Well, when this lil one decided to finally come into the world, they decided not to waste time doing it!! LOL!!!
I'm thrilled to annnounce that baby #4 is another sweet little boy, bringing our total to 3 lil boys and 1 (outnumbered, but not outdone!) lil girl!!!
He's Here!!!
Jacob Arthur Ulmer arrived in this world via a beautiful waterbirth at 3:39 am May 18th, 2009!! Weighing 6lbs, 13 oz, and measuring nearly 20" long.
He looks just like Jesse and Tabitha did at birth! A teeny, dark lil mouse!
He's nursing like a champ, and I'm just enjoying him soo much! The kids are all pretty thrilled too! Well-I think Jesse wanted to send him back at first-when I called Mom to tell her the news, she put Jesse on the phone, and I told him it was a boy. Jesse said "but I wanted a girl baby, Mom! How come its a boy?" Mom said it kind of sounded like Jesse wanted to send him back, LOL!!
Wyatt isn't jealous, (yet) like I thought he'd be-he just wants to spend all day "hoding" the baby, and doing everything Mommy is doing to the baby (like nursing and changing diapers!)
So-his (Fast!) birth story, for those that like them (like me! LOL!) is below! For anyone squeamish, maybe stop reading here. Or at least consider yourself warned!
I had talked to Mom earlier in the day, around supper time, and she had volunteered to take the kids on Monday so we could go visit Grandma Ulmer in the hospital. I told her, so long as we didn't have the baby that nite, that that sounded good. She said "oh-are you having pains?" I replied "well, a few" but by that time, I'd dealt with so many braxton hicks, I wasn't going to read anything into it. Leroy and I went out at about 9:30 to deal with the aforementioned goat and her newborn kids, and then came in the house, watched the end of Desperate Housewives, and then Leroy went to sleep. I'd been having more contractions, but still determined not to read anything into it, I tried to sleep, then tried a warm bath. The bath seemed to slow them, so I went to lay down again. I was just relaxing, when, simultaneously, I had another ouchie contraction, and Wyatt started fussing some more (he'd been sleeping rather restlessly, which is totally out of character for him). I loudly asked Leroy to take care of Wyatt, that I was having a contraction-but not even a motion or sigh from Leroy's direction. So I finished dealing with the contraction, picked up Wyatt, and cuddled him for a bit, told him he might have a baby brother or sister born that night, and then layed him back down. He went back to sleep softly muttering "bwother, bwother". I can't help but wonder if he knew!!
I thought about waking Leroy up, but thought if it was true labour, he was going to have a long enough night, so chose not to.
I kept going back and forth on whether this was true labour or not-I thought if I could just get a chance to rest a little, maybe the contractions would change and I could tell. But then the thought occurred to me that it might really
be labour, and that maybe I should (gulp!) finish packing my hospital bag! (LOL-ya think?!) So I did that, while also timing contractions using an internet stopwatch I found (couldn't find another one in the house!). After a monster contraction, I decided to phone my sister and talk it over with her at least. I was a little reluctant-I didn't want to wake everyone up and find out it wasn't the real deal! But I did, and I'm so lucky to have a sister like her! She eagerly said she would get ready and come! I then realized I should call the hospital, and felt a little dumb for not doing that before waking up Sister!! But they told me to come on in, they'd get a room ready for me. My estimate of the contractions at that time (about 1:00 in the am) was that they were about 8-10 min apart, lasting around a minute in length. I then called my Mom, and was shocked to have her answer the phone on the 2nd ring, sounding quite alert! She said I hadn't woken her up, she was already awake!!! I wonder if she had a feeling? Anyways, she came right over to watch the kids, and we left the van keys so she could take the kids later if she wanted. In the meantime, I woke Leroy up (with great difficulty!!) and went on a hunt for the pants I wanted to wear! LOL! After another hard contraction, I told Leroy we'd better hurry a little faster (Mom was there by that point). We left, though not before Leroy tried to (purposely, I'm convinced, LOL!) forget the bucket for the placenta! He did also go back for the video camera though, which I was very glad for! By this time, the contractions were monster ones, interspersed by shorter, lighter ones. We got to the hospital, and got their last room! (YIKES!!) Sister said "wouldn't you have been mad if they were all full?" Oh yeah!! LOL! Sister arrived just shortly after we got there-perfect timing! The nurse ran a strip, the midwife in training checked me-and there was a bulging bag of waters she said-then she got the midwife on duty to confirm what she suspected-I was already at 10 cm and ready to go!! I got into the tub, where Leroy sat at the front, and I held (crushed) his hand, and Sister kindly splashed water on me, rubbed all the right places on my back (I don't know how she knows, but it was awesome!) and chatted in between contractions. I was so glad for their support-it may not seem like much, but it just put me soo much more at ease, and freed me to focus on the birth-it was awesome!!
We discussed names a little bit-I had thought we'd have more time in labour to discuss that-Leroy and I still hadn't agreed on a boy's name.
I fretted a little, b/c the water took the edge off my contractions so much, I was worried it would slow everything down. Everyone was so great, reassuring me that it was fine, baby could come at any time. The sweet nurse we had attending sweetly asked if I would please tell them before I started pushing? I guess I was being so quiet, they didn't know what was happening! I was just focusing on talking to body and baby "open up, open up, baby come down, baby come down". I assured her I would! Shortly after that, I felt my water breaking. It wasn't like with Wyatt, where I felt the bag of waters travel, and emerge with a POP! They broke higher up, and it felt like I was uncontrollably wetting myself. I kept waiting for the "throw up" urge of pushing to come-but it really didn't. Instead, I just gradually pushed baby, til I felt him crowning. He felt different coming out, but I didn't know why. Turns out he had a hand up, coming out alongside his head!! He also had a loop of cord around his neck!
The midwife kept saying "him" and I said " is it a him?" She replied "They're all "hims" til I find out differently!" Well, I reached around just then and felt, and, sure enough, he was a "him" this time! I was pretty shocked-I'd been so sure it was a girl I was carrying!! Then we were moving him (and me!) around, so I could hold him-there was some concern at first, as he was quite grey and limp. Instead of panicking and cutting the cord though, the midwife rubbed him briskly, and got the blood from the placenta pumping back into him. He revived quickly, with a lovely cry! Sister got to cut the cord-Leroy didn't want to. Funny guy! Shortly after we got out of the tub, and I got to nurse my sweet new little guy skin to skin. There was NO tearing for me, not even "road rash" as the midwives call it-LOL! It was just such a beautiful, non stressful birth-just soo wonderful!! I think it's so terrific, for both mothers and babies, for births to go this way!!!
We all marveled at how much like Jesse (and therefore Tabitha, them having been so alike at birth!!) that the baby looked. Wyatt had looked so different!! We guessed at weights-I guessed his weight exactly!!!
Leroy and I discussed names again, now that we knew it was a boy. He (jokingly, I hope!) suggested George, and I completely nixed it! (although May 18th is George Strait's birthday!!) I suggested Jacob, and he liked it. I like biblical names, and Sister said she liked the "J" names. Anyways, it just seemed right. Later in the morning we added Leroy's grandfather's middle name, Arthur. And that, as they say, was that.
Sister got to go home shortly after, and even get some sleep!! I was so glad she was able (and wanted!) to be there for his birth, just as the others!! Then we got to snuggle the baby as a new family unit, and take a nap.
Daddy and Jacob catch some z's and get in some snuggling time too!!
We left the hospital around 10 that morning, although baby gave us quite a scare first! He just started turning red and choking-turns out he was born so quick, he still had a lot of mucous left in him, and that was what he was choking on. There was luckily a nurse in the hallway right then, and she helped get the mucous out and explained to us what happened-I'd never experienced it before, and it was pretty scary!
When we came home, we were in for a surprise! Mom had cleaned our entire house!! It was just such a refreshing feeling to come into a tidy, orderly place!! She stayed up ALL NIGHT doing this!! Then watched the kids throughout the day for us too!! I'm thinking she had to be even more tired than me at the end of it!! It was just such an awesome surprise and gift though, and I'm really enjoying it alot!! Then she also brought over a yummy chicken dinner for supper that night!! Thanks Mom!
Tabitha got to meet her little brother, then went to sleep over at her cousins for the night, to give Mommy a bit of a break. It was pretty crazy, with all the kids clamouring to hold their new baby brother! They all seem pretty enthused about him!
Jesse loves his new baby brother-pics of the other sibs loving on baby to come!!
Anyways, I'm sad the pregnancy is over, though glad at the same time, b/c I was feeling so tired, and heavy and cranky-but I'll still miss the feelings of baby kicking and wiggling-just the wonderment of it all!! But I'm enjoying this teeny, sweet lil bit of life snuggled in my arms right now-so much! I love the new baby smell, and the feel of him, and his soft, dark head of hair! I wish there was a way to store these first few days up in my memory forever and ever!!
Wishes' Daddy Nickels-our very own Black Beauty!
(photo of Wyatt and "monster" courtesy of my sister! Thanks Sis!)
