Bacon!

Well, what do you know ... Bacon decided to make an appearance after all, without having to be served an eviction notice!

*Skip to the first baby pictures if you want to avoid reading the birth story. There aren't any gory details, though, I promise!*

The last week in January I had lots and lots of contractions. On Thursday the 30th I saw my doctor and he said that if I hadn't delivered by my next appointment on February 6th, we would make a plan for induction. I had February 12 in my mind -- a week past my due date, plenty of time to deliver and get home and settled before my mom flew out on the 19th and my MIL left on the 20th. Plus, if I was going to choose a birthday, 2-12-14 was pretty cool. 

I felt pretty well the first couple of days that first week in February, and the contractions I'd been having for the past week slowed considerably. I had a weekly to-do list as usual, but I added something:

Ha! It tickles me that it actually happened!

On Wednesday the 5th (my due date) I was very tired and felt like I was fighting a cold. By mid-afternoon we'd finished school and chores, and I sent Eric a text asking him to pick up something for dinner as the thought of cooking and cleaning up sounded particularly overwhelming. I let the girls watch t.v. in the living room and I set up the laptop in my room so I could lay on my bed and watch house-hunting shows online. After eating I felt a little better; however, I was still pretty tired and went to bed early (for me) at 9:00.

At 12:30 I woke up for the first of my nightly bathroom trips, and noticed that I was having some strong contractions. It wasn't unusual to have them throughout the night but I could usually sleep through them -- these were strong enough to keep me awake. Around 2:30 I gave up on sleep and decided to go sit on the pilates ball in the living room to see what might happen. First, though, the second bathroom break of the night ... and my water broke! Hurray!

I woke Eric who sent a text to his mom asking her to come over and then started moving car seats around and packing up the van. I showered and got ready to leave, called the hospital, and we left the house around 4:00 a.m. Once at the hospital I was admitted by the same nurse who taught our childbirth class when I was pregnant with the Boogie and who also admitted me when I was in labor with the Boogie! So that was neat. She got me settled into a L&D room and we waited for contractions to pick up. Because the baby's head wasn't far enough down they were concerned about the cord floating down by baby's head, so they told me I would have to stay reclined in bed.

By 9:00 a.m. my contractions, instead of increasing, actually slowed way down, so the doctor ordered pitocin. I had mixed emotions -- I didn't want to have to have it, but I wanted to get things going. So the pitocin started and so did real labor. After an hour or so the L&D nurse was concerned that the baby was not recovering as well as she'd like after each contraction, so she propped me up slightly first on one side and then the other which seemed to do the trick, and she also turned the pitocin dosage down to half of what it was. I watched (or closed my eyes and listened to) episode after episode of DIY shows on HGTV and though uncomfortable I was able to get through the contractions on my own.

At 1:00 p.m. the doctor came to check on me again, and I requested some pain medication. The doctor asked if I wanted an epidural -- I'd never had one before, and hadn't planned on one this time, but I also hadn't planned on drug-induced contractions and being stuck on my back in bed through them! Since it seemed like labor was probably going to continue quite a bit longer I hesitated initially then agreed. It took a while for the anesthesiologist to arrive and when he did the L&D nurse assured me that he gave the best epidurals. By that time I could tell that labor was progressing much more quickly but I didn't say anything to anyone -- I figured I might as well get the epidural to help get through the worst of it.

Well, that epidural did next to nothing for me. The pain decreased a little for a few contractions but then increased again and got even worse. It just figured that I would be sensitive to pitocin but immune to an epidural! Soon, though, the room filled with doctor and intern and more nurses and it was finally time to meet Bacon. Delivery was easy and Bacon came out crying and I cried and Eric cried (only a little because he's a man, you know) and everyone was telling me what a good job I did and then I thought I heard someone say "he" and I finally asked, "Is it a boy?" And the answer was yes!

When the girls were born they were both whisked away immediately and I didn't get to hold them for about 45 minutes, for one reason or another. I remember sending Eric over to the warmer to take a picture of Peabody with his phone so that I could at least see what she looked like. But this time I got to hold my baby right away. I held him skin-to-skin under a warmed blanket for well over an hour before the nurse weighed and measured him. He was 7 lbs, 12 oz, and 21 inches.

Of course as soon as he was born Eric sent texts to everyone announcing the birth, but he didn't send any statistics ... including name or gender. We wanted the girls to be the first to know whether they had a brother or a sister. I think it made everyone crazy not to know. It took longer than expected for the girls to arrive, and I found out later that the long delay started to worry a few people as well. (Sorry about that, everyone!)

We were eventually transferred to a regular room and baby had a bath which he did not like at all.

Finally the girls showed up! They were ecstatic to learn that they had a brother. As the Boogie told the nurse, "Honey said we have a brother and poof! I was just so happy!" Eric's mom had brought them so she was the next to know, and we had the girls call my parents, and we sent texts to the rest of the family and updated Facebook.

It's a boy!

We stayed one night and by repeatedly telling all the staff that we wanted to leave as soon as possible we were released early Friday evening. We came home and watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics and finally got some decent rest in our own bed.

 

The girls stayed at 52 Thursday and Friday nights, came home for several hours on Saturday, then went back to 52 for that night so they could go to Sunday school the next morning. Unfortunately Peabody threw up in the night so MIL kept her home with her and the Boogie spent Sunday afternoon at 52 as well, to try to avoid bringing germs home. Peabody was fine all day so both girls came home Sunday night, and the next morning Eric went back to work for half a day.

On Monday afternoon we took baby for his first check-up with the pediatrician. The doctor noticed that he was just slightly jaundiced but said it wasn't anything to worry about. At release from the hospital he was down to 7 lbs. 6 oz., and at his check-up he was up 2 oz., so that was good.

Aside from the trip to the doctor and a quick stop at Target for a few boy clothes, we have just been hanging out at home all week. Eric has been working mostly regular hours (except for another half day yesterday when they closed down the whole plant during a winter storm so that everyone could get home) and even went to the Philly Auto Show after work one evening.

The girls adore their brother and are so good with him. We weren't able to avoid that tummy bug after all -- the Boogie came down with it yesterday afternoon. Thankfully Eric was home and was able to take on puking kid duty so I could remain uncontaminated. The Boogie seems much better today but will remain in quarantine for a while, and we are praying hard that no one else gets sick. My mom comes next week and we're so excited! Peabody has accused me several times, "You said after Bacon is born Lela will be here, and she's not here." So we are counting sleeps until Lela arrives, and we want to all be well when she gets here so we don't risk passing any nasty germs to her.

Bubby is such a good baby. He sleeps and sleeps, wakes to eat and get a clean diaper, eats again then goes back to sleep. He does that around the clock so for right now I'm sleeping pretty well at night, too, waking only 2 or 3 times.  He only cries when he's hungry, and when he's tired he just goes to sleep without any fussing. I'll take it for as long as it lasts! He has nice dark hair and ... I think his eyes are going to be brown! They are very dark. I'm so excited about brown eyes, I've always wanted a brown-eyed baby. I think he would be the first grandchild on either side to have them.

Peabody gave him one of her favorite blankies. What a sweet girl.

 

We are so thankful to the Lord for our beautiful boy. I just stare at him in amazement sometimes -- it seems unreal that we are so blessed!