Tristan Randall born 1/9/2010!

Yesterday I gave birth to my first child at 1:45pm.  Tristan Randall came into this world all naturally at 6 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long.

Those are the stats, now if you want to know the nitty gritty…

I went into labor around 5am (at least that’s when I woke up), and waited around until 6:30am to wake Chris.  I didn’t sleep much, since the night before I wasn’t super tired and didn’t get to sleep until 2 or 2:30am.  Since I had several false labors…I figured why wake him so early though if it wasn’t the real deal?  But by 6:30 I was definately starting to think that it was indeed the real thing.  He got up and we took a nice hot shower/I took a bath.  I was handling things OK and shortly there after Chris got in touch with our midwife, Erin, and she headed over to check things out. By the time she got to our house (probably around 7:15 or 7:30 is my guess) I was already at 6cm.  Within another hour or so I progressed to 8cm, but that’s when things slowed down and began to get very painful.  My hips and back were hurting immensely and with every contraction Chris and Erin had to press on the sides of my hips to give me some relief… otherwise it was intolerable.  The pain was radiating from the contraction out to my hips and back and then down both my legs all the way to my toes.  Something that wasn’t exactly expected.  It took another 1 and 1/2 hours or so to reach 9cm… and at that point we figured out that my cervix was swollen on one side and was having problems dilating further.  I was really starting to loose faith that I could manage with the pain level.  I know that aspect can go with transition…but I think the pain was just wearing me down more then it should have.  We tried taking another shower to help me relax, and it helped for a short time…until our hot water ran out.  Erin then decided to give me something called cramping bark (if I recall) to help with the swelling.  It seemed to help a little, but not enough.  Erin had to try and hold back the lip of the cervix while the baby descended.  Ultimately she ended up needing to break my water because I was loosing energy and needed things to move a little faster…plus Tristan wasn’t able to descend well with the waters still intact.  Unfortunately the breaking of the water was the worst part. But shortly after it was done, it was finally time for me to push.  At first that was very hard and painful, but once I figured out how it was supposed to be done…it was far better then the proceeding hours had been as far as pain levels were.  Erin did need to give me a little oxygen just to keep Tristan’s heart rate good.  He really did handle labor well though in general.  It was just towards the end that it was necessary.  Soon enough he started to crown, and then with one big push he shot out… head and body, and crying!  I only tore a tiny bit, nothing needing stitches or anything of the sort.  I am a little sad that I tore at all… but we figured out why!  He was sunny-side up!  After all my diligence of keeping my posture a certain way and doing exercises to ensure he would be anterior… he was still posterior!  Erin thought at the start he was anterior though because his heart beat was so strong.  He is just one little stubborn boy!  But once they told me that…it was no wonder it hurt so much and took longer to progress (although for a posterior baby…heck even for a first time anterior baby, my labor was relatively short).  Erin in the past had warned me that many woman cannot deliver posterior babies and that’s why it was so important for me to do all the things to prevent that situation.  So much for that!  Now all she had to say afterwards that next time if my child is in the correct position… then I will have to call my midwife at the first sign of labor since it went so quickly.  Lucky for me at least I have ample hips… and a not too big first baby (thank god)!  I have to say that I don’t think I have every felt like I did at the moment of his birth.  Between the sudden relief from pain, and the rush of emotions from meeting our new little one… it is indescribable.  It was something I hadn’t planned on.  I hadn’t figured I’d be the type to cry at our first meeting… but I did.  I think that perhaps that moment made it worth it.  I think parenthood hasn’t completely set in with Chris and I yet.  I will say that he was an excellent support during everything though.  He held my hand, press my hips, encouraged me, and held me.  I could not have asked for a better husband.  I by no means intend to down play how wonderful he was … and I know it was hard for him to see me in pain.  I hope that it was all worth it for him too.

After everything was over, Chris and I rested (but not slept…well not me anyway) and enjoyed our first moments of family time.  Tristan was very quiet and very sleepy.  Chris’s family came over for a short visit in the evening…which Tristan pretty much slept through.  After everyone left, Chris and I had a little wine to celebrate, and we tried to rest up a little more.  Unfortunately, our new little one is a night owl for sure.  He kept his daddy and I up a good part of the night.  Chris let me sleep from about 2am to around 5:30am (though it was a little choppy of a sleep), and right now I am letting him sleep while I keep Tristan quiet.  He prefers to be held almost all the time.  It is understandable though since he’s been kept inside me for the past 10 months…and so it’s no surprise to me that he would want that close comfort even still… perhaps even more so in this strange new world of his.  Needless to say though…I am doing the best I can to let Chris get some rest himself since I will need a nap later today myself.

Well I think I am going to wrap this up.  I don’t really need to say much more, and I am probably rambling.  All I can say is that I am happy that our little one has arrived finally.

Oh, and mother nature is still mean.  :-P