Sterling Andrew

We have a baby boy! We love our little guy. He weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces, and was 21 inches long. That's a whopping 2 pounds bigger and 3 inches longer than Stella was. His birth was much different (in a fantastic way) than Stella's, and I feel I am recovering much quicker also. (thank heavens) We feel especially blessed that all went well, and that we finally have him in our arms. After realizing that Sterling might be posterior, or at least positioned off to one side quite a bit, we decided to try to re-position him to see if it would get things going for real. I knelt on the floor in a downward dog style sort of way for as long as I could stand to (which wasn't much longer than 15 mins... not too comfy for an "overdue" pregnant lady) and then tried to stay leaning forward right afterwards so that he would get into the "right" position. After I did this, I didn't think it had worked, because I didn't feel any major moving, or any huge differences. Well, I must have been wrong, because I did this around 6 pm., and at 10:33 - to be exact, my inconsistent contractions got real serious real fast. I had one contraction, the one at 10:33, that lasted 9 mins, and it was extremely painful. In the middle of the contraction, my water broke. At first, I thought there was no way it could have been my water breaking, because I didn't think I was really in labor, and not too many people have their water breaking as their first sign of true labor... but after a few minutes, and a little online research, I knew that had to be the case. We called my Mom to come sleep with Stella, and made our way out the door to the hospital. Poor Andy even had to peel himself out of bed, so he wanted me to make sure my water had really broken before we left. By the time we got to the hospital, it was 12:01, and my pain level had risen dramatically. Luckily, I only had three hours to go, and it would all be over and done with. It only took 14 minutes of pushing, and little Sterling was out. He was so clean, and his cry was great. He cried for a while, and I let him, without trying to calm him too much because I knew it would help his little lungs adjust. He cried a lot, but it was different than the cry Stella had. His was more desperate and sad, whereas Stella's was mad and angry. In Provo, the dads hold the baby first, but here, they put him right up onto me while they wiped him down a little. He was so precious. Andy cut the cord, and then Andy did most of the holding after that because I could not keep my eyes open. They couldn't give me an epidural until my bloodwork was done, so they gave me a different drug to "take the edge off". I was grateful to have it, but it did make it so I slept through some of the labor... not that I minded that too much, but after he arrived, I wish I was just a little more awake. Luckily, the nurse was fantastic, loved her, and the doctors I saw have more of the same idea's about how a labor should go as I do. One of the best things about this was there was no episiotomy this time. This has seemed to make all the difference in recovering. Even though I did tear - Sterling decided to pop his fist and elbow out along with his head (thinks he's superman already), I have been able to move around so much better, and haven't needed the pain medication I did last time. The nurse rated Sterling with the highest apgar scale she has given to a vaginally delivered baby, and he was healthy from the start. We were the last couple of the night to get into a recovery room, the rest of the rooms were full, and so of course we got the smallest one, but that just made us and all of our visitors get a little more cozy. Stella loved to see her baby brother. The first time she was in the room with him, the nurses came to take him out for something, and Stella cried. She loves to point out his toes, cheeks, eyes, and knees. She makes a sad face when he cries, and imitates him, unless he really lets loose, then she actually gets scared and nervous. I hope she gets used to him crying soon, because it is pretty sad having two genuinely sad kids at the same time. The whole ride home from the hospital, Stella talked and talked about the baby, sleeping, and his hat. She loves to tell us about him over and over and over again. Stella did so well having Me and Andy gone. She never cried for us, or threw tantrums for my mom, she just acted as if she knew what was happening, or she didn't mind the adjustments at all. We are so grateful for that, because if she would have had a hard time with it, I would have probably been much more emotional, and the trip would not have been nearly as enjoyable for my Mom I am sure. Sterling seems to enjoy food much more than his sister did, which is a relief for me. I guess that comes with the size difference. He has taken to nursing well, and when he can keep himself awake, he eats a ton. Anyway, I should take advantage of the sleeping babies, and go get some rest myself. I will write more later.