Mr. Humble Pie

Baby #6.. should be easy enough, right? Uh- wrong. When I went into labor around 5am I had it in my head I was going to have the picture perfect homebirth and that I'd be holding my little 8lb peanut by 8am after tolerable contractions and one good push.. even as I type that I laugh a little because I know that a lot of women would want to stab me in the eye if it actually did go that way but.. it pretty much did for baby #5 so I thought my expectations were realistic!

When he wasn't here by 8am I was annoyed, tired and frustrated. Contractions were rough and all I wanted was that urge to push so labor could be all over. My husband, Mom, cousin and Midwife were great,  just letting me do my thing.. even though I didn't want to be doing my thing any more! 9am rolled around and I was pushing, even though I remember my midwife mentioning that I wasn't quite fully dilated.. I didn't care, this boy was coming out. Two good, seriously hard pushes and he was out and I was so relieved and happy to have him in my arms!! Briggs Sullivan was here, all 9lbs 4oz of him!

I felt really good right after I had him but by about noon I felt so dizzy, nauseous, lightheaded, hot/cold and all around crappy that I could hardly sit up without feeling like I was going to pass out. I kinda thought I was being a wuss and that I needed to just suck it up.. so I did. My husband was the best nurse, getting me anything I needed and wanted but I was just down for the count. Things got a little better over the next couple days but I was still pretty out of it and now I felt like when I coughed I was going to lose an internal organ- awesome. Greg walked me to the bathroom for fear of me passing out... I felt a little like one of my patients at the nursing home with strict instructions not to get up by myself  lol! Turns out I had good reason to feel the way I did, my hemoglobin was 6.5 (it should be around 12)! My midwife got me on some good supplements and within another week or so I felt pretty good.. not normal, but good. Oh and  I can now cough, laugh and even sneeze without losing anything that I may want to stay in place.. glad that worked itself out!

The past 3 weeks have been hard but humbling. I needed this little guy to put me in my place and keep me there for a while. Honestly I am used to having a baby and getting on with life, taking pride that giving birth doesn't phase me much. Well it turns out birth does phase me.. and it should :) While it drove me nuts and even brought me to tears at times that I couldn't do all I wanted to do, I started to welcome that time at home sitting and watching the busyness that a house full of kids brings with it. I appreciated meals from church, family and friends when I normally would have declined, I let me Mom do my laundry, my Grandma take the older kids and said no to visitors at times. I ate a huge piece of humble pie.. and I kinda liked it.

Photo by Kasey Hunt Photography