We welcomed Aussie into this world at 8:29pm on August 21st. He was 6 lbs 1.7 oz and about 19 inches long.
Saturday I was feeling pretty miserable. I wanted to sew, but I also wanted to get out of the house. We took the kids to the Boonshoft Museum and walked around. I has some soft contractions, but I was feeling like I didn't really want to have the baby tonight. When we got home I put all the quilt stuff away and looked over my "Before Baby Comes To Do List" which included:
On Friday I was having contractions but nothing serious. I actually thought I would go the hospital that night, but they subsided. Trouble has his first day of school that day. Cynthia had the other two that morning, so I finished up some last minute MOPS stuff and did some sewing on the baby quilt. Later that night we hosted an impromptu BBQ with our new neighbors. We also had over another family in our ward and Jonathan Climer. His wife and baby are out of town and he said he'd watched the kids when I went to the hospital. So we thought we should have him over for dinner before hand. I didn't go to bed early, like I should have. I stayed up and prepped for church. I e-mailed out a bunch of instructions of thing to do in case I wasn't there. I packed the kid church bag and got clothes out for Saturday and Sunday. I slept well. At least if I didn't have the baby, I was ready for church.
Saturday I was feeling pretty miserable. I wanted to sew, but I also wanted to get out of the house. We took the kids to the Boonshoft Museum and walked around. I has some soft contractions, but I was feeling like I didn't really want to have the baby tonight. When we got home I put all the quilt stuff away and looked over my "Before Baby Comes To Do List" which included:
Cleaning the van, inside and out, and installing the car seat bases in both cars
Cleaning the garage and putting camping stuff away
Packing the hospital bag
Trouble all ready for school: Supplies and clothes bought
YW
MOPS, I'm doing Hospitality again this year
Travis' B-day (we did a mystery dinner last weekend)
Backpack B-day (decorations and cake bought, presents wrapped)
Haircuts for boys
Trouble had a talk in church last week
Birth plan to Midwife
Work on Baby quilt
Got our new phones (our Sprint HTC EVO) (which is a story all in its own)
Spare bed made
Baby stuff ready - car seat, co-sleeper attached to bed, blankets washed, supplies stocked
and other boring things like groceries bought, cleaning done, laundry, etc...
I had everything done I wanted to or at least done to a reasonable level so I could relax when baby did come.
ANYWAY~ I took a nap and slept through all the dumb, annoying contractions that don't really count. I woke about 4:30pm and meandered. We got everything ready to go the hospital in the van. At 5:30pm I had my first I-cannot-walk-through-this contraction. I told Travis. We fed the kids, gave them baths, and did our usual nighttime routine. I wasn't much help, but I wanted the kids in bed before we left. Travis called Jonathon a little after 7pm and told him to come right away. He just had to read stories to them and lay them down. At this point the contractions were less then 3 min apart for a minute long and extremely painful. I thought I was going to DIE! I called the hospital, told them I was coming and to be prepared because I labor quickly.
We got to the hospital at 7:30pm. There wasn't a room ready. I knew I needed my waters broken so I didn't have some of the back labor I was experiencing. The contractions were one right after another. I barely got undressed. The nurse checked me and I was at 7cm and fully effaced. I refused an IV, which did not go over well. The doctor would not break my waters without putting in an IV first. I explained that the Midwife said if I didn't want one, I didn't get one. But still they refused. I was in pain and desperate. I knew if they just broke my waters, my pain would subside long enough for me to rational. Yet they wouldn't do it.
By this time Travis is in a full out yelling match with the Colonel in charge. Finally they checked me again and I was complete! It took less than 40 minutes for me to go from 7cm to complete. All this time with my waters intact which, I KNOW FOR A FACT, makes labor worse than it should be. I thought I was going to DIE!
Finally I said, put the stupid IV in, JUST BREAK MY WATERS!! The nurse put the IV in and THE DOCTORS LEFT THE ROOM!! OOHHH, I was so mad! The nurse then "helped" me break my waters by checking me.... Then, guess what!?! I stopped contracting completely. I got break, hallelujah! Another Dr. came in and put gowns on. On the next contraction I pushed twice and popped out a beautiful baby boy!
So I was only at the hospital for an hour and managed to create all sorts of drama! The Colonel came in later and apologized for everything that went wrong. He thought Travis was going to hit him. He reported the incident to the 'guys upstairs' and they thought maybe Travis was an abusive husband. Ha Ha! Nope he is just extremely protective of me and what I want. Travis would have fought him to the end if I didn't give in. The Midwife apologized for not being there. So this may or may not affect Travis' career. Travis called his chain of command to explain what happened just in case hospital decides to pursue anything. Travis was told that there really wasn't much they could do, unless we decided to file formal complaints. We haven't decided. All I know is that I was okay in the end and things could have been smoother if they had followed my wishes. This was the first time I've had an IV. I've gone natural with all the kids. I always say, next time I'm getting an epidural. Travis just laughs at me!
Ironically outside my hospital door there is a sign that says,
"Tip of the Month: Rule #1:The customer is always right Tip #2: If the customer is ever wrong, reread rule#1. (Its hard to read on this picture)
Baby Aussie is doing well. I took him in for a two day follow up and he's gained back to his birth weight and he's not jaundice. He took up nursing quickly and eats about every 3 hours.
The kids have been fantastic with him. Backpack hasn't shown any jealousy issues (yet). In fact he is concerned with every noise Aussie makes. If Aussie is crying, Backpack will say, "What happen?" and when I change his diaper Backpack will say, "Baby owie?" (Because of the circumcision). Dynomite has been an excellent help fetching baby items for me and wanting to hold Aussie. Trouble is up to his old tactics of trying to make Aussie laugh.
Since Travis is home working on his thesis he is able to take a break from being in his office upstairs all day to playing with the kids, taking Trouble to and from school, and taking charge of mealtimes. I've been able to keep up on the housework and take care of all the little things that come up. The best part is that all the hard work of getting ready for Aussie has paid off because now I'm just able to relax at home and not feel stressed! I just get to contently hold my snugly little guy (and read a few books).
My mom will be out here at the end of next week and Travis mom will come out the last weekend my mom is here. I'm so excited! The best part is that when they're here I'll be all recovered so we can go have some fun!!!
Denay right after delivering Baby Aussie:
Giving daddy the evil eye :-)
Denay later that night when we got settled into the room. Unfortunately this hospital doesn't have a nursery. Its nice to have the baby with you, but its also nice to get some rest before all the real work begins...
Backpack so happy to have a little brother. Someone he can pick on ~or~ love on...what do you think??
So sweet Dynomite! She'll be a good mommy's helper!
Trouble is really excited. He can't wait to play with Aussie.
One proud Daddy...
Aussie's first trip in the car seat...to go home! Yeah!!!
The next day at home. I have all I need...the baby, a book downloaded on my phone and some chocolate cake :-)
