Here's one of Fox's first pictures:
Vance's mom took this in the delivery room after he was cleaned up.
Here are a bunch of other ones she took the first few days: Fox's Album
We've been home since Friday afternoon. My mom just left this afternoon, and Vance will be home for the next five days. After that, his mom has offered to come and stay with me. I'm not sure if I'll take her up on it right away. I may see how it goes for a few days and then have her come for a bit.
So, since Sunday. I went in to work on Monday to 'wrap things up'. 6 hours later, I dragged myself away. I finished my leave plan, my boss agreed, I'd work 10 hours a week from home until Fox was born. Sounded like a wonderful plan.
(this post has been interrupted by my son peeing all over his daddy and the changing table...back in a moment)
Okay, we're back. Tuesday, I wake up, go to my OB checkup and hear that I'm still at about the same place I was on Friday. They still aren't happy with my blood pressure, so they send me to Triage for an NST. It turns out fine, so they turn me loose. I head up to work to deliver the thank-you notes I finished and pick up the laptop I'll be using from home.
I get home and sit at Vance's computer to catch up on email and then I'm heading to the couch for a nap. I'm perusing Julie's Smugmug gallery of all of our friend's adorable children that she photographs. Apparently Fox liked the pictures so much, he wanted to meet his friends early.
I felt a funny feeling downstairs, and wondered if that was my first 'real' contraction. As I pondered this, I heard a "pop" and all of the sudden it was rather wet all around. I was kind of in shock, because a woman's water only breaks like that on TV or in the movies, and it never happened to anyone I knew! After I got the situation slightly more under control, I called Vance to come home right away. I called my doctor, and they wanted me in to Triage immediately. Tip for anyone who's water breaks and you're full-term - unless you're having serious contractions - stay home as long as you can.
So I called my family, Vance's mom, and a few other folks to let them know Fox was on his way. I made sure to call Sandra to cancel dinner-the girls were planning on going to Bella Bella to celebrate my birthday (which was Wednesday).
My neighbor Katlynn came over and emptied the car of the stuff I was going to return to Target and loaded it up with my birthing ball, and our pillows from Childbirth Class.
Vance FINALLY got home and we finished the last minute packing and headed to TMH. We stopped at Wendy's since it was almost dinner and I figured a grilled chicken sammy would do me good. And a Frosty, of course!
We check in, and sit. And sit and sit and sit. My pastor and his wife come, expecting us to be in a l/d room by now. No, not us. We rushed to the hospital to sit and wait an hour and a half to be admitted to Triage. The only positive I can say is that the two fun nurses from my NST that morning were still on duty. We finally got back to a l/d room around 7:30 or so.
I was having contractions, but they weren't doing a whole lot to progress my labor. My dad arrived, Vance's mom arrived, and things still weren't moving along. They checked me out, and gave me a warning that if things didn't get moving, they might have to make them get moving. Apparently I work well when being threatened with Pitocin.
I got in the tub, and my contractions intensified. Man, I would have stayed there all night if they had let me! Then my mom and my sister arrived with Dylan. That kid got so big! He is seriously a cute kid. We visited for a bit with me modestly draped in the tub. They left to get Dylan and my dad settled in the house, and Sandra came by with some beautiful flowers and encouragement.
They made me get out of the tub to put me on the monitors and see how things were going. Basically, they still weren't. So they had to put internal monitors on to keep a closer eye on Fox.
This upset me a lot, since I wasn't allowed back in the tub with those monitors. So I hung out on the birthing ball most of the time as my contractions intensified more. I had to kick my mom and Vance's mom out. It was too much, and my mom doesn't do well with me in pain. So it was Vance and my sister Shannon for the long haul. A word about that-we could not have done it without my sister. She was able to spell Vance when he needed a break, and the two of them tag-teamed keeping me hydrated and my forehead cooled when I needed it. Vance was still recovering from his sinus infection, and it was so awesome that my sister could be there to make sure he was okay too. They had to start an IV antibiotic drip since it had been 12 hours ago that my water had broken.
So things got pretty intense. I was basically communicating in one-syllable commands/requests and was getting extremely tired. Thoughts of C-sections flitted across my brain, and I wanted to be checked for progress. I had reached 5 cm, but that's only halfway. I decided I needed something to take the edge off, since my contractions were serious now. They gave me a hit of Stadol. Apparently it only lasts 30 minutes. Good thing they didn't tell me that, I lasted 2 hours before I wanted another one. That was just enough to allow me to rest between contractions. I'll spare the gory details after that, mostly because I don't remember all of them. I know that it's a big deal when you have to be reminded to breathe. Thanks, Vance. ; )
Essentially, the next time the checked me, Fox was crowning. Everything got really busy around me, but I just tried to focus on breathing. Pushing was seriously the hardest thing ever. Let's leave it at that.
Fox arrived at 6:47 am on Wednesday, October 11th, 2006. My birthday. Best present ever!
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