I was at the hospital having pitocin-induced contractions and could only make it through them standing up. At 6:20 pm Ezra Chalmers Hales came into the world via c-section. Happy first birthday son! It’s all been worth it.
I believe that was the title of one of Katie’s posts concerning a similar subject as the one forthcoming. The reason for the title is that 1) we’re expecting #2 and 2) the projected due date is April Fool’s Day (also Bryce’s birthday)!
This pregnancy was a surprise and though it really threw us for a loop initially our perspectives have been helpfully reoriented. I had a bit of early spotting that though innocuous was still quite disconcerting. We all went to the ER when I was about 6 weeks pregnant after the spotting and found that our little blob of a baby was growing well and had a heart beat of 122bpm. Bryce wins the dad of the year award for taking care of Ezra mostly on his own from about 4pm until 9pm when we left (and Ezra was so sleepy — he generally goes to bed at 7!).
Today we also took a sleepy Ezra to our first doctor’s appointment. Since we’re leaving for vacation in a few days I had to take the first available appointment which was right during Ezra’s nap time. But he did very well as we placated him with Cheerios.
We’re not sure what birth option we’re going to chose yet. The good thing is that if we do go the hospital route our insurance (Kaiser) uses a lot of midwives in their practice; in fact we were only seen by a certified nurse-midwife today. At some point I’d meet an OB, but I’d generally get to see the same midwife. I’d wanted to birth at a free-standing birth center but the one in San Diego can’t do VBACs. So it’s likely that the options would be to birth at the hospital (perhaps hiring a midwife or doula as well) or to have a home birth so I could get my water birth I wanted if all goes to plan. The midwife today said that I was a good VBAC candidate since the reason for my c-section was more of a one-off thing rather than Ezra getting stuck; the downside is that there isn’t a whole lot of time between births and they have to make sure my scar has healed. (Although I’ve seen things that basically say that a scar from a surgical procedure heals like any other and more time doesn’t affect the outcome).
So stay tuned for baby updates and as we figure out how to have a natural birth as the health of the baby allows.
For fun. Feel free to consider yourself tagged if you’d like to do it.
1. Ashley (“Ashley’s eye”) 2. hot dog 3. 1999 4. blue 5. None 6. Cabernet 7. New Zealand 8. Sticky toffee pudding 9. a court judge 10. husband and son 11. conflicted (“The math of conflict”) 12. 5 solas
Here are the rules:
Here’s how it works:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker. Choose 3 columns with 4 rows.
The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to? (or, What year did you graduate high school?)
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name. (kid version: favorite animal?)
Ezra turns one on the 29th, but we had his party on Saturday.
My dad was the resident photographer, so check out other pictures here.
Here’s some pictures from my Dad’s Flickr of us at Balboa Park:
We ordered a couch! Yay! I’m so excited. It’s a real piece of grown-up furniture. I don’t have a picture as it’s a custom-built piece. But it’ll be black durasuede and have a tufted back seat cushion. I also have received the two fabrics below and will probably make pillows from that. Bummer is that we have to wait about 8 weeks for the couch…oh well. It’ll allow us to do some bargain hunting for accessories, etc. We’re on our way to Hollywood glam!
Does the ACOG seriously not remember that most women throughout time have given birth in their homes?
As of now, no actual legislation has been drawn up, but the AMA has agreed to back a measure called “Resolution 205,” a request to support the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ (ACOG) position that home births are not safe.
“We are against home births, period,” said Gregory Phillips, an ACOG spokesman.
Due to Ezra’s heart rate decels during early contractions, I’m glad I was at a hospital. And so that’s made me a bit nervous about any future birth(s), but I think a birth center would be ideal — personalized care, certified nurse-midwives, and connections with a local doctor (who is natural-childbirth friendly) and hospital if the need arises.
Here’s the article if you’re interested in reading the whole thing.