The Whole Family is Finally Here!

Saturday April 16, 2011: Here's where the story ends up-- all smiles and cute little Rundles in a big bed. Travel with us back to Friday where it all began.......

Here I am, Friday morning at Rosemary Cottage, car packed and ready to go have a baby! My water broke the night before (doesn't that mean the baby's coming soon?!) and we spent the morning kissing the girls goodbye and alerting grandparents.

We drove to Northampton, to our midwives' beautiful house, right near the Childbirth Center at Cooley Dickinson. Nathaniel had kind of hoped that the baby may come en route and had packed towels, blankets, and a plastic bag just in case of a Rt 90 delivery. (I was hoping a cop would pull us over and we could protest that we were speeding because my water broke and we were on our way to the hospital!)

We made it safely there and listened to Baby Boy's tiny horsehoof heartbeats. He was going strong and our wonderful midwives gave us until 8:00am on Saturday to get some contractions going on our own before checking into the hospital for a Pitocin assist. Nathaniel asked for some dining and lodging recommendations and we headed to Local Burger...

Where we ate and ate and ate. I'd had a persistent stomach bug and this was my first non banana-and-toast-based meal all week. Then we checked into the Clarion Hotel...

... and plugged in our electronics. We headed to the movies for a matinee of "Source Code." We were the only ones in the theater so I spent the previews running laps up and down the stairs, trying to get something going. I learned some fun facts about January Jones and her pre-Hollywood work at the Dairy Queen, but that was about all that came of it.

The movie was good and Nathaniel and I enjoyed out little date together. We wandered around the enormous cinema parking lot, thinking of how Ina May probably pictured a more bucolic scene for laboring couples to hike while encouraging labor. I did find a scrawny tree to hug, though!

That didn't seem to help. Neither did this:

The sun was setting on the heavy machinery portion of our day and we were feeling punchy but not very contract-y. We headed to Hadley and saw a compelling sign:

They were big and wooly. "Do you think they're like cows?" Nathaniel asked.

No, they are not like cows. They are like giant horned charging beasts.

Enough of embracing Nature to get our groove going. We headed to the nearest strip mall. GameStop for him and Michael's for her. We met up at Whole Foods for dinner. What makes a baby come out? Chocolate milk (High Lawn Farm!), an apple, a peppermint truffle, and a yellow Tums just might work.

And you can't show up to labor empty handed. Chocolate cupcakes for the nurses, of course!

We finished our Day of Broken Water and Waiting at Barnes and Noble. I read a European pregnancy magazine and was advised not to fear birth and to ask for gas to ease the pain.

At about 10:00 I finally got some real contraction reaction happening and was overjoyed. They continued through the night but never really built up to anything substantial by the time we left our hotel room the next morning. I had half a Luna bar and we stopped for bagels and pastries for Nathaniel. I didn't really see how we were going to get this baby out. I felt like my body could continue this build up for another three days but we had hours, not days, to make this happen because of my leaky water situation. This meant Pitocin and that meant intense labor and when I had Sonia Pitocin meant being strapped to machines. And prolonged hours of labor with little relaxation or progress. And getting an epidural that stabbed me in the spine five times and left my right leg paralyzed for two days. And a birth that was very, very civilized. And very removed from the power and glory of bringing new life into the world. I'd be grateful for any way of getting Baby Boy here safely but I was also a little greedy for the magic part, too.

My amazing midwife met us in the childbirth center and we found I was already 3-4 cm dilated. She let us continue for another three hours to try to crank these tame contractions up to some real work but it just wasn't happening and finally the drip of Pit started at 11:30. Third time around now and I think I've started to figure out some of the mysteries of letting my body do its job while my brain continues chatting away and trying to control the process. Gratitude for everyone present is a big one. Being polite. Finding the funny. Humility. And this time I leaned on Nathaniel. (I didn't even let him look at me the first time around. Seriously. I'd say, "Stop looking at me during contractions!" He got good at staring down the middle distance that didn't make me self-conscious without leaving me alone with each contraction.) He got in bed behind me and I relaxed into him and the midwife said we fit together so well as we breathed through each contraction.

The Pitocin reved me up instantly. (My cervix might have freaked out just hearing that Pitocin was on its way and started behaving a little better, too.) I was soon in the work of making a baby come out and everyone was lovely and supportive. I was tied to nothing. Walking, bouncing on a ball, even the jacuzzi tub in the room were all still available to me. Loving hands applied pressure to ease my hips opening through contractions. Loving words encouraged me to work for my little boy. And very soon it all became overwhelming. I couldn't continue. I reminded my monkey brain to take over and even my monkey brain was like, this is too much! So I asked to go in the tub and my midwife checked me first and said I was dilated and ready to push-- no more laboring needed! Sweet!

Some more hard work but I felt more ownership of this power now and I could feel the force inside me moving this child closer to me, right where I've wanted him to be since I first heard he'd be coming to be part of our lives. I knew he was so close now and I told my nurse and my midwife that I loved them and that I loved this baby and I told myself that I was having an ecstatic birth and it was all true. My midwife told me to reach down and pull him out and suddenly he was in my hands and on my chest and this amazing force inside me had transformed into a real and tangible body of arms and legs and fuzzy head that I could see and claim.

He had a big old knot in his umbilical cord and Nathaniel cut it before calling everyone at Rosemary Cottage to let them know we were ready for company. The baby went to Nathaniel and was immediately soothed in his arms. He nuzzled his Daddy and then got weighed.

He was 7 lbs, 14 oz; smaller than Maddie, bigger then Sonia. He clearly has Sonia's nose and some long and elegant Rundle fingers and toes. He smells so good!

And here we are:

Soon our little boy was surrounded by his loving family. We told the girls his name first and then spread the news: Henry Martyn Rundle is here! He was passed around and kissed and loved all over.

And there we are. Nathaniel and I will be bringing this last little bundle home from the hospital tomorrow. We're spending our last few hours in the hospital as parents of a newborn, one of our favorite things to do in the whole world. We're so lucky that we got to do it three times and that our girls are in such good hands while we're giving our attention to this latest addition. As Maddie sang to Henry as she left last night, "So long, farewell, I hate to say goodbye!"

We bid adieu to pregnancy and prenatal appointments and ultrasounds and birth and welcome the beginning of our life together as a family of five. As Nathaniel said, "It's like we are really starting now."

Please come by Rosemary Cottage and meet Henry soon and be part of this beginning with us!