Silas James Ahrens joined us at 7:20 am on Thursday, August 23, 2012. He weighed 6 lbs, 6 oz and was 20 inches long.
However...his coming was long in the making and I am not surprised how it all went down...early...AGAIN! There were definite signs. So I will start the retelling of his birth story before it started (for my own memory and some of you readers out there like the details) as in the week before, which just happened to be Week 35 for me. That is the same week that Tyndell was born, so it was obviously on my mind this time around. I tried not to worry about it but I just couldn't and everyone around me kept telling me that I was huge and obviously dropping. And then to make things worse, I had gotten this burst of energy or "nesting" that week and just felt like getting things done as well as (TMI alert!) my body was definitely trying to "clean itself" out and I kept having to go to the bathroom like every hour. So pair these symptoms and thoughts with the weekend events. So the weekend before, we had tickets to the preseason Panthers vs. Dolphins game on Friday night after work (see previous post), and I really didn't feel great going into the game. I was having contractions for sure and really just wanted to bail on the whole event. But Tyndell was really excited about going to the game and Brandon was in town so we were making a fun event of it and I just kept my mouth shut and figured it would waiver away. Thankfully it did and we had a great time at the game, but I just knew things were not quite right. The weekend was productive with the nesting kicked in, and then come being back at work the following week, it was super busy and I just had this feeling of needing to be really efficient and close some open project work out. Come Wednesday morning, I just couldn't get moving out of bed. The energy was gone. I took a shower and just didn't feel right. I can't explain it, but I was dragging big time and I don't think I got Tyndell to school and me to work til about 8:30 that morning. I felt really distracted all morning and even had a really hard time explaining really simple information to my new boss. Even a few coworkers that day had told me that I looked like I was about to burst out and people joked about what I would do if my water broke at work. And then we find out...I'm literally in a meeting with one of our senior engineers/cost estimators around 3pm and my water breaks...like gushes! I had to politely interrupt our meeting and say the words, "I'm sorry. My water just broke. If you don't mind, could you go to my desk and get my cell phone for me?" FOR REAL. THAT JUST HAPPENED. Aside from feeling uber embarrassed about literally ruining the chair I was sitting on and the space below it, I was soaked and had a few coworkers freaked out. Luckily I was not having regular contractions, so it was easy to call Jeff at work to come pick me up and to call my midwife calmly. So since my water broke early with Tyndell....we knew what this all meant, time to get to the hospital and be induced, if needed, because our boy was on his way. Obviously my body doesn't like the last month of pregnancy since I've now managed to skip it both times. So Jeff had called my parents to tell them the news and ask them to essentially take care of everything while we went to the hospital. So special thanks to them for helping with Tyndell, the dogs, and Miami the fish.
We arrive at my midwife's office about 4pm and they confirm that my water broke (duh...as if the soaked dress I was wearing wasn't already an indicator), and that I was 3 cm dilated, and that I need to go over to labor/delivery and check-in. So they give me some hospital pants to wear, and Jeff and I slowly walk over to the other side of the medical plaza where the hospital was (this is at Carolinas Medical Center - Midtown location - it's a huge facility). Walking was my choice actually b/c I knew that I was about to get strapped to a bed and hooked up to multiple fluids/IVs so I wanted to be mobile as long as possible. Once we got to the room, I was hooked up to antibiotics and a monitor and then we just waited to see if contractions would get more regular, which they did for a while and then fell off, so since we didn't have time to waste, the ole pitocin was started around 7pm I believe. I pretty much just laid in bed and tried to distract myself from the pain between checks (Jeff had run home to get our camera and some movies - so we watched "I Love You, Man" and "Devil Wears Prada" and I played mahjong some), but come midnight and then 3am...I had no progressed at all and I was already feeling contractions that were more intense ever with Tyndell's labor and wasn't sure I could take it. What was happening was that Silas' little hand was over his head and he was literally pushing up farther inside me and it was preventing me from dilating more/progressing. After 7 hours of labor and not much to show for it, she told me that I needed to get an epidural so that I could relax a bit and his hand would fall down and get his head further down too and so they could ramp up the pitocin more. I really don't like needles but it was her best opinion and I went along so that we could hurry the process. People say getting an epidural doesn't hurt, but it totally DID...however, everything was numb within about 2 minutes so I guess it didn't matter. And my midwife was right. About 30 minutes after the epidural was in, his hand and head fell, and I was 7 cm dilated. So I tried to rest between about 4am and 6 am but after that point, I was feeling so much pressure to push that I couldn't think about much else. All the nurses got the room ready for delivery and I started pushing about 7am and within 15/20 minutes, he was out!
Since Silas was early, they whisked him away to the NICU to check him out and make sure enough pressure was getting into his lungs, but otherwise, he was a great size and he seemed ok. So we only had to have a few minutes to hold him and take some pictures before he was gone to be examined. I had to wait a while for my epidural to wear off so I laid in bed for several more hours so that I could get up and walk and then they had to transfer me to another room. Jeff was able to go down to the children's hospital/NICU area a couple of times that morning/afternoon, but it wasn't until late afternoon that day that I actually got to see Silas again and hold him and Tyndell came over with my parents to meet her brother for the first time. That separation after giving birth is so sad/emotional, but it wasn't as hard this time to deal with since we had experienced the same with Tyndell and he seemed to be doing better already and I tried to get some rest. You have so much adrenalin after giving birth too - so there was a lot going on with the internal rest vs. start mothering instincts. After seeing Silas, we left so that he could rest (they really don't like you to hold them too much when they are in the NICU) and I went back later for a feeding and to give the nurses what I had started pumping for him. Jeff ended up going home that night b/c there wasn't much space for him to sleep in my room, and I meant to go down to the NICU more that night but literally slept through my alarms and the nurses forgot too. Luckily by the time I was up for the early morning feeding on his second day, I got the news that he was going to come to my room and would be out of the NICU. HOORAY! Silas and I just hung out, resting and feeding and pumping in our room for the next 2 days and it was so nice to have this time together. Tyndell and I never had this - she was in NICU for 11 days so I was overjoyed to see him doing so well, despite the "sissy white male syndrome" the nurses kept referring to to keep my expectations down. The doctors advised that he stay one extra night so that he could be put under the billirubin lights for jaundice so he was taken to the nursery on the last afternoon/night so that his numbers would fall down and the nurses just brought him to me for feedings. Then come Sunday morning, we were discharged from the hospital....which was quite a confusing process to say the least, but we got to be home come just after lunch that day and start enjoying being a family of four!
Silas is such a precious baby - so laid back so far and sweet. He looks like Tyndell when she was a baby too - he seems to be a blue eyed/blond haired boy so far. Thank goodness he looks like he got Jeff's luscious hair which is beautiful! We are in love with this boy and so far, it just feels like - 'Silas - where have you been all this time?! We've been waiting for you.' Even Tyndell seems to really love him so much already and we're quickly settling into our new family dynamic which feels so complete.
