10 lb 2.1 oz, 22 1/4 inches, 1:53 PM, May 5, 2009:
When I went to my appointment on Monday (40 weeks, 1 day), the doctor mentioned that they wanted to put me on the induction list for the next week if I didn’t have the baby during that week. OK, I’m cool with that. They said, “we don’t have any induction openings until at least next Tuesday” so I figured I would have the baby before then anyway. UNTIL… they did a size check, and estimated him to be 10lb 6oz. Boy howdy did the doctors/nurses start burning up the phone lines to the hospital then! They wanted me on the “cancellation list” NOW for an induction. We made it home after the appointment, and sat down to eat… and the phone rang telling me that we would go in the next morning for induction! The hospital was supposed to call between 6 and 8 AM. So, on Tuesday morning at 5:30 AM, our phone rang, and the hospital asked us to be there at 6:45 AM for induction. We had gone to bed at about 12:30…
My parents had come up the night before so they could be with the J-man during the day. They got him dressed and to school while we were at the hospital. They seemed OK with our incredibly specific instructions, although Grammy is often determined to do things the “Grammy way!”
So we got to the hospital, and our awesome doula Elly got there, and they started the saline bag… and we waited… and waited… and finally about 8 AM, the doctor came in and ordered the pitocin and the penicillin (GBS +). (This is the part where I had complained for an hour – I could have SLEPT LONGER!) They hooked up the 2 monitors on my belly, and they kept moving! All this technology, and nobody can come up with monitors better than these?
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We are overjoyed to announce the birth of the 4th member of the Flashlight clan! He arrived yesterday (Cinco de Mayo!) by c-section at 1:53PM. He was (neither of these are typos) 10 lbs 2 oz and 22 1/4 inches! He was born having outgrown whole bunches of clothes and diapers. He is, of course, wonderful and perfect in every way – just like Mama.
We’ve yet to come up with a blog name for him. (Of course, we do have a real name for him.) Mary suggested ‘E. Normous’ after meeting this big bundle of wonder, who her doctor called “the biggest 10-pound baby I’ve ever seen.” Whether it’ll be that or ‘Big E’ or something else E-related, we’ll ponder it when we’re more lucid.
It’s been a very frenetic couple of days, but beyond everyone being completely exhausted, we’re doing well. Mary already appears well enough to run laps. She’s awesome like that.
The baby is trying to eat everything in the hospital and generally being sweet. The J-Man is still very dubious about the whole thing, but I caught him sneaking some glances at the baby, so the first little steps toward brotherhood have been made. They will be tenuous steps to be sure.
And of course, in typical family drama, all this happened in the midst of tornado warnings and an apparent cutover to generator at the hospital yesterday evening at some point, but everyone is fine.
We can’t thank you enough for all your thoughts, prayers, well wishes,
and support! Pictures and more stories coming soon!
After Mary’s 40+ week ultrasound today that estimated the baby to be 10lbs 6oz (that’s not a typo), she’s been fast tracked for an induction, as in tomorrow morning. We did get a good laugh that it appears he’ll be a Cinco de Mayo baby. Photo possibilities galore!
For me, I’m having a lot of complex emotions tonight, but we’re running around so much that it’s hard to even begin to process them. I’ve probably talked before that I live in a 24-hour bubble – where I rarely give much thought to anything that happened more than 12 hours ago or that will happen more than 12 hours from now. We just live in the immediate; that’s how it goes. So thinking ahead about ‘delivery day’ has been hard for me to do because of this whole way we live. I figured we had a few more days yet, but given the ways of babies, it seems like a silly thing to figure on.
It was a lot more difficult to put the J-Man to bed tonight because there’s something about it being the last night of just us. What’s to come will be more amazing than I could possibly imagine, but today marks the day when we write the final words in this over 3 1/2-year, life-changing, unpredictable, emotion-filled, endlessly-amazing chapter. After I put him down, I went to finish putting up the ceiling fan in the nursery. Let me just say, it’s hard to assemble a ceiling fan with tears in your eyes. I guess I’d be foolish to not be overwhelmed by the enormity and the wonder of what’s about to happen.
The J-Man was 9lbs 4oz, 21 1/2″, and sunny side up, and Mary got him out the old-fashioned way, so if everything aligns, I have no doubt she can do it again. Hold Wonder Woman thoughts for her!
News, pictures, and more to come! See you soon!
The J-Man was born during Hurricane Katrina, though we are many hundreds of miles away from New Orleans. However, our hospital politely but insistently urged us out the door to make room for the wave of Katrina moms heading our way. That was fine by us, though, as we didn’t want to be there any longer than necessary. 36 hours was plenty.
So, just in time for the impending arrival of The Bean, we have THE FLU FORMERLY KNOWN AS SWINE FLU PANIC! Ignoring the actual realities of whether this constitutes a real emergency, there are practical issues here to consider. The first place in a hospital they’re going to lock down in the event they go into some sort of quarantine mode – at about the same time as the ER – is the labor and delivery wing. The hospital we’re going to has a completely separate L&D unit with only one way in, which means they can completely barricade it if necessary. And just because it’s us, Lord knows they probably will by the time we get there.
I don’t want to make too much light of this, but in the grand scheme of things I need to worry about amidst the swarm of stuff trying to get on my list, flu that people here aren’t realizing they have until they’ve gotten over it ranks about 400th. I guess I have a different sense of what I need to panic about these days. If it gets worse, I’ll pay attention. If the hospital makes me wear a hazmat suit to the delivery room, whatever.
If they don’t let the J-Man see him on neutral turf before this wrinkly, screaming kid shows up at the house, we’re going to have a problem. If they cancel school, I’m reopening it myself. All the kids can wear Space Bags if they have to. Those bags aren’t useful for anything else.
But anyway, if you start wondering whether you need to worry about the Bacon Bug, go here and see. And remember, cough into your sleeve, but keep eating lots of bacon.
by Mary on April 25, 2009
No, I have not yet had the baby.
Yes, I am tired of being pregnant now.
No, I am not having twins (thanks Dillard’s saleslady).
Yes, I do realize I have a BIG BELLY (thank you, nurse at my OB’s office). Your comment of “you can’t even tell you’re pregnant from behind” only partially made up for that remark.
No, I’ve actually lost 15 lbs since the beginning of the pregnancy.
Yes, my bags are as packed as they can be.
No, I don’t think you can ever feel prepared.
Yes, the new recliner did arrive, but I don’t think I’m going to get to sit in it.
No, we don’t think the J-man has a clue about any of this.
Yes, we think he’ll be a wonderful big brother once he realizes this “new baby thing” is here to stay.
NO, YOU MAY NOT TOUCH MY BELLY!
by Mary on April 21, 2009
I have had 2 sessions with the “specialist chiropractor” – she uses the Webster Technique to turn breech babies. The first one was on Saturday (she came in on her day off for a new patient!), and the second one was yesterday morning. Neither of us thought the baby had done anything except bend from side to side.
When I was there on Saturday, she was looking at my belly (to be able to hit the right spots working on my ligaments), and she leaned in really close while Tim was out of the room chasing J-man, and very softly and gently asked me if I had had the fingerprint bruises on my belly BEFORE I had the version attempt. For me, it was a wake-up call to remember that pregnancy is a dangerous time in many relationships. I hadn’t even THOUGHT about the fact that she probably does see women who are being abused during pregnancy. In my case, it was funny, because Tim is probably the most gentle man in the entire world… but it’s truly sad that she sees enough of it that she thought to ask.
Had an OB appointment yesterday afternoon, and she was running late. (This is one of my favorite OBs, partly because she delivered the J-man, partly because she never tries to make me feel stupid, and partly because she doesn’t give me shit about my weight. Tim thinks she’s a ditz.) We sat there for over an HOUR waiting for her, and every 15 minutes I had to go potty, because, you know, I am 38 weeks pregnant. One of the lab techs told me I would have the baby within a couple of days because when she had started going to the bathroom every 15 minutes, her baby had arrived within 2 days. I was all, “Yeah, but he’s breech, and you know I don’t seem to be able to go into labor on my own anyway. Plus, I had a bottle of water on the way over.”
So we saw the doctor, and she listened for the heartbeat, and all that was good… and she said, “Do you want to go ahead and schedule the c-section?” She could tell immediately I wasn’t into having the c-section (she GASPED when she saw my bruise from the version attempt), and asked if I thought he had turned. I told her no, that even though I was going to the Woo Chiro, I didn’t think the Bean had turned. She sort of rolled her eyes about the Woo Chiro (and so did we) but went out and asked for the ultrasound machine anyway.
She gelled up the belly, and started looking around, and looked worried. I panicked because even though we had just heard the heartbeat, you never want the OB to look worried. All of a sudden, she lifted up the ultrasound controller thingy, and set it right below where the big-ass bruise is… and said, “You’re not going to believe this. He’s head down!”
ALL HAIL THE POWER OF THE WOO!
