Sebastian Mikhael was born on Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 11:35am. He weighed 9lbs. and 9oz., and his length was 21 3/4 inches long. He is such a sweet baby, and I love him so much. His big brother, Cedric is still trying to come to terms to having this new person living in our house, but he is slowly starting to warm up to him. I'm still amazed that I have two little ones to love on all day. My struggles with getting pregnant for almost two years seems like a very distant memory. I'm so grateful that I was able to get pregnant and not end up with the struggles that so many women suffer from.Anyway, here is my birth story. On Friday evening around 8 pm I was watching tv and I got up to go to the bathroom. When I stood up, I felt like I was leaking. I was pretty sure it wasn't pee, because I had no control over the situation. I called the Midwife, and she told me to wait it out for awhile. I wasn't having painful contractions just occasional pressure, and she knew that I wanted to give birth without pain meds. They would have put me on Pitocin, and she knew that would make it a lot harder to go without drugs. I went to sleep that night, and I woke up around 1:50am to go to the bathroom. I moved to get up, and my water broke. It's a good thing I decided to put a towel under me while I was sleeping...otherwise our bed would have been drenched. I told John, and he started making sure we had everything we needed to go to the hospital. I called the Midwife, and she agreed with me that it was a good time for me to come in. We had to wait for my parents to come over to our house to watch Cedric. They arrived around 2:15am. I wasn't too panicked, because I was having no pain only occasional pressure.
John and I headed off to Saint Joseph's Hospital in Downtown Denver. It's a good thing my body decides to go into labor during the time of the night when the roads are pretty empty. We got to the hospital around 3:30am, and we first went to Triage before they could admit me. When I was hooked up to the monitors, I was having pretty regular contractions, but I was having no pain. I was only having pressure. Baby's heartbeat sounds great, and it was positive that my water broke. They had to wait until a room opened up before checking me in. We finally got to our room around 4:30am. The Midwife didn't want to check me since the more they check after your water breaks the chances of infection goes up. They hooked me up to the monitors. The nurse told me I would probably have to go on Pitocin to help my contractions become more regular and stronger. John and I rested for awhile.
At 8am the Midwife checked me, and I was at 5cm. I was amazed that I was half way there without any pain. They started Pitocin around 9am, and we waited to see my contractions progress. I was definitely feeling it more, but the pain was still manageable. Around 10am, the Midwife checked me again, but I was only 6cm. I still had some bag of water to break. I was still feeling good although getting uncomfortable. I would say that around 10:30am, I was starting to get really uncomfortable, so I had my mom leave the room and to take Cedric with her. By 11am, I wasn't speaking much to anyone and I was questioning my decision to do this without pain meds. At 11:20am I was ready to push and before the Midwife could check me to see if I was complete I was instinctively pushing. I couldn't help it...my muscles automatically started pushing through the pain. Thankfully, I was complete. I only pushed for 15 minutes before Sebastian made his entrance into the world. It got scary at one point, because his head was out but the Midwife was having trouble with the rest of his body. I think his shoulders got stuck. They were calling for an extra pair of hands to help out and the nurse was pushing on my belly to get him out. They were also telling me to push harder. He came out, and I felt so much better. I've never screamed louder in my life...I'm not a person who gets like that. I had no idea that Sebastian was going to be such a big baby. I was thinking he was going to be in the 8 pound range not 9 pounds almost 10. I still can't believe I delivered a 9lb. 9oz. baby with no pain meds, and I was receiving Pitocin.
I had an external tear...no cervix tear this time. It doesn't feel good to have to sit through the placenta coming out and getting stitches in a very tender area. Of course, the pain doesn't compare to what I just went through. I just wanted everyone to stop messing with me, and I wanted to hold my baby.
Sebastian latched onto the breast with no troubles. I think it helps that I've been breastfeeding Cedric for so long that I feel completely comfortable with breastfeeding. Sebastian is continuing to do well with the breastfeeding, which is great. We got to go home Sunday afternoon, and I was so glad to leave. Cedric couldn't stay with us in the hospital, and I was really sad about that. I didn't want to leave him more than a night with my parents. I didn't want him to feel abandoned. Thankfully, Cedric did well, but I still wanted to be with my little guy. We went home about 2:30pm, and it was so nice to finally be a family of four.
Sebastian is continuing to do well, although he has jaundice and he is receiving photolight therapy. Thankfully, he is receiving that in the comfort of our home, because his levels aren't high enough to need the high powered machines from the hospital. He is going to the bathroom more, so that helps bring the bilirubin levels down. It's a pain, because I just want to hold my baby. I'm so glad John is here to help me these first couple of weeks. :-)
Now the question is how did we come up with his name. We both liked the name Sebastian, and it was a name we both could agree on. Mikhael is more of a story. My brother Michael died from Brain Cancer on June 23, 2008. We spread his ashes on July 18, 2008. This is also the day I conceived, and I know this because I've been tracking my temperature and my temp spiked. When your temperature rises, it means ovulation has occured and if sperm is present you're chances of conception goes up. Anyway, I knew if I got pregnant again and if it was a boy, I wanted to use my brother's name for his middle name. I chose the different spelling, because Michael had his name spelled Mikhael in his e-mail address. It made it more special and unique to him to go with that spelling. Unfortunately, Sebastian will never get to meet his Uncle, but he will forever have a special bond to him because of his name.
Sebastian Mikhael is finally here, and I'm over the moon in love with him. I love my babies so much, and I'm completely in love with John with helping me bring these sweet babies into the world.
