On January 22, 2011, John Beaumont Wasden joined our family! He will be lovingly known as Beau. He was 7lbs, 5oz and 20.5in. We just adore him already!
As this blog is also a bit of a journal, let me record some of the details around his delivery. On Thursday, Jan 20th, I had a regular appointment with my OB. He checked me, made sort of a surprised face, and said he’d be back in a few minutes. When he came back, he told me that I was 5cm dilated already, and even though it was two weeks before the due date, he wanted me to come into the hospital to have Beau the next morning. He felt that we may be looking at having the baby in the car otherwise, given my history of a pretty fast labor with Lewis and how far along I was already. Well, after lots of questions, I agreed. He left it a little open ended as to what time we would arrive at the hospital in the morning. Needless to say, that night was a bit frenzied and neither Mike nor I slept well at all during the few hours that we attempted to sleep. So, the next morning was a bit slow trying to get our last things done and get Lewis off to our friend’s house. In fact, truth be told, by mid-morning we were ready but just exhausted. So, we decided to try and nap quickly and then head in. Well, by the time we got to the hospital, the doctor decided that he didn’t want to try and start things just in case it did take a while. After all, as he said, we didn’t want to cut into dinner time! (Now, to some this might sound a bit crazy that we didn’t get to the hospital first thing. But, to me, this is just another example of how the doctors so often like to have everything under control, buttoned up perfectly according to what works for their schedule...not necessarily what is natural for the mom or baby.) So, we headed home (via Bent Spoon, of course!) and were all too happy to have a very good night’s sleep that evening in preparation for the next morning. And yes, we did get in at a good time the next morning!
The morning was slow while I had antibiotics on an IV drip (I had tested positive for group B strep...standard for those who do). At about 1:30pm, the doctor broke my water. I was nervous that, being a couple weeks early, things wouldn’t start naturally as they had with Lewis. But, about an hour later, I started feeling the contractions. And, at 3:21pm, Beau was born! Yes – that was very quick! I pushed for a grand total of 4 minutes and then we had our little boy with us!
Beau was so sweet. They put him right on my chest, he cried just a bit, and then opened up his eyes and just looked up at me peacefully and inquisitively. What a sweetheart! The nurses commented right away on how strong he was. Right from the beginning, he’s seemed to be a very sweet, calm baby. Now that we’re a few weeks into things, we can definitely say that he’s just not a big cryer. Of course, he does cry – he’s normal! But, he mostly sort of grunts and moans when he’s getting ready to eat, and only starts crying after a good while.
Well, the rest of the hospital visit was just fine. A friend of ours who is a pediatrician at our practice happened to be on call the next morning, so she visited and checked Beau. We had visits on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning from Gogo and Lewis. Gogo had jumped on a plane as soon as she heard that Beau was on his way. She arrived just around the time that Beau was born and brought Lewis to the hospital just a couple hours later. We’ve been SO grateful to have her here!
Lewis was so incredibly excited to meet his little brother, Beau. When he arrived at the hospital, the nurses had Beau in the nursery checking him. But, as soon as they wheeled him into our room, Lewis jumped up and ran over saying, “I want the baby. I want the baby.” He just looked at Beau so intently and said, “Hi, Baby!” He definitely has seemed to know that this is baby Beau whom we’ve been talking about for so long, and that this baby is ours – here to stay. After meeting Beau, Lewis was very excited to point out all his body parts. Once he got a bit more comfortable, he was also very excited to “take him” and hold him, with a little help from mom and dad, of course!
Otherwise, we had a slightly rocky start for mom, only because she came down with a high fever in the hospital and had a bit of a cold/flu for a few days. Not too fun! But, I felt so grateful that it seemed to move its way through very quickly. It was a tender mercy, because I certainly wasn’t getting enough sleep to merit a fast recovery.
After returning home on Monday, we all settled in and just embraced baby world! It’s been so precious to have a newborn in our home again. I just love every cuddly minute I get with Beau. And, since Gogo has been here and has been playing so much with Lewis and getting him out and about, I’ve been able to have some quiet moments with my little baby, which I love.
Mike took the first week off as paternity leave, and that was a treat to have him home. He had lots of good time to play with Lewis and build towers. He got lots of shoveling in as we were covered with 3 feet of snow within a day or so of coming home from the hospital. Actually, he had to pry the shovel away from Gogo who had gotten up a little before him and was halfway done with shoveling the front walk before Mike realized what she was doing! Mike also was amazing getting so many things done around the house. Since the construction on our bathroom only finished three weeks before Beau came, and he arrived a couple weeks early, we weren’t quite as ready as we would have loved. But, by the time Mike went back to work, we felt like we were getting there.
The other reason we’ve been so, so grateful to have Gogo here is that Lewis has actually been a bit of a handful. Beginning a couple weeks before Beau arrived, Lewis started not sleeping so well. I could see that he was just sensing a change coming. Mom and Dad were worked up, furniture was being moved around every day, and something was up! And, since Beau has arrived, Lewis just has not slept well at all. L Boo!!! Naps are a challenge now, whether because Lewis is trying to take off his clothes and get “nak” or he’s just singing to himself for two hours straight. But, he’s really not ready to give up his afternoon nap at all. He’s a complete mess and a total handful without it! So, it’s been interesting! On top of that, he had quite a while of waking up in the middle of the night, which he hasn’t done in well over a year. (Part of how we knew it really was an emotional thing with the adjustment.) That seems to have tapered off now, but the nap problem is ongoing. I don’t know what I’d do without Gogo here!
Not too much else to report! It’s mostly just been quiet. Lots of evenings of tea and chats before an early bedtime. We were able to have the other Wasdens over the last two weekends. They had been sick for a while after Beau arrived, so we had to wait a little while to make the introduction. But, once better, they gave Beau the grand welcome proved once again that they are the most incredible cousins/aunt and uncle. J I haven’t gotten out of the house too, too much yet, both because of the weather and the fatigue. So, I’m beginning to itch to get back to some sort of normal again. That said, I’m just drinking in the beauty of this time for what it is and don’t feel any desire to really hurry it along. It’s amazing to have our two boys and now be a family of four. We’re pretty sure we love it!
