William~A Knight's Tale

The response from Erik's birth post was so overwhelmingly positive! It was very encouraging and has given me momentum to continue on...
William's name came to me after watching 'A Knight's Tale' with Heath Ledger. We call him 'Will'. He is also named after his great-grandfather, Mike's grandpa, Richard.
As a side note~ the kids middle names all are from our grandparents, either Mike or I....yes, we are running out of selections...
Will's birth was by far my shortest and easiest~ which is odd because there was 7 years between him and Erik. Where as the other births are only 2 years apart.
I had just started cooking a pot of pasta for dinner when I sat down on the couch and felt a 'pop'. I'm not really sure what that was...as my water never did break. In just a few minutes I knew we were in labor and contractions got strong quickly. By the time the pasta was done boiling I could hardly stand in the kitchen, and yet sitting was tough too! Mike ate fast lets just say~ and I passed on that meal! We took off for RGH asap!
Mike and I found our nurse comical, after the fact. She was settling us in to the room, here's the picture... I know my body is getting ready to do business, so I start ripping off my clothes and climb into the bed to breath and relax. She is trying to do paperwork and ask all kinds of questions...then she gives me a cup and tells me she needs a urine sample! I cant believe she is asking me this stuff and I just tell Mike to answer all the questions. I did use her cup but honestly felt like I would deliver him right in that bathroom! She finally really takes a good look at me and says " I think I need to get a doctor in here..." No kidding!! I was 8 cm dilated at that point ( for those of you who don't know, you need to be 10 cm in order to push). My OB breaks my water and instantly I'm 10! Somewhere in there I did get a dose of Nubain ( a drug to take the edge off ) thru a butter fly needle. I hate needles so I was trying to avoid an IV at all cost. A resident MD comes in to my quiet, subdued, lights dimmed, classical music atmosphere and starts talking to me, telling me how the heart beat looks, etc... Its obvious I was in the zone! Couldn't he tell?? Mike tells me I told him to shut up and get out...I don't remember it quite like that.... I think I was more polite than that. Well, either way, he never did come back in:)
Another funny element to this tale involves Mike.... I'm laboring, and the next thing I know the nurse is asking if HE is alright?? Does he need a chair,etc... He was about to pass out from what he says is the heat in the room. That combined with woofing down a pasta dinner. Hmm... Ill let you decide...
Then this hippie- looking nurse comes in, who I came to love...and says" Oh I see you are using nipple stimulation for those contractions. Good job!" I had no idea what she was talking about! I opened my eyes, looked down, and sure enough I was holding my breasts. I don't know why, It was just comfortable. Maybe some innate part of my womanhood was surfacing, helping me do what my body needed to do. I tried putting my hands other places, but it never felt right and they kept migrating back up! I pushed for about 45 min ( my shortest push yet). And as his head was coming out the Ob says, "Oh look! A red head!" Sure enough he was red! As most of you know my Will. Very orange hair! We absolutely love it, as most people do, but he doesn't. Probably because it sets him apart. Makes him stand out and be different.
He weighed 8.9lbs and had a huge cephelahematoma on his head, from birth trauma/ pushing. I was nervous about that for a long time and was in the pediatricians frequently so he could keep checking it and reassuring me. Now with baby 7 on the way...I'm a little more realxed:) My symphysis pubis was spilt a little from his birth and made it hard to walk to for a few days. Ive never had that happen since. From start to finish, first contraction to the last, was 3 hours.
That middle aged 'hippie-nurse' with the tattoos and long braids did come back in again the next day. Thank God. Will had trouble regulating his temp and they kept taking him to place him under the warmer in the nursery. I was so bothered by that! How could I nurse and bond when he was gone all the time?! Well her shift starts and she brings him right in and says " I don't know why they didn't do this before, but undress him and keep him skin to skin on your chest for an hour. Lets see how his temp does with that." Sure enough! He got warm as toast. Don't ask me why I didn't think of that... Not only does it regulate body temp, but promotes breastfeeding! And he was a fabulous nurser! Weaned at 15 mo. I was working FT nights in the Pediatric ICU at the time also, so I had to pump alot. But It was worth it!
Thanks for sharing this with me~!