Welcome Home Chunky Monkey!

A long overdue virtual welcome to the newest sweet addition to our family!  Our big little man was born on the magical date of 12-12-12 6:58 p.m. He is absolutely perfect and captured our hearts the moment he arrived.

I'll refer to our new little man as our little Punk Rocker and will likely slip and call him Chunk every now and then because he certainly is a chunky little monkey. Our birth story is similar to the Rockstar's.  My OB predicted an early birthday and a 2 hour labour... unfortunately she was wrong on both accounts, but I'm over it now.  

I went for an ultrasound on the 11th and my amniotic fluid levels were low.  Chunk didn't flip over the expected three times so he officially failed the test. The ultrasound technician deemed me the 'calmest mother ever' because I didn't flip out over the FAIL label.  I assured her I did care but that the exact same thing happened with my first so I wasn't worried.  I visited my OB and our Punk Rocker's heart rate dropped during the Doppler monitoring so she scheduled my induction for the next day and sent me to the hospital immediately for further monitoring/testing. All was well and I was told to call the hospital early on the twelfth to find out when to return for the drip.

The morning of the 12th I had a little spotting so called triage and they told me to come on down to be examined by a doctor, the nurse said I was second in line so chances were they would just tell me to stay and would get things rolling.  Sure enough that's exactly what happened. Our nurse Sophie was outstanding and we lucked out like we did the first time: she was with us for the entire labour.  

At 1030 I was set up with an IV for the induction drip and also for the penicillin drip to deal with the fact that I was strep positive.   Sophie nailed the vein on the first attempt which was a lovely way to start our day. I think I jinxed myself in a previous post by suggesting the IV was the worst pain I dealt with when delivering the RockStar.

At 1230 pm my water was broken after many many MANY attempts to break it.  Our poor little Punk arrived with 12 scratches on the crown of his head thanks to the super thick sack he had been living in. My contractions kicked in around 1 pm.  Although I was experiencing some lower back pain I thought I had things under control.  Around 3 pm I was asked whether I had made a decision on the epidural, the anaesthesiologist was going into a surgery so he would not be available for an hour at the very least. I was 7 cm dilated and figured I had an hour to go (not sure why I was so sure this was the case but this was one time I shouldn't have trusted my instincts).  After discussing things with my nurse who assured me that I was dealing well with the 2 minute long contractions at this point I decided to go without the epidural.  S.T.U.P.I.D.  

Hip hip horray for all of you who go without the drugs, I think it's funny how women get all bent out of shape around the "natural labour" talk.  Having a baby is the most natural thing a woman can do: drugs or no drugs.  I chose to go without the epidural initially (initially being the key word) because I was concerned it would slow things down, because I figured my labour was almost over and because I wanted to feel the birthing process more than I did with the Rock Star.  Half an hour later I was seriously regretting my decision.  I had full blown back labour thanks to my sunnyside up Punk and it was pain like I have never ever experienced. I have a relatively high pain threshold but wow.  

The nurses were wonderful and various people came in to try and help me through the excruciating pain.  At 5:30 pm I felt like I had to push and when I was checked I was still only 7 cm dilated.  "1 cm to 2 cm an hour" came back to me and I broke down thinking I might have to deal with this for another three hours.  I asked for the epidural reluctantly because I was terrified that if I was told I couldn't have it yet I would have a total meltdown.  A call was made and lucky me: the anaesthesiologist was available!! 10 minutes later I had the painless epidural and by 6pm I was fully dilated!!  My nurses said it was likely the epidural that helped me to relax enough to open things up.  I was given a pump to up the epi if need be. I pushed it twice and then left it alone.  The OB on call came in and told me to start pushing whenever I was ready.

Once I started pushing it was only 15 minutes before our little man made his grand entrance!  His birth was exactly what I hoped for this time around: I was able to feel enough to know I was really happy to have requested the epidural, I wasn't dealing with nausea so I saw him slide into the world and this round I was able to watch his daddy cut the umbilical cord.  We had immediate skin to skin time together which made me so happy!! Snuggles with my soft warm little man now on the outside was the most amazing experience ever.  

Our Punk Rocker came into the world with a strong cry and a full head of hair! The Rock Star was born with a little triangular "tail" but our Punk is part werewolf also, he was born with furry little ears! So cute.
He is a gorgeous baby and was cute even all puffed up.  He weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs 5 oz and was 21 inches long.  He was born at 6:58 pm and nursed shortly after his arrival with no trouble!  

Believe it or not we do not have photos of Mike and I with the Punk right after his birth!!  We were so happy to have him in our arms that we did not think of photos. I'm okay with this now, initially I was upset but I'm happy we lived in the moment and didn't worry about a camera.

Mike was an incredible support during and after the labour as expected.  He is such an outstanding Daddy, the boys and I are really lucky!

Mr Maggo aka the Rock Star was the first person to meet our little Punk. I had really debated whether or not to have him come up to the hosptial, I didn't want him to be upset about us staying and him leaving but he handled things like a superstar which really is not surprising.  My parents were the lucky two who shared the news with Big Bro.  They wished they had recorded it because apparently he was glowing and so very happy that his brother had finally arrived.

Mike brought the Rock Star in and we had a few minutes to ourselves so that the boys could officially meet. My heart nearly exploded when Mike set the Rock Star on my lap: two little boys that we created!  I was worried Big Bro would be jealous and there was not a smidge of jealousy, he was just thrilled to meet his little 'bruddah'.  He admired his "yittle fingahs, yittle toes and yittle cheeks" and gave him gentle hugs. "He is so tiny and so cute! Awwww!"

Grams, Papa, Granny, Grandad and Auntie Joanne were all at the hospital waiting to meet our newest addition.  Lots of hugs and smooches were handed out and of course tears of joy were shed.  Uncle John and Uncle Paul came up the following day to meet their new nephew.

We were happy to be able to go home on the evening of the 13th.  The nurses were phenomenal and arranged to have blood work done at exactly the 24 hour mark so that we would be able to escape if all was well and thankfully it was!  We took our little Punk home and had a night to ourselves.  The Rock Star returned home the following day when we picked him up after the Punk's hospital check-in where we found out he had gained even more weight. Oink oink.

Life with two little men is a whole new ball game but thanks to a sweet Rock Star and an adorable sleepy Punk it is off to a great start!  Welcome to the world Baby Boy!! Mommy and Daddy love you more than you can possibly imagine!