It's been almost 2 months since Rupert joined our family and I'm finally sitting down to write a birth story. I did take the time to write this down in full detail in a journal of mine. This journal used to be where I wrote down all sorts of thoughts, feelings and muses. Looking back over the past 4 years it now consists of three birth stories, plus a couple sparse entries of cute things the kids said or did. Such is life, though. Without further ado, introducing Rupert James Claus!
December 4 was my due date and it came and went. This was no surprise to me as our other two babies have been 9 and 7 days past due. (If you pay careful attention you will notice that Rupert was 5 days past which makes a cute little pattern ;). I went for a non stress test at the OB's office the following Tuesday, December 8. Everything was good, the baby was happy, and they did tell me that I had "piles" of amniotic fluid. Interestingly one of the OB's had also told me a few weeks prior that she thought I was going to have a big baby. I didn't really put much thought into it because I know that these sorts of guesses can be very subjective.
I was a little antsy that night though... very thankful that the baby was happy in there.. but at the same time a little annoyed. I had finally reached that point in pregnancy where I was feeling quite done with it all. It took a lot longer this time, with our major move and all the changes plus two other kids, but it still came and settled in once my due date passed. Also, the general public become quite irritating once you are overdue, especially overdue with kids already "Boy, you've got your hands full". "When are you due?" When you tell them, "4 days ago", most people look at you as if you are about to give birth in front of them. I guess it is a little amusing.
Brian and I settled in to watch a Christmas movie, 'Elf'. I'm not really one for Christmas movies but that is my favourite one. About halfway through, around 10 pm or so, I noticed that I has having contractions. And they were actually strong. And seeming to come semi-regularly. I timed them on my phone.. about 10 mins apart. I told Brian and he said, "Oooh, exciting".. but apparently not exciting enough because he went to sleep. But that's for the best anyway.
All night long I had contractions.. anywhere from 6-10 mins apart, 45 sec- a minute and half in duration. Some of them were awful and some not so bad but overall it was manageable. I knew this was the real thing though. I got up to have a bath at one point.. and then a shower downstairs later. The water helped. I comforted John who woke up at some point like he usually does. I closed my eyes and tried to rest in between contractions but there was definitely no sleep happening.
I guess I settled into some sort of rhythm because this kept going all night long. I was just padding around the house and dealing with it. I have discovered that this is how I labour the best. By myself, in the quiet, maybe similar to a mama bear that goes off to her den or something. Haha.
Around 5 am things started to get worse. I was still waiting for the magical 5 mins apart that the OB had told me to come in for. They did suddenly start dipping down into the 5 minute frequency.. and these were STRONG. I thought about calling the OB office.. which is what you are supposed to do here rather than just showing up in Labour and Delivery. Then, suddenly I felt like I had to push. Oh boy. I got myself upstairs and woke up Brian. He packed my bag (well got the final stuff off the list like phone, toothbrush etc), got himself dressed and packed some snacks. I called my friend Sierra at 5:51 am. She came over, 37 weeks pregnant herself. I told her to look at the list I had made on the fridge with instructions for the kids. She was there in about 10 mins.
I didnt get dressed, just went outside in my robe.. got in the van.. and we drove the 5 min to the hospital. I was extremely glad that we had picked the hospital 5 min away rather than 40 min. Brian dropped me off at the entrance and went to park the van. I made my way very slowly up to Maternity and he soon caught up.
When I got there around 6:10 am the nurses were confused. I hadn't called the OB office (oops) and they couldnt find my info in the computer. But it was pretty obvious that I was in labour. They got me into a room, and put on the monitor belts- I remember asking if I really had to wear them. The answer was yes, but I never even noticed. Once again I didn't have to have an IV which was nice. The OB came in around 6:15, looking like he had just woken up.
I got checked and was fully dilated, and the OB broke my water which resulted in a large waterfall and helped the baby move down. At 6:51 am, exactly an hour after I called Sierra (I checked this info on my phone), Rupert James Claus was born. All 9 lbs 14 oz of him.
We spent a couple of hours skin to skin, enjoying our new son. At around 10 am big brother and sister came to meet him. They were indifferent, then curious. Then mostly interested in the hospital snacks.
We had a great experience at the hospital and I couldn't ask for better. We were very thankful that everything went well! I stayed at the hospital for 2 nights... it was a good time for me to rest up. We went home on Friday December 11 and started out life as a family of five!
John kept pretending that this closet was a shower. At least it was entertaining?
Everyone's got to try out the car seat..
The white newborn onesie that all the kids have worn home!
Cozy at home!
