Samuel John McPherson, the newest adventurer in the Family! Born on November 4 at 6:24 am. He weighed in at a perfect 8 lbs. 1 oz and 21 inches long. He is beautiful and so far very healthy.
I started having contractions on Thursday night at about dinner time, but they were light and not very regular. Still, I kind of had a feeling that things were in motion so I told Jeremy to clear his Friday schedule. We had dinner, put Clare to bed, and I texted our doula that things might be happening. I went to bed early, but by then my contractions were light but consistently about ten minutes apart. I was able to sleep between them for a few hours. By midnight they were about eight minutes apart and J was timing them on his contraction app that he downloaded (seriously). They were also getting stronger. For some reason we didn’t really believe that labor had really started and kept putting off calling anyone. Finally at about 1 am I got in the shower to deal with stronger contractions and we called the midwife at the hospital, our doula, and my parents to come stay with Clare. By the time everyone arrived, we were packed and we were ready to go to the hospital it was about 2:30. My contractions were about three minutes apart and strong and my water broke in the garage on the way to the car.
Once we got to the hospital things happened very quickly. I checked in at about 3:00 am and he was born at 6:30 am, so you do the math 🙂 I was thrilled that I was 8 cm when we checked in, and was able to get through transition on the water birth tub. Because this was a VBAC birth (birth after cesarean) I had to get out of the tub when it came time to push him out. Pushing was hard (understatement) but all worth it when they put him on my stomach. He was not so thrilled and promptly YELLED for about twenty minutes straight after birth. I’m not sure we actually saw his eyes for his first hour, but we certainly heard his voice. He was so healthy, pink and vigorous that we could hardly believe it.
So we finally got our all-natural Bradley Method, Husband-Coached waterbirth!! It could not have been done without Jeremy, the world’s best birth coach. We also had a wonderful doula through the labor and delivery who was especially indispensable during the final pushing stage. There were a lot of things that made this birth particularly special, but one of them is that the midwife who was there during Clare’s traumatic C-section was the one who delivered Sam. She remembered us and it was very special to already have a relationship with her. She never left the room (as far as I know) and was very encouraging at all the right moments. All in all, it was a team effort to bring Sam to the world and it was very special. A few pictures are below.
One of the best parts of having such an uncomplicated labor (I will never say “easy” labor) is the recovery. We checked out of the hospital on Saturday night, having only been there about 36 hours. I was walking around within an hour after birth, never took any pain killers stronger than over-the-counter tylenol, and was able to nurse him immediately. It’s made the coming home so much easier since I’m able to lift Clare right away and go about regular life. My next post will be about that, but suffice to say so far things are perfect.
I started having contractions on Thursday night at about dinner time, but they were light and not very regular. Still, I kind of had a feeling that things were in motion so I told Jeremy to clear his Friday schedule. We had dinner, put Clare to bed, and I texted our doula that things might be happening. I went to bed early, but by then my contractions were light but consistently about ten minutes apart. I was able to sleep between them for a few hours. By midnight they were about eight minutes apart and J was timing them on his contraction app that he downloaded (seriously). They were also getting stronger. For some reason we didn’t really believe that labor had really started and kept putting off calling anyone. Finally at about 1 am I got in the shower to deal with stronger contractions and we called the midwife at the hospital, our doula, and my parents to come stay with Clare. By the time everyone arrived, we were packed and we were ready to go to the hospital it was about 2:30. My contractions were about three minutes apart and strong and my water broke in the garage on the way to the car. 
