationship with each of our kids, and I figured I’d touch on that in this post.

Dekker is SO interested in Bradys job! “How was your work day, daddy?” he often asks when Brady gets home. “What did you build?” Dekker probably knows more about Brady’s work than I do. He knows proper terms, names of tools, and since the house build, he notices everything. He knows a ton, and thats all been Brady. Another thing that Brady has passed on to Dekker is his work ethic. Obviously their capacities for hard work are a bit different at the moment, but Dekker loves to help, and is very happy to do whatever he can to keep things running smoothly. His daddy is not one who believes that the home needs to revolve around him, or that he is entitled to perfection, because he is the man of the house. And I’m THRILLED that Dekker is learning that from him. He will make a great husband for some lovely woman someday!

Laela and Brady have the token “father daughter” relationship that is very different from the boys. There is no sibling favoritism AT ALL, but its a different kind of bond. She is his little lady. Her “Peas, daddy?” gets her juuust about whatever she wants. Laela is a very busy little girl, but she will drop everything to sit on Brady’s lap and cuddle with him in silence. I know that one of Brady’s favorite interactions he has with Laela is when he first arrives home from work, she peeks through the spindles in our railing and squeaks “Hi daddy!” at him in the entrance. I am positive that Brady is the reason that Dekker calls Laela “little sweetie” when he speaks to her, because thats what Brady always calls her. I hope she learns that there are good men out there, just like her dad.

Rowan is VERY attached to Brady! The moment he gets home, Ro bursts into tears, and heads for him. Brady picks him up and all is right with the world again. Something special that Brady and Rowan share together is a bit more of a rough and tumble relationship. Ro is a tank, and I find it hard to juggle him too much anymore. He’s just really, really big!! Hanging him upside down or tossing him around doesn’t work much for us anymore, but Brady is still totally capable or manhandling him like that, haha, and he LOVES it! If Brady is every laying on the floor, Rowan takes that a a prime opportunity to wrestle. Its very sweet to watch them play together. I’m so glad Ro has a big strong daddy to rough house with.

Lastly, Brady and Solomon. Realistically, so far, everyone’s relationships with Solly are fairly practical, including Bradys. Brady is a diaper changer, bottle feeder, bum sniffer, swaddler, cuddler, medication administrator, etc. Brady is an experienced father, yet his bond with Solly is growing beautifully. He is so very gentle, yet not hesitant one bit. He is confident in his role, and I think babies can sense that. Beyond the practical side, though, Brady is an affectionate, soft, loving dad. He strikes up conversations with Solly, whether at home or in public. He gives him lots of kisses and nuzzles, and is a strong place for baby to sleep when lots is going on and the little guy just needs a soft place to fall.

Brady is really the ideal father for his children. We are completely blessed to have him leading our family.

So very happy I picked YOU to be my baby daddy 😉 Love you, Brady.

I don’t want to dwell too much on today. It was a pretty hard night for me (just myself, I can’t even blame Solly) followed by a very discouraging day. We decided to get out of the house for a couple of hours this afternoon, and that ended with having a cry on the drive home. Not my finest hour. I got home, and hopped into the tub for the next hour or so. It was so nice to have a break from some of my pain, though it all came back pretty much right when I got out :/ Its been a long day for me.

The high point, however, was Laela needing new shoes. Firstly, I had NO idea how different sizes can be from store to store!! When we bought her a little pair of Toms-style flats from Superstore, we were flabbergasted to learn she was wearing size 8! She is definitely on the petite side of things, and size 8 seemed a lot bigger than I expected. And now, suddenly, those shoes are SMALL on her! We can barely muscle them on. She hasn’t complained, but still, we knew we had to get her new shoes. So while we were out today, we took a look around for a new pair.

We found them at Walmart. They had a good selection of flats when we were originally looking for some for her, but had already purchased her the pair from Superstore. I remembered this, so I was hopeful that we’d find something cute. Now to touch on the size issue again, she had grown out of her size 8s, so we grabbed size 9, and they were MASSIVE on her! So were the 8s. The 7s were prefect 🙂 I had picked out a pair for her to try that were white with purple flowers and a velcro strap over top. But she picked these.

And she would not be shaken. Not that I tried very hard, if I’m being honest. These are hilarious, and loud, and they SCREAM “Kimmy Schmidt,” and I would have picked the exact same pair probably at a considerably older age when it would be less socially acceptable to wear such obnoxious shoes. But she loved them, and wore them through the store. We lifted her up to the cashier to pay for them, ripped the tags off, and she was happy.

I’m pretty sure it was more of a treat for me that she needed shoes than it was to her. It was definitely the highlight. Love that little girl.

Our little Solomon is 2.5 weeks old today. We went in for his two week check up with his doctors this afternoon. I was very much anticipating this appointment. I wanted to know his stats and check his health, I wanted to see his doctors and just catch up after his delivery and such, and I wanted to reassess the pain I’m having. Solly first, of course. Especially since this was very much his appointment and not mine. Mine is in a few more weeks.

Solly is growing VERY well! He weighs 11 lbs 5 oz now, so just about a full pound more than his birth weight. He is still 23″ tall and now that his head isn’t all shifty and squished from birth, its 1 cm larger than it was at birth, making it 39 cms. On all three growth charts, he is above the 97th percentile. We are very proud of our big little man! Our student doctor, Jasmin, laughed when I laid him on the table for her to check. She commented on how he didn’t even need to be weighed and measured, because he was clearly growing and thriving! He handled his check really well, and then flopped on me and snuggled while we waited for Dr. Guselle to come visit us too.

By the time Dr. Guselle joined us, 3/4 kids were getting pretty hands on, so Brady took everyone out to the van and I stayed back to chat with her about this silly pain I can’t seem to shake off. She had me lay down and do a couple of little exercises, and she observed that the muscle that was previously inflamed was no longer so. She said all of my abdominal muscles are back together and seeming strong, but that same area is hurting me more and more. I said the pain is spreading into my back, and at its worst, it goes all through my upper body. It makes me nauseous. And the medication that I’m taking isn’t working anymore 🙁 Its hard not to feel incredibly fed up, but we discussed a new plan, a change of meds, and physiotherapy. She gave me a couple of prescriptions and a requisition for an ultrasound if, in a week, there is no improvement and I want to get looked at further. But she and I are both pretty sure its a muscular thing, so we’ll see how our new plan works.

While she and I were talking, Jasmin came back in and joined the conversation, and it really just felt comfortable, almost like three friends trying to find a solution for one of the group. It was really really nice. They’re both exceptional women, and I liked chatting with them and hearing them make jokes and shoot the breeze, basically. It was a good end to the appointment.

So I would call today’s outing a big success! No, I didn’t get much done around the house today. Not even the things that needed doing. And I didn’t run any errands in the city while I was out. But it was still a good day 🙂 I have a new plan that will hopefully lead to some success! So if you’d like to pray for my pain to give up finally, and for that dang muscle to stop spasming, that would be fantastic.

I’ll leave you with this sleepy face.

Sleep well, all!

After Solly let me sleep in almost until 9:00, I rushed to get the kids up, fed, and out the door. We were at Kims by late morning, and we spent the next several hours playing, eating, watching some tv, and just being together. We haven’t had a playdate since before Solly was born, so it was a long time coming! Thankfully, it went very smoothly. Rowan slept the afternoon away, and Solly spent most of that time snuggling/napping as well. It was really nice. I bought the kids in sweats, so everyone was comfy and relaxed and it was exactly the right kind of playdate. We left shortly before 4:00, and I got ready for the evening.

Kim and I have officially been friends for one year today 🙂 For those who don’t know, we met through a Facebook buy and sell page. Kim was selling some maternity clothes, and I was planning on getting pregnant, haha! So we got in touch, I came for pickup, and we were texting later that day already. It was a very natural progression, and we got very close very fast. One year ago today!

I picked her up just before 6:00, and we went to the local restaurant for supper. We shared onion rings, and then I had pasta while she rocked perogies. We each got an enormous dessert to boot, and of course we both left with TWO to go boxes. Whoops, hahaha!

It was a really lovely day spent with a really good friend <3 Not just anyone would appreciate a heart shaped onion ring as much as I do!

Love you, Kim!! Thanks for clothing my pregnant self, and hanging out with me during one of the most whining-filled years of my life. I’m so lucky to have you!!!

Eek! Its SO late for me to be posting! I fully blame the Bachelorette for my late start. Dang you, Jojo, and your sketchy group of men!

I truly had a wonderful day. I saw my friend, Nicole, and her little boy for lunch and through part of the afternoon. It was a pretty long drive to get to us, so I was very thankful for the extra effort 🙂 We haven’t sat down for a visit since freshly after Christmas, so this was a very welcome visit. Between the two of us, we had five kids to juggle, and they actually did really really well! Rowan napped after lunch, and Solly was in and out the entire visit, so it was easy enough to actually chat while the kids played, rather than us standing on our heads trying to make the day run smoothly. We were a good group.

Once they headed on to their next plan, we watched a bit of tv and had some quiet time. Brady was home in time for yet another friend from church to drop off a supper for us! We have been SO blessed by our friends and family, with meals and baking and just so many unnecessary but appreciated gifts of love. We received our chicken, rice, caesar salad, and ice cream sandwiches, and sat down immediately. Our kids are usually pretty hesitant when new food walks in the door, but they ate the meal very happily, which meant Brady and I could, too!

Jerilee arrived for Bachelorette night right around the kids bedtime with slurpees for us. We made some nachos and turned on the show.We were behind, so we spent the next three-ish hours watching. We are STILL behind, lol! But we booked a day in next week to catch all the way up 🙂 I love Bachelorette nights.

Now, its late, and I’m tired. Whew! Time to take my ridiculously rigid scheduled pain meds and hit the hay! Sleep well, all.

I always get such a kick out of writing out my kids birth stories, and I love sharing them with you guys 🙂 I’m not sure what I’ve done in all of the other ones, but this time around, I felt like I had to pick and choose details a bit more than I think I’ve done in the past. I could be wrong, but I wasn’t sure how much to add in there! Also, we stayed at the hospital for such a short time, I felt like I should write about the whole hospital stay, but that goes beyond the birth story.

Because I felt less certain about what to write this time around, I left out a detail or two that I figured I’d write about today 🙂 Hopefully this isn’t controversial, but you can just read it as our own situation, not what we think everyone in the world should do. Not everything that is “best” is best for everyone.

Probably the one thing that made me feel the teensiest bit awkward during my labour and delivery was that my nurse was clearly very disappointed that I had decided not to breastfeed. Now I know, I know, “breast is best.” Sure. I’m on board with that. Honestly, I’m all for breastfeeding! Totally pro-breastfeeding! But I don’t do it, because its just not for me. I won’t get into all of the reasons why, but formula feeding is very much the right choice for us. But my nurse didn’t like it, and it was quite apparent. I’m aware that my choice isn’t a popular one, but since I’ve bottle fed all of my babies, hospital personnel usually don’t get on me about it.  She wasn’t outwardly pushy, but some off handed comments she made were unnecessary. It felt like a tiny part of my experience was tarnished by this.

When Solly was delivered, he was laid on top of me and we had a lovely first cuddle. My nurse commented that, even though I had chosen not to breastfeed, that didn’t mean the baby didn’t NEED skin to skin, so she was very persistent that we do this. Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE skin time with my baby! And we were having it! But since I wasn’t nursing, I was wearing my bra, and she practically pulled it off of me to get him on more of my skin. Again, I was happy to have him on my chest, it just felt strange that it was pushed SO hard. When my doctor asked to take him and weigh him, I passed him over, and my nurse got very flustered and corrected Dr. Guselle, saying the baby should not be removed off of his mother for the first hour or two. I assured the room that I was totally fine with what was being done, but felt a bit uncomfortable. It seemed like she thought she had to advocate for this baby above me.

Formula feeding in the hospital is taboo. There are charts and papers and everyone tries to dictate how much baby eats. “Baby’s stomach is the size of an acorn, we don’t want to stretch that!” This is true, I have no doubt. But when my nurse handed me a bottle with 10 mls in it and said “He won’t need the whole thing” I was kind of amazed. He had that DOWN in less than 15 seconds, no word of a lie, and he was snorting away for more. “See, he’s rooting. He wants to nurse,” she says. But she wouldn’t give us more milk in his bottle.

While still in delivery, it was determined that his respiratory rates were high. Nothing big or scary, but I was told he’d be assessed by someone when we got to postpartum. I don’t remember her name, or what her official title was, but I LOVED her. When she came into our room, we discussed how his delivery had gone, how massive he was, and what seemed to be the problem. She checked him all over so very lovingly, saying things like “Ok, son, don’t pee on your nurse!” She was very warm, and funny, and she knew her stuff. When she was done her assessment, she said she noticed two things. One was that his temperature was normal but his cheeks felt cool. She also noticed that he appeared very hungry still. Based on these things, I took him out from under my hospital gown and blanket, dressed him in some jammies, and swaddled him up good and tight. Then I fed him *gasp* 15 mls. And THEN, his breathing slowed, and he could finally relax. The nurse who had suggested these moves was SO cautious to recommend them, and kept making the joke “Don’t tell anyone I said that!” It made me sad, but it was nice to know that someone even secretly agreed with me about what my son needed.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to complain. I know my nurse is an amazing lady, with GREAT birth stories, and a similar sense of humor to me 🙂 She and I just had different ideas of what “ideal” looked like, and I think we missed the boat on clearing that up before it got awkward. All I’m hoping to express here is that you moms need to go with your gut. Whether something is recommended, required, frowned upon, taboo, controversial, good, bad, or ugly, (forgive me in advance for saying this) you do you, boo! Not everyone has to like it.

Lastly lastly, I LOVE the hospital staff at Royal University Hospital! No ill will, bad blood, hard feelings, etc. We are always SO well cared for, and we are so blessed to have the resources that we have!! I am very thankful for the birthing team we had 🙂

Its taken too long to get here, but I’m finally going to share Solly’s birth story with those who want to hear it! Its just been a super busy time of life, obviously, and I like to take lots of time to write out the kids birth stories, so I don’t miss anything. I don’t want to cut corners on important posts like these. So I’m starting this morning, and we’ll see when it actually goes up, haha! My kids are beautifully chill this morning, so it seems like an appropriate time to start writing.

Here is what I know. In my past two pregnancies, I have not felt my labours. I know that all labours and deliveries are different. I know that plans change unexpectedly.

I know that we don’t always get to know why plans change, but they change, regardless of our level of readiness.

And I know myself.

I don’t feel labour. My first sign of pain either comes when my water is broken (its never broken on its own) or when the baby is ready to be delivered. Through Laela’s birth, I saw the very scary side of this, where we barely made it to the hospital in time, where I struggled with PTSD afterwards, where I thought my daughter and I were going to die together. Through Rowan’s birth, I learned how much I could genuinely enjoy my labour and delivery. I learned that no one has the same “ideal” in childbirth, and that my ideal looked a lot more controlled than lots of people’s. I learned not to feel shame about that.

Because of these things that I know, my doctor and I decided early on in this pregnancy to go with the same plan as Rowan’s L&D, and to go forward with induction at 39 weeks. June 1st, 2016.

As the pregnancy wore on, I struggled hard with a lot of things, and it became my most painful, difficult pregnancy yet. I would describe my body pain as incredible, which is defined simply as “impossible to believe.” It was truly incredible; hugely challenging. I spoke to my doctor and our student doctor about how I was feeling. As I said on here a handful of times, I felt like I was further along than my dates claimed. My body was exhibiting all of the signs it normally does when I’m right at the end of my pregnancy, but a full month early. Probably even earlier. My body felt FAR more pregnant than my dates claimed it was. I was worried, if I’m being honest. It is (was) an incredibly little known fact, but I lost a baby the cycle before we conceived this pregnancy. With that being the case, my cycle wasn’t normal, and I had no idea when I ovulated, when we conceived, etc. But even with that loss factored in, I could only be one week further along at the very most. So I spent the last month or so of my pregnancy in incredible pain and lets say moderate worry.

At my 38 week appointment, my doctors, Brady, and I discussed official plans, and I found out my doctor would be in the hospital, in labour and delivery, all day on May 31st. I had said through my entire pregnancy that I was excited to have a June baby, but Dr. Guselle being present for my delivery was a higher priority than which month the baby’s birthday would be in. Of course, there is always the risk of being bumped to another day. I started to pray very specifically that we would be induced that day, Tuesday, May 31st. That was my great desire. I was starting to lose grip with being in so much pain, I knew our move was coming up, and I could not possibly wait another day to meet our baby!!

At 8:30am on May 31st, I cried after receiving our call from the hospital. I expected that we would be bumped, but we were not. We were going in that morning, 10:00am, for our induction. We made our calls to mom and Willa, who headed over right away to spend the day with Dekker, Laela, and Rowan, and we grabbed the remainder of our stuff to load into our hospital bag. Once everyone arrived, we gave hugs and hit the road!

(Only 700 words in and we’re finally at the hospital, lol!)

We checked in at the nurses station and sat to wait our turn. It was SUCH a full room this time around, and we watched couple after couple get called. But we are always SO psyched up on our induction day, and lots of the women waiting seemed so tired and uncomfortable and READY. So it was good that they went in before us. However, when the nurse did come and call my name, I basically chased her down. We were ready too.

With Rowan’s labour, we were taken to one room, and that is where we were assessed, laboured, delivered, etc. However, because I hadn’t had any cervical exams in my prenatal appointments, I had to be checked and assessed in one place so they could determine what method of induction to us, and then moved to another room where I’d labour and deliver. I learned later that different forms of induction are done in different places, so it needed to be done this way to know where to put me. In this exam, I learned that I was 4cms dilated and suuuper stretchy, and almost all the way effaced. Baby hadn’t come down yet at all, though. His head was bouncy. On the monitors, it showed that I was contracting every four minutes. However, that didn’t last. I don’t know how long that was going on. I had no idea I was contracting at all. No lie. I just don’t feel it. Because my cervix was dilating and stretchy, the one method of induction was moot, as its job is basically to soften the cervix. So that was how I ended up on an iv drip. It was 12:55pm.

Most painful iv in the world, let me tell you. Two weeks later, its still deep yellow and hurts to the touch. I look less like an intravenous drug user though, so we’ll call it progress.

My doctor ducked in to make contact with me, and we discussed our plan for the labour. Our “birth plan,” I guess. There wasn’t much. She made a joke that she had something up at 5:30, and that the student doctor who I’ve been seeing through my whole pregnancy was on another floor until 5:00. I told her I could work within that window, lol! Mainly, though, I specified that I wanted an epidural. I reminisced about asking for one when I was labouring with Dekker, and from me asking to actually receiving one was three hours. With my labours being quicker and quicker, and that possibility of not feeling any pain until I’m fully dilated and ready to deliver, I was interested in how long it could take to get one. Thankfully, it wasn’t a super busy day at the hospital, and I was assured that it would be quick. They said they’d tell the anesthetist that I had requested an epidural, and as soon as my induction had kicked in and I was contracting consistently again, he should come.

But he came early.

I was very thankful that my nurse had given me a gentle heads up about my anesthetist before we actually met, because he was quite a character, and would have caught me off guard, for sure. He burst in the door and demanded “Where’s your nurse?” I stammered through an “uuuuuhhh” before I heard her say “I’m right behind you!” (I found out later that she had been trying to beat him to the room but he had won the footrace, basically. With that, she hadn’t had a chance to speak with him, and he did not know I wasn’t in labour. He just knew I was next on the list, and he had a meeting to get to. Yikes!) So he breezed in and commanded the room. He had a long series of off-color jokes that we all politely laughed at, and let him feel very alpha-male-esque. He made sure of that by instructing Brady to take his hands out of his pockets at least five times. Brady’s witnessed a couple epidurals now, and he knows to stay to the side and wait to be called on. Leave my husband alone, his hands are fine in his pockets. When he was called on to help, he stood in front of me and I was supposed to squeeze his fingers when I felt a contraction coming on. I wasn’t having any contractions, though, so I grasped his fingers to pacify the anesthetist, and partially to hang onto someone until this whirlwind gave way! The initial freezing poke is the worst part of the epidural. A good solid bee sting. Once that was done, the anesthetist commented to me “Now did that hurt more than your contractions?” Foolishly, I answered with the truth, and said it had. His reply was something along the lines of “If thats true, I probably shouldn’t be putting this on.” I glanced up and saw my nurse kind of chuckle to herself. Clearly he had missed something. But this thing was happening! The procedure itself went off without a hitch, and I have to give credit where credit is due. He was great at his job! Bedside manor, not so much, but his know-how was above and beyond. He then made a bunch of dumb remarks about how any movement can pull the epidural out (they wouldn’t) and walked out the door making a rude quip about me, curse words and all. I definitely understood why I was forewarned about him. The moment he left, everyone in the room breathed out for the first time in ten minutes. Thankfully, though, we were all feeling the same, and could just roll it off.

Once all of that silliness was over, we waited for the fun to begin. And it did!! My friend from high school, Danielle, works on labour and delivery now, and she dropped by with some tea from Tims for me, which was sooo sweet!! She also came to check on me once or twice when my nurse was on a break. It was so nice to see a familiar face. I was also super happy that my friend Shauna ducked in to see us! She was my nurse when I was in L&D with Rowan, and had been keeping an eye out for my name to come up. Unfortunately, she was hanging out with the ladies who were being induced with a different method that day, so she didn’t get to be my nurse. Maybe with the next one 😉 Still SO nice to see friends while we waited for our baby to make his appearance. Thank you, friends, for making Brady and I feel so special and celebrated!

Being on oxytocin induction, baby and I were on monitors the entire time, and were checked on every fifteen minutes. Everything was pretty uneventful. Brady and I watched “The Good Wife” and waited impatiently for babe to come. At 4:30, I had officially stalled out dilating, just hanging around at 6 cms. My doctor also said that the babys head was still bouncing quite a bit. Normally, it doesn’t feel as safe to break water when the head is still floating around, but I reminded my doctor that Dekker also never came down down, and I had to push him out from way the heck up there. She said if I was comfortable with it, she’d be willing to break my water. I consented, but made the special request that, even though I wasn’t in any pain, could I have a minute or two to bump my epidural up a bit. Usually, after my water breaks, everything moves quick and gets super intense, and thats when I get scared. My doctor totally understood and they gave me the button to push every ten minutes, if I wanted.

A few minutes later, she broke my water. No pain, and no meconium! Yay! As usual though, WAY more fluid than she was bargaining for. Her eyes grew as it appeared that my water broke three times It went from “There we go!” to “Oh, ok, well there’s more.” to her eyes bugging out and a quiet “uuuuummm, ok, wow…” I know, lots of info. But its not gross, don’t worry.

This time around, things didn’t rush like crazy after my water broke. I kept on that epidural button though, quite determined not to be in excruciating pain, if I could at all help it. It was about an hour later that I thought to myself “Is that pressure? Thats what the pressure everyone is always talking about feels like? Huh.” I’ve never felt that impending doom pressure that people talk about, and that nurses are always telling you to inform them about. I’ve never felt it. Until this baby! It wasn’t a big pressure, but I’d been amping my epidural, so I couldn’t really know for sure. I pressed the nurses button, and within a minute, my doctor and also my student doctor, Jasmin, came into the room. They said they were just discussing me when I rang. Jasmin realized in that moment that they had left my info, and she headed back for it. I told Dr. Guselle I was suspicious that I was feeling pressure, and she lifted the sheet to check on me. Her comment was “Oh, so your baby has hair!” I was super surprised that apparently he was quite so visible already, and I laughed. To which she responded with “Oh boy, let’s get Jasmin back in here quick, that baby is ready!”

I had given my permission to have a few additional students in to witness our delivery, so the small group assembled and we waited for a contraction. I was feeling pretty good, and was a bit unsure about when my contractions actually were coming and going. I would have to feel my stomach to see if it was hardening. When I was all in position, and had a contraction, I gave my first push. And Jasmin burst out laughing. Dr. Guselle did as well, and said “Yes, sometimes they do go this perfectly!”

I pushed for three minutes. It was perfect. I could feel exactly what I was doing, and where and how to push, but I wasn’t in pain. I felt capable and excited! I felt encouraged by my group. I felt strong. And to be honest, I felt a little bit proud that this small group of women who had never witnessed a delivery before were getting to see such a good one! Baby’s head came out, and I had to work a little bit harder for those shoulders, which was new for me, but still very doable. It was incredibly quick, but totally and completely under control! And there he was!!!

Solomon Brady was born on May 31st, 2016, at 5:20pm, right within that window that I had promised the doctors 😉 He felt just right TINY in my arms, yet that sturdy body weighed 10 lbs 7 oz, and once they managed to unscrunch him somewhat, we learned we was 23″ long. He has fuzzy brown hair on his head, with some Dekker-style cowlicks to boot. He has long, piano fingers. As for his APGAR details, his initial number was 9, but it actually went down to 8 after a few minutes. His breathing wasn’t great, he still had a lot of crud to get through, so he was our first baby to get suctioned a little bit, but he was doing much better after just that little bit of help. I snuggled with him for a good long while, even all through my stitches (yup, got those) SO thankful for my doctors, making sure I was solidly numbed up before they began their work.

Everything felt so peaceful. My entire labour and delivery was 4.5 hours, and I can honestly say that I really enjoyed it! Just about every aspect 🙂 I felt celebrated, and cared for, and like everyone around me was rooting for me and my family. And this continued to be the case all through our hospital stay. I hesitate to add all of that information to this post because this is a LONG post, in case you hadn’t noticed, haha! But truly, we were amazingly well cared for. I couldn’t have asked for a better labour and delivery experience than this one, yet I said that about Rowan’s as well, and here we are 🙂 God is SO good.

We are so very thrilled with how Solly was born into the world. The Lord certainly answered our prayers.