Happy First Birthday Sweet Finn!
I can hardly believe Finn is a year old today! He really has brought a lot of joy to our entire family. To commerate his first year with us, I thought I’d share his “Birth Story” once again!
Finn Charles Miller- Jan 12, 2007 (originally posted Jan 2007)
I thought it was about time that I shared Finn’s birth story with everyone, I finally managed to get to my laptop and actually have two hands to type!
I must say that this pregnancy has been the best thus far, other than a UTI and a couple of minor accidents (muscle pull) I have felt great.
My last appointment with my OB was on Monday Jan 8th I was exactly 38 weeks, he decided to do an internal and I was dilated 2cm. I know that for a 4th pregnancy 2cm’s really didn’t mean a whole lot, as I could have been dilated for weeks now. I joked with my OB, that I was going to play Dance, Dance Revolution on the Xbox with DD (and actually did).
Tuesday and Wednesday I kept busy, with organizing and making sure baby’s clothes were all washed.
Thursday evening, I had this overwhelming sense that I had to clean. I went crazy and finally to bed around midnight, everything was sparkling!
Friday morning, when I woke up I was sore but thought it must have been from doing too much the night before. I notice that my uterine tightenings, were more than that, as the were accompanied by pelvic pressure too, I was starting to lose my mucous plug, as well I could really feel that the baby had dropped so of course I got comparison pics! The photo on the left was taken 5 days before.
DH came home for lunch and I was still having irregular somewhat painful contractions, I told him to go back to work but to have his Blackberry with him at all times (he tends to leave it on his desk). Around 3:40pm I called him and told him he better come home…I wasn’t sure if this was just the early stages or not, but I wanted to try and start timing them, and the boys were driving me crazy!
I found a Contraction timer online: http://www.contractionmaster.com/ and started timing them around 4:30pm, at this point they were on average about 45 seconds long and the longest was about 8 minutes apart some as close as 3 minutes! They weren’t easy to talk through at this point, so I decided it was time to call my mom to come over to be here for the kids. I got them supper made, and sent Andrew out on a couple of errands, we were out of water for our water cooler, and he dropped Liam off at his parents to stay there.
Mom arrived as I was doing some last minute packing and putting fresh linens on the bed, I did some last minute posting to fill everyone in, and we decided to head up to the hospital. We got there around 6:45pm registered at the ER then I walked up to Labour & Delivery (Andrew met me up there as he had to park the van and bring up my bags). When I arrived at L&D, there was no one at the desk. My MIL had mentioned that she had heard it was a busy day for them, it was insane! I got to the desk and the OB on call was on the phone but on hold, he asked if this was my first, and replied with, “No my fourth!” He then said, “ So you KNOW then!” and LOL’d. After about 15 minutes a nurse finally approached us, and found us an overflow room. This room wasn’t meant to deliver in. I notified them right away that I was Group B Strept positive, and that it would be good to have my antibiotics ASAP as I have a history of fast labours. They did an internal and I was 5-6 cm dilated, hooked up my IV so I could I could have it locked after the Penicillin was pushed. Around 7:30 I got my own birthing room, and once the Penicillin was finished, my nurse came back in and locked off my IV so we could go walking. DH and I both had on our iPods, we looked hilarious, he had one earbud in his left ear and I had one in my right ear so we could hear each other talk. We walked and joked and even watched Air Farce on one of the waiting room’s TVs. Around 8:pm we headed back to the room and I decided to try out the birthing ball.
Here’s me at 8:15pm, I had to check the camera and see when the pic was taken as I didn’t believe it!
Birthing Ball @ 8:15pm
It’s funny as my plan was to listen to really relaxing music, Enya, PM Dawn & Enigma, but when the time came, I was listening to Dance Music! Usher, Ice Cube and Black Eyed Peas! When I finished on the Ball, I decided to go and try and pee. After this no more ball for me…I decided to sit up in bed. Contractions were pretty much right on top of one another with a lot of pressure. I sent Andrew out to get someone, and the person (not sure if she was a nurse or receptionist) at the desk said everyone was busy and I’d have to wait. He was too nice, and said, “Ok I’ll let her know.”. I then said to him, “ If the next contraction is like the last one, they better get their butts in here!” Just then, I could see and hear a heard of people walking past my room and commanded Andrew to, “GO GET THEM NOW!”Fuming
They got there and checked me, and I was fully dilated, and my water still had not broken, I warned them once it did, that the baby was going to come with it! There was a lit of commotion in the room and then I felt my water break, and told them, “ I have to push now! “ Doc said, “ That’s fine go ahead!”, thinking that he still had time to get his gown on. The first push and his head was almost out, and he told me just to do little tiny pushes. After his head was born, one more big push and he was out! Born at 8:41pm! The doc put him right up on my belly, I was so happy as this is my first time that’s ever been done and Andrew cut the cord.
Here’s Finn right after he was born on my belly.
Finn Charles Miller weighed a healthy 7lbs 14 and ¼ oz and was 21 inches long which surprised me as he was 10 days early. Once he was cleaned up and weighed he latched right on and nursed like a pro!
After being in the birthing suite for another hour or so the nurse then told me that they had to keep Finn in the NICU overnight for observation because I didn’t have the antibiotics in my system 4 hours prior to his birth. This upset me a little as my doc told me not to worry about getting to the hospital too early. The nurse assured me that he would be brought to me when he needed to be fed and to get some rest. I barely slept as every time I heard foot steps I thought it was them bringing him to me. He was only brought twice between 11pm & 8am which upset me a little. The next morning the Pediatrician on call, gave him a clean bill of health, but wanted him to stay one more night to be on the safe side because of the GBS. Sunday morning we were released and headed home! Finn only lost 200g while in the hospital, and as of Tuesday morning he’s back up over his birth weight again!
Here’s few more pics!
First Sling Ride in the Hospital
Going home outfit
Proud Big Brothers
Loving Big Sissy
Doctor Dad?
Happy Birthday sweet boy! This year has gone by too quickly!
Here’s a few shots of Finn enjoying his First taste of Birthday Cake! It really was a small slice, however he manged to make it look like a lot more!
