Griffin's Birth Story

Hello Again! I finally found a moment to sit down at the computer again. Jai is walking around the house, singing to Griffin, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to write a little bit, and add some new pictures, now that our little baby is almost three weeks old! Time has been flying, there have been so many little moments and new thoughts that I have wanted to document, but time has been in short order around here. Anyway, I guess I should start at the beginning.

Griffin was born at 10:13 am on Thursday, May 7th. I woke up that morning at about 4am, feeling some pretty strong cramps. They were only four minutes, and then three minutes apart, so I thought they couldn't possibly be real contractions. I thought they were supposed to start at least ten minutes apart! Anyway, after lying there for an hour, it was starting to get to the point where I had to use breathing to get through them, so I woke Jai up. I still wasn't sure, and I was feeling a little wimpy for already feeling like it was really hurting. Anyway, I called the hospital and they said we should probably come in and get checked out. I was terrified that they were going to check me out, and then send us home (I've heard stories of them doing that to other people.) We kind of took our time loading up the truck and getting going. We had to do a U-turn on the highway, and go into Middleton (about half way to the hospital) so I could use the bathroom in Tim Hortons. We probably freaked some people out, but I was still feeling pretty in control. We got back into the truck for the rest of the hour-long drive. Now I was starting to feel pretty uncomfortable, and still feeling wimpy, because I was really expecting hours and hours of this. We got to the hospital at just after 7am. They hooked me up to the monitor, and we listened to the baby's heartbeat, and watched the contractions on the printout. I could still talk in between them, but I was definitely hurting! When they unhooked me, I got up to go to the bathroom, and my water broke. The nurses seemed skeptical about how much pain I was feeling, but now they couldn't check to see how far along I was, because I guess after your water breaks, there is a much higher risk of infection. Anyway, I got up so Jai and I could walk around. Before I went into labour, everyone had told me how helpful it was to walk around, and I had been planning on doing that for quite a while, but I didn't get very far before I really wanted to be lying down again. The nurse said,"I can see that you're uncomfortable, so we're gong to admit you now." (Uncomfortable!) They admitted us into the birthing room, which is full of all sorts of things to help manage the pain like birthing balls and rocking chairs and a shower, but I didn't get to use any of them. She finally said she would check me. I was terrified that she was going to say I was only at two centimetres or something, because I was already having trouble dealing with the pain. But she said, "I can't really tell, I'm just going to get a second opinion." So another nurse came in, and said, "Yup, you're already at 8, almost 9 centimetres." Jai was out in hall filling out forms when the first nurse came out, and I guess she wanted a second opinion because she was so surprised at how far along I seemed to be already. Anyway, she pulled out the gas mask, and had me breathing into that for some of the contractions, which did help take the edge off a little. Then, pretty quickly, I felt like I needed to push, and she took the gas away (right when it started to REALLY hurt!) They called for the doctor. I don't know how long I was pushing, but it was about six more contractions, and then he was out. I screamed loud enough for the whole hospital to hear. All the things we had brought with us to get us through hours of labour stayed packed in the bag. The doctor didn't even make it in time - Griffin was delivered by the two nurses. What a crazy experience! It all happened so fast, I think I was in shock a little bit. Jai cut the cord, and we just snuggled him for a little while. Mom and Errol made it just in time to see him, after the doctor checked him outand stitched me back up. He weighed 7lbs, 7 ounces, and was perfect :) He has giant feet and long, long fingers. His hair is blond, and he has two little cowlicks, which I love. He has to wear mittens all the time because his fingernails are so long, and I'm too afraid to cut them still. And I know it's just gas, but he's going to have a killer smile.

We spent the next four days in the hospital, which was really great. We could have left any time, but it was nice to get a few days grace in there, surrounded by people that have seen it all before. There's so much to learn, and we had a lot of help with breastfeeding, and bathing, and changing him. We had a couple of rough days there. The first day (when all the visitors came by - sorry guys!) He was pretty unhappy because he was so full of mucous, and he was having trouble clearing it out of his lungs. Apparently when babies are born so quickly, they don't have a chance to have all that stuff squeezed out of them on the way out. Anyway, after that, he started to eat non-stop. I mean almost literally non-stop for 40 hours. At the beginning of this, the nurses told me it was normal, and that he was "cluster feeding." I thought, how strange that they would use a term that sounds so close to another "cluster f---" word, but by the end of the 40 hours, I thought they should just do away with the polite term already!

We brought him home on May 10th, which happened to be Mother's Day. What a perfect gift for my first Mother's Day! (I told my Mom I got her a grandson, and she wondered how I was going to top that next year. Ha ha.) Things have been going well ever since. Mom came down and gave us a lot of help for the first couple of days at home, especially since I wasn't really ready at home yet. I know he was six days late, and I probably should have been ready, but I kept waiting for that burst of energy that everyone told me was supposed to happen right before labour. It never happened. Mostly I felt really lazy and sleepy. Go figure!

Anyway, he's starting to wake up, and I've already taken a couple of days to write this much, so I'm gonna stop for now. We've got lots more pictures and firsts to share, though, so I'll be back!