Becoming Pastor MOM: Welcome Amos! An update and a birth story

Ladies and Gentlemen:

September 11, 2013 at 2:51 a.m.

6 lbs 15 oz, 19 inches long

Amos's birth was absolutely beautiful. Mercy Medical Center has a water birthing tub, which was part of the reason I chose that hospital. So Baby Amos was born into the water, and my own hands were the first to touch him. I went into labor at about 9:00 on Tuesday night, just after lying down for the night after moving into the new house. I had been exhausted the whole day and practically no help to the movers. As soon as I laid down, I felt my first painful contraction and in about two hours we were on our way to the hospital. I knew my labor would go fast, so I wasn't going to wait.

When I arrived at the hospital, the nurse put me on monitoring and Amos's heartbeat was too low for her liking. I tried to tell her that he has always had a low heart rate (clocking in regularly at 122 throughout his appointments) but she didn't seem to care, so she kept me on the monitoring for an hour and a half. I was getting very frustrated, having to endure contractions (every 2-3 minutes) while lying on my back in the hospital bed, which for me is the most painful way to have a contraction.

Finally she allowed me off the monitor (around 1:00) and at about 1:15 I said I wanted to be in the birthing tub. It was immediate relief. At one point, I had to get out of the tub to use the restroom, and had a contraction and I could not believe the difference. The buoyancy of the water makes contractions so much more bearable. I labored in the tub for about an hour and the nurse told me I was 8 cm dilated. I told her she needed to call the doctor. She said, "He wants me to call him when you are fully dilated," to which I replied (okay, I'm a know-it-all), "Well then he's gonna miss it." She did go ahead and call him then, and about 15 minutes later my water broke and that very second, in walked the doctor. As soon as my water broke I was fully dilated, and the very next contraction, Amos was crowning. He was born in three pushes-- head, shoulders, and the rest of 'im. My doctor just let me be, watching closely but not interfering, and as soon as he was out he just said, "Joanna, pull your baby up to you!" so I did! The doctor literally did not touch me until after the I got out of the birthing tub.

I held Amos there in the tub for about 5-10 minutes before Maic cut his cord. He didn't cry much. He still hasn't. He's a super-chill little guy, crying pretty much only when he's being changed.

About 30 minutes old

As quick and as beautiful as it was, this birth was harder for me than Evelyn's was. I was so exhausted going into it that it was hard for me to find the energy to make it through. I kept thinking about how badly I wanted to go to sleep. Maic was also extremely tired, so I felt like neither of us was as fully present as we were for Evelyn's birth. I'll tell you this: I plan to never buy a house and have a baby in the same week again.

We were released from the hospital after 24 hours. Amos is doing really well. He eats well and sleeps a lot. He is slightly jaundiced, but not enough to worry. We go back to the pediatrician on Monday to make sure his jaundice levels have gone down.

Evelyn is having a hard time with the transitions, but definitely more with the house than with the baby. This was her face for the first half hour of seeing Amos:

She likes him now, for the most part. Though I have to say that in the process of writing this blog entry, she did throw her stuffed cat "New Kitty" at him while he was sleeping. Her favorite thing to do is brush his hair.

The harder part is the house. She keeps saying she wants to "go home" which is pretty heartbreaking. The worst part is that I kind of feel the same way. This house doesn't feel like home yet. It just feels like a lot of work. I spent Evelyn's naptime cleaning the living room (see below) so that at least I wasn't tripping on boxes. That has helped with some of the non-homey feelings, and I am feeling much better than I felt this morning. The other rooms, however...and the rental house...well, we have a lot of work ahead of us.