Well, he took his sweet time, and he’s been a handful since his birth, but he is finally here and as snuggly as can be.
.
Gus was born on October 12 at 9:26pm weighing 8lbs 7oz and 21 inches long.
.
His birth story actually begins with his daddy’s pain. Jay had been experiencing GI symptoms and joint pain for weeks and we finally were able to get him in to see his GI doctor. The doctor was concerned with the way his symptoms were shaping up, so he recommended a colonoscopy ASAP – the first availability for that was Friday October 14, which just happened to be my due date. Jay made the appointment, knowing that I usually have the baby well over a week before my due date.
.
And then the days began to tick by. We rounded the weekend before the due date and I began to panic. Saturday night had looked promising – contractions kept me awake most of the night but never got quite close enough to call the midwife and petered out as morning dawned. Thankfully, Sunday night was quiet and I got a good bit of rest.
.
Monday morning I began to panic. I couldn’t very well have a baby while my husband was having a colonoscopy or doing the prep involved. The prep (er, bowel cleanse) was supposed to start Thursday afternoon, and here I was still very pregnant. I texted Jay and told him that if I hadn’t had the baby by Thursday morning we should cancel his colonoscopy. I felt horrible, knowing that he really needed this, but I needed to know he would be feeling well enough to help me through labor. I also talked to the midwife, who suggested we try castor oil and stripping my membranes. So we set that plan in motion. Castor oil went down the hatch at about 1:30pm, I think. Out of the pure exhaustion that followed later that week, I forget the exact timing of things that night. But contractions started, my midwife came, night passed with a stuttering labor, and labor died out near morning. It was very frustrating to say the least.
.
The next day (Tuesday) was full of the usual busyness of a full household, with not much time to rest. Night came and labor kicked up again. Second verse, same as the first… contractions, midwife, pool set up, no sleep, then near morning it all stopped again. Well, mostly stopped. I still had sharp, painful contractions, but only every half hour or so. I rested while I could, but I couldn’t sleep because of the contractions. I called a friend who is a chiropractor and asked if she would come over and adjust me. I just did not feel at all up to going anywhere. I hadn’t slept for 3 out of the previous 4 nights, and was in enough pain that I wanted to stay home. She was able to come over in the late afternoon and found that I was badly out of alignment. She adjusted me carefully and told me to sit on the birth ball for a while to help keep things lined up. She left sometime between 4:30 and 5pm. I sat on the birth ball and the contractions began to get harder to handle. After about a half hour there I moved to the couch to lay on my left side and try to get more comfortable. It didn’t help much. Jay was home from work by now and fed the kids dinner. He came in to check on me and all I could do was cry. I was so tired and so afraid of just laboring all night again. After about another half hour, I had Jay call the midwife.
.
She was over quick as a wink, knowing that at anytime things could go quickly. She probably arrived sometime around 6pm. I was in so much pain with contractions I told her I didn’t want any cervical checks. She could see that things were indeed progressing now and told me she would only check me if I wanted her to. I moved to a rocking chair in my bedroom. In between contractions I had no pain and mostly just relaxed, enjoying the break. I went to the bathroom a few times, sipped on water, and had contractions. Jay got things set up in between my contractions and softly rubbed my face during them – that was so calming and really helped me to remember to relax.
.
The birth pool was already set up from the previous night and we had left the heater on to keep it warm. It turned out that the heater worked a little too well – the temperature of the pool was hovering around 104 degrees, too hot to birth in and too hot for me to be comfortable even laboring in. (Ideal temperature for a birth pool is 98-102.) Jay could have brought the temperature down by emptying part of it and refilling with cooler water, but I really could not imagine going through contractions without him right near me. I decided I wanted his closeness more than I wanted to get in the birth pool. So he stayed right at my side.
.
I moved to the bed sometime later and began to get ready to really do this. Like usual for me, though, I didn’t want to push. I was really hoping this time would be like Lily’s birth and I could wait until a couple of little pushes would get him out. I imitated the positions I labored in with Lily. Eventually my midwife reminded me that Lily was a girl, was early, and probably much smaller than Gus was going to be and I would probably have to work harder this time. She was absolutely right. I got in a semi-sitting position and she put warm compressed on my perenium. That helped me to focus, but the sensation confused me a bit and made me feel like he was moving down when he really wasn’t. After a few wimpy pushes, I asked her to go ahead and check me and see what was going on. She did and found a little lip of cervix holding Gus back. She had me push while she moved it out of the way, which worked great.
.
Then I hit a wall – that wall in labor where there is so much pain, and pushing only hurts worse, but pushing is the only thing that will possibly shorten the time of pain. But after the previous days without rest, my coping skills were all used up. I could not bring myself to push. I cried, I refused to do it, I just could not bring on more intense pain.
.
Jay and my midwife encouraged me to try some different positions. I tried the birth stool, which was excruciating, and eventually ended up in a hands and knees position. It was so hard to move because contractions were so close and moving triggered a new one. So I would have a contraction, scramble into a position, only to have a contraction begin before I really got settled again. But once I was kneeling and had my arms resting on a stack of pillows in front of me, Gus helped me out a little. He moved. Oh hallelujah! He moved! And that helped me to push. And once he moved, he didn’t stop. I cried. I said I couldn’t do it. My daughters, scared by my crying and protesting, had left the room. But I did it through my own protests – I pushed as hard as I could. After a few pushes his head was out. But he didn’t come sliding out like other babies. I had to push hard for his body to come out too – it was like pushing out another head. (His chest was 15 inches around, the same as his head.)
.
But then it was done. He was out. He was behind me and I couldn’t see him yet, but the midwife’s first words were, “He’s big!” Then she and Jay helped me to sit back down and move my leg over him, so I could see him and hold him. He was big – for one of my babies anyway. He barely cried, but was pink and alert right away. He took a little while to start nursing, but he got going after a few tries. I was so relieved to hold him in my arms and that this seemingly endless labor was finally over. It truly was one of my hardest, if not THE hardest labor and birth, and I was a whining, crying mess all through it. I am so grateful to my amazing husband for being my rock all the way through it.
.
Jay was able to have his colonoscopy as scheduled a couple days later. It didn’t bring us any answers to his issues, but did help to rule out some possibilities.
.
And now, a month later, it is already a bit of a blur. Gus is beautiful and has already put on three more pounds, mostly because he nurses all day and night and can’t bear to be put down for any amount of time at all. That has made writing this out very difficult. But he has been smiling at us – directly at our faces – since just a few days old. He is so snuggly and loves to be in the sling or Sleepy Wrap. The kids adore him and I am cherishing his days as a tiny newborn. They will fly by so quickly.
Here he is at 1 month old, already 11lbs, 8oz.
