Welcome Will!!!!

Our 6th child, William David Block, was born at home on October 10th at 8:09 am. He was officially 16 days past his due date and I was definitely starting to wonder if he was ever going to come out! I started having contractions at 4:40 am on the 9th, they continued exactly every hour on the dot for about 5 hours. At around 9:45 they jumped to every 15 minutes but were not as strong...sigh, this is what had been happening for roughly 3 weeks so I just figured it was another false alarm. My midwife called that morning to check on me, I told her what was happening and she asked me to call her later with an update. By 4:30 I still hadn't called her because nothing was different. In fact, my contractions had actually spaced out to 30 minutes apart.....she asked me to call her back at 7:00 pm. Keeping in mind that the 9th is also Emma's birthday (she just turned 6!) I was trying to participate in what our family was doing for her as well as the constant wondering of whether or not I was actually in labor!

We watched Enchanted as a family for Emma's b-day. I started having some contractions that I actually had to stop and breathe through, although they were not getting any closer together. I called my midwife back with this update and basically told her I had no idea what I wanted to do because I still wasn't sure if anything was really happening. My midwife lives an hour and a half away from us and I didn't want her to drive all the way out for no reason (she had already spent the night the week before "just in case" which as we all know was basically a waste of her time....) her response to me, "I'm coming. I'll be there around 9:30 pm". Ok. Decision made, awesome!

By the time she arrived we had the kids in bed asleep. I was having contractions every 5 minutes that were stronger but not painful yet. I became obsessed with the amount of dust on our living room ceiling fan for some ridiculous reason, so my blessed husband was kind enough to get out the step ladder and clean it for me! 8-) We chit chatted with the midwife for about an hour, then she laid down on the couch to rest "just in case" and Dave and I retreated to our room and watched some episodes of Lost on Hulu while I sat on my birth ball.

At 1:00 am I was getting painful contractions and was unable to rest at all so I decided to take a bath. I noticed that I had started bleeding a little and realized that FINALLY this was DEFINITELY it! Yippee!!! I soaked in the tub for about 30 or 40 minutes and then was checked: 4 cm. That may not seem like much, but in all past labors I've gone from 4 - 10 within an hour so I was really excited. It was now 2:00 am and we called our friend Char to come over as she was going to help us during the delivery. Char arrived shortly after that and we all had a great time, joking around and laughing in between my contractions which were getting rather painful by this time....but I was so happy to labor naturally for once without the induction meds, because I felt totally fine and normal in between each of the contractions. I remember saying at one point that I actually felt bipolar, totally calm and happy and laughing for about 3 minutes then completely silent, gripping my husband's hand and breathing super deep in pain for the next 2 minutes....8-)

I was soon to 8 cm (4:00 am) and in a great deal of pain during the contractions which were about every 3 minutes by then, so not much recovery time in between. I was really excited because I thought I was almost done! BUT.....then I was found to have a cervical lip that was preventing the baby from moving down and also preventing me from dilating further....at 6:00 am we moved off the bed and onto the birth stool. At first this was a good idea but later (after sitting on it for 2 hours or so) I really HATED THE BIRTH STOOL! It was killing my tailbone, but it was probably still the best choice at the time because it allowed me to sit up and use gravity to help Will get OUT OF THERE!

Now here comes a little bit of TMI so if you're easily offended by female type things - don't read any further -
Apparently the best way to get rid of a cervical lip is to ice it. Fine. However, when you are 8 cm and the baby is pushing down and your tailbone is really bruised from sitting on a birth stool and your contractions are INTENSE....the last thing you want is your midwife fitting her hand in *there* and pushing UP while baby is pushing DOWN...with ice cubes!!! This took about 2 hours. I cannot tell you in words the intensity of the pain during those 2 hours. I can tell you though that my husband was such an immense blessing to me, supporting me and encouraging me through the whole process. I will never forget his loving kindness during those moments. I was also SO THANKFUL to have Char there to be another calm supportive voice and to cool my forehead with those washcloths.....8-)

The kids started waking up around 6:30 or so (I think). Dave called our friend Amanda who came and was at the house shortly. She got them all dressed and ready to go. At 8:09 he was delivered and the kids waited around to get to see him. They were all super excited to finally have another brother!

Although I was fearing I was going to deliver a 10+ pounder since he was so late, I am happy to report that he was "normal". He weighed in at 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 21 inches long. He does have a large noggin - 15 (cm?) but was totally healthy and pink! I didn't have any tears or anything like that, my c-section scar was totally fine everything was good! I did have VERY BAD swelling for a day or so (but after the icing incident what else can you expect?) but other than that it was the fastest recovery I've ever had. No prescription pain killers, just Extra Strength Tylenol and Ibuprofen. The kids stayed with Amanda's family all day so Dave, Will and I could rest. The kids came home around 8:00 that night and re-met their new brother and then went to bed.

Since then we've just grown to love Will more and more. He's a very happy and content baby with an adorably soft cry that is a welcome change from some of the "shriekier" cries his older siblings have had in the past....8-) He's sleeping in 3 hour blocks at night already and Mommy is feeling good too!