He's here!
Our newest little addition arrived at 1:51 am on May 31st weighing in at 3.88kg and measuring 52cm long.
The birth was very long, and let's just say that I am very happy that I won't be doing that again anytime soon! I started having contractions at around 2am the 30th. They were around 10 minutes apart, but they were not very strong so I fell back asleep. When I woke up, the contractions were coming more often, but still were not very intense...just annoying. We took Elsa to playschool and then went to our midwife appointment in the early afternoon. She 'swept the membranes' and let me know I was already about 3cm dilated, and that the baby would come within the next day or so. After the midwife we waited a couple of hours and then went to the hospital. They checked me out and then suggested that we wait in the waiting room for things to pick up a bit more. Contractions were about 3 minutes apart and not coming any faster or stronger. It was then suggested that we might be more comfortable waiting for things to pick up at home, so we headed to Tumi's parents house for dinner and to hang with Elsa for a little while. We went home and waited there until around 10 when the contractions started getting much stronger...then back to the hospital.
The next several hours are a blur in my mind...there was a lot of intense contracting and discomfort (okay, pain!) and some 'happy gas' and some walking around and lots more pain. Tumi was a huge comfort, and made expert work of the massage oil they gave us. I hope his hand bones survived the intense squeezing they got those few scary hours! At 9.5 cm dilated, I told the midwife that I thought I was almost ready to push, but that I thought I should try and pee first. Once on the toilet, my water finally broke, and the baby's head was suddenly VERY ready to come out...I remember the midwife and Tumi telling me not to push while they tried to get me form the bathroom to the bed, and me screaming back, "NO! I HAVE TO PUSH!" I don't think there is anything harder then feeling the need to push and being told you can't...it's like you've been holding your breath underwater for minutes and when you finally break the surface to gasp for air and are told you can't!
Once we were back on the bed, I was allowed to push, and in two good pushes he was finally out! I think from the time my water broke until he was laying on my stomach was probably like 20 seconds...it was really fast and chaotic and actually kinda terrifying.
We stayed in the hospital until just after lunchtime the next day. On the way home, we got a call from Elsa's playschool letting us know that she had a fever and we should come pick her up. Poor thing! I settled in at home with the new baby and Tumi went to his parents' house to take care of the sick one. She stayed there for a couple more days and got a prescription for some antibiotics. Little man was a couple of days old before his sister met him for the first time. She seems pretty uninterested. She says 'hi' to him, and calls him 'ba-bee' and sometimes pats him on the head.
I am remembering life with a newborn. It's actually really nice. We sleep and eat a lot. Sometimes there is a lot of crying, but since Elsa has been so well taken care of by her Amma and Afi and Gunnhildur and Pabbi and playschool, the baby and I have had a chance to relax and bond over the past week and a half. It has been very hard for me to be away from Elsa during this time. I'm thankful she is so well taken care of, but I miss her terribly, since I only see her before school and for dinner/bedtime. I look forward to being able to go out with both my kids...I hope Elsa remembers me when it's time!
Our little boy is a good baby. He is growing like crazy, and when we went for his 5-day check up, we were astonished to see that his weight had gone up to 4.2kg! (usually they like to see that the baby has gotten back up to his birth weight by the 5-day mark...) It is generally agreed that he looks more like my family than Tumi's....truly a Davidson boy!
Our son arriving in the world!
