We welcomed our new little (big) guy into our lives on March 26th. Jack Silas was born at 1:53am and weighed in at 9lbs, 9 oz & was 20.5 inches long. For his full birth story, see below. As for his name, my husband's middle name is Silas as well---and they now both have the same initials of JS__.
Life has been chaotic since returning home. Jack had lost over 10% of his birthweight during our hospital stay because he was vomiting up fluid and after every single feeding. Due to his speedy arrival, he had a lot of fluid that wasn't suctioned out and caused a few problems in the early days. He's gaining weight now & nursing is improving...so we seem to be on the mend! Lucy doesn't pay much attention to him, unless her daddy is holding him...then she really doesn't care for him as much :) She does like to bring Jack his hat, socks, pacifier & blanket. She also likes to steal those items and requests for us to put them on her stuffed elephant friend.
I've included the details of Jack's birth below---for my own record (and for anyone who really cares about all the details...warning, it's a long story!)
On Thursday, March 24th, we arrived at the hospital at 4am with what we thought was real labor. Looking back now, I can see that contractions likely started to die down once we made the official “yes, I think it’s time call.” We were sent home and told I was closed, high, and thick….
That afternoon I had my 40 week doctor’s appointment and we expressed our concern to our doctor about baby’s potential size, not wanting to be induced & what the game plan would be—should baby not want to arrive on his own. I was still very high & thick----but was a definite 1….
All day Friday I noticed a lot of pressure, but no contractions. We went about our day and headed out to the grocery store after Jon returned home from work. At the second store I was noticing a ton of pressure and stopped by the restroom. When I had difficulty walking down the hallway, I thought that “this might be it…” But having had that feeling several times just to be disappointed, I didn’t really give it much credit.
We got home about 8:00 pm and I laid down in bed to rest. Within thirty minutes I had a very strong contraction all the way into my back. Seven minutes later, the same thing. After the third one I called Jonathan into the bedroom and all of a sudden they were three minutes apart. I jumped in the shower to try and help the pain while he made phone calls. My brother-in-law & sister were already in town so they met us at the hospital to pick up Lucy (who moaned along with me through contractions the entire way to the hospital…) We arrived at the hospital at 9:45pm and I was hooked up to monitors. When the nurse checked me and declared me 6 cm dilated I couldn’t believe it!
We got to our delivery room shortly thereafter and I immediately requested the epidural. Knowing I was progressing VERY quickly and that they seemed busy, I wanted to get right in line. I received my epidural and was still able to feel my legs and contractions, but wasn’t in agony like I had been. The pressure I was feeling was mounting and I was checked by my doctor and was 8cm dilated and she broke my water. I’m not sure how long exactly after that first exam I was checked again, but we called them in when the pressure got really intense and my doctor said I was a 9. They rolled me to my side and within minutes I was completely dilated. At 1:47am they called me “complete” and my doctor told me he’d be here in two pushes. Everything was set up and everyone got into place and Jack was born at 1:53am after three pushes through one contraction….I didn’t even believe them when they told me he was out!
With Lucy I was in labor for 18hours, pushed for 20 minutes. Our doctor had told us labor would be a tad quicker this time, but that we’d still have time to get to the hospital. However, Jack surprised us all with a labor lasting 5 hours, pushed for under 3 minutes. Overall we really stoked with how labor went this time, the fact that my epidural worked (but still allowed me to feel “enough” to be able to move…in fact, the doctor and nurses couldn’t believe how well I was moving), & I wasn’t totally exhausted from laboring for hours before he made his arrival---which made the process a little more enjoyable!
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