A lot to say since the last posting! Around 2am on the 13th, I woke Nate up because I was getting a bit miserable from the contractions. We stayed home as long as possible, but left for the hospital around 3:20am, as we had a long drive ahead of us. It was incredibly foggy on our way up the Peak to Matilda Hospital, and the road was winding and narrow. I was having intense contractions every 3 minutes, and could barely stay in my seat!
We finally arrived around 4am, and made our way to the maternity floor, stopping along the way for contractions. I got set up in "delivery spa" number 2, and found out I was 4cm dialated. I powered through the pain for a few more hours, but eventually ended up deciding to get a "mobile epidural," or light epidural. The midwife thought it would likely still be around 4 more hours until I could even start pushing (first labors are often slow), and I didn't want to be completely exhausted and miserable from the pain so I could save some energy for all the pushing.
Because I was already so far along when I got the epidural, it actually sped up the process a bit. The epidural took away enough pain that I could relax a bit more and let the contractions do their job. From 7am to 9:30am, I dialated the last 4cm and was ready to push. I pushed so hard for two hours, trying different positions with the midwife and Nate helping, to try to get the baby's head out. Grace wasn't totally sure why it wouldn't come out; it was so close! The midwife pushed down hard on my belly while I pushed with all my strength.
After 2 hours of serious pushing, Grace said we would have to use the ventouse if the baby didn't come out really soon. I gathered up every bit of strength I had left and somehow managed to get the head out, finally! Come to find out, the baby had a huge head (37.5cm circumference) of blonde hair, which explained why I had to work so hard! From there, I pushed a little more and then reached down and pulled the baby out and laid him onto my tummy! Welcome to the world Finley Whitman Dennison, born at 11:37am on April 13, 2010!
While I held Finley, Nate cut the cord. Once we had a few good cries out of Finley to clear his lungs, he started nursing for a long while. The midwife gave Nate and me lots of time to bond with our new son before doing any weighing or measuring. Nate and I soaked up the first moments with our precious baby. He was very alert, and scored a 9 on his Apgar. Go Finley!
After an hour or so, the midwife came back and weighed our little man. Drumroll please...8 lb 14.5oz! Whoa! Much bigger than Nate or I were when we were born.
We took Finley to the nursery next to do the rest of his measurements. 50.5cm long and his head was 37.5cm in diameter. (Every single midwife comments on his size!)
Finley also took a quick bath in the nursery, because he kindly pooped and peed all over himself and me after the delivery. (A sign of things to come?) Finley does not like to be cold or naked!
Last, Finley got footprinted. He has long, slender feet and hands.
The rest of the day went by in a blur of feeding and changing. I was quite weak, so Nate took the lead on changing so I could focus on feeding. He's already a wonderful father, and I definitely couldn't do it without him!
