The Most Uneventful Birth that Ever Was

Baby's birth was about the most pleasant experience modern medicine can provide. If you can even imagine using such a word to describe childbirth.

The only snaffu came when we arrived promptly at 6am and found out that my medical records had not made it downstairs so the induction could not start until after 9am when my Dr.'s office opened. After a mere 4 hours, and 2 IV bags later, things finally got started with the pitocin.

I had heard a lot of bad things about pitocin. Mainly that the contractions are much more painful than naturally occurring labor pains. For me, they were not that bad. Perhaps this was because I was already 3cm and 70% effaced, so the pitocin was just giving me a little nudge. They started me on a very small amount and then gradually increased it. When I started feeling the contractions getting more painful i asked for the epidural. I didn't have to wait too long for it. And then I was feeling no pain.

Around the time I hit transition I really started feeling some pain so I begged for some more medication and I got a super dose. Like, could not move my own legs dose. And I was feeling nothing. What seemed like an hour or so later my doctor came in to check me and said "Oh! There's the baby's head. Let's get started!" I was shocked because i was not even feeling the urge to push. I had had an epidural with Miss D but I definitely felt a lot of pressure and an intense need to push when it was pushing time. My doctor reassured me that the fact that i didn't feel the urge to push was great because then i wouldn't feel anything with the birth.

And she was right. It was kind of surreal actually. Everyone is telling me to push and I was doing my best to push and the whole time I'm thinking "Am i pushing? I hope I'm pushing because I'm really not sure what's going on down there..." But i guess I was doing fine because he came out on the 4th contraction. Beating Miss D's record of a mere 10 minutes of pushing.

They put him right on top of me as they were cutting the cord, which was nice because i hadn't gotten to see Miss D until she was cleaned up.

If Husband and i hadn't been in the room and had seen him put on top of me I think we might have been concerned that we got the right baby. He's a redhead! In sunlight it looks almost strawberry blond and with all the lanolin and darker light it looks more reddish-brown. His eyelashes and eyebrows are so fair they are transparent. The eyes are baby blue of course, but I can't tell if they are going to darken or not. Of course there is plenty of time for it to change, but it was just such a shock.

With Miss D when she was born, there was argument as to which of us she resembled more. With Bubba (working nickname- per husband) we look at him and wonder where he came from!* Ah the mysteries of genetics.

I will try to tell more about his first week home and how we are all adjusting as the week goes on.

*Of course there is something to trace it back to. My mom is a redhead with blue eyes and per Husband's Dad his paternal grandmother had red-headed siblings.