Introducing Wyatt!

Our little guy Wyatt Christopher was born on Tuesday morning!

1/31/2012 11:26 AM

21.25" tall, 8 lb even, 14.25" head circumference

He was born at home with our Naturopathic Physician Dr. Jeff Wright and an assistant, Jennifer.

Some pictures for you.

And a story for you, too.

I had crampy days for the week leading up to the birth, and kept warning the doctor (Jeff Wright) that we may be near. But no. We had a cleared calendar on Monday, and used a few gentle induction techniques Sunday night. I was hopeful for Monday, but it wasn't to be on Monday, and after some thought came to a good place and decided that he'd come when he was ready.

Monday night John crashed on the couch for a few hours before bed, and we went to bed a bit late. I slept from 1-5, then awoke hungry, despite the big dinner we had and snack at midnight. I had a snack from my nightstand stash at 5 and slept on and off till 7 or so, when I urgently needed to use the bathroom several times, and figured out that what I was feeling was contractions. I counted 6 doozies between 7:30 and 8:30am, then texted Jeff and told him I'd call in half an hour. I listened to some hypnosis and talked to the doctor shortly after 9am. We chatted and decided he best head out. I texted him at 9:45 to tell him that things were getting intense, and that there was some vomiting.

In the meantime, Ian awoke about 9, and we snuggled for a few minutes as I got him excited about an impromptu play date. I asked my mom to get him ready to go, and by 9:30 I was encouraging them to truncate breakfast and get out the door. John was running around and helping me, as well. We went downstairs and John got started with the birth tub, and I went straight for the hot tub. Remind me to never have a child without a hot tub at the ready. It was essential in both of my births so far!

I labored in the hot tub outside while John and my mom worked on the birth tub inside. It was a beautifully sunny, mild winter day. As I had a quiet moment to myself in the hot tub, enjoying the hot water, a couple of house finches stopped by to say hello, landing on the cover to the hot tub a few feet away. For some contractions, John helped by pushing on my back. Roscoe (the cat) even helped me relax through a few contractions while I scratched his head. I leaned over the side of the hot tub on my knees for most of the time I spent outside.

Finally a note from Jeff after 10:30 that he was nearby. I was feeling like we were getting close, so I was glad to see him drive up the driveway about 10:50. He brought an assistant, Jen, who is training to be a midwife and has completed EMT training. I asked him to head inside and her to stay with me. Mom and John were a bit stumped about the fact that the hot water heater was empty and the birth tub was half full. Jeff got them going dumping hot tub water into the birth tub. With stock pots in hand, they transferred water quickly. I watched Jeff's dress shoes go back and forth during contractions. I was given the ok to get into the birth tub, and it wasn't a moment too soon.

Jen, John and Jeff worked on pushing on my hips, in addition to pressure points on my back, as I continued on my knees, with my head and arms on the side of the tub. Jeff checked at that point, 8cm and +2 station, he announced. Then I announced that there was a pop and a gush and the water broke. Knowing it was about to get intense, I was starting to feel like I didn't want to do this. The hip pushes, however, were like opening a door, and he crowned very quickly. I think that the deeper water of this tub (as compared to the kiddy pool that we had with Ian's birth) helped me to be a bit more vertical and reduced the discomfort and tearing in the front. I still needed some support there, as he was coming so quickly. Once his head was out, I was asked to push him out quickly, as the cord was short and he wasn't able to get it off of his neck. The pushing phase couldn't have been more than 15 minutes, and there were about 3 pushes to get him out.

He didn't start breathing right away, so Jeff used the bulb syringe to clear out his throat. He did use a bit of oxygen to make sure he was ok as he got started. Apgars were 7, 10. After he got going, he stuck his tongue out right away, and screamed a bit for us. I held him and we chatted for a bit, then we felt it was a good time, John cut the cord and John, Mom, Jen and Wyatt went to the other room to rub in the vernix, towel him off, and let me deliver the placenta. When I was done with that and comfortably dried off and in bed, they brought Wyatt back to me, and he latched on without any help from me, and nursed for an hour and a half. I laid in bed and snuggled my new boy as everyone else cleaned up, fed me, did checks and paperwork, did anything I asked of them, then people left and we napped. John went to get Ian about 3pm, and Ian came in and out as Wyatt and I relaxed and mom and John made dinner and wrangled a toddler. Truly a beautiful Birth Day!

Many thanks to Jeff and his team for excellent and gentle prenatal care and labor/delivery care and support!