.our little boy.

Tommy Ross Coward

Monday 8th June 2009
8:55pm
2.275kg (6 pounds, 1 ounce)
49cm long

We did it! Baby delivered. Home - safe and sound. I can't believe it is all over and done with so quickly. I thought my first two labours were straightforward, but this one definitely tops the lot!

Monday was a public holiday, so Jaron was home from work for the day. We didn't have many plans for the day, Jaron took the kids for a bike ride and play at the park in the morning while I visited the quilt shop to pick up some fabric to start working on a new pattern (in anticipation that the baby wouldn't be born until Friday too keep me occupied for the rest of the week!). I did a bit of sewing (the pattern is now "on hold" for a few weeks!!) and then we went to Anvers for a hot chocolate and play for afternoon tea.
At around 6pm as we were sitting down for dinner, I started to have a few contractions that were stronger than the ones I had been having over the last few days and just felt a bit different. We carried on with dinner and Family Home Evening and the contractions were getting regular - around 6 minutes apart and starting to feel painful. I went into clean-up mode and got lots of washing folded, tidied the house, sorted a few things out, etc. It was about 7:15pm when we were playing Hide-And-Seek and I was hiding in the cupboard (not a good move for a heavily pregnant woman starting labour, but they didn't find me for ages!) when I had a really strong contraction and yelled out to Jaron that we should probably get the kids settled and into bed NOW!!
At 7:45pm Mum came around and we quickly left for the hospital. I was starting to feel a bit panicky now as I could feel the contractions were getting much stronger very quickly than they had in the past and was worried that we wouldn't make it to the hospital in time! The 10 minute drive to the hospital seemed to take forever and I was anxiously (nice way to put it!) telling Jaron to stop driving so jerkily and speed up! Lucky we didn't have far to drive to the hospital (with Oscar and Lil it was a 45 minute drive away) because it would have been a really close call!
We got into the hospital just after 8pm, the midwives were going to put me in a room to monitor me for awhile, and I looked at one of them and said "if this isn't the room where you want me to have the baby then I'm not going to sit down or get comfortable because I can tell this baby is going to come really soon." I must have looked convincing because they quickly rushed me into the delivery room and we settled in there. The rest is a bit of a blur really, a few contractions and a bit of gas later I was ready to push and only had to push for 5 minutes then little Tommy arrived! As soon as he was put on my chest, Jaron and I both kept saying how tiny he was. He looks so much like Oscar did when he was a baby (but with a more prominent nose!) but is SO mini. Osc and Lil were both 7lb 7oz and 7lb 9oz so it was a huge shock to have such a small one this time. He is really long and skinny with huge feet and toes.
I don't know if it is still the adrenaline kicking in or not, but I am feeling really good (all things considered!) so far. I'm tired and have that weird "new baby to look after and find a place for in this family" feeling but I don't feel really knocked around like I have been hit by a truck! I'm sure that not labouring for a long time and not having to miss out on any sleep being in labour through the night makes a lot of difference.

I had to share a room with three other women and their babies while we were in hospital - two of the babies cried non-stop all night. I felt bad for their Mum's, but while my baby slept peacefully all night long it was enough to encourage me to get home into my own comfortable bed and quite (kind of) house as quickly as possible!
Tommy has been an absolute gem so far (I keep reminding myself it hasn't even been 48 hours!) he is very sleepy and has only cried for about 10 minutes. I have had to wake him for all of his feeds and nappy changes, lets hope that we get a few more days of sleepy-baby before real life settles in!