I have a baby and I am loving it!

Ladies, being a mom is all I expected and more, I absolutely love every second of it!  I had debated having someone at the birth to take pictures and I am so glad I didn't We had an extra midwife here (two midwives and a student midwife) and the extra midwife made sure to take lots of pictures when he came into the world.  I got to catch Eli, his entrance was way better than I could have imagined.  The transition part of labor was harder than I expected, and every other part was way easier, and I felt completely in control.  So after feeling out of control for hours and having horrendous back labor where you could feel him bulging my back, pushing him out felt amazing, dare I say nearly painless.  The "ring of fire" was comfortable compared to the hours of back labor I had.  And I knew he was going to arrived in minutes, so I was excited , calm, peaceful.  Paul actually left to go to the bathroom after holding it for hours because I didn't want him to leave my side and I had my first push where Eli crowned and I said "I don't want to push I want Paul to be here" and so I just let him sit there and stretch.  Delivering Eli was the most empowering thing I have ever done, I wouldn't change a thing about his birth. 

40 week photos that have my little man in them!  I couldn't have come up with a better ending myself...except I dreamt about this ending a million times. :) 

I could take pictures with my little gentleman all day long.  Though he isn't really a fan...

He is a little jaundiced so we are trying to do some sun time when we can, he also isn't a fan of being naked, but he puts up with it for about half an hour before deciding he is really hungry and would rather be eating. During sun time one day I took a few photos, I definitely need to take some more pictures with my real camera and not just my phone, but the phone is so convenient! 

Nana and Grandpa came over two days after he was born and they were so in love. I guess at first Nana was saying she didn't want to bother us and didn't need to come over, but then when she saw pictures she was practically begging to come over, which is saying a lot for someone who doesn't really like to leave the house. 

First family picture of 6!

Matching outfits! I love comparison pictures. :) 

I dreamed about the ending to this picture as well! I realllllly wanted it to end with a baby and not to spill onto the next line of 41 and 42 weeks pregnant.  

Our amazing midwives.  I don't know what I would have done without each and every one of them.  I have wanted a home birth for as long as I can remember now but having one made me realize I never want anything but a home birth.  Jessica (the middle one in the picture/student midwife) is a doula as well and the pressure and pain relieving techniques she used were incredible.  They all made me feel like a rock star during labor and it was fabulous.  

Now for the iphone drop of pictures Baby boy was quite sqaure in my belly as I was writing thank you notes a few days before he came to this world.  I had been getting tired because I worked friday through monday and it turned out to be a little more than my body thought was ok.  I got sick Saturday but kept working through it, determined that I would make it.  I did, but I still have a wet seal like cough and intermittant headache that has been following me for over a week now.  And lets just say having a deep wet cough did not make labor any easier! I spent my evenings watching tv and bouncing on my ball and then lots of sleeping during that four day work weekend. 

That belly picture was taken on Monday as I left work, baby boy and I made it through our last 32 hours together with quite the group of trying patients. Tuesday morning 9am we had a midwife appt. Roxanne gave me popcorn with maple syrup and essential oils on it, which I ate all day long. Then I made a belgium waffle for dinner.  And then at 8:35 my water broke. 

But before we get to that 8:35pm mark, I just had this feeling, this feeling that it would be my last day with little one inside my belly.  And as I did my few chores I documented everything.  I did two loads of laundry, made a double batch of chex mix, cut up and ate an entire pomegranate, cut up a bunch of carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower, wrote thank you notes and tied up some loose ends on the computer while drinking lots of tea and water. 

Paul worked 11-7 and brought home some sparkling red grape cider that we were going to celebrate new years with.  He wanted to fiddle on his phone so I kept watching one of my favorite shows, White Collar while cuddling my kitties.  Then I stood up to go to the bathroom and felt like I was slowly peeing my pants, except that it didn't feel like peeing my pants.  It took my 10 minutes to decide if my water had really broke because it was slowly trickling out.  I decided I had, so  I called Roxanne and her and Jessica headed over. 

We watched fireworks on tv and decided to all go to bed at 12:30am as my contractions hadn't started yet.  I went and laid down and my contractions immeaditelly started. They were mild and didn't hurt, just uncomfortable.  They were 6-7 minutes apart at first and quickly came up to 2-3 minutes apart.  At 2:30am I couldn't lay in bed anymore so I bounced on the ball, had pressure applied to my hips and pelvis, and rocked my legs with the arms on the bed.  Then all picture taking stopped till baby was born.  I got in the water at probably 5am or so and stayed there for a few hours, then I was still only dilated to a 6 (I was a 6 when I got into the  water) so I got up out of the tub and came downstairs and ended up laboring on the couch through transition for a few hours.  Not where I intended on being but once I laid down I could't get up.  My back labor was horrendous and I was discouraged from all the painful contractions and no progression of labor. Well once I finally got off the couch a few hours later and back into the tub I ended up starting to push less than an hour later.  I pushed his head out in 3 contractions and his body out on the fourth.  I could have pushed in less but didn't want to tear, and it worked!  No tears. :) 

Eli Matthew Fernandez was born at 12:19pm into his mommas arms.  I had wanted to keep his cord connected till it quit pulsating or until the placenta was delivered but he had other plans.  When I looked down to see if it was a boy or girl his cord was dangling.  I grabbed his cord and the midwife grabbed mine and we clamped everything. It all turned out good in the end, though little man is a little jaundiced and the extra blood was supposed to help with that. Oh well, at least that cord did its job till the very last second! 

The midwives were at the house till about 2:30pm, and then Grandpa and Grandma Fernandez came to visit at 5:30pm with dinner in hand! Gabe came to visit the next day at 11:30 and brought pho, teriyaki, and bags of my favorite ice (taco time or sonic ice).  The midwives came around 1:30 to to baby's pku and footprints and check up on me.  Then Sara visited around 4:30 in the afternoon. The rest of the day was full of snuggles and breastfeeding and figuring out a rhythm to our new life. Oh Paul did lots of laundry and brought me lots of gatorade and water as well. And food but I wasn't super hungry that day. 

Eli loves having his hands at his face and we can't stop taking pictures of him! He is pretty precious and we couldn't have asked for a better baby.  Our first night with him we got 9 hours of sleep! Granted it was broken up but I felt soooooo good with that much sleep after not sleeping for 36 hours previously. 

Mullet head, tootsie toes, sunshine, and the cutest snuggles you can imagine. I look forward to waking up with this little man every morning. :) 

Friday at 11 Nana and Grandpa came to meet little one and then my parents came after that.  Baby boy doesn't get set down all day long, but at night he sleep in his swing all alone like a champ! 

We weighed him two days after birth and he was 7lbs 8oz.  Not sure if the original weight was super accurate but this one definitely was! I can't wait to weigh him again now that my milk has come in and he is eating like a champ. Oh and I made that onesie with my silhouette and plan on making many more cute and personalized ones! 

 We have gone on 3 walks since little one has arrived.  Granted they are short because my body is still recovering but I call them a success! The first day Paul had to walk with me to the bathroom because I was so weak from lack of food and blood loss.  But today I feel like a champ and I got to use my solly wrap and baby boy loved it! Snug as a bug he slept the whole way.

Huge thanks to my mom for cleaning the whole house.  I love having everything spic and span and I know I would have overdone it if she hadn't helped out.  Paul had been doing an awesome job keeping everything clean but I felt so bad laying in bed and having him do everything, it was hard to let my mom do it all too, so against my nature, but I know my body was telling me it was what I had to do.

This morning Paul talked to comcast to try and fix our super slow internet, called the insurance and added little one, and figured out what peditrician we would see and made an appt.  My husband is my superhero!  I just had to call my insurance and made sure my leave was set up correctly, which it was.  Phew!

And that folks is my new life and I couldn't be happier.  I get Paul home for 5 whole weeks and I am in heaven.  We watch a lot of tv and never put our boy down.  We can't get enough snuggles!  We have had a steady flow of visitors and that keeps us quite busy.  Little one still hasn't been in a car seat (we listened to a sermon online on sunday as I decided going to church would be way too hectic) so Wednesday will be our first outing to North Bend and Thursday to Renton for his pediatrician appt.  Friday we have pictures to take.  Its a crazy busy end of week for us. :)