JAC: Big Brother

Helping moisturize Mama's belly

To prepare for the new baby, we've given James some chores:

Squishy face

Naked fireman

New favorite hiding spot: between the window and the blinds

Enjoying a Lela pillow before it's too late

Flashdancer:

James' rewrite of the Tune Mammals "Achoo" song: "James is at the table, eating his dinner, eating his spa-ghet-ti!"

Under his breath: "Let's talk about… Capooty Princess"

We had seen Sleeping Beauty Princess earlier that day. Now he calls her Sleeping Cutie.

With buddy Ben

Allene Barclay Corman, nicknamed Lela by big brother James, was born on March 29th at 12:36pm after 40 hours of labor. She was 6 pounds 1 ounce and 18 1/2 inches. It could not have been a more different experience than James' fast labor, which is what I was prepared for.

Because my first labor was so fast I was told over and over that my second would be even faster, so I went to the hospital Thursday night with contractions consistently 5 minutes apart lasting 45-60 seconds. I was 1 cm dilated and the nurses were suggesting induction to get things moving faster, but I wanted Lela to make her move when she was ready, so I went back home.

Contractions continued to be 5 minutes apart all day Friday which was pretty intense. I walked, did squats, went to see the acupuncturist, rubbed acupressure points, took a hot shower, did some visualizing, ate lots of pineapple... (side story: when I went to go get my favorite almond smoothie they took FOREVER to make it. I went to the counter guy and politely said, "I'm just checking on the status of my smoothie. Sorry to be impatient but I'm in labor." You should have seen the fire that lit under him and the look on his face like I was going to have a baby on the floor right there. I highly recommend using that line for very quick service in the future). By dinner time Friday contractions were every 2-4 minutes apart lasting about a minute, so we put James to bed, waited for our friend Ben to come to stay with James for the second night in a row, and went back to the hospital. I was still only at 1 cm. I must admit at this point I was frustrated and bewildered.

My doctor decided at midnight to admit me hoping that just being at the hospital (instead of going home and timing and trying to figure out when to come back AGAIN) would help me relax and progress. At 3:30 am I was starting to hit a wall. I was exhausted from 3 days and nights of no sleep (Night 1 of no sleep was from taking the "eat spicy food to start labor" advice. Was up ALL night with reflux and heartburn) and had very little time to even appreciate that a contraction was over before the next one was upon me, so when the nurse checked me said I was at 3 cm, I wanted to cry. Brian was sleeping on a chair and I woke him up to hold my hand and help me through contractions and help me make decisions. After a lot of talking it over, I decided to try a light dose epidural. Since I delivered James naturally, I had planned to deliver naturally again, so the epidural was a really big decision for me. Ultimately, I know it was the right decision as it allowed me to slowly, calmly, and comfortably progress the rest of the way over the next 8 hours. I had some unfavorable reactions to the epidural, it made me shake horribly and my blood pressure dropped so I had to be put on oxygen, but it made me comfortable enough that I sent Brian home to be there when James woke up with instructions to come back at 11:00 am for the big event.

At 11:30 am on Saturday when the doctor came in to check me I was finally at 8 cm so she put on her scrubs and broke my water at noon. 36 minutes and 3 pushes later, my baby girl was born.

Even though it was not what I was prepared for and I had some stressful moments making decisions I hadn't planned on making, looking back it all happened just right and I feel satisfied with and empowered by the whole experience. Feeling so good post partum that we left the hospital a night early. It feels so nice to all be home together as a family. Lela is an angel, eating well (she's already gained back all her weight and then some), sleeping well, and we've hardly heard her cry. James is a very sweet big brother and likes to help with everything. I hope he won't mind sharing his blog.