Lil'er Euphrony is here!

It wasn't easy. It never is, really. But our son is here! Mrs. Euphrony started having serious pre-labor Friday night, with contractions at night every 5-8 minutes (harder when she was laying down) and during the day every 15-30 minutes. With such nightly fun, and having a three year old jumping with energy during the day, Mrs. E got very little sleep over the weekend. Saturday night and Sunday night were identical, so by Monday we were both exhausted. I stayed home from work to help with Lil' E and we took Mrs. E in to see her midwife for a check-up. Apparently, all that pre-labor was doing something, because she was dilated to a 4. Since she still was not in consistent labor, we went on and saw a chiropractor for a "labor" adjustment (stretching the back and pelvic muscles, relaxing to prepare for labor), after which we went home. By this time, Mrs. E was in steady labor with contractions every 4 minutes, and we called our doula to come and help until we were ready to go in to the hospital.

We checked into the hospital at about 9:00 p.m., with Mrs. E doing just fine and dilated to around 6-centimeters. Once the nurses there got used to the idea that we did not want and IV, and that she would actually (gasp!) eat a little food during labor to keep up hydration and strength, they were very supportive. Since Mrs. E had a previous c-section, they required her to have constant monitoring of the baby's stats (she was in almost no risk, but the legal system is all over medicine - that's why we were in the hospital instead of at the birthing center in the first place). Their constant fiddling to adjust the monitors to keep track of the baby was the most annoying thing. Not once, though, did anyone ask Mrs. E if she wanted an epidural; and she didn't need one, either.

Our midwife was great, and the doula was a terrific help throughout the whole birth. By the time it was time for Mrs. E to be pushing, she was pretty well worn out (between several sleepless days and around 11 hours in active labor). We had me, Mrs. E's mom, the midwife, the doula, the nurse, and our old midwife and personal friend there to help encourage Mrs. E on. She did great! After about an hour of pushing, he was here! All exhaustion was gone; we have a new boy and we were (and still are) thrilled!

Lil'E is thrilled to be a big sister. She's feeling a little loss of mom and dad being distracted right now, but we'll all be home together today. We're happy as larks right now; still in euphoria from the birth but not strained from the sleepless nights yet. We had taken Lil'E to Build-a-Bear to make herself a bear and she made little brother a puppy dog (in the picture above) as her present to him. We're doing well, and we appreciate all the prayers that everyone has given for us through this pregnancy and birth.

Tags: Pregnancy, Natural Childbirth, Midwife, Doula, Hospital