We Had a Baby

Meet Harvey Glen Ellsworth! Born September 6 at 3:00ish PM. 8lbs 7 oz, 21 in.

I decided to go "natural" for this one and have him without an epidural. Natural childbirth has always intrigued me and felt like this great mystery people always talk about, and I wanted to know what all the fuss was about (I mean, really, the most painful thing ever?). I felt like it was something I should experience at least once and also like it would be a kind of cool and empowering or something. So I made up my mind and did some research and tried to prepare myself for that.

But the baby didn't want to come out. I was getting so antsy, and 5 days after his due date, he or she was STILL in there (and I was dying to know if it was a he or she). On Saturday night I was having pretty consistent Braxton Hicks so I started timing them. I was really paranoid about being in labor and not realizing it, because that kind of happened with the twins. I was also worried labor would happen so fast that we wouldn't get to the hospital in time. HA! So when my "contractions" were about 7 min. apart, I called my mom to come over so we could leave all the kids in bed. By the time she got there, I knew I wasn't really in labor, but I figured we should just go to the hospital because I was way overdue and at least 4cm--how could they turn me away?!

After spending an hour in triage, they could see my "contractions" were totally lame, but also that I was 5cm, so they asked if I wanted to walk around for an hour to try to get labor to pick up. So we did laps around the floor for an hour. When I went back to triage I was at 6cm. So maybe I was kind of in labor (but not really having contractions). I was admitted and told to keep being active since that was the only time I could feel anything. At this point it was midnight and I was exhausted, but I spent hours pacing and bouncing on a yoga ball. Nothing! As my sweet British midwife put it "Since you had twins last time, your body's probably just wondering what the hell's going on." I was so frustrated and discouraged and beating myself up for going in before I was really in labor. I tried to sleep a little, but was feeling too upset and anxious to get much rest.

At 5 AM one of my midwives (there were two there for some reason) said I should walk for an hour again to see if anything changed. Still nothing. So finally around 7:30, they put an iv in, which I was hoping to avoid, and started Pitocin. Soon I started having strong, consistent contractions. I was so happy! But after several hours of that, I still wasn't making much progress. So they broke my water around 12:30--I really wish they would have done that when I first came in. Contractions on Pitocin after your water breaks are NOT comfortable. I was able to play it cool for a while and stay up out of bed, but then I started feeling like I was going to pass out so I whined for the midwives to come help me. They were awesome! They were so calm and encouraging and made me get in the shower on a yoga ball which did not sound helpful at all, but totally was.

After a couple hours of real labor, I was done! The whole time I was thinking "this is so stupid. Why would anyone do this?!" I hadn't slept in days and there was hardly any relief between contractions and I was worried it could be hours more. I just started bawling and saying "I don't want to do it anymore, just get me drugs!" Jacob said, "No, I'm not saying anything, you'll be mad at me later". I begged him again to go get someone, but he wouldn't so I pulled the bathroom "Emergency" cord (I was still in the shower). My nurse and midwives came rushing in thinking the baby was coming out. Instead they found me crying, saying "I'm so tired. I can't do it anymore". They assured me that meant it was almost over. I remembered my friend saying the same thing: when you think you can't do it anymore, you're almost done!

So they brought me back to the bed and raised the head of it for me to kneel at. After a few more contractions, I knew it was time to push which was a crazy feeling. After a couple pushes (and me saying "Get it out! Get it out!" in between, because that really didn't feel good), he was out! And he was a he, and everything was great. Except they had me hold him for two hours before they washed him off or anything which I thought was a little too long. One of the midwives kept saying "That was the most peaceful birth ever" which I thought was funny because I felt like a dramatic wreck. Recovery was a breeze, and for some crazy reason I'm already thinking "I'd do it again" even though during most of the process I was thinking "Never again!"

So far Harvey likes to be eating all day long, but sleeps well at night *knock on wood*. His siblings were all over him at first, but pretty much let him be now. When he's upset, Clark talks to him really sweetly "It's ok. It will be alright" and the girls echo him and they all sing him lullabies and it's just way too cute.