Vincent's Birth

Well, I'm finally feeling like I can hold my head above water so I thought i should try to update the blog. Vincent is nearly four months and as always it's wild how fast the time has gone by. The birth was much different this time. On my actual due date Sunday, the 16th I kept wondering if my water broke but I wasn't sure. Monday morning I called the midwives and let them know but I still wasn't sure, I would sit on the toilet to see if I could hear water trickling but it wasn't although my underpants were getting wet. And I wasn't having any contractions. The midwife wanted me to come in, just in case. As I got myself & Baxter ready it became more clear that in fact my water had broken. My midwives office was right next to Baxter school so I dropped him off and headed over. On the way I called Kristine and told her today was definitely the day. When I got to the birth center, I was on a table and got off to put on the robe they gave me, as I stood up there was a big gush of water. The midwife tested that and confirmed my bag broke. They checked me into a room and the friends we had asked to be there ahead of time started to show up besides moral support they all had other jobs.. Lisa (to help with Baxter), Keith (video taping), Aunt Janet (as god momma). All day we walked around and nothing was happening I had some light contractions and I was thinking 'maybe it's just not going to hurt this time'. Thinking it was going to go quickly I had Lisa pick up Baxter around noon because he did not want to miss the birth. He and I had lots of conversations about the birth and he was certain he wanted to participate. Lisa was there in case he changed his mind at any time. He was such a good boy being there ALL day, with very little to do and hours past his bedtime by the time Vincent came. We were very grateful to have Lisa there she was amazing at entertaining our big boy! Finally around 9 pm the contractions really kicked in, I asked that they bring in the tub because it was such a help to me during Baxter's birth. They don't like you to get in the tub unless you are in active labor, which I was certain I was. The midwives came in at 9:50 and for the first time all day checked me. I was shocked when they said I was only at a two! A two, I had been at a two the week before durning my last appointment. I got a bit teary eyed, they suggested I get back up and walk to get the labor going. I really believed I was at the end, I was in WAY more pain than I had been in with Baxter and I felt like I couldn't calm myself down. I got up, went to the bathroom and vomited, I took two steps out of our room to walk the hall and stopped. There was no way I could take another step. Kristine & Janet who were on both sides of me pretty much carried me back to the bed where I had been laboring on my hands and knees before. Right when I got back on the bed I told Kristine I needed to push. She went out to let the midwives know, both midwives & the nurses had gone to get something to eat since I was only at a two. She finally sees them all coming up the hall and lets them know I feel like I need to push. They enter the room, check me and let me know I was about to have a baby... well duh! At this point it got very scary the contractions were coming so fast, right on top of each other Kristine could see I was freighted and stayed up with me, I just held her hands, looked into her eyes, pushed three times and Vincent was out. I was still on my knees and the midwife told me to catch my baby, I then dropped on my bottom and grabbed Vincent. It was wonderful. He was born at 10:20 pm, yep thirty minutes after I was at a 2. The midwife told me the next day that kids especially boys get scared at the end but Baxter was very calm, she lifted him on the bed and he started rubbing my back and telling me to take peaceful piggy breaths. I always complained that Baxter's birth took too long at 36 hours but I felt much more centered during his labor because it was such a slow process. With Vincent it was a lot more painful and a bit scary but I was only in pain for maybe two hours. Unfortunately, when the nurses were cutting his cord they clipped too close to his skin and he started bleeding and the ped's had to come take care of it. It wasn't until I saw the video later that I found out it was over twenty minutes before I got him back to me.
The first few days I was in heaven he was such an easygoing baby. Within the next week however he began to get colic. I never believed colic was real. It was horrible every night from 6 to 10 pm he would scream bloody murder. Thankfully my mom stayed with us, I don't know what I would have done without her. He does cry more than Baxter did but he laughs a lot more too. I was a bit nervous he rolled over from back to belly two days before he turned two months and from belly to back the day after he turned two months I thought he would be crawling by four months, like Baxter, but as of now he doesn't seem anywhere near crawling. He is a charming little guy and has already brought so much joy to our little family.

Janet & Baxter helping to make me feel better.