Now that we are finally home and settled I've found a few minutes here and there to hop on the blog and do some writing! I'm sure some of this will be typed one handed because so far Joseph only sleeps for 15 minutes at a time unless he's held. But I have a few hours until the other kids get up from their naps, so here's hoping that's enough time.
Joseph's arrival was long anticipated for me. With my doctor's due date being two weeks sooner than the ultrasounds due date I was ready for him any time during these last few weeks. Mr. Stannix always insisted he would come around the ultrasound due date and it looks like he was right! With contractions starting Wednesday night, this delivery became much longer in some ways than my previous two. All day Thursday I had contractions 30 minutes apart, and most of the night I would get woken with really painful ones. All day Friday I recorded my contractions, most being 10-15 minutes apart, but some even further. I hoped all day that I wouldn't have another full night of contractions. After talking to my parents they decided to come up for the weekend "just in case". We spent the night visiting, eating and watching a movie. It was so comforting knowing they would be watching the kiddos if we were in the hospital for the weekend. Baby couln't have picked a better weekend to come than the one where Mr. Stannix had a really important course to attend here in the city for three days.
After the movie ended I was getting some pretty good contractions. I wasn't sure whether or not to go to the hospital, and didn't want to keep Mike up into the night for nothing. Finally it was decided that I would head to the hospital with my Mum and sister to see what was up. This way Mr. Stannix wouldn't lose sleep if they ended up sending me home. We left here around mid-night and by the time we got to the hospital I was 7 minutes apart consistently. They assessed me and listened to baby's heart beat for an hour before sending me to walk around for 30 minutes. I looked awesome in my gown, sweater and sneakers and hated walking the halls where people could see me. By the time my sister and I finished our laps around the halls my contractions were becoming more intense. At 2:30am I called home and woke Mike to let him know I had been admitted. I then went to delivery room 6 with my Mum and Sister to wait.
Mr. Stannix showed up right on time. My Mamma had me in a hug to ease pain when he walked in. My Mum and sister had been super helpful, but there's nothing like having your birth partner there to get you through. No body knows how to push hard on my back to help me through the back labour like Mr. Stannix can. After going through this two times already we hardly needed to communicate with words. Mike knew exactly when to push on my lower back, exactly when to leave me alone, exactly when to hug me to ease the shakes and exactly when to say something encouraging.
To be honest I wasn't looking forward to this delivery. With the first baby everything is new and unexpected, so I just rolled with it. With the second baby I felt confident and knew that I could do it. With this one I was confident in my body, but also remembered all too well what was ahead and didn't want to go there. I'm pretty sure I said, "I just don't want to do this" a few times. I knew I was in good hands though with a nurse who had seven of her own at home.
After Mike showed up labour progressed fast. I was so exhausted from lack of sleep and couldn't wait until I could just lie in a bed with my new bundle snuggled in my arms. With my regular doctor away I met Doctor M for the first time in the delivery room. I was thrilled to have a female doctor and she didn't fail to live up to my expectations. After a lot of pushing and a decline in baby's heart rate she called in an older Doctor for some assistance. We had learned in an ultrasound a few weeks sooner that baby's cord was around the neck and it could be a concern. After some talking both Doctors agreed that the baby was also face up. The older Doctor was able to easily flip the baby over and moments later it was announced that we had a boy! I was shocked being convinced that it was a girl for these past nine months, but tears of joy still brimmed in my eyes. The baby was immediately placed on my chest and I felt so triumphant. Look what I just did.
We both stared at our new baby boy for a few minutes, Daddy cut the cord, and then our baby was weighed and measured. He was 7lb 2oz, just like Camilla, and 21 inches long. I couldn't get over his dark hair, tiny face, and furrowed brow. As Mike snuggled him in the chair at my bed side I looked at him and felt like the name Joseph suited him, after Mike's Grandpa. The middle name we picked is Allen after my Grampa. Both strong, old fashioned names, and two great men to look up to.
After some more cuddles, a nursing session for Joseph and a shower, the nurse snuggled me under a warm blanket and wheeled me to my room. It was shortly after 6am and we were both so exhausted that we curled up on the hospital bed and slept the morning on and off between visits from the nurses and breakfast. We kept the news to ourselves for a while because we didn't want to wake anyone at home. It was kind of fun having our own little secret for a few hours. As we sat on the bed with baby snuggled in my arms I felt like a very blessed lady.
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