It has been an absolutely crazy past 17 days. For those of you who don't already know, the world welcomed Liam Tommy Kilpatrick on April 11th at 10:35am. Weighing in at almost 11 pounds (10lb 14oz) and almost 2ft long and born au natural. I still am not sure how my body handled that one!
My water broke at 11:55pm on April 10th. This is after literally trying every natural labor inducing method out there (with the exception of caster oil). I still didn't have any signs of labor so my midwife said to get some sleep and I would probably start labor within 6-8 hours. 30 minutes later, I went into labor.
This picture was taken pretty soon after I went into labor. I wanted to document how massive I was before he arrived. (39 weeks 5 days)
Time is funny when you are in labor. You would think that it would drag on because of the discomfort of contractions but it flew by. In no time at all my contractions were 3 minutes a part and Mike suggested we call the midwife again. We met her at the birthing center at 4:30am. I was really relieved to have my favorite midwife Roswitha for these first stages of labor. She was reassuring and comforting. The next few hours were a blur of handling contractions. Sometimes I like being massaged, other times I hated being touched. I knew things were progressing nicely when I was in writhing pain and Roswitha came in really excited and said "yes, this is going wonderfully!" It did not feel so wonderful at the time. Luckily I was far enough along to finally get in the big tub. She didn't want me to get in too soon because it may slow labor down. I'm not sure how long I was in the tub for but eventually Roswitha had to go home and we got a midwife we'd never met before named Michelle. I was so far gone it could have been a homeless man in scrubs and I wouldn't have known the difference. After some of the hardest contractions of my life they told me I could start pushing. So I pushed, and pushed and pushed, then they said I had to get out of the tub "do I have to?" yes. So I did. Then I pushed some more. Mike then announced that he could see the head! Keep pushing! All I could think of was what my mom had told me "Once the head comes out, the rest of the body will just slide right on out" so I pumped myself up. All you have to do is get the head out, that's all. Push..Push...Push..Push..."Okay, the head is out! Now I need you to give me two big pushes and some small pushes" PUSH..PUSH..."Okay, I need you to give me two more big pushes!!!" what the hell?!? What seemed like centuries later, Liam finally made it out. He was put on my chest and he was blue with a cone head and he was the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on. He hadn't cried yet and Mike said "What do we do?" the midwife said "Talk to him" so he did and as soon as he heard Mike's voice he took his first breath, well wail. It was magnificent.
He lay on my chest for over an hour or maybe it was two. I hadn't slept all night and sleep was far from my mind. I kept looking at his little hands and feet and his wrinkly little face. He is so perfect.
Eventually it was time to weigh him and the midwife said "anyone want to take a guess?" I don't know, 9 1/2 pounds? Nope. Almost 11 pounds! It was the biggest baby the midwife or the midwife assistant (also named Michelle) had ever helped deliver. They measured his head and then his chest. It turns out his chest was bigger than his head! No wonder it was so hard to push him out!
The days that followed have been a bit hazy. It turns out that newborns eat a lot and often. I sometimes find myself feeding him every hour! We are continually learning to communicate with each other. I catch myself just staring at his face and totally losing track of time. I can't believe we created this amazing creature. I met a woman once who had a son. She described him as her heart walking around outside her body. I totally get that now. I am so excited to share this amazing world with him.
We have also been graced with some of the best friends this world has to offer. Shortly after Liam's birth we were given loads of pre-prepared meals. I cannot even explain how amazingly helpful and wonderful these gifts have been. I cannot help but think that if it weren't for all this food, we would be living off of Ramen noodles and cold cereal. Thanks to everyone who has helped us!
Instead of posting all of Liam's photos on the blog which would take forever, I've created a photobucket album which I am continually updating with his most recent photos. If you would like to see them, you can check it out here:
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x432/Britt_Kilpatrick/Liam%20Tommy%20Kilpatrick/
Once I get my bearings a little better, I will try and continue posting on this blog updates on how our little man is doing.
My water broke at 11:55pm on April 10th. This is after literally trying every natural labor inducing method out there (with the exception of caster oil). I still didn't have any signs of labor so my midwife said to get some sleep and I would probably start labor within 6-8 hours. 30 minutes later, I went into labor.
This picture was taken pretty soon after I went into labor. I wanted to document how massive I was before he arrived. (39 weeks 5 days)
Time is funny when you are in labor. You would think that it would drag on because of the discomfort of contractions but it flew by. In no time at all my contractions were 3 minutes a part and Mike suggested we call the midwife again. We met her at the birthing center at 4:30am. I was really relieved to have my favorite midwife Roswitha for these first stages of labor. She was reassuring and comforting. The next few hours were a blur of handling contractions. Sometimes I like being massaged, other times I hated being touched. I knew things were progressing nicely when I was in writhing pain and Roswitha came in really excited and said "yes, this is going wonderfully!" It did not feel so wonderful at the time. Luckily I was far enough along to finally get in the big tub. She didn't want me to get in too soon because it may slow labor down. I'm not sure how long I was in the tub for but eventually Roswitha had to go home and we got a midwife we'd never met before named Michelle. I was so far gone it could have been a homeless man in scrubs and I wouldn't have known the difference. After some of the hardest contractions of my life they told me I could start pushing. So I pushed, and pushed and pushed, then they said I had to get out of the tub "do I have to?" yes. So I did. Then I pushed some more. Mike then announced that he could see the head! Keep pushing! All I could think of was what my mom had told me "Once the head comes out, the rest of the body will just slide right on out" so I pumped myself up. All you have to do is get the head out, that's all. Push..Push...Push..Push..."Okay, the head is out! Now I need you to give me two big pushes and some small pushes" PUSH..PUSH..."Okay, I need you to give me two more big pushes!!!" what the hell?!? What seemed like centuries later, Liam finally made it out. He was put on my chest and he was blue with a cone head and he was the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on. He hadn't cried yet and Mike said "What do we do?" the midwife said "Talk to him" so he did and as soon as he heard Mike's voice he took his first breath, well wail. It was magnificent.
Eventually it was time to weigh him and the midwife said "anyone want to take a guess?" I don't know, 9 1/2 pounds? Nope. Almost 11 pounds! It was the biggest baby the midwife or the midwife assistant (also named Michelle) had ever helped deliver. They measured his head and then his chest. It turns out his chest was bigger than his head! No wonder it was so hard to push him out!
The days that followed have been a bit hazy. It turns out that newborns eat a lot and often. I sometimes find myself feeding him every hour! We are continually learning to communicate with each other. I catch myself just staring at his face and totally losing track of time. I can't believe we created this amazing creature. I met a woman once who had a son. She described him as her heart walking around outside her body. I totally get that now. I am so excited to share this amazing world with him.
We have also been graced with some of the best friends this world has to offer. Shortly after Liam's birth we were given loads of pre-prepared meals. I cannot even explain how amazingly helpful and wonderful these gifts have been. I cannot help but think that if it weren't for all this food, we would be living off of Ramen noodles and cold cereal. Thanks to everyone who has helped us!
Instead of posting all of Liam's photos on the blog which would take forever, I've created a photobucket album which I am continually updating with his most recent photos. If you would like to see them, you can check it out here:
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x432/Britt_Kilpatrick/Liam%20Tommy%20Kilpatrick/
Once I get my bearings a little better, I will try and continue posting on this blog updates on how our little man is doing.
