He’s here!

Baby arrived 3 weeks ago, 2 days past his due date. After 2 weeks of prodromal labor (a first for me! WTF?!), the real deal finally started early Friday morning. Lost my mucus plug and right away contractions kicked in that were consistently 4 mins apart. Assuming this labor would be as fast as my last (the OB actually said to head in when they were 7min apart fearing baby would come fast, too), we decided it was prudent to head to the hospital around 4:30am. By the time I was checked in triage I was dilated to 4cm, having only been 2cm a few days before. Woohoo! Exciting! Last time I went from 4 to baby in my arms in 1hr45mins. I was moved into the delivery room and contractions weren’t getting any closer. I was checked around 2:30pm and had only progressed to 5cm dilated, 80% effaced and baby’s head was still very high. Contractions still weren’t getting closer than 4 mins apart. By 7pm, I was dilated to 6 and 90% effaced but baby was still very high. We decided it was best to rupture the baby’s water to get things going. Since I was utterly exhausted from laboring every 4 mins for 18 hours by this point and I knew things would get very painful and even more exhausting once my water broke, I opted for a walking epidural. By 8:30pm the epidural was placed and I was able to rest through contractions while my body did its thing. By 9pm I was dilated to 7 and fully effaced. Once the membrane was ruptured, the baby finally dropped and active labor could begin. There was also some meconium in his water so I knew then he’d have to be checked out right after delivery. By 11:30pm I felt the urge to push and sure enough, he was starting to crown. He was slow coming out but after 22 hours of labor and several pushes, he was born with lots of beautiful dark hair at 12:20am crying his heart out tipping the scales at 9lb2oz and 22.25″ tall. We did skin to skin for a bit while daddy cut the cord (had to get that meconium checked out!), which splattered all over the doctor and across the room (gross!)! While he was getting checked out, I got stitches for a 2nd degree tear. 

Recovery has been much easier than my previous 2 deliveries. Perhaps because he took so long to come out so my body had plenty of time to do its thing? Not sure but I’ll take it, especially with a 2 year old and two 4 year olds to chase around. 

Nursing was off to a slow start again. I figured after nursing my last one for over 2 years that everything would go so smoothly this time but nope. Baby had jaundice and we had to stay and extra night in the hospital so he could get phototherapy. He lost 12% of his birthweight by the time we left the hospital because my milk took so long to come in so we had to start supplementing an ounce after every feeding. I met with a LC and after herbs and pumping, I’m happy to say we were able to ditch the supplement before he was 2 weeks old and he had also regained his birthweight by 2 weeks! Now I’m back to EBFing and I’m able to freeze 5oz a day. Woohoo!
Baby is so sweet and he’s such a gift.  His brothers are smitten and are very good helpers. So far everyone’s adjusting well. Although the pediatrician told me to expect bumps at 6 weeks and 6 months so we’ll see. 

Now our family is complete! Welcome to the world baby boy!