He's not a dragon; he's Wendell George, a kind of baby!
Wendell George Wiley Sittler was born at 5:10 pm on Friday, March 9. He was 8 lbs, 14 oz, making him our biggest baby, although I had guessed that he would be even bigger.
I was having lots of contractions throughout the weeks leading up to his birth. On Thursday morning, they were getting stronger and more frequent, and I thought I was going to have the baby that night. We went in to the hospital in the early evening (walking to BART and then taking the shuttle from BART to the hospital), but the contractions pretty much stopped when I got to the hospital. Walking around the halls for an hour didn't get things started up again, so back home we went. According to the discharge instructions, I was to come back if my water broke, if I had bloody show, or if I had contractions lasting 60-90 seconds 5 minutes apart for at least an hour.
After a shower, things settled down enough that I slept really well. I took Iris to school in the morning, went grocery shopping, and baked a couple loaves of bread. After all, I was just going to be pregnant for the next 2 weeks (or until my water broke) and these contractions were just something to get used to. Around noon, things started to pick up again, and I ended up watching movies on the couch with Neil & Zinnia and then making broccoli pasta for lunch. I noticed some bloody show, but the contractions were still only lasting about 30-40 seconds and usually 6-8 minutes apart. Ben helped get N & Z down for nap, and then it was time to get Iris from school. I realized that I was not feeling up for driving, so Ben drove to her school. The contractions seemed to get more frequent, but they never lasted as long as a minute. Nevertheless, when we got home, I thought it might be helpful to check and see if there was any change in dilation from yesterday.
There were indeed changes, and it took me a few seconds to realize that what I was feeling was the bulging bag of waters. Eeep! I told Ben that we really should head in soon, and he said that he had a teleconference about to start. "No, no, no, please no!" was my response. He bowed out of the teleconference and started setting up auto-reply emails to his coworkers that he wouldn't be working this afternoon/ evening and helping them figure out who to talk to instead. Contractions continued to get a little more intense and longer. Neil and Zinnia woke up from nap. Neil kept asking what was wrong and telling me, "You're going to have a BABY!" and "You'll feel better soon." Iris was making little moaning noises, and she said it was because she was worried about me. Ben was still on the computer. He finally came upstairs and I repeated that I thought it was time to go in, and added that if he washed his hands I could show him exactly why I thought that. So he went and washed his hands thoroughly, and then I heard him clipping his fingernails. After a minute or so, I called out, "Are you clipping ALL of your fingernails???"
Anyhow, he was soon convinced that I really was about to have a baby soon and that we should head to the hospital. He asked me if I wanted to take BART. Agh! No, I wanted him to drive. Now. He did, and we made it to the hospital parking garage at about 4:30. I almost couldn't walk during contractions, but we made it up to the third floor and got me signed in at 4:45. They found me a gurney in triage, and as soon as I climbed onto it, my water broke. "Oh!" I thought, "I really am going to have a baby." A nurse came in to check me and said I was complete and ready to push. In another minute, I was covered up with a sheet and rolling down the hall on the gurney. Once I got into the bed in the labor room, I was starting to push, but I was still having long-ish breaks between contractions and no urge to push during those. Another nurse got an IV into my arm. Someone called the doctor covering for my doctor and determined that there was no way she was getting to the hospital in time, and so another doctor was found.
And then suddenly, there was a lot of, "Well, I think she's going to have a baby soon, but I don't see it yet." "You can push even when you're not having a contraction." "Yeah, just give another little push." I was a little put out that it wasn't going fast enough for them! Anyhow, the head was out in another few minutes after that along with a lot of screaming on my part. The shoulders were stuck for a few seconds there, but soon enough, there was a slimy purple baby on my chest who was wailing and rapidly turning pink. He came out with bruises on his face, likely because of how fast the whole process had been. Following in his brother's footsteps, he peed all over me about 5 minutes after he was born.
The after-birth stuff went pretty well for me - the placenta came out intact, I had only a tiny tear, and bleeding was minimal. The afterpains are pretty rough though. I'd heard that they get worse with subsequent babies, but I wasn't expecting them to be worse than early labor. :-P Other than that, I've been doing well physically, but tired and emotionally pretty low.
Zinnia was sick, so we didn't think it would be a good idea to bring the kids to visit in the hospital and I felt bad being away more than necessary. We ended up leaving the next afternoon, and a home nurse visited us this morning to follow up.
The subject line of this post is a quote from Neil.
I was having lots of contractions throughout the weeks leading up to his birth. On Thursday morning, they were getting stronger and more frequent, and I thought I was going to have the baby that night. We went in to the hospital in the early evening (walking to BART and then taking the shuttle from BART to the hospital), but the contractions pretty much stopped when I got to the hospital. Walking around the halls for an hour didn't get things started up again, so back home we went. According to the discharge instructions, I was to come back if my water broke, if I had bloody show, or if I had contractions lasting 60-90 seconds 5 minutes apart for at least an hour.
After a shower, things settled down enough that I slept really well. I took Iris to school in the morning, went grocery shopping, and baked a couple loaves of bread. After all, I was just going to be pregnant for the next 2 weeks (or until my water broke) and these contractions were just something to get used to. Around noon, things started to pick up again, and I ended up watching movies on the couch with Neil & Zinnia and then making broccoli pasta for lunch. I noticed some bloody show, but the contractions were still only lasting about 30-40 seconds and usually 6-8 minutes apart. Ben helped get N & Z down for nap, and then it was time to get Iris from school. I realized that I was not feeling up for driving, so Ben drove to her school. The contractions seemed to get more frequent, but they never lasted as long as a minute. Nevertheless, when we got home, I thought it might be helpful to check and see if there was any change in dilation from yesterday.
There were indeed changes, and it took me a few seconds to realize that what I was feeling was the bulging bag of waters. Eeep! I told Ben that we really should head in soon, and he said that he had a teleconference about to start. "No, no, no, please no!" was my response. He bowed out of the teleconference and started setting up auto-reply emails to his coworkers that he wouldn't be working this afternoon/ evening and helping them figure out who to talk to instead. Contractions continued to get a little more intense and longer. Neil and Zinnia woke up from nap. Neil kept asking what was wrong and telling me, "You're going to have a BABY!" and "You'll feel better soon." Iris was making little moaning noises, and she said it was because she was worried about me. Ben was still on the computer. He finally came upstairs and I repeated that I thought it was time to go in, and added that if he washed his hands I could show him exactly why I thought that. So he went and washed his hands thoroughly, and then I heard him clipping his fingernails. After a minute or so, I called out, "Are you clipping ALL of your fingernails???"
Anyhow, he was soon convinced that I really was about to have a baby soon and that we should head to the hospital. He asked me if I wanted to take BART. Agh! No, I wanted him to drive. Now. He did, and we made it to the hospital parking garage at about 4:30. I almost couldn't walk during contractions, but we made it up to the third floor and got me signed in at 4:45. They found me a gurney in triage, and as soon as I climbed onto it, my water broke. "Oh!" I thought, "I really am going to have a baby." A nurse came in to check me and said I was complete and ready to push. In another minute, I was covered up with a sheet and rolling down the hall on the gurney. Once I got into the bed in the labor room, I was starting to push, but I was still having long-ish breaks between contractions and no urge to push during those. Another nurse got an IV into my arm. Someone called the doctor covering for my doctor and determined that there was no way she was getting to the hospital in time, and so another doctor was found.
And then suddenly, there was a lot of, "Well, I think she's going to have a baby soon, but I don't see it yet." "You can push even when you're not having a contraction." "Yeah, just give another little push." I was a little put out that it wasn't going fast enough for them! Anyhow, the head was out in another few minutes after that along with a lot of screaming on my part. The shoulders were stuck for a few seconds there, but soon enough, there was a slimy purple baby on my chest who was wailing and rapidly turning pink. He came out with bruises on his face, likely because of how fast the whole process had been. Following in his brother's footsteps, he peed all over me about 5 minutes after he was born.
The after-birth stuff went pretty well for me - the placenta came out intact, I had only a tiny tear, and bleeding was minimal. The afterpains are pretty rough though. I'd heard that they get worse with subsequent babies, but I wasn't expecting them to be worse than early labor. :-P Other than that, I've been doing well physically, but tired and emotionally pretty low.
Zinnia was sick, so we didn't think it would be a good idea to bring the kids to visit in the hospital and I felt bad being away more than necessary. We ended up leaving the next afternoon, and a home nurse visited us this morning to follow up.
The subject line of this post is a quote from Neil.