Introducing Joshua William

I really did have good intentions of getting the story (and name) posted quickly, but my energy faded faster than I expected (something about not getting sleep at night I think).

 

  Born October 18th

9 pounds 11 ounces

22.5 inches long

 

Here is the birth story in all its detail (not gory, just lots of details since this record is mostly for me).

Based on anecdotal evidence, I suspected that each subsequent baby would come sooner than previous ones.  I never would have guessed that this baby would be my longest pregnancy yet.  For two weeks, I was thinking "maybe tomorrow is the day."  I figured my labor would start at night as it has in the past, so every time I would wake up at night, I'd pause to feel if I was having contractions.  I often dreamed that I was in labor, so sometimes it took me a few minutes to realize that I was just waking up for another potty trip, not because I was having contractions.

On Monday (41 weeks and 1 day) I went in for an ultrasound and non-stress test.  Everything looked really good.  My placenta was still in great shape (rated "between a 1 and 2"), the baby was active with healthy heart accelerations, and fluid levels were good.  That was good to hear, but I was still eager to have the baby before a chemical induction was encouraged.

I asked the midwife to strip my membranes in hopes of getting things going sooner rather than later.  I had never had the procedure done before, but it was simple and pretty painless.  When she was in the middle of doing it she said, "Oh no!  I've never done that before!"  I said, "You didn't break my water, did you?"  She paused and assessed things.  She thought for sure she had ruptured my membranes in the process.  I assured her that I make sacs of steel (they never break until right before the baby actually comes out), so she probably didn't.  She checked for a leak and realized that she hadn't actually broken my water.

That night after the kids were in bed, Mike and I walked 4 or 5 miles in the rain (while the grandmas stayed home with the kiddos).  As usual, I was hoping "tonight is the night."  Sure enough, I woke up around 2:30 with contractions.  I was in and out of sleep (and in and out of the bathroom) for the first hour as I tried to decide if I was awake or dreaming.  Finally I woke Mike up around 4:00 and told him we were going to have the baby today and we should probably go to the hospital pretty soon.

I kept comparing this labor with my labor with Caleb.  Since we unintentionally cut it so close with him (he was born within a half hour of arriving at the hospital), I wanted to make sure this one wasn't born in the car.  Though not much time had elapsed since contractions began, I was pretty sure we should get to the hospital soon.

It was a chilly morning, so I shivered full body shivers until the car heated up and then I was overheating.  We only live 10-15 minutes away from the hospital though it seems to take forever (and is super uncomfortable) when you're in labor.  I don't know how women who live an hour away from a hospital do it.

When we arrived Mike asked if I wanted a wheelchair (duh!) and then got me one of those red and black hard, stiff ones (reeeeally uncomfortable) and off we went.  I had my eyes closed for most of the ride until we arrived at the labor and delivery room where I would be assessed and, (at this point I knew,) deliver my baby.  The first nurse to come in asked if I could give her a urine sample.  Umm no (chalk that one right up there with the wheelchair question).  It took me a while (and lots of help from Mike) to get the gown on.  When the nurse checked me, she said I was between 7 and 8cm dilated.  She got the midwife.  Since I wasn't Group B Strep positive this time I didn't need an IV at all, which was really nice.

Overall, I had a more difficult time finding a comfortable position and relaxing.  I was feeling a lot of pain in my back this time.  I was having a hard time maintaining my body temperature.  I was shivering so they brought in warm blankets, then I was too hot and back and forth.  I think with Eliza I had plenty of time to relax and get comfortable before things got too intense and with Caleb I didn't have time to do anything but push.  I wish I had been more relaxed during transition, but I survived.

At this point I really felt like I needed to make a trip to the potty.  The midwife and Mike were both pretty sure that it was just the baby ready to come out (Mike told me afterward that I do this every time), but they let me go anyway if I promised not to deliver the baby in there.  When I got back she suggested that I try and push for the next few contractions, so I did.  As soon as the head was visible there were comments about how much hair he had.  As the body came out (which is a pretty cool feeling, by the way) I distinctly remember thinking "This is one long baby... the body just keeps coming."

I felt pretty exhausted afterward, only having had a few hours of sleep that night.  Opening my eyes once Mike announced the gender and the baby was laid on me seemed to take forever.  He looked so much like Eliza and Caleb did when they were first born.  With his hair all wet, it looked pretty dark (and even after being washed and dried, he is definitely our darkest haired baby yet).

We usually hold off on clamping the cord, but went ahead and clamped and cut it early this time because Joshua had managed to do this:

He tied a true knot in his cord.  It's pretty rare to have a true knot (and can be dangerous if it tightens during delivery), especially with a cord that isn't very long to begin with (Joshua could barely reach up to my chest before the cord was cut).  Thankfully his delivery was fast and the knot didn't completely cut off his blood flow.  Yikes!  That's definitely something I'm glad I didn't know about ahead of time.

At my last few prenatal appointments I asked the midwives what they thought the baby's weight would be.  Their guesses were all in the 7 to 8 pound range.  When they asked what I thought I told them that I just expected it was a nine-and-a-half-pounder like the other ones.  "This sure doesn't feel like nine-pounds" was always the response.  I was really curious!  When the nurse weighed Joshua she said "Nine eleven?  That can't be right."  I assured her that it probably was right.  She reset the scale and weighed him again.  Sure enough, he was 9 pounds and 11 ounces.  He does look a lot skinnier than the other kids did though.  I guess the extra inches (he was 22.5 inches long) can make a skinny guy weigh a lot.

We're so happy that Joshua is here and feel so blessed to have him in our family.

 

 My last belly shot taken on my due date, October 9th.

So sweet!

 

Eliza and Caleb adore Baby Joshua, though they are still having a hard time remembering his name!

 

Our long and lean little guy.

The happy family!