4pm: She sends us home...again...
6pm: Our house is a classic woman in labor scene: I'm screaming, Jason is throwing me and a bunch of pillows in the car, no one can find my mom - basically, it was total chaos...
8pm: I'm explaining to the triage nurse how much I need an epidural! She says I'm 3cm...
11pm: I have finally gotten an epidural. Family is camped out in the waiting room. Nurse says it will be a while.
12am: We discover that my epidural is not working effectively...and I'm 9cm...
3:48am: This beautiful little purple creature is lying on my chest...He's the most perfect baby I've ever seen.
There are four people in that room who have never experienced birth before (me, baby Shuler, my mom, and Jason) and we are all trying to take in what just happened.
First, let me just say that I do not care how many millions of women have experienced a drug-free childbirth - I experienced it and therefore have a right to complain about it. Did I forget about how painful it was? Not yet.
The next week or so were pretty much the classic new parent story: We took him to the ER the first night with a fever, I called my mom the next morning in tears - she was moving into my house within a few hours, I cried for about a week straight - so did Shuler, and by day 5 we were finally starting to feel human again. We took him to the doctor and found out that he was back to birth weight (yay!) and mom reluctantly went back home. In short, we survived.
Week 2: Jason went back to work, Shuler and I park in front of the DVR every 2-3 hours for a meal and a healthy dose of reruns/old movies, we cherish every hour of sleep we can get, and we never get over how fast he is growing! We all went back to Dr. Hart on Tuesday and found out that Shuler is 7lbs 10oz - 11oz over his birth weight!
This week's major battle has been the swaddle: Shuler hates it and I can't stop worrying that he will roll over. Dr. Hart was very patient with me as I explained my worries and helped me come up with a solution. Shuler is now happily sleeping in a sleep sack that is safety pinned to the mattress of his bassinet. Am I a paranoid Mommy?
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| Back from Week 2 Check Up: 7lbs 10oz |
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| Two of Shuler's quirks: sleeping with his arms up like this and making this precious pucker face |
