7 pounds 3 ounces and other details

Here is my new son, Samuel Thomas Newton. He is my perfectly good reason for staying home from church today.

On Friday at noon I arrived at the hospital to meet with the obstetrician. He did an ultrasound which showed Samuel in head-down position (thankfully!) but still high. We decided to go with the induction because Samuel was still moving around a lot. First I was strapped to the fetal monitors for an hour, then moved to the birthing room. My midwife was also with me, although my case had been officially transferred to the obstetrician.

There they ruptured the membranes and started an IV with an antibiotic and oxytocin. Oxytocin is the hormone that starts labour. I lay on the bed, not being allowed to sit up for fear that the cord would come before the baby's head. That would have meant an automatic emergency C-section, the thing we were most trying to avoid. We needed the oxytocin to work to bring the head down more first.

After about 4 hours, they said his head was down enough that I could sit up a little while they doubled the dose of the oxytocin. I think it was about 6:30 p.m. when the obstetrician finally said I could sit fully upright, which is what works best for me to get the most effective contractions. By about 6:45 the contractions were intense enough for me to say they were quite painful. (After ten births I have developed a rather high pain tolerance! :) )

I heard the doctor say to the midwife that he was going to deliver the baby, and to let him know when it was time for him to come back. When he left the room, I asked Celine (my midwife) if I had to have him deliver. Nothing against him, I said, but Celine knows me, I know her, and we work well together. I said I'd rather have her do it. She left the room, and in 5 minutes she came back and said that she would to the delivery, but that the doctor would be nearby.

At just past 8 p.m. I was in transition, meaning that pretty soon I would start pushing. The doctor poked his head in, saw that we were doing fine, and then stayed in the hall till Samuel was born.

Samuel was born at 8:21 p.m. I held him for over an hour before I let Celine take him to weigh him. She guessed his weight at 7 lbs 2 oz while I said he couldn't be more than 7 pounds. He actually weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and measured 21 1/4 inches long. Tom dressed him then, while Celine helped me get cleaned up. I ate my first meal since breakfast, a very yummy (though not very nutricious!) ham salad sandwich, cookies, ice cream, and ginger ale. Nothing was open and that was all they had in the staff refrigerator.

We left the hospital just after 11:00 and got home at 11:30. Some of the children were still up and the others wanted wakened up. Timothy was not at all thrilled with his new brother that night, but the next morning he was pretty excited. He and John both said, "I wike him!" (Well, Timmy said "it"!)

So there are all the details. Samuel is sleeping now, so I'm going to try to sleep, too. I was awake most of the night with him. Just as I finally got to sleep, Timmy came in to snuggle with me. Then about an hour later John came in to sleep with us because the cat was bothering him in his bed. Tom, meanwhile, had taken over the couch. We need a bigger bed!

Actually, tonight we're going to make sure the big cat is outside and shut the little cat in the bathroom. And Tom is going to work with Timmy on having him stay in his own bed.