Beefcake! Beeeefcaaaaaaake!

Chrys says I'm feeding him Weightgain 4000. 11 lbs 2 oz at the midwife's office yesterday. Susan could barely cram him in the little sling to weigh him. He's wearing size 2 diapers (when he's not in cloth, which is most of the time until we get the last bits of cord off of him) and moving into 3-6 month clothes. *sigh*

He and I are still proclaimed doing well. I got my fist sized clot (where the placenta meets the uterus, apparently) out of the way last week and that seems to have stopped the rest of the bleeding.

The pediatrician said that with his size and obviously well established eating, we should try a bottle now to make sure he'll even consider it. Chrys gave him one tonight and says Corin took it like a champ. I pumped 3.25oz this morning and he left 1oz behind. I got him another 3.5oz while he ate that bottle (in under 5 minutes). Moooo!

I just play one on TV

I have one of those newborns that people laugh at on television shows. You know, the ones that are the size of 2 month olds when the doctor pulls him/her out from between mom's legs.

This kid weighs 10lbs 2.4oz. Yeah...that means the 0-3 month clothes might fit for another week or so. Guess the long sleeves and pants that we have in that size won't get much use.

In other news, he's now 22 inches long and the last bits of his cord are thinking about coming out (if they can find the exit from the depths of his belly button - he's got a DEEP inny like his mommy).

He was pronounced healthy and NOT a little man.

I love breastmilk

His right eye was a little goopy. (We were warned that this might happen when we/I elected not to give him the eye antibiotic at birth.) I sprayed it with a few drops (this takes FAR more luck than most would imagine...it's not like the milk comes from precision targeting devices). He didn't particularly like it, but wasn't massively upset. He's been a bit crusty today, but no goop. We'll see how it goes with his left eye that got treated tonight.

What a difference

One of the things I never did for myself while I was nursing RC was buy a really nice nursing bra. In retrospect this was kind of foolish. I nursed her for over 2 years. The ones I had were functional, but not really comfortable and certainly not stylish. They were cheap, though, and easily available at department stores.

Well, realizing that my milk was coming in and that I didn't have a good bra stretchy enough to take it, I decided that wasn't going to be the case this time. Summon road trip.

We drove halfway around the 360 loop to Due Maternity and took advantage of tax free weekend in Texas. I got 3 Bravado original nursing bras at 25% off and no tax. They are divine. I am not really crazy about the sports bra styling (no hooks on the back), but man are they comfy. Best of all, the cups are really stretchy so they are handling my fluctuating cup size as the supply equalizes. On the other hand, they are not so stretchy that they don't support - something very important when you start off large chested to begin with.

I told Chrys that when the supply stabilizes, I'm going to get myself at least one nice, stylish nursing bra. Considering they were about $60 for most of the fitted ones (not what I was in the market for at the time), that's a big deal.

Let's get this out of the way

He's a boy. We did not have any elective surgeries. We have no religious reason to do so. We found no compelling medical evidence that it should be done.

Incidences of elective circumcision in the US are dropping. However, we still perform more of them per year than any other 1st world country.

5 day checkup

At 5 days old, we had to go see the pediatrician. Apparently their policy is to see the baby at 3-5 days if they don't get to see them in the hospital. Since we were only in the birthing center for 6 hours, they didn't see us.

I'm always amazed at how clueless the nurses at the pediatrician's office seem. Of course, they probably deal with a lot of clueless parents, but sheesh. I had to fill out two forms with names, family, history, etc. When we got into the room, she asked me many of the same questions as I had already answered. On top of that, she had to ask if I had a c-section or vaginal birth when I told her it was at the birthing center - uh? When I said I was exclusively breastfeeding, she asked about supplementing with formula. It went on like that. Chrys and I exchanged a few awkward glances, but none moreso than after the c-section question.

She also asked how much he slept - I said most of the day and she asked how many hours. I told her I really didn't keep track of the total number of hours each day he slept. She seemed surprised. He sleeps. My first one didn't. I am not going to question or analyze this any further. She'll live.

Corin weighed in at 8lbs12oz (actually 12.8, but they wouldn't go to 13oz). She said he looked a bit jaundiced, but she was sure that would clear up. She wanted me to wake him up every 3 hours to eat (after I mentioned that I'd gotten a 5 hour stretch the night before - bliss) until I mentioned that he was 8lbs6oz on Friday. I also reiterated that he had been cluster feeding (once an hour for 3-4 hours) up to that point. I was told I could let him sleep.

Now, if we could just finish clearing up the difference between days and nights.

2 day visit

At 2 days old, we went back to the midwife's office for our checkup.

Corin weighed in at 8lbs6oz. While he nursed, she drew blood from his arm for his PKU (much easier than the stupid heel stick and squeeze method they used on RC).

I got my Rh- shot (stupid A+ husband making A+ children).

I was pronounced healing marvelously. My bleeding had slowed to almost a halt. My stomach was almost back to it's original shape. My nips didn't look too bad, but you could see a spot on each where he'd gotten me at night before I learned to turn on the light to make sure I could see his latch. They certainly looked (and felt) better than they did at 2 days post-partum with Ryanne.

Susan gave me a hard time for not letting her deliver him.

We go back at 2 weeks.

Gold

His dark hair has blonde highlights. When the sun hits it, it's like little flecks of gold on his head.

Birth story

Corin Oliver was born at 8:02am on 8/2/2006. He's 9lbs 3oz (2lbs bigger than his sister was), 20 3/4 inches long (2" longer than she was). He's got a head full of dark hair. His Apgar was 9, but I don't know why he was docked that 1 point.

Labor was...quick. Thinking back, I had felt a few menstrual cramp type contractions when I woke around 3ish, but I was able to ignore them and get back to sleep. I woke again at 5:45am and figured it was for my usual pee break. I laid there for 15 minutes because I felt stronger contractions and they were about 4 minutes apart, but only every other one was intense.

I finally caved and went to the toilet and started having some mega contractions. I kept trying to stand, but since it felt like I had to go to the bathroom, it was hard. Plus, I was having a hard time gauging the contractions without a clock and by the time I got myself together, another would hit. Eventually (30 minutes later), I managed to get enough control to stand up, get back to Chrys, wake him up and tell him to call the birthing center. I went back to sitting on the toilet. As he was on hold, I felt a pop and water started trickling out - it was clear.

He answered their questions, including the new info on the water, and they told us to head over there.

When I stood up to get dressed, the water felt like it gushed out with every contraction. I put a pad on to contain it and it did.

As I waited for Chrys to pack up last minute things (food) in the bag, I set my AIM message and made a quick post to my mommy's board to let them know I was out. I realized as I was typing that I had no sense of humor or ability to really communicate. I was able to provide facts and little else. That left me a bit worried about where I was in labor (closer to delivery than I'd like since we were still at home).

The car ride wasn't too bad. I was a bit warm so I just left the window cracked. I didn't want bunches of air, though, because it was distracting. I kept an eye on Chrys' clock and noted that the contractions had slowed to every 4-5 minutes, instead of every 3-4. The slowdown I expected, but the intensity didn't go down any at all.

We got to the birth center around 7:00am and Heather wanted to check me in an exam room. I kept having to pause to get through contractions so she had me go straight to the delivery room instead. I managed to get undressed and get into a gown. She checked me and I was already 8cm, which corresponded to me telling her it felt like I woke up in transition. She asked about my labor with Ryanne and I was able to tell her enough that she realized she shouldn't go far because this was likely to be over very soon. I heard her tell the nurse that I would be delivered within the hour and I think that gave me the strength to get through.

My cervix was still way back so they put me on the birthing ball so I could lean forward without the pressure of being on my hands and knees. Chrys brought me water and I sipped on that between contractions. For a while, I was experiencing a great deal of pressure prior to each contraction. That really helped because I got a little warning to relax before the pain would start. That sensation went away after about 30 minutes and, before long, I couldn't stand the pressure of the ball so I stood up.

Two contractions later, my body started pushing. I got up on my hands and knees on the bed and was there for 2 more contractions as Heather encouraged me to the head of the bed. I managed to crawl to a mostly seated position. She tried to slow me down and asked me to breathe instead of push, but my body kept bearing down with each contraction and I wasn't getting much time to regroup between them so I lost my focus. Chrys asked for a mirror for me, but I knew there wasn't time so I decided to forego it. I did get to touch his head as he crowned and that was amazing - it was slimy and wrinkly and, because of his hair, felt totally unlike what I expected. I think it was two more pushes to fully deliver him. I ended up tearing exactly along my scar tissue from Ryanne, but no worse. I don't know how many stitches it took to fix me, but they were all in the perineum this time (no internal damage).

He came out covered in vernix. The midwives tried to wipe him off with the blanket, but once I got him, I started rubbing it into his skin wherever I could find it. They said they'd rarely seen one that far along with so much vernix on him. My hands were VERY happy to have it, too.

The cord was allowed to stop pulsing before Heather cut it. (Chrys didn't want to. If I had thought about it, I might have asked to do it myself.)

He spent his first 30 minutes (or so) of life screaming. He's got an amazing set of lungs and was all kinds of mad at the world.

He roots a ton. I have a hard time convincing him I have the breast in his mouth, though. Once he gets latched, he nurses himself right to sleep. He has a very strong suck, too. He gets frustrated with not finding the nipple very easily and this is another scream trigger.

He's a great sleeper so far, but has quite a wail when he wakes up. Ryanne says he sounds like he has a squeak toy inside him. She's totally enamored with him and just follows whoever is holding him around so she can talk to him. She's sung him songs and read him books already.

He also wails when his diaper gets changed. Hopefully we can make that experience less traumatic as time goes on.

All in all, though, it was a beautiful birth experience. I am so thrilled that I didn't have to go through all of the stuff at the hospital. Most of the things I wanted in my birth plan were standard procedure at the center. Getting to come home after only 6 hours was blissful, too. I am so much more relaxed about everything and happy to get some sleep in my own house.