Silas' Birth Story

It's hard to believe that Silas is only 5 days old and that one week ago I was still pregnant and wondering when the little dude was going to make an appearance!

The 41st week of my pregnancy was a LO-O-ONG week; false labour, kids with colds & fevers, Keziah's trip to the ER with croup and Erik's ongoing sickness. My mom arrived in the midst of it all and I felt caught between wanting the baby out and wanting us all to just feel better first! By Thursday the kids were incredibly whiny, I was starting to feel sick myself and Erik was feeling discouraged by the fact that he hadn't been able to work all week due to his sickness. On Friday my head cold was as its peak. My braxton hicks came steadily all day and were really strong - not painful like "real" contractions but lots of tightness and pressure in my belly. I felt like I had been in this pre-labour phase for days and even weeks!

By that point I had pretty much given up on going into labour on my own and had come to terms with the idea of being induced. My doctor had put me on the induction schedule for Saturday morning, so we expected to have a baby by the end of the weekend. But, on Friday my mom still prayed that my water would just break so that I wouldn't have to be induced!

I woke up at 2 am on Saturday morning with a contraction that actually felt a little like "real" labour. The next couple of hours were full of restless sleep. Between my mildly painful contractions and my incredibly stuffy nose (which caused me to snore and wake myself up!) I couldn't really sleep. At 4 am I decided to turn on the bathroom fan in an attempt to drown out my own snoring :) and as I rolled out of bed there was a small gush of fluid. It was the same sensation that I'd had when my water "sprung a leak" with Micah so I was feeling hopeful that it was the same thing. I decided to wait it out a bit and let Erik sleep. By 5 am I was still feeling "leaky" and my contractions were getting a bit stronger so I had a shower, woke Erik up and called the hospital. Then we told my mom that we were going in and she was pretty excited!

We got to the hospital at around 6 am where they confirmed that I was leaking amniotic fluid. They monitored me for awhile and then decided to send me home since my contractions were still pretty mild and I was only 2 cm dilated. I didn't expect they would send me home, but I figured labour could still take awhile since my water hadn't completely broken, so we complied :) We got home shortly after 7 and found Micah watching Bambi and Keziah sleeping on the couch (she had heard us leave at 5:30 and decided it was time to get up only to fall asleep on the couch again shortly after!). It was kind of fun to hang out a bit with them and explain to Micah what was happening. My mom was also excited to get in a little bit on the labour process :) We were home about an hour and a half and my contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes and I had to start concentrating through them. So, Erik and my mom decided that I should head back in.


We went back to triage and back on the monitor. At around 9:45 my doctor came in to check me. I had dilated to 4 cm and he could feel a bulging bag of water. He could tell that baby's head was turned a little bit, so he tried to turn it and with that there was a BIG gush of fluid. From that point I knew that things would go quickly! Unfortunately there was quite a bit of meconium in the fluid which meant we had to keep a closer eye on baby during the labour. The nurse brought me to my (huge) hospital room. After delivering 2 babies in the old run-down MSA hospital, the new hospital felt like luxury!!

Contractions got increasingly stronger and I held onto the railing for dear life every time I felt one coming on (see above picture of me between contractions!) and I started thinking about pain medication. I should've known that I was in transition at this point, and sure enough when they checked me I was at 7 cm. Within a few minutes I was feeling the urge to push. This was the first delivery where I didn't have any IV or pain meds of any kind and I admit that it was the most painful pushing experience of the 3. I felt like I didn't get a break between contractions and I was SO ready to get that baby out! I was vaguely aware that baby's heartrate was going down towards the end and that they had called in the pediatrician to check him over as soon as he was born.

At 10:51 am, he was finally out and the pain was gone, but replaced with a few scary moments while we waited for him to cry. Finally we heard his gusty, gurgly cry and he was whisked over to the pediatrician for suction and oxygen. And even though we hadn't known his gender, I wasn't one bit surprised that he was a boy!


My doctor guessed his weight before they put him on the scale and got it right on! This is our biggest baby yet...


This was the first time I wasn't able to hold baby right after delivery, and he was quite worked up by the time I got my hands on him.


We named him Silas Paul. Silas was a name we had picked out for a boy when I was pregnant with Keziah, and even though we waivered on it quite a bit during this pregnancy, we always seemed to come back to it. It's continuing to grow on us as we get to know the little guy. We chose Paul because it was his Uncle Nathan's middle name.

It was nice to deliver so early in the day. I had a chance to breastfeed and shower and get my room cleaned before family started to arrive. Erik's family came around 2 pm and my mom came with the kids a little bit later after Keziah's nap. Micah and Keziah have both been thoroughly infatuated with Silas from their first meeting:


I could've gone home on Sunday already, but my doctor and I decided that I would stay until Monday. The nurses understood why when I told them I had 2 preschoolers waiting for me at home :)








I love wrinkly little newborn heads :)


Silas came out with LONG finger nails and proceeded to scratch up his face over the next couple of days...


Erik and I agree that Silas looks a bit more like Keziah as a newborn, but I definitely see resemblances to both kids. When I look at his face I feel like it's familiar to me; like I already know him. He definitely looks like he's part of the family!


Erik stayed over with me both nights. This hospital experience was much more comfortable and quiet all around!


Here is Silas ready to head home on Monday morning, looking SO tiny in his car seat. This was the same outfit that Micah wore when he came home from the hospital.


Today is my first day without Mom or Erik around and things are going pretty well - they must be or I wouldn't have time to blog! Right now Keziah and Silas are napping and Micah is watching some TV. Nights are going fairly decent. We had one really bad night when we first came home from the hospital, but the last 2 nights have been quite manageable and I'm feeling rested enough today to skip my afternoon nap :)

I have many more pictures on my camera that I've taken since we've been home so I'll try to post those in the next few days...