Austin Thayne Fenwick was born at 4:20 am on Friday, March 12th. He was 6 lbs 3 oz and 19 inches long. I should have posted sooner, but it's busy being a new mom, again!
It was a wonderfully easy birth. Ladies, prepare to be jealous! Gents, feel free to stop reading now. I started having back pains the evening before while I was at my EMT class on campus. Not so much fun. I was in some serious pain. I got home and they kept getting worse, but I still wasn't sure I was in true labor. Some of you may know how that is. You just aren't sure and you don't want to be sent home from the hospital, so you wait and wait until it gets really painful. Well, we ended up leaving for the hospital at 11:00 pm. I don't know what it is about me having babies in the middle of the night. Our neighbor came over and stayed with Cami, who was sound asleep, until my mother-in-law arrived from Salt Lake. It was very nice and convenient.I was talking to my mom the day before and she mentioned how some women have a lot of energy the day before the go into labor. That must be what happened to me on Thursday, because I vacuumed the house, actually took a shower, did my make-up, shaved my legs, painted my toe nails (how I reached them, I'm still not sure), and went to my EMT class where I walked around taking pictures of our MCI for several hours - that's all another story though. I was pretty proud of myself. I was especially happy that I managed to get my make-up done so I didn't end up doing it at the hospital like my sister did. :)
I was admitted shortly after I got there, I was only dilated to a 3 and 40% effaced. They got me hooked up to the IV, which was done by a nursing student, who did very well. Last time I got a huge, painful clot in the vein from the IV needle. Not this time, she did awesome. However, the veteran nurse who drew blood the following day completely missed the vein in my arm so I had a dollar bill sized bruise to show for it. I think I'd rather have totally inexperienced students sticking me from now on, thank you very much.I had to wait two hours to get my epidural. When the anesthesiologist came in, I actually asked to see what the needle looked like. Morbid, I know. He, very wisely, waited until after it was in to show me. For those of you who are unsure about getting one because it's a huge needle, it's unnecessarily hyped up. And this is me talking, me with the really strange fear of needles (which Sterling talks about here). The needle is no bigger around than a needle that they use when you donate blood. If you can do that, you can do this. No worries. And it's really not painful at all. I don't remember much about it with Cami's birth. I was too busy throwing up at that point. But this time was easy.
Moving on, so, we got to the hospital at 11:00 pm, with Cami it was at midnight. I got the epidural at 1:00 am, the same time that I got it with Cami. And my water broke at 4:00 am, nearly the same time that it broke with Cami. Is this getting a little weird and coincidental? I thought so too. However, that's where the similarities end. After that things went really, really fast. The doctor arrived at about 4:10. I started pushing at 4:16 and two contractions later we had a little boy at 4:20! Whew! So easy!
He's very cute. I know every mother thinks that about their child, but really, he is! He doesn't even have a cone head since the delivery was so incredibly fast. Sterling got to deliver him (he would have delivered Cami as well, but she had the cord wrapped around her neck) and since he was holding the baby while they suctioned his nose and everything, I got to cut the cord. It was actually pretty cool. I kinda thought that it would be anti-climatic since everyone builds it up so much, but no, it was actually really neat.
He's a very tiny little guy, almost a full pound smaller than Cami was. So far we think he looks like my dad, with his squinty little eyes. So cute! My mother-in-law says he has the Fenwick nose though. He's had a fair bit of jaundice, but it's going down slowly. We, fortunately, haven't had to put him on lights or anything. Already he sleeps about four to five hours at a time at night. I'm still sleep deprived, more so than I ever was with Cami, but it's getting better.
The last two weeks have just flown by so quickly. He's already put on over a half pound in weight. It's amazing just how fast they grow. I'm trying my best to enjoy it while it lasts. I feel great. My recovery time with him was a lot faster than it was with Cami. I have tons of energy, despite my lack of sleep, and have been doing great. Cami seems to be adjusting about as normally as any other first child does. :) For those without kids: she's jealous and cries a lot more and whines and does whatever she can to get attention. It's to be expected though. She loves to look at him and pat his head and even gives him kisses. It's actually very sweet. I just count myself lucky that she hasn't tried to smother him with a pillow, yet.
Over all, we're doing well. I'm just happy to have him here 10 days earlier than we expected. We had an inducement scheduled for Mon the 15th. The Ides of March. I'm happy he came on his own instead. Sterling hasn't been able to start with his master's project yet because of the snow out in Vernal, but I'm just fine with that because it means he's been around to help control the circus that is now our home. He seems excited to have a boy. Not that he won't take Cami fishing and hunting as well, but it's just nice to have a son. I'll try to be better about posting pictures and giving updates. I'm doing great til now if I get one a month. I'll make more of an effort, but with two kids now, it'll be tough.
