... but you can't take the 'Ham out of the Lewis: Felix is Here!

... but you can't take the 'Ham out of the Lewis

What's going on up here anyhow?

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Felix is Here!







I'm posting this a week after Felix's birth! We've been busy nursing, changing, snuggling, resting, and getting to know our new little boy. I hope you enjoy reading this story.






Felix's Birth Story

Felix Gordon Lewis
October 30, 2009
9:08AM
7 lbs. 12 oz.
20 inches

Andy is a teacher, so the worst part about waiting for the birth of a new baby is writing sub plans that may never be used. He wrote sub plans for Wednesday (10/28) and ended up being at work all day! My mom was coming into town on Wednesday afternoon, whether I was in labor or not. Theo's pre-school was having a field trip to the pumpkin patch on Thursday and she wanted to go along. I told Andy to stay at work a little later on Wednesday and work on any plans he wanted to. He only stayed a little bit late, but he was able to write detailed plans for both Thursday and Friday. My brain told me that the baby wasn't coming any time soon, but my subconscious must've known better. At 40 weeks, it was fairly inevitable that we would meet our little one before school on Monday!! Contractions started on Thursday, Oct. 29th at 4am. Andy had woken up in the night to take Theo to the bathroom and I thought I should get up and go too. When he came back to our room, I was leaning over our bed. He later told me that he immediately thought, “Contractions!!” when he saw me standing there (actually he ran into me. It was really dark in our room). I had been up for a couple of hours each night for most of the last week, but I got a full night of sleep on Tuesday. I was well-rested and ready to have this baby! We timed contractions for a couple of hours before calling Andy's boss and our midwife to let them know what was happening. Mom took Theo & Penny on the field trip and Andy and I headed over to Ann's (our midwife) house to be checked at our morning appt. I was dilated to 3 cm already!! Ann said things could kick into gear sometime that same day or it could still be awhile. We would have to wait and see. Andy already had the whole day off, so he and I spent the day contracting, walking, trying to rest, and getting pretty excited. My contractions were 4-6 minutes apart and were lasting for 1-1 ½ minutes. We knew the baby would be here sometime soon, so Andy's mom and my dad started driving up on Thursday afternoon. Andy's dad needed to go to work on Friday, so he said he'd come as soon as he could. Thursday evening was frustrating. I had already been contracting for a whole day and things weren't getting much more intense and I wasn't dilating much. Ann checked me again at 8:30pm and I was only dilated to 4 or maybe a tiny, tiny bit more. She said we had 2 options. 1) go home and try to get some rest and see where things were when we woke up. Or 2) break may water, try some herbs and nipple stimulation and get things going. I was hesitant to do anything. I didn't want to have any chance to blame myself (for having “messed with nature”) when things got intense. We decided to go home and rest. I was sure it was just a matter of hours before things would change. Unfortunately, I was ½ right and ½ wrong. We came home, went to bed around 11, and Andy went right to sleep. I slept for 3 minutes out of every 5 from 11pm until 3:30am. The contractions seemed more intense, but I was able to manage them silently, so I knew the real ones were definitely not here yet. Around 3am I started to get scared that my water would break at home, things would get intense, and we wouldn't be able to get to the Birth Center (it's only about 1 ½ miles from our house, but I wanted to get there). We called Ann and headed over there around 4am. My friend, Pavlina, was planning to photograph the birth, so I sent her a text and she met us there. We arrived, excited but tired, and Ann checked me again.....5 centimeters. I did my best to keep frustration at bay and get to work getting this baby out. We spent the next 3 ½ hours walking, laboring in the tub, talking, reading, and spending time together. The baby's heartbeat was strong and steady, so we kept at it and hoped things would happen soon. Around 7:30am, Ann suggested that we needed to do something to get things going. She suggested walking and/or breaking my water. I asked if we should walk and then break the water or break it first. She reminded me that we'd already walked around the neighborhood (in the blustery, cold, dark night) for about an hour without much change. Even though it kindof scared me, I agreed that we should break my water. I was tired and wanted desperately to meet this baby. She broke my water at 8am and I can't even describe how much it impacted the labor. Almost immediately I needed to vocalize to manage the contractions. They were fast, intense and obviously doing their job. Andy and I were really getting excited. The baby was coming......soon!! All of the pain, pressure, waiting, and wondering were almost over!! At some point, Ann asked if I felt like I wanted to try pushing with the contractions. She hadn't checked my dilation, but she knew from the way I was vocalizing and reacting that my body was ready to do its job. I quickly (just like my other 2 births) got up on my hands and knees and pushed. 1 push for his head.....another small push for his body and he was welcomed into the world right into his Daddy's hands. Shaking and amazed, Andy showed him to me and we saw that we had another son! Felix Gordon Lewis was here!! He was beautiful and amazing. Each tiny part of him was so soft and smooth. Our parents brought the kids to see him and Theo and Penny thoroughly loved meeting their new brother and checking out all of the aftermath of the birth. The bed was soaked, I was a mess, but I was ecstatic! Right after the kids got there, I threw up all of the food I had eaten right into a bowl. Felix was in my arms, Theo was on my left, and Penny was on my right. It was so strange to throw up and convince my little people that I was alright. I felt way better after everything was out. I was so blissfully happy from having given birth that nothing could steal that feeling from me. Our parents headed home with the big kids and we started packing up to drive home. This was the first time we had birthed a baby in the daylight. Theo was born at 10pm and Penny was born at 5am. We dressed Felix in the same outfit his brother and sister had worn home, tucked him into the carseat, and drove the 1 ½ miles to our house. It’s been a week since he was born and I still can’t believe he is here. He is generally calm, loves his siblings (and even tolerates them holding him several times a day), and eats & sleeps well. I am excited to see his personality continue to emerge, but I am not in a rush. I want to savor each stage and development and spend as much time as possible just enjoying where we’re at. Once again, I am amazed that God allows us the honor of being a part of His procreative process and that He makes it so transformative for us. I know He is making me more into the woman He wants me to be through my children. We are truly blessed! Welcome to the world, Felix.

3 Comments:

At 1:27 PM, November 07, 2009 , Blogger CJ said...

...so much for modesty I guess...

Anyways, I'm glad momma and the boy are doing great! Being a teacher (Andy will attest to this too) I'm SO happy when great parents, like you two, have more kids! It seems the uninvolved crappy ones seem to have the most and the loving supportive ones only have one or two! Keep 'em comin' (I'm sure you will!) God bless :)
CJ

 
At 9:11 AM, November 08, 2009 , Blogger The Horne's said...

You never cease to amaze me! Awesome, thanks for posting!

 
At 8:21 PM, May 03, 2011 , Blogger Yvonne said...

Beautiful write up of a beautiful experience.

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home