Seven!

Today is Wesley's seventh birthday. Wesley is a sweet boy, a great big brother, and a super son. He has a tender heart and is smart too! He was robbed of a good birthday post last year because we were preparing to move, so this post will include both his birth photos AND story!

Wesley today, opening a few gifts

I will post some birthday party and cake shots (another 3D cake!) tomorrow or Sunday. Below are a couple pictures of Wesley the day he was born. Excuse the quality. This was pre-digital camera so these are really a picture of a picture.

Just minutes after birth

Two days old

In hindsight, his birth was so different from all the others. I was pregnant with him the longest. He was full term and came home a little over 24 hours after he was born. I am thankful that his pregnancy was so normal. I think that if I would have started out with a preemie in the NICU I might not have gone on to have the rest! If you are interested, here is the condensed version of his birth story. We don't even have the computer I typed his story on, so I'll post it here instead of linking to a document like I did with the twins.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, March 19, was a normal day. I did the usual: laundry, meals, cleaned a bit, and helped at Roz's school (back then she was Ros!). I promised Jer I'd make a cake for dessert, so I made that too. Looking back, I was apparently nesting...I got a lot done for a 37 week pregnant mom! I was planning on grocery shopping Wednesday morning so I spent the evening going through ads and clipping coupons. A friend called and we got to chatting so I didn't get off the phone until about 10:15pm. Jer and I talked about names until about 11pm or so. We decided it would easier if we had a boy since we didn't have a girl name picked out. Jerry fell asleep and I laid there feeling a bit "crampy".

I couldn't sleep and made several trips to the bathroom. It seems every time I got back to bed I'd have to get up and go to the bathroom again. I paced in the living room a bit and sat in the bathroom a lot. I didn't think it was labor because I wasn't really having contractions, more of a dull and constant ache. Just before midnight the dull ache got to be more painful, but I couldn't really time it since it never really went away.

I debated whether or not I should wake up Jerry. I didn't want him to lose sleep for nothing. Midnight came and went, it was now March 20th. Finally, at 12:45am I woke Jerry up. I explained what was going on and we tried to time the worse parts of the pain. I didn't want to call the doctor because we couldn't even time what was happening! It was a constant pain that got worse about every two minutes. After a bit, I decided we better call. I dialed the phone but had to hand it to Jer because the pain was getting so bad I couldn't even talk. I dropped to my knees in front of a chair in the living room while Jerry talked to the doctor's answering service. They said they would call back within the hour. There was no way I could wait that long!

Thankfully, the nurse called back a few minutes later. As Jerry was explaining the situation, I suddenly had the urge to push! The nurse asked if my water had broken. No. But I did feel a leaking sensation and when we looked it was bright red blood. "Get to the hospital," the nurse said. I moved to the bathroom. Jer quickly dressed and carried Roz from her bed upstairs across the street to Grandma's. When he got back, he was ready to go but I wasn't. We'll never make it. The baby is coming. NOW. Just call 911. So at 1:17pm (the call was in the paper the next day!) Jerry dialed 911 and a few minutes later two police cars and the ambulance arrived sirens blaring.

The police officer came in first and asked me some stupid question like was I okay or something like that. The paramedics were right behind him and they carried me out on the stretcher to the waiting ambulance. Jer got to ride along but had to sit in the front. It was hard to answer all their medical questions while trying my best NOT to push. I don't remember being unloaded at the hospital but I remember seeing the lights above as we wheeled down the hall and having to tell the paramedics that labor & delivery was on the 4th floor.

We had nothing with us. The bag (and camera!) I had so carefully packed were in the closet at home. Neither one of us even thought to grab it. Jerry hadn't even locked the door as we left. I was anxiously waiting for them to check me and I had a fleeting worry that they'd check me and I wouldn't be fully dilated. My fears were relieved a minute later when they said I was indeed ready to go! But they told me to try not to push and give the doctor a minute to get there. I can't believe it now, but I managed to hang on several minutes until the doctor walked in the door. As he walked in he was pulling on gloves and said, "Let her push!" I sat up a bit, pushed once, and his head was out! One more push (at 2am) and he was here! The doctor delivered him in street clothes, wearing only gloves! It was all over only 43 minutes after leaving the house! I had woken Jerry up only an hour and 15 minutes earlier!

I had to ask what we had. "It's a boy! What's his name?" My reply: "He's Wesley!" They handed him to me for a few minutes before taking him to the warmer. He weighed a whopping 7 pounds 10 ounces. My biggest baby by over 2 pounds! The nurse told Jer that the paramedics were waiting outside my door wondering if I had a boy or a girl. So Jerry stepped out and shared the good news. The nurse told me I could have had him 20 minutes sooner if they would've let me push. I think I could've had him at home if I would have just pushed!

The doctor said everything looked good for both of us. He had a suspicion that Wesley broke his collar bone coming out so fast. He was proven correct a couple days later when we finally had an x-ray. It's a common birth injury and there's nothing that you can do for it anyway. But it is interesting to note that Wesley was barely half way into the world before he broke his first bone. Five years later, when he broke his arm, we could see the "scar" on his x-ray.

Wesley was a champion breastfeeder right from the start. As I fed him the first time, we had to laugh at how it all played out. Jerry said next time, if there was a next time, he was going to sleep in his clothes the whole last month I'm pregnant. He should've taken his own advice!