Great Expectations

Warning: Birth story ahead...nothing graphic but if you're not into that, you've been warned.

After having my water broken to start labor the last 3 times I've had a baby I really wanted to go into labor on my own with #5. Until I got to 37 weeks. Then I didn't care how I went into labor just so long as I did, and "any day now, thank you very much".

So Thursday when I started feeling exhaustion similar to early pregnancy I didn't think anything else was going on but end of pregnancy, 4 children, nesting all day tiredness. I got into bed at 5:15 and sent a text to Mr. Wiedz that our family would only be eating dinner thought up and created by him. I was asleep by 8pm, quite unusual as I had not gone to sleep before 11:30 in weeks. At 4:15am I was up figuring I'd slept my portion for the night. I did try lying in bed, hoping to doze and save up energy for the day but by 4:45 I was so uncomfortable and moving around so much I didn't figure it was very fair to Mr. Wiedz.

By 5am I was cleaning and sorting a table that I pile mail, school papers and everything else I'm not in the mood to put away and I was having my first contractions. I cleaned that table then dusted the living room, got the kitchen more tidy from dinner the previous night and kept contracting. I did sit down until the family was up to see if my contractions would continue.

After Mr. Wiedz and the big kids were out the door. #4 and I walked laps on the lane in front of the house. I was hoping for a longer walk but #3 wasn't interested in a cool morning walk so I had to stay close to the house. My contractions continued and got more and more uncomfortable as the morning went on. Mr. Wiedz had called his mother to let her know to start making preparations for coming down. When she called me at the house I was doing dishes. Still nervous this could all end I wasn't sure what to tell her. Until I started washing the back splash in the kitchen...the space between the counter and cabinets. I do not notice areas like this needing cleaned under normal circumstances and so while I'm talking to her and found myself scrubbing this area of little splatters of food I said, "ok, I'm scrubbing back splash. I wouldn't rush down but getting here today would probably be a good idea".

Mr. Wiedz got home, my mom got there, I texted my friend and cousin to make plans with us for the evening, I continued contracting. After all the kids were home from school and all the parents/labor childcare helpers were set up we left for the hospital. With my last pregnancies I have early labor for awhile then everything goes rather quickly. My midwives had communicated that with a 5th pregnancy they would rather I was at the hospital earlier rather than later.

I got checked in, to a room, monitored then sent off walking.

And we walked. And walked. And walked. I had to come back to the room every 30 minutes or so to be monitored through a few contractions but had total freedom to go wherever on the hospital grounds that I wanted.

A note here on my expectations: As this being my 5th baby I expected to labor for 5-7 hours then yell that he was coming and have the midwife catch him.

My expectations were shot every time my midwife checked me and I had only moved a centimeter and I was not thinning as much as I expected. After baby moved his hand away from his head the midwife was able to break my water which in my expectations meant that things would really move along quickly. Again my expectations were off and we started pitocin some hours later. The pitocin made baby not look so good on the monitor so the nurse shut it off which made my contractions taper down. When the midwife came back from her other patient she started it back up again, going really slow so not to stress out me or the baby.

By this point we are all the way through the night and it is light out with a new day!

A new day!

This was supposed to be over late the night before according to all our expectations.

Well, this time the pitocin did its job without causing the baby to stress out. My contractions were one after the other and causing a lot of pain, just like they're supposed to. Just after the midwife went to the cafe to get a snack I was beginning to feel the urge to push. I waited until she was there, got back into bed and got my other expectation knocked out.

With my last babies I didn't need to push. My body did it for me and I just had to hold my breath or blow out with the contractions to give the doctor enough time to get ready. This time I had to go back to first-baby-pushing-lesson-101. I was so tired and worn out by now that I resisted this new reality. Luckily I didn't have to push for too long and even when I refused or screamed at everyone (by now everyone in the room is trying to convince me I really can push) that I couldn't, nature has a way of taking care of these things.

Baby #5 was born at 10:38am on Saturday, March 20th, 2010

A couple hours later we were bathed, sitting up, looking healthy and happy, both #5 and I had eaten and moved rooms so we were ready for the crew to come meet their brother. Everyone took an immediate liking to the little guy. #3 was the most quiet and sat mostly by Grandpa N but that is fitting with his personality. #4 surprised us by standing next to the baby's bed and watching him the whole time. #2 was allowed to bring his DS up so after a couple glances, some hand holding and remarking how cute he was he sat quietly in the corner and played since no one was stopping him. #1, although not terribly excited to have ANOTHER brother, is extremely excited to have another baby in the house. We sent all the boys home with the grandparents and let #1 stay for a couple hours so she'd get a chance to just sit and hold and stare. It was a special time for her and she was really excited to get extra time with Mr. Wiedz, Mommy and baby. The nurse was in during the time #1 was here and she stood and watched and asked questions about all his parts.

So, #5 is here. We are so happy and blessed. He did really well his first night and let Mom and Dad rest. He's eating really well.

Perfect Expectations.