It's a boy!
OK... He's been here for 4 weeks, now. Sorry for slacking on the announcement, but somehow with 2 small kiddos and a business, I'm just not finding a lot of online time these days.
Anyway, Seamus Zachary joined us on July 6 at 8:45 pm.
My new little boy is just wonderful! I think it is going to be really fun to have the opportunity to parent a little boy now.
The labor was fantastic. I don't know if we'll have any more children, but if we do, it will definitely be at home. I went into labor in the morning, so I asked my husband, Sean, to wrap up at work by lunchtime. He came home, and my mom came up from Richmond in the early afternoon to Molly-wrangle. For the morning, my contractions stayed around 8-10 minutes apart, so I just relaxed, took care of a few last minute things and hung out with Molly.
My mother got here around 1:30, and she and Molly left for the Discovery Museum around 2. As soon as they left, a psychological barrier fell, and the contractions accelerated to 4-5 minutes apart, but we're terribly painful. Around 6 pm, they started to get more intense, but as long as I kept moving, I could handle them. I tried getting in the bath, but it was miserable. I had to keep moving! I actually ended up putting on some Celt Punk music (Flogging Molly), and just paced around the house. With each contraction, I would sing along at the top of my lungs to help me through. Very weird, I guess, but it worked for me. Around 7:30, we decided to call the midwife. I hadn't really been timing the contractions, so I was thinking that we still had a ways to go until the baby came, since the labor was still bearable.
I had a pitocin induction with Molly, and by the time I reached 4 cm with her, the contractions were so unbearable, and absolutely relentless (no break inbetwen at all!), that I opted for an epidural. Since that was the only labor experience I had known, I just figured we'd wait until labor was at least *that* intense before calling the midwife. Fortunately, Sean decided that it was better to call too soon than too late, so he pressed the issue.
After we called, we started timing, and realized that the contractions were only 2 minutes or so apart. Deren (our midwife) got there just before 8 pm. She took one look at me, did a quick check of the baby's heart rate, and then started scrambling to get ready for the birth. As I saw her van pull up, another psychological barrier fell, and my body shot into transition. Things got really intense then, and I fell to my hands and knees on the floor in my bedroom. At some point I moved into the bathroom, and then to a drop cloth our midwife had prepared in the bedroom. About 30 minutes after she got there, Deren checked and told me that my cervix was full dialated. That's all I needed to hear, and the urge to push came over me. It only took about 6 or 7 pushes to get Seamus out (14 minutes total). I roared like a wild animal with each push. It was crazy and amazing and scared the hell out of my husband. I remember him saying, "Oh my god, it's a baby!" I had to ask at least twice before anyone would tell me whether it was a boy or a girl.
He was born at 8:45 pm, and weighed 7 lbs 10 oz.
The baby and I got settled onto the bed (umbilical cord still attached), and I delivered the placenta there. Seamus was a robust, perfect newborn, and latched on and started nursing within moments. It took an hour or two to get the baby and I cleaned up and settled in, but finally my mother and daughter were invited up to meet him. I'll never forget the look on Molly's face the first time she saw here brother. Her eyes grew impossibly wide, and the most amazing grin spread across her face. She came and sat next to me, and we gently laid the baby across her lap. She just kept staring at him, and finally looked up at me and said in astonishment, "It's a baby. Do you see him, Mommy?" She was so excited and wanted to hold him so much, that my husband hardly got to hold the baby the first night.
More pictures at: http://gallagherclan.blogspot.com
Anyway, Seamus Zachary joined us on July 6 at 8:45 pm.
My new little boy is just wonderful! I think it is going to be really fun to have the opportunity to parent a little boy now.
The labor was fantastic. I don't know if we'll have any more children, but if we do, it will definitely be at home. I went into labor in the morning, so I asked my husband, Sean, to wrap up at work by lunchtime. He came home, and my mom came up from Richmond in the early afternoon to Molly-wrangle. For the morning, my contractions stayed around 8-10 minutes apart, so I just relaxed, took care of a few last minute things and hung out with Molly.
My mother got here around 1:30, and she and Molly left for the Discovery Museum around 2. As soon as they left, a psychological barrier fell, and the contractions accelerated to 4-5 minutes apart, but we're terribly painful. Around 6 pm, they started to get more intense, but as long as I kept moving, I could handle them. I tried getting in the bath, but it was miserable. I had to keep moving! I actually ended up putting on some Celt Punk music (Flogging Molly), and just paced around the house. With each contraction, I would sing along at the top of my lungs to help me through. Very weird, I guess, but it worked for me. Around 7:30, we decided to call the midwife. I hadn't really been timing the contractions, so I was thinking that we still had a ways to go until the baby came, since the labor was still bearable.
I had a pitocin induction with Molly, and by the time I reached 4 cm with her, the contractions were so unbearable, and absolutely relentless (no break inbetwen at all!), that I opted for an epidural. Since that was the only labor experience I had known, I just figured we'd wait until labor was at least *that* intense before calling the midwife. Fortunately, Sean decided that it was better to call too soon than too late, so he pressed the issue.
After we called, we started timing, and realized that the contractions were only 2 minutes or so apart. Deren (our midwife) got there just before 8 pm. She took one look at me, did a quick check of the baby's heart rate, and then started scrambling to get ready for the birth. As I saw her van pull up, another psychological barrier fell, and my body shot into transition. Things got really intense then, and I fell to my hands and knees on the floor in my bedroom. At some point I moved into the bathroom, and then to a drop cloth our midwife had prepared in the bedroom. About 30 minutes after she got there, Deren checked and told me that my cervix was full dialated. That's all I needed to hear, and the urge to push came over me. It only took about 6 or 7 pushes to get Seamus out (14 minutes total). I roared like a wild animal with each push. It was crazy and amazing and scared the hell out of my husband. I remember him saying, "Oh my god, it's a baby!" I had to ask at least twice before anyone would tell me whether it was a boy or a girl.
He was born at 8:45 pm, and weighed 7 lbs 10 oz.
The baby and I got settled onto the bed (umbilical cord still attached), and I delivered the placenta there. Seamus was a robust, perfect newborn, and latched on and started nursing within moments. It took an hour or two to get the baby and I cleaned up and settled in, but finally my mother and daughter were invited up to meet him. I'll never forget the look on Molly's face the first time she saw here brother. Her eyes grew impossibly wide, and the most amazing grin spread across her face. She came and sat next to me, and we gently laid the baby across her lap. She just kept staring at him, and finally looked up at me and said in astonishment, "It's a baby. Do you see him, Mommy?" She was so excited and wanted to hold him so much, that my husband hardly got to hold the baby the first night.
More pictures at: http://gallagherclan.blogspot.com