It's taken me a while to update my blog but that's because I have my own lil' slave driver to tend to! Corbin Evans Tucker was born on May 23rd at 3:21pm. He was 8 pounds 4 ounces and 20.5 inches long! A big adorable lil' slave driver :).
On Sunday, May 22nd I noticed I was having contractions unlike the previous false labor contractions I had. These contractions were noticeably in my lower back. I suspected labor was on its way, but they never got regular or stronger the entire day. We decided to go about our day and I ignored them for the most part. They weren't so painful. We went grocery shopping and stocked up just in case. Then, our friends Jeremy, Jessica and Rachel came over for dinner and we had a potluck BBQ. We had a great time!
We went to sleep and throughout the night I was having dreams where I'd have a painful contraction. At one point, I woke up and realized these contractions weren't just in my dreams. At 4:45am I realized they were actually quite painful and I couldn't walk through them anymore. I woke up Evans and we timed them. They were around 5 minutes apart! We were told to call in once they got to that point, so we called the after hours emergency line to the birthing center and talked to the midwife on call. She told us to go ahead and try to labor at home for a while and to call her once they got closer to 3 minutes apart. Man, were they getting more and more painful! I was sure that I must be approaching transition or something because there was no way that the contractions could get anymore painful. Boy, was I WRONG! They got closer to 3 mins apart pretty quick, within a few hours, so Evans called it in. The midwife told us to go ahead and pack up and head over.
The car ride to the birthing center was the most miserable car ride of my life! Every bump in the road caused so much pain. Evans did a great job driving as carefully as possible, but it was 7am on a Monday morning and there was traffic so it was a bit of a challenge.
Once we got to the birthing center, the midwife checked me and confirmed I was in active labor so I was admitted! I got to pick the room I wanted to give birth in. I picked this room called the Barcelona room that was decorated with really nice furniture and paintings. The room was huge! It had a king sized bed, a large jet tub, its own bathroom and shower, a kitchen table, a rocking chair, and a baby bassinet. Meanwhile, the contractions were getting more and more painful...
Let me just say, natural childbirth is no joke. It is the most difficult thing I have ever done in my entire life, and probably will ever do. I had back labor which was so horrifying I cannot explain the pain. Corbin was in a position where he was pushing off my back during contractions. There were times where I was cursing myself for not being at a hospital where I could get an epidural. There were also times where I was secretly wishing a complication would arise so they could send me to the hospital and I could get a C-section. Somehow, though, I survived and I was strong enough not to give up - not like I COULD give up - but I listened to the midwives and did what they said to get things moving along.
Evans was my water boy the whole time. The pain was so bad I didn't want him touching me even though he was trying to be nice and give me back massages. So, instead, he caught on that I wanted to drink water after every contraction and had the cup and straw waiting for me. He was definitely a trooper and was very patient.
Finally, the time came where Corbin was to be born! I ended up in the bath tub because the warm water helped me relax in between contractions. I originally didn't want a water bath, but I couldn't see myself getting out of the tub once I was in it. Suddenly, a group of birthing assistants were surrounding me! Let me just say, towards the end I felt like I was not in this world. I felt like all these things were happening around me and I was separated from them. It was really weird. Anyway - the midwives instructed me on what to do to get the baby out. I listened, and Corbin was born after 15 minutes of pushing! He had his cord wrapped loosely around his neck, so they unwrapped it. He pooped on me twice in the process :). Evans and I were both relieved that the labor was over and our boy was here!
We hung out adoring our baby boy for 6 hours at the birthing center while the staff checked on us to make sure we were doing OK. I had such an adrenaline rush after the birth I was full of energy and extremely happy. The pain I went through to get there didn't matter anymore. I was starving so I ate some granola bars, trail mix, and tacos that Evans bought previously from Taco Deli while we hung out in the room.
Finally, it was time for us to go! At 9:30pm the same day, 6 hours after giving birth, we packed up our stuff and our baby and hit the road for home! It was so nice to be able to come home after that long ordeal. One of the perks of natural birth at a birthing center!
Corbin will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. I can't believe how fast time flies! The last two weeks seem to have been one long day since all the days have blurred together. I will be really sad when Evans has to go back to work. He has been so helpful with the baby - changing him and burping him and "farting" him to get him to calm down. My parents were also in town and they cleaned and cooked for us while they were here and bought us groceries. They watched Corbin to let us nap and that was really nice. We have also had lots of meals brought to us from Evans's mom, Corbin's Uncle Alan and Aunt Melissa, Evans's cousin Sara, and Jeremy and Jessica. Andrea and Matt brought us a special bottle of Guaro from Costa Rica which looks tasty! We have many friends who are planning to bring us meals too. It is very generous and helpful of everyone to do that. Cooking is difficult with a baby!
All in all though, despite a few health complications I've had to deal with (mastitis is very painful!), we are doing great and we are learning more and more about our little guy each day. He makes us laugh and somehow gets cuter every day!
We will be posting all of our pics on Evans's Picasa so feel free to check out this link from time to time to see if any new ones are up:
https://picasaweb.google.com/evans.tucker/Corbin#
